How UVic teamed with waste pickers in Brazil to build a university

In a sunlit room in the spring of 2022 in São Paulo, Brazil, about two dozen people gather to lay the foundation for a startup. They sit at student desks and evaluate the research results. They discuss what they know, what they need to learn and what they can teach. They share their hopes for the future of this new venture, for this startup is all about creating hope and building a future.

They are building a university.

This new institution is UNICATA, or Universidade de Catadoras e Catadores, and the founders are Brazilian waste pickers—people who sift through garbage to look for recyclable materials—working with Canadian academics to develop plans and curricula.

The “university for and with waste pickers” is rooted in a research and community outreach project launched in its early stages, in 2006 by University of Victoria geography professor Jutta Gutberlet.

And in a major step this year, through the Office of Global Engagement, UVic signed an agreement and its Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) in mid-December issued a non-credit micro credential certificate to students who completed UNICATA’s educational modules. In a collaboration that received the blessing of four public universities in Brazil and the support of the Ministry of Racial Justice, UVic and these institutions aim to share resources to train students and develop the groundwork for inclusive waste management, waste governance and related topics.  

The partnership is an example of UVic’s climate impact efforts in action, of ways the university is helping create climate leaders both on campus in Victoria and globally.

‘Many hands helped build this university’

“Waste pickers… need knowledge. Knowledge changes life stories,” says Luzia Maria Honorato, one of the Brazilian waste pickers, in a video about that day in April 2022.

“Without knowledge, you don’t know how to operate, you don’t know the values of that product you are handling,” she says. “You work with the environment, you recycle a product that otherwise would be landfilled—this is how you break paradigms. The university will make you evolve, it will make you grow and it will make you appreciate yourself.”

Gutberlet, who was born in Germany but grew up in Brazil, has worked over time with Honorato and other waste pickers to develop course materials, focusing on what they know and can share from their experiences, and what they need to learn to build better lives.

“Many hands have helped build this university,” she says.

“The first course was co-designed with waste pickers and we had their input on what this course should be focusing on and the qualities we need to bring to teach effectively and create an open and accessible learning environment.”

Experiential learning part of UNICATA program

UNICATA students in the waste picker program, titled “Participatory solid waste management and governance with the inclusion of waste pickers for a sustainable and just society,” take part in six 14-week modules, whose topics include:

• the history of waste picking, including the key actors involved, the social stigmas attached and the intersectional gender and identity issues that accompany it;
• waste governance, covering public policies related to waste management, public waste collection and markets, and waste pickers’ co-operatives; and
• environmental issues such as sustainability, resource extraction, pollution, public and environmental health as well as climate change.

It isn’t all classroom work. Gutberlet notes that students in the São Paulo metropolitan region have participated in field trips such as a visit to the AVEMARE waste picker co-operative in Santana do Parnaíba. There, they discussed the co-op’s achievements while tackling some of the challenges that many waste pickers face. The hands-on experience and reflection allow them to better connect theories and knowledge learned in the classroom with real-world situations. 

In addition to the experiential learning, the catadoras and catadores also conduct research and present the results similar to an honours thesis, and with the form of presentations tailored to their strengths and interests, from written papers to videos to performed plays.

In 2023 and 2024, 211 students successfully concluded UNICATA modules, with average class sizes of 25 to 30 in São Paulo and 15 to 20 in Brasília.

Gutberlet says recognizing all that learning was a key consideration in negotiating the agreement to have UVic DCS issue micro credential certificates and adds, “I think it boosts their confidence and empowers them by having a certificate that recognizes their studies and their work.”

Having it co-signed by UVic DCS opens up other opportunities for professional training and even access to government jobs related to waste management and environmental education—many students speak at schools or host field trips for school kids to co-ops to talk about waste separation—or even using their knowledge on recycling as first responders in case of disasters, another topic covered in one of the future modules. 

“This is the sort of thing we’re talking about at UVic when we’re talking about having an impact globally,” says UVic President Kevin Hall. “Through this partnership in Brazil, we’re helping the waste pickers build a new future for themselves and their country.” 

Hall notes that the UNICATA enterprise demonstrates UVic’s commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals—from No. 1 (addressing poverty) to No. 8 (promoting decent work and economic growth) to No. 10 (reducing inequality)—and says he’s especially pleased the UVic DCS is able to bolster the partnership with a micro credential certificate.

“UVic is more than just our campus here in Victoria,” he says. “We can expand our collaboration and our impact in so many ways.”

The project also reflects UVic’s commitment to climate action as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Read more about UVic’s impact. 

Micro credentials are a global trend 

“Universities have shifted their thinking to bring access to education in new ways,” says Jo-Anne Clarke, dean of UVic’s Division of Continuing Studies. “Micro credentials globally are giving opportunities to democratize education. We’re closing that gap between who gets access to university and who doesn’t.”

She notes that the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report in 2023 predicted almost two thirds of workers will require retraining in the next three years and said that “employers are embracing… micro-credentials to address skilled talent shortages.”

“What I loved about the UNICATA project,” she adds, “is the repositioning of people’s lived experience, the things they do every day, their skills and competencies, and framing that expertise environmentally.”

Clarke says the work done by Gutberlet and UNICATA to address retraining provided a natural fit for DCS to get involved, adding, “We work on opening doors, that’s our mission—opening doors to possibility.”