Political scientist/researcher and harm reduction practitioner. Graduate in political science from Sciences Po - Paris. Since 2011 she has been working at Redes da Maré, a community-based organization in Rio de Janeiro, conducting action-researches. She is one of the founders of the first harm reduction drop-in center in a favela.

The presentation aims to describe how a community-led action-research program helped the process of structuring the first harm reduction drop-in center in a favela:  the Espaço Normal. Created based on the methodology of a grassroots community-based organization, Redes da Maré, Espaço Normal combines intervention, research, mobilization and advocacy. The project is a reference for contributing to broadening the harm reduction perspective towards a community harm reduction perspective once it is implemented in the biggest favela of Rio de Janeiro and an armed violence context by a community-based organization. Since 2015, almost 10 years, the project has been consolidating its methodology and developing research, mostly action-researches, independently or in partnerships with research institutions,  in order to adapt its strategies and practices. Through the presentation of the main challenges faced during four researches carried out by the team of the drop-in center since 2015, we will contribute to the reflection on research ethics and good practice when participatory research is conducted with people who use drugs in a context of violence. Also, it seems important to show how research is an ally to consolidate innovative harm reduction practices, including peer education strategies. Some points that will be addressed are : the challenges of collaboration between community-based organizations and universities; the limits of the participatory process in the different steps of the research with homeless people who use drug;  how to manage,  afterwards, the sharing of data and findings, and the transformation of findings on actions and interventions; and the tension of being, at the same time, researcher and harm reduction practitioner, among others.