Increasingly, urban violence is a problem in the world, and traditional
development models are sometimes inappropriate to rapidly changing urban
contexts where the sense of ownership and appropriation of common space is
key to effective programming. Faced with the relevance of the traditional North–
South model, the growing importance of South–South Cooperation (SSC) as a form
of development cooperation generates positive ways forward in overcoming the
limitations of the existing model. This paper outlines the experience of Viva Rio,
a Brazilian NGO that works through a community participatory framework that
is unique in style and Brazilian in origin. Viva Rio has addressed urban conflict in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, by drawing on principles and techniques developed in Rio de
Janeiro and strategically applying them to the Haitian context. The paper describes
this experience and develops it into a framework of knowledge transfer. It describes
Viva Rio’s modalities and how it has been productive because of its ability to adapt
to on-the-ground realities.