Fiotec was one of the institutions invited to participate in the seminar Access to Justice for Black Women and the Policy of Care, on July 27, promoted by the Public Defender's Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The event took place in allusion to the International Day of Black, Latin American and Caribbean Women (25/7) and brought together specialists, activists, social leaders and representatives of the justice system to discuss the protection of rights, the defense of care providers and the urgency of a policy based on care.

Céu Pozzali, Sustainability and Diversity analyst, represented Fiotec at the meeting and actively participated in the proposed discussions. In her speech, she highlighted the institution's continuous support for Fiocruz projects that combat racism and other forms of discrimination, in addition to internally, in her administration, promoting a consistent agenda focused on diversity and inclusion.

Regarding the National Care Policy, the subject of debate during the Seminar, Céu said it represents a fundamental initiative in the fight against structural inequalities, by proposing a fairer and more shared reorganization of the social responsibilities of care between the State, the private sector and civil society. "This is an important step towards the recognition of care as a right, as work and as a collective responsibility", he added.

During her speech at the Seminar, Céu Pozzali, Sustainability and Diversity analyst, also defended that it is essential to build the Policy based on an intersectional perspective, acknowleding the multiple ways of being a black woman in Brazil. "Black cis and trans women, women with disabilities, indigenous people, quilombolas and many others experience care — and the denial of it — in different ways, crossed by layers of oppression and invisibility." For Céu, the National Care Policy can contribute significantly to the promotion of human dignity and to the overcoming of historical patterns of exclusion, as long as it recognizes and incorporates this diversity of experiences at its core.

Collective construction of public policies

Céu sees the invitation made by the Public Defender's Office as an important symbol that it is essential to build public policies based on active listening and dialogue with the territories. Institutions, such as Fiotec, have an important role in showing themselves as truly committed to the promotion of human rights and the confrontation of racism and gender violence. "As a black woman, being able to occupy this space, listen to and dialogue with other women — cis, trans, indigenous, with disabilities — was to reaffirm that care needs to be understood from an intersectional perspective, which recognizes our different experiences, bodies and histories," she celebrates.