Project “Sexual Exploitation, No!” creates network to prevent sexual exploitation in popular communities in Rio de Janeiro

Promundo, in partnership with Projeto Legal, has been developing, since August 2011, with funding from Child Hope, the project “Sexual Exploring, No!”, which aims to strengthen a network to combat sexual exploitation in Rio de Janeiro. January.

All in all, the “Sexual Exploitation, No!” It will last four years and aims to reach 400 young people with awareness-raising workshops, legal advisory services, advocacy with sexual exploitation prevention networks, in addition to the creation of community campaigns to disseminate the topic. The workshops last around six months in each community and, so far, are taking place in Maré, Complexo do Alemão, Boa Vista (Duque de Caxias) and the Salgueiro community (São Gonçalo). At the end of April, the project arrives in Cidade de Deus and will continue on an itinerant basis in other communities in the coming years.

Discussing Gender and Sexuality

The project addresses topics such as gender, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, care, as well as the main focus: violence and commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. In Maré, where it has been developed since January, the workshop was called “Discussing Gender and Sexuality”.

Andreza Jorge, workshop facilitator, believes that the involvement of young people in this discussion is very important. “If the intention is to carry out work that promotes combating the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, it is necessary to listen to these young people and understand how discussions on the topic reach them”.

Some results can already be seen in the participants’ reports. Student Rafaela Silveira, 17 years old, found out about the workshop through local publicity with pamphlets and posters and says that it has managed to positively change some pre-conceived ideas about the topic. “I know that there is still a lot of machismo in Brazil, which is why spaces like these are necessary so that we can discuss and change thoughts. This way, we will be able to increasingly multiply new positive attitudes and achieve gender equality.”