Executive Director and Co-founder
Nossas, Brazil
Alessandra Orofino is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Nossas, where she develops tools and methodologies for activism and participation. She is also the showrunner for Greg News, HBO’s only comedy news show in Brazil, and a columnist at the national newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
Nossas was born out of Alessandra’s experience with Meu Rio, a city-based community of hundreds of thousands of members that work together to impact local politics.
Prior to founding Meu Rio, Alessandra worked at Purpose, a partner organization of Meu Rio, where she set up the company’s office in Brazil. She holds a degree in Economics and Human Rights from Columbia University and was a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, contributing to their pioneering program in Design for Social Innovation.
19 Mar 2019, 10:30 a.m. · Room CC9, Level -1 (Conference Centre)
Recent years have seen the rise of platform populists gaining control of governments across the world.
They campaign on an authoritarian agenda and with little care for democratic values, yet ironically, these tyrants are elected by citizens through democratic processes.
Alessandra suggests that the best way to fight this tendency is to focus on fostering democratic societies rather than simply democratic institutions. In Brazil, the grassroots organisation that she founded, NOSSAS, has a strong background in cultivating citizen-led activism and direct engagement in political decision-making processes, while also supporting the growth of solidarity networks.
NOSSAS gives people the tools to create resilient structures that can guarantee access to basic services to the most vulnerable people in society, even when they are having their rights threatened and services are being dismantled by the state itself.
20 Mar 2019, 10:45 a.m. · Room D (Chateau)
The panel share their thoughts and experiences about the path to impact for Civic Technology, followed by an open session.
Using examples from Latin America as a jumping off point, we then move on to a general discussion, aiming to arrive at applicable insights and actions for Civic Technology practitioners around the world.