The FC Barcelona and MAPFRE Foundations have inaugurated an exhibition called Building Dreams, Sport as a Driver of Social Change, which offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the violence prevention programme that the two institutions are running in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

The main objective of the initiative is to address children and young people from the vulnerable communities in these cities, generating spaces and activities that use sport as a tool to educate in values, that foster inclusion and social cohesion and that promote women's empowerment and dialogue for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

Building Dreams, composed of nearly 40 photographs, 13 information panels and a video, is set in the context of the Maré favela and narrates the personal stories of some of the participants and how they overcame such extraordinary difficulties.

Since its launch in 2011, the programme has benefited more than 13,000 girls, boys and young people from different communities in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. And more than 500 local educators have received training in the FutbolNet methodology developed by the FC Barcelona Foundation.

The official presentation was attended by Dr Marta Segú, general director of the FC Barcelona Foundation, and Ricard Garzó in representation of the MAPFRE Foundation.

During her speech, Segú highlighted that "the Building Dreams exhibition tells people about the work that has been done over these years in the Maré favela, with more than 140,000 inhabitants, one of the largest in Rio, marked by violence and drug trafficking. It's a very insecure context, but in which there is room for peace and hope, which is what we are working towards."

For his part, Garzó said that "from the MAPFRE Foundation we are very proud to help, together with the Barça Foundation, thousands of Brazilian children in extreme poverty by offering education in the values that sport can use to generate new opportunities for social integration."

The project coordinator of the FC Barcelona Foundation in Brazil, Rayana Santuchi, presented information about the context of the Maré favela and the stories of two boys and one girl who have participated in the project and which can be seen during the visit to the exhibition.

The inauguration also featured a performance by Afro-Brazilian singer-songwriter Mirla Riomar of the song Zauê, which she composed when she was 13 years old when she was living in the Pau favela in the city of Badia. That song was the result of her participation in a similar project to the one in Maré, and in it she speaks about a little girl and her dreams and hopes for a better future.

Força Barça