Vivejar is a tour operator that specialises in community travel and fosters women’s leadership in different regions of Brazil. Experiencing is this kind of thing that only you can do for yourself, no one else can do it for you. Only by living it, you can actually feel and gain the experience. Is not something a father passes on to his child. In fact, you can buy it, however it doesn’t help you if it’s not truly lived and felt inside.
Vivejar was born out a clear need in Brazil for local and authentic community travel experiences that promote positive social impacts. With over 10 years of experience working with local communities throughout Brazil, Vivejar prides itself in providing high quality travel experiences that place local communities at the heart of its model. Vivejar is a social enterprise whose mission is to contribute to local community empowerment. We believe in ethical business practices that provide local travel experiences that in turn make the world a better place.
Each of our tours revolves around a theme – ceramics, gastronomy, social innovations – and tells a story with the intent of guiding the traveler through a unique transformative experience.
A small seed called “transformation”
Vivejar was founded by Marianne Costa, a tourism expert and social entrepreneur. She holds a tourism degree from UFMG, and a specialisation degree in Social Innovation from the Amani Institute. Marianne believes that tourism can provide sustainable social impacts on a local level.
“Having a close contact with completely different lifestyles is an invitation for a deep reflection and self-evaluation. Furthermore, the learnings you gain from getting in touch with such people is surprising and exciting”, she says.
Marianne was a finalist for the Social Entrepreneur Award of the Future in 2012, by Folha de São Paulo, Braztoa Sustainability Awarded and Fellow of the Women Change Maker Program.
Recently, Vivejar received the honor of being a certified B corporation (the status is still pending), which is a new type of company that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.
Experiencing the different sides of Brazil – community travel, cultures and lifestyles
Vivejar’s mission is to show the essence of Brazil through different trips designed to spotlight on the best of Brazil: the Brazilian people.
We provide three very carefully designed experiences:
- The Jequitinhonha Valley in Minas Gerais – known for the strong and amazing women behind traditional ceramics crafts;
- The city of Rio de Janeiro – with a new touristic proposal, with an innovative view on creativity and social innovation within the communities; and
- Belém and Cotijuba Island in the region of Pará – with its secrets and spices, still quite unknown and mystical to the Brazilian and foreign tourists.
But this is only the beginning! More partnerships and trips to be launched during 2017!
How did it all start
Ten years ago, Marianne Costa together with Mariana Madureira, founded the company Raízes Sustainable Development. The company is specialised in developing projects that involve tourism and strengthening human, social and economic capital. In 2009, they launched a fair trade handicrafts project in the Jequitinhonha Valley in Minas Gerais. Soon they realised that the people’s stories behind the ceramic pieces were more valuable than their appearance. They started to ask themselves: “Instead of taking the handicrafts to the big cities, why not bring the people from the big cities to the artisans?”
These thoughts inspired the creation of the trip that has been run by Raízes for 4 years now (from 2012 till 2016), From Clay to Art – which is now one of the experiences offered by Vivejar. Thus, , the two companies work in different ways: one reaffirms its role by fostering sustainable development through social and environmental projects while the other organizes immersive trips, that allow communities to be active participants in the creation and implementation of tourism projects while simultaneously offering tourists a one-of-a-kind transformative experience.
Please visit our website for more information, videos, images and more: www.vivejar.com.br
For more information and interviews:
Ana Duék
[email protected] | Phone: + 55 21 99975-4998
