45 years old, single mother of 2 children. Black woman, raised in the Favela of Maré. Harm Reduction specialist, she began her career in 2014 at Caps ADIII, a public mental health facility, and coordinates currently a Drop-in and Harm Reduction Center, in Maré, Rio de Janeiro.

‘Women on the Scene’ is a project which aims at a reflection and interventions process centered on women who frequent a harm reduction center and drug use scenes in Maré, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The project, which takes place within a consolidated harm reduction drop-in center that serves approximately 140 people per day, mainly men, experimented with creating a space where appropriate care practices could be developed specifically for homeless women who use drugs. Throughout one year (2023/2024), the profile of the attendees was identified through in-depth interviews with 62 homeless women and/or drug users, as well as the main demands from the monitoring of a group of 15 women. The project also developed a series of practical strategies as the opening of an exclusively safe space for cis and trans women. The presentation aims to present the implementation, the challenges, and the main proposals that emerged from this process. On the one hand, the two main themes that were developed in the attempt to produce harm reduction strategies from a gender perspective will be presented: the insistence on health care as the gateway to the project's trajectory and the creation of a 'space of belonging ' to address the multiple forms of gender-based violence. On the other hand, it is also important to present the challenges in adopting a gender-based perspective for the work of harm reduction professionals within a mixed space. The presentation will attempt to contribute to the reflection on harm reduction practices from a gender perspective.