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Spotlight

Child Rights Observatory ENCRO

Egypt National Child Rights Observatory (ENCRO) is a tri-partite initiative aiming to put the bases for a scientific research mechanism

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The National Program for Protecting Youth from Tobacco & Drugs

1. Goal

To protect and prevent children and youth under 18 from drug and tobacco abuse through different innovative and creative methods to combat drugs such as combating peer pressure.

2. Objectives

• Comprehensive preparation of the youth and empowering them to combat drugs.
• Support the role of families since they are the front line for combating the problem.
• Empower NGOs working in the field of drug prevention, and establish a Union among them.
• Implement civil programs to mobilize local communities to combat drugs in 14 Governorates.
• Compiling the National Strategy for Protecting Youth from Drugs.
• Implement a comprehensive media campaign that includes; media messages, documentary film, and posters and brochures.

3. Time Span

January 2004- December 2007

4. Geographical Scope

The project was implemented in 14 Governorates; Cairo, Giza, Ismailia, Alexandria, Monofia, Sharkiya, Kafr El Sheikh, North Sinai, South Sinai, Fayoum, Beni Souef, Gharbiya, Minya, and Qena.

5. Target Group(s)

• Youth under 18 years
• Families
• Calibers dealing with youth; schools' social workers and youth centers' trainers
• Relevant NGOs' calibers
• Volunteers
• Media personnel
• Natural community leaders, and Moslem and Christian religious men

6. Achievements

Project's Achievements in the fields of:

6.1. Preparing and empowering youth to combat drugs

• Trained 12,000 youth in 200 schools, 100 youth centers, and 19 camps on becoming youth leaders, and the different methods of implementing drug prevention activities.
• Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education, to merge the youth empowerment program within the formal activities of the schools. A pilot phase was implemented in 100 schools and currently a plan is being made to mainstream this experiment nationwide.
• Established a network between the trained youth leaders to increase communication and exchange experience.
• Established a unit within the Ministry of Education to prevent school students from smoking and using drugs.
• Trained 400 volunteers, 300 social workers in schools and youth centers, and 100 religious men on the latest prevention programs and its implementation tools.
• Established a well equipped training center to build capacities of calibers working in the field of drug prevention.

6.2. Supporting the role of families in combating drugs

• Raising awareness amongst 4000 families through 300 workshops on principles of parenting and their role in protecting their children from drug abuse

6.3. The National Strategy for Protecting Youth from Drugs

• The Strategy was compiled with all concerned parties who contributed in setting its goals and dividing responsibilities. Partners included all governmental parties and concerned NGOs including the youth themselves.
• The Strategy was launched by the H.E. the First lady of Egypt, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak in June of 2005.

6.4. Supporting relevant NGOs

• Implemented 49 community mobilization projects in 14 Governorates to combat drugs.
• Established the Egyptian NGOs' Union for Drug Prevention.
• Organized 12 training sessions to build capacities of calibers working in 55 NGOs and trained them on the latest drug prevention curricula.

6.5. Training Calibers

• Compiled a comprehensive set of manuals targeting; youth, families, trainers, and media personnel.
• Trained 400 volunteers, 300 social workers in schools and youth centers, and 100 religious men on the latest prevention programs and its implementation tools.
• Established a well equipped training center to build capacities of calibers working in the field of drug prevention.

6.6. Media Campaign:

• Conducted a guiding documentary film and booklet on the methodologies of modern prevention.
• Produced 10 radio spots that aim at commending the cultural misconceptions related to smoking and drugs, and broadcasted it in a number of Egyptian radio channels.
• Produced 3 media spots targeting the youth and family.
• Designed and published a set of posters and brochures.

6.7. Exchanging Experience

6.7.1. Regional Level

• Organized the High Level Arab Conference for Protecting Youth against Drug Abuse in June 2005 in Cairo; in participation of 17 Arab countries. The National Strategy for Protecting Youth from Drug Abuse was launched during the proceedings of the conference.
• A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Dubai Police in which resulted in a sequence of camps with participation of 300 youth from Egypt and United Arab Emirates. Also both cooperated in organizing training sessions to train social workers in the program.
• The Program's training manual was implemented in several Arab countries such as Bahrain, Lebanon and Syria.
• Participation in MENTOR'S workshop in October 2008 in Beirut, Lebanon.

6.7.2. International Level

• Participated in a workshop lead by MENTOR Association in Dubai December 2004 to present Egypt's experience in the field of drug prevention.
• Participated in a Workshop Drug Prevention organized by the UN in February 2005 in Vienna, Austria. The program shared its experience as the represented model in the Middle East.
• Participated in the International Conference to Combat Addiction in Abdu Dhabi in March of 2007 to present the program's experience in the field of drug prevention.

7. Non-Implementing Partner(s)

• Italian Cooperation, UNODC

8. Implementing partner(s)

Ministry of Education, Solidarity, Media, The National Council for Youth, National Council for Combating Drugs and the NGO Union and all its pertaining NGOs,

9. Challenges

• The difficulty of evaluating the prevention efforts and the need to develop the monitoring and evaluation tools.
• Calibers working in the field are weak and their methods tend to be monotonous and traditional.
• The need to train and empower all cadres and social workers in the field on best techniques of dealing with the youth the new methods of combating drugs
• There is a general disagreement seen by school administrations and youth centers in applying the program inside their facilities due to the fact that this could reflect an indirect confession that there is a drug problem in their schools and centers.
• The absence of a comprehensive database concerning the problem's status in Egypt.