City of God gets its own currency.
CDD has an equivalent value to the real and is only valid within the favela of Rio de Janeiro; the currency entitles consumers to discounts of up to 10%.
Cidade de Deus, a favela in Rio's west zone, today received its own currency, which honors illustrious residents of the community on its banknotes. With a value equivalent to the Brazilian real, the CDD will only be valid within the neighborhood and will entitle consumers who use it to discounts of up to 10%.
The project was developed by the Rio de Janeiro city government and the city's Secretariat for Solidarity Economic Development. The goal is to stimulate local commerce, preventing residents from leaving the community to shop in neighboring areas.
"If there is no internal consumption in the community, local wealth flows away to other areas," assessed the Secretary of Solidarity Economic Development, Marcelo Henrique da Costa.
Around one hundred merchants have already registered to receive the CDD – among them a coconut candy vendor who made his first sale using the currency. The project will be operated by the Cidade de Deus Community Bank, which will also provide access to credit lines in reais for small business owners and loans in CDD for consumers.
The lowest denomination note, worth 50 cents, features an image of the Baron's House, a building erected in that region during the colonial period. The 1, 2, 5, and 10 CDD notes depict the faces of illustrious residents.
Dona Geralda Maria de Jesus, 82 years old, appears on the CDD 1 note. A resident of Cidade de Deus since 1965, she created a group that distributes milk and bread with butter to pregnant women and needy children in the community.
The community's social currency project was inspired by models from the Conjunto Palmeiras neighborhood in Fortaleza, where the palma coin circulates, and the municipality of Silva Jardim in Rio de Janeiro state, which adopted the capivari coin.