Planning in Drug Demand Reduction: training on the new tool "OneStep@atime"
The first edition of the Planning Workshop on Drug Demand Reduction: Training in the Use of the "STEP@ATIME" tool, for Southern Cone and Andean Countries was held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on July 30 and 31. The welcome ceremony was attended by Secretary of State Dr. Roberto Moro of the Secretariat of Comprehensive Drug Policy of Argentina (SEDRONAR), as host entity of the activity.
The planning of any drug demand reduction (DDR) intervention is a necessary task to improve the effectiveness expected after the intervention. The implementation and its results depend fundamentally on the coherence in the design of the different aspects to be considered, from the initial definition of needs and priorities, to the evaluation of the results and/or the impact achieved. OneStep@atime is a virtual tool that guides the process of design and evaluation of an intervention in a given territory and context, facilitates access to quality information, contains work forms, provides tools for sharing documentation with other professional teams, and facilitates instruments for analyzing the quality of intervention planning. This tool has been developed to facilitate the institutional tasks of professionals responsible for proposing and implementing DDR interventions that aspire to be effective. Therefore, it is an application designed to improve professional skills and facilitate the work of design, planning, development and evaluation of DDR interventions.
The meeting in Buenos Aires was attended by a total of 26 people from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela which considered the tool very didactic as well as the explanation provided by the trainers was recognized as very clear to guide the use of it. This, together with the personalized treatment for the participants, benefited the understanding in its use. The positive impact of ordering the objectives, the use of indicators, the theoretical framework, while homogenizing the criteria and instructing the team and reinforcing collaborative work were also highly valued.
Next editions of the workshop will be held in Nassau (Bahamas) and Panama City (Panama), during the last quarter of 2019.
Progress in other DDR action areas
In the area of Validation of Quality Criteria and Evidence Base in DDR, intense work has been carried out during these months. The third meeting for the adaptation and validation of the criteria agreed in COPOLAD I in the Caribbean countries took place in Suriname on 13 and 14 June in the city of Paramaribo. In this meeting a compilation of the situation between the countries was made, and work continued with a view to the compilation of results that will take place during the important Bi-regional Conference for the exchange of best practices on this subject, which will take place on 27 and 28 November in Panama City, and which will also bring together the countries of Latin America working in this area within the framework of COPOLAD.
In the section of online training, the international and national editions of the courses this year are coming to an end with high participation by professionals from Latin American and Caribbean countries. COPOLAD continues to promote the implementation of its courses at the national level.