"Nós+Seguras" Program

The Nós + Seguras (More Safety for Us) program was created to prevent gender-based violence from the ground up, working in an integrated way across the Secretariat for Women (SEM-RJ), the Secretariat of Education (SEEDUC-RJ), and the Secretariat of Health (SES-RJ), with technical partnership from Serenas, to make schools safer and more welcoming places, as well as to drive social transformation for girls and women by guaranteeing and upholding their rights.

In 2025, according to the Dossiê da Mulher 2026 (Women’s Dossier 2026), around 21.1% of rape victims in Rio de Janeiro were up to 11 years old, and 25.9% were between 12 and 17 years old. In addition, the Pesquisa Nacional da Saúde do Escolar (National School Health Survey, PeNSE) found that in the state of Rio de Janeiro, 26% of girls between 13 and 17 years old reported having been touched, manipulated, kissed, or having had parts of their body exposed against their will at some point in their lives, as of 2024.

Drawing on its technical expertise, Serenas supports the development and implementation of training programs for professionals across the Secretariats involved, with actions that extend all the way down to the classroom level. The goal is to strengthen the capacities of educational leaders and technical teams to prevent gender-based violence, through training sessions and educational materials that guide the identification and proper referral of cases and the humanized, non-revictimizing support of survivors, as well as the integration of a gender lens into pedagogical planning.

With training sessions and materials planned through 2027, the initiative aims to ensure that students are informed enough to recognize situations of violence, know how and where to report them, and access the protection network within the school environment. At the same time, it promotes the building of healthy relationships, helping to break intergenerational cycles of violence. The program also includes training for educational leaders at both the central and regional levels of the state education network, as well as for municipal coordinators of the School Health Program (Programa Saúde na Escola). Alongside these training sessions, we have also developed guidance and pedagogical materials for educators, students, and managers at Organismos de Política para Mulheres (Women’s Policy Bodies).