Contributor(s): | Organised under the auspices of LSE and UNESCO, this international seminar brings together multiple voices from Brazil and the UK to discuss how ground level experiences of social development intersect with governments and policy-makers in shaping decisively processes of policy design and implementation. This dialogue builds on the lessons of Underground Sociabilities, a multiple stakeholder research partnership that mapped life trajectories and strategies of bottom-up social development in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Since the realisation of the research, LSE and UNESCO have led a series of international events focusing on the continuing dialogue between government bodies, policy-makers, NGOs, activists, researchers and disenfranchised citizens, and the role of grassroots agencies in bridging the gap. This event is supported by the LSE Knowledge Exchange Programme.