ABOUT US
OUR IDENTITY
UNICATA is a university created by and for waste pickers of recyclable materials in Brazil, inspired by the popular education of Paulo Freire. Born from a collective effort, the institution aims to offer a learning space that is transformative and inclusive, one that values the knowledge of those who are already experienced in the work and technology of recycling.
METHODOLOGY
We embrace a learner-centered teaching model in which educators mediate and facilitate each student's learning journey. This approach is guided by the principles of the course's pedagogical model, which understands that knowledge is built collectively, ensuring that participants experience transformative and humanizing learning.
IMPACT
Our community forms and empowers outstanding professionals as coordinators and managers in solid waste management and popular education. By connecting with networks, UNICATA ensures that waste pickers and collectors contribute strategically to the recovery of recyclable materials and to sustainable social development..
OBJECTIVES
- Encourage processes for income improvement for waste pickers of recyclable materials;
- Cultivate values that promote the social inclusion of waste pickers
- Cultivate critical reflection through inclusive training spaces;
- Promote new forms of learning through community-based research;
- Build inclusive, innovative, and flexible curricular content grounded in popular knowledge, academic knowledge, and the needs of lived reality;;
- Facilitate access to public policies related to the work of waste pickers, for critical reflection;
- Expand UNICATA to other locations, allowing access to more waste pickers.
VALUES
- Protagonism and participation of waste pickers of recyclable materials
- Inclusion and diversity
- Cooperation and solidarity
- Critical thinking
OUR HISTORY
A JOURNEY OF LISTENING AND COLLECTIVE CONSTRUCTION
UNICATA is the result of a seed planted in 2005, through a cooperation between Brazil and Canada that brought together academics and waste pickers around participatory waste management.
This partnership matured and, in 2022, became an action-research project with the goal of co-creating a university based on Paulo Freire's pedagogy, involving the University of Victoria (Canada), the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), and other partners.
What began as a dialogue with 12 cooperatives quickly evolved. In 2023, we launched the first modules in São Paulo and Brasília. In the following years (2024, 2025, and 2026), Modules 2 through 5 were offered. In 2025, in addition to the continuity of the modules, the project also organized an international conference and began expanding to Canada, initiating a research project.
Our history is written by many hands, proving that the meeting between academic knowledge and popular lived experience is the engine for a more just and sustainable society.
RESEARCH FOR THE CREATION OF UNICATA IN SÃO PAULO
By uniting universities such as USP, UFABC, and the University of Victoria (Canada) with the voices of more than 700 waste pickers from 12 cooperatives in São Paulo, we co-created an educational model born from the real challenges and dreams of this community.
We systematized years of practical knowledge and scientific rigor to transform historical partnerships into a living, accessible university fully connected to the reality of those who make sustainability happen every day.
During our workshops, the name "UNICATA" emerged, along with the collective creation of its logo.
EVENT ON POPULAR EDUCATION IN SÃO PAULO IN 2025
Between May 16th and 17th, 2025, we held the 1st International Conference on Transformative Education for and with Waste Pickers of Recyclable Materials: "Co-creating a Popular Pedagogy," with the participation of educators and students from UNICATA, as well as partners.
The first day of the event took place at the São Paulo City Council, featuring various presentations, including international guests.
The second day of activities took place at the headquarters of our partner Pimp My Carroça, where a participatory workshop was held.
GOVERNANÇA
Copyright © 2026. all rights reserved
English 
Portuguese