This paper discusses the contributions of the harm reduction approach towards educational practices relating to health and drugs, in non-formal situations, from an analysis on the theoretical and methodological fundamentals and activities of a project developed by the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, among educators from nongovernmental organizations in Rio de Janeiro, from 2006 to 2007. Guided by a qualitative approach, this study analyzed the educators' professional practices, the paths taken and the institutional context, by means of document analysis, interviews and direct observations. The findings revealed that the educators had appropriated and given new meaning to the concepts dealt with in the project, in relation to education for autonomy, harm reduction and vulnerability, guided by a dialogical and critical approach towards the knowledge construction process.
Health education; Drugs; Harm reduction; Methodology; Educator training