Welcome to the Entrepares Network: Popular Science and Mental Health

The Entrepares is an action research project that was born from the experience of two decades of the collective Entrelaços (www.entrelacos-ipub.com.br). Our goal is to train people based on their life experiences — people with experience of mental suffering, family members and community leaders — to act as researchers and agents of transformation in their own communities.

A Partnership from the South

We believe that knowledge should not come solely from the Global North or from a Eurocentric science that, for a long time, silenced the voices of the South. The partnership between Brazil and Mozambique aims to bring the continents of Latin America and Africa closer together through the collaboration of two Portuguese-speaking countries with a colonial past — with very different realities, it is true, but with many common points to be transformed through the exchange that a truly popular science can promote.

Our research takes on a political and ethical commitment to:

• Value ancestral wisdom: recognize the knowledge of indigenous peoples and the African diaspora present in local communities as fundamental to survival and well-being throughout history.
• Confront racism and coloniality: understand how the colonial past, racism, and inequalities directly impact the mental health of populations.
• Unite knowledge: combine academic knowledge from universities with popular knowledge in a horizontal way, enabling the emergence of what we call "popular science" and awakening communities to greater political activism.

Research Centers in Brazil and Mozambique

• In Brazil: we chose two communities in Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha and Complexo do Alemão, for a pilot project to train community researchers with life experience.
• In Mozambique: we chose the mental health service at Eduardo Mondlane University, which has experience in serving rural communities in Maputo and the strength of local community agents.

How the Research Works

The research spans 12 months and is divided into three main stages:

1. Training Stage (8 months): seminars and discussion groups on clinical, social and political topics. It includes bimonthly trialogy meetings that bring together people with life experience, family members and health professionals from community centers.
2. Field Research Stage (4 months): Community researchers (people with life experience, family members and community leaders who participated in the first stage) carry out a Participatory Rapid Diagnosis in their territories, using interviews with people in the community, mapping of resources in the territory and community walks to reflect on mental health care in the territory and propose changes.
3. Results Analysis and Dissemination Stage: Results will be analyzed and published in co-authorship with community researchers, ensuring that the knowledge produced returns to the community. Seminars will be held with the local community for dissemination and popular participation.

Follow Rede Entrepares

This space documents our journey through videos, photos, testimonials and collective productions.