On July 23, Joana Monteiro, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Leme, participated in the third meeting of Brasil Adiante, an initiative promoted by Estadão to bring together experts around proposals addressing the country’s main challenges. Held in São Paulo, the event discussed issues related to public security and organized crime, with contributions to be included in a document to be delivered to the next President of the Republic after the 2026 elections.

Joana took part in the panel “Why Can’t Brazil Reduce Violence?”, alongside Renato Sérgio de Lima, President of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, and Rodrigo Pimentel, a former BOPE captain and co-author of the films Elite Squad. The discussion was moderated by Victor Vieira, an editor at Estadão, and addressed the main challenges to achieving a sustained reduction in violence in Brazil.

During her participation, Joana emphasized the importance of giving greater political priority to the public security agenda and defining strategies based on the main problems faced in each context.

“Public security is not purely a matter of law; it is a matter of incentive design and the use of information. Just as in healthcare we do not rely solely on doctors to end an epidemic, in public security we cannot rely solely on police officers to solve security problems,” she said.

The meeting’s program was dedicated to discussing proposals for public security and featured two thematic panels. In addition to the debate on the factors that hinder the reduction of violence, experts participated in the panel “Is Organized Crime Better Prepared Than the State?”, which focused on the challenges posed by the expansion of criminal organizations and strategies to strengthen the public sector’s capacity to respond.

Brasil Adiante is a series of meetings organized by Estadão and curated by journalist Fábio Barbosa. The initiative brings together experts from different fields to discuss solutions to the country’s main challenges and develop an agenda of proposals to inform the next government cycle. At the end of the project, contributions from the discussions will be consolidated into a document to be delivered to the President-elect, bringing together recommendations for the first 24 months of the new federal administration.