I'm Cecília Olliveira, a journalist, Atlético Mineiro fan, co-founder of The Intercept Brasil and founding director of the Fogo Cruzado Institute. Investigative journalism is my obsession and over the last two decades I've tried to combine this craft with the production of data on urban violence.
It is based on these principles that I work professionally.
In journalism, I cover drug and arms trafficking and violence, especially that of armed groups. To help strengthen the journalism I believe in, I am now director of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism - ABRAJI.
Focusing on violence coverage, I am a member of The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and part of the Security Sector Reform (SSR) Advisory Network to the United Nations.
As an advisor, I'm on the board of the Institute for Integrated Transitions - as a specialist on the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Program team -, of the Institute for the Study of Religion and of Agência Pública. I am also on the advisory board of “Reframing Justice in Brazil”, a project by Porticus Latin America, Oak Foundation and FrameWorks Institute, focused on the criminal justice system.
I have a postgraduate degree in Crime and Public Security from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and in Drug Policy, HIV and Human Rights from the University of Texas. I also attended the Latin American Advocacy Fellowship Program on Drug Policy Reform as an Open Society Fellow in London. I was also a fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation, where I worked on creating innovative solutions to combat armed violence based on technology and open data.
I have worked as a consultant for Amnesty International Brazil, LEAP Brasil and Redes da Maré. I coordinated communications for the Program for the Reduction of Lethal Violence against Adolescents and Young People (PRVL), a partnership between UNICEF, the Presidency of the Republic and the Favelas Observatory.
Frustrated with the lack of public data, I started mapping shootings in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. This idea became Fogo Cruzado, now an Institute, which uses technology to produce and disseminate open and collaborative data on armed violence. Today, FC is spreading to other large municipalities in Brazil, including cities in the Amazon.
Because of my work, I was the only Latin American finalist for the 2020 Reporters Without Borders Press Award, which celebrates intrepid and courageous voices in the global media. Through my coverage, my work has also been recognized in major awards such as the OJAs - Online Journalism Awards, the Vladimir Herzog Prize for Amnesty and Human Rights, Yes to Racial Equality, One World Media, Sigma Data Journalism, the Gabo Prize, etc.
I also received a tribute from the Innovare Award for the idea of Fogo Cruzado, which came second in the Justice and Citizenship category at the 18th Award in 2021.