By João Davi de Morais Barbosa Saraiva, Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador and undergraduate student; José Salmito Filho, State Representative, Ceará, Brazil; and Vilma Freire, State Secretary of the Environment and Climate Change, Ceará, Brazil.
Our home state, Ceará, has taken a big step forward for its youngest citizens, recently announcing the construction of 30 new daycare centres for children aged 0 to 3, with 10 in the capital Fortaleza and one each in 20 rural towns.
Nearly 8,500 children will receive the nurturing care, quality learning and safe spaces to play that they need for a good start in life. And it will cost their families nothing.
As Governor of Ceará, Elmano de Freitas, said at the signing ceremony, “What is being done here is something that is happening nationwide: the recovery of education. It’s a step forward in the structuring of an early childhood education network and, within it, the advancement of the full-time early childhood education network in Brazil and Ceará.”
The announcement in Ceará is part of a new phase of the federal Growth Acceleration Program (PAC Seleções), aimed at education, a nationwide initiative launched in February 2025 that includes R$1.83 billion (US$340 million) earmarked for new daycare centres.
In Fortaleza, the new centres will make major inroads into the waiting list of 10,000 children, but there is still much more work to be done throughout our state, where around 110,400 children (23% of those aged 0 to 3) were unable to attend daycare in 2024 due to barriers to access such as a shortage of places and nearby daycares, according to research by Todos Pela Educação.
Across Brazil’s different levels of government, it is well understood that the early years are the most important time in a child’s life, when most brain development occurs and when children will face the risk of major long-term disadvantages if they don’t receive adequate nurture, nourishment and education. Brazil, furthermore, has a progressive legal framework for early childhood, with universal access mandated for ages 4 to 6. As G20 president in 2024, it showed leadership on the issue, placing early education at the heart of a new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.
But in Ceará, as in much of Brazil, children from 0 to 3 years old are not adequately served. In 2024, 60% to 65% of children under three were enrolled in pre-primary education, compared to almost 95% of four- and five-year-olds, according to the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation). We aim to redress that imbalance, as well as to keep improving facilities all the way up the education ladder.
The progress we have made so far in Ceará, and the progress we will make in the future, has owed much to the sort of collaboration shown by the co-authors of this article – senior politicians at the state level and grassroots activists such as João Davi de Morais Barbosa Saraiva.
Our cooperation has demonstrated the importance of people in office listening to those young people who have direct, on-the-ground experience of the problems faced by often very vulnerable children lacking decent educational opportunities.
João grew up in Grande Pirambu, the largest favela in Ceará and the seventh largest in Brazil, where his grandmother, Dioneia Barbosa, has run a free daycare centre for the past decade, originally founded in 1981 as a volunteer project by the Belgian Father Caetano Minette de Tilesse. At the Arpoador community creche, activities focus on giving every child essential skills for a healthy childhood, including play, hygiene, meals and art. In 2024, it has received a UNICEF seal of approval as an Early Childhood Friendly Unit for the quality of its teaching and care. Parents have paid tribute to its positive effects on their children.
The daycare centre has not only helped thousands of children but also become a model hub for early childhood care in the city. Witnessing its activities first-hand also imbued João with passion to take its message and inspiration to the youngest children throughout his city and beyond.
As a budding journalist, João began sharing his stories about Arpoador. He became a Global Youth Ambassador with Theirworld, a global children’s charity chaired by Sarah Brown, which advocates powerfully for early years care and education and has projects worldwide.
At only 19 years old, João was able to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly in September 2025. He showcased his article in The Education Issue, a new annual newspaper looking at challenges in education, in which he reflected on his own experiences and lessons learned from his grandmother’s centre.
He was able to meet Brazil’s Federal Minister of Education, Camilo Santana. A video clip of their meeting, posted by the minister, was viewed thousands of times and received overwhelmingly positive responses. After a few days of discussions about the need for daycare centres in Ceará and Fortaleza, Mr Santana announced the construction of new daycare centres in his state.
As soon as João returned from New York, further opportunities to push for change opened up. He met state politicians such as his co-authors here, who were struck by his tenacity and commitment to improving the welfare of the youngest children.
During the production of his video for The Education Issue and after UNGA, João also met the First Lady of Fortaleza, Cristiane Leitão, and the Early Childhood Protection Manager, Lara Picanço, who are committed to improving early childhood services in Fortaleza. They discussed and provided input into the new “Inclusive Fortaleza Plan,” which includes the project “Living Childhood Fortaleza” that applies various SDGs to early childhood. Some of the outcomes are the Sunflower Spaces, which will offer free services and safe spaces to help neurodivergent children and children with disabilities, and the Children’s City, a new park with educational, artistic, and recreational activities for young children, families, and daycare centres.
Ceará strives hard to engage with the city’s youth. For example, its Young Environmental Agent Program offers training, monitoring and a monthly stipend to 10,000 young people from low-income families aged 15 to 29 to focus on environmental preservation, sustainability, and socio-environmental education.
But it is unusual for someone who grew up in a favela to be this involved in helping create policy and initiatives. The contribution of someone from João’s background is invaluable, as it gives the sort of insight that policy makers often find hard to access.
João is now studying Humanities and Digital Technologies at the University of Hong Kong on a scholarship, showing that activism and advocacy can take unexpected paths. Thanks to the video with Mr Santana and a connection made through Instagram, he has turned into something of a state representative for Ceará in Hong Kong, assisting a recent business and educational delegation from his home state. Discussions are now underway between Chinese institutions and the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará on educational and other programmes.
For a boy from the favela, this is an incredible journey that is only just beginning, while for politicians who represent João and millions of others like him, it is a powerful example of why they go into politics and why we must all remember to listen to and learn from the people in our communities.
Read the 2026 GEM Youth Report on youth participation in education legislation and policymaking.
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