DAP As a Pioneer

has been at the forefront of identifying and addressing substance use related challenges as they arise.

DAP HAS MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS IN:

  • Identifying the existence of child addiction in three continents;

  • Developing global prevention and treatment protocols for children and a child substance use disorder treatment training curriculum;

  • Conducting global child substance use disorder treatment trainings;

  • Mobilising religious leaders to engage in demand reduction to change communities;

  • Initiating on-site toxicological testing to determine the proportion of toxic adulterants added as "cut" within psychoactive substances;

  • Launching an initiative specifically to address the treatment needs of rural populations; and

  • Reaching-out to substance using women around the world with evidence-based programming, including the Afghan Women Shelter Project, which helped to create the Colombo Plan's new Gender Affairs Programme.

DAP Network of Initiatives

DAP’s presence goes beyond Asia and the Pacific through its partnerships with countries in Africa and the Western Hemisphere. DAP’s programmes span a variety of initiatives and approaches which form a network of activities that cover capacity-building and technical assistance. DAP’s beneficiaries are either government agencies, civil society organisations, educational institutions or individuals working in the field of drug demand reduction worldwide.

Recognising the importance of cooperation among agencies. DAP bring together governments, and non-governmental and international organisations to identify gaps in drug demand reduction and come up with a coordinated and unified response to the health and social problems related to substance use disorders.

DAP'S INITIATIVES ENSURE A HOLISTIC APPROACH

TO ADDRESSING SUBSTANCE USE RELATED ISSUES BY::

  • Rendering expert advisory services;

  • Developing effective prevention programmes;

  • Encouraging youth participation in drug demand reduction;

  • Improving access to treatment and rehabilitation;

  • Training for the drug demand and supply reduction workforce; and

  • Credentialing for treatment and prevention professionals.

  • Expert Advisory Services

  • Recovery

  • Prevention

  • Youth

  • Treatment

  • Credentialing

  • Drug Free Workplace

  • Training

  • Curriculum Development

  • Special Populations

  • Treatment and rehabilitation

  • International Technology Transfer Centres

Expert Advisory Services

Recovery

Recovery from substance use disorders is more than just not using alcohol or other substances. It is a long-term process of learning to live life and solve problems without alcohol or other drugs. DAP focuses on equipping individuals who themselves are in recovery and those individuals who do not identify as being in recovery with necessary competencies and skills to achieve and sustain recovery.

Prevention

DAP promotes early intervention strategies to prevent and reduce the impact of substance use disorders (SUD) via its prevention network, and caters to the needs of communities by providing on-going support, capacity building and technical assistance that promote SUD prevention in common settings such as schools, workplaces, and communities.

Youth

Treatment

DAP aims to ensure that addiction practitioners develop a balanced perspective of the principles relating to both the science and art of addiction treatment. To this end, DAP works towards providing an in-depth continuing education with the latest information and skills-based activities to further enhance the capacity of the treatment workforce and standardize the quality of care and services they provide for their clients.

Credentialing

The Global Centre for Credentialing and Certification (GCCC) functions as the credentialing arm of DAP. DAP’s curriculum development and training allows GCCC to focus on maintaining high standards, expanding the areas of ICAP credentialing/certification, and ensuring countries have strong policies to promote best practices and certified service providers, a professional SUD workforce.

Drug Free Workplace

The workplace is also an opportunity to provide employee training on the impacts of substance use and to promote sustained recovery. Drug Free Workplace programs are designed to build and sustain a healthy atmosphere for both employers and workers. The overall goal is to build capacity for global drug demand reduction utilizing the Drug Free Workplace curriculum and strategies that prevent drug use and promote sustained recovery.

Prevention

DAP promotes early intervention strategies to prevent and reduce the impact of substance use disorders (SUD) via its prevention network, and caters to the needs of communities by providing on-going support, capacity building and technical assistance that promote SUD prevention in common settings such as schools, workplaces, and communities.

Curriculum Development

DAP, in collaboration with Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), has been taking the lead in provision of capacity building initiatives around the world by developing substance use prevention, treatment and recovery support training curricula. The Universal Curricula are the timely response to the need for evidence-based services to prepare health care workers for professional credentialing.

Special Populations

DAP recognizes the importance of addressing the needs of special populations such as children, women and the LGBTQ community. DAP aims to increase treatment service providers’ capacity to identify, assess and effectively treat special populations with substance use disorders and proposes culturally responsive treatment services to provide appropriate treatment services and strategies for diverse populations with special clinical needs.

Treatment and rehabilitation

DAP supports 86 substance-use treatment centres in 28 provinces in Afghanistan which offer services in inpatient residential, outpatient and home-based settings services for about 25 000 individuals annually. Over the past decades, these centres have contributed to Afghanistan’s treatment system to undergo a process of maturity. Our vocational training project helps those in recovery attain self-sustainability through a holistic approach to rehabilitation and after care services.

International Technology Transfer Centres (ITTC)

Technology Transfer Centres (TTC) are intended to bridge the gaps in prevention, treatment and recovery support services to address drug use and addiction. These centres will be able to build the communication and capacity needed to provide scientifically-based and culturally appropriate services for SUDs. Currently there are ITTCs in South Africa, Vietnam and Ukraine with many more countries expected to join.

Capacity-Building

Part of DAP’s work is building the capacity of the drug demand reduction workforce worldwide. To achieve this end, DAP collaborates with international advisory panels of experts to develop training curricula in the areas of prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.

DAP invests in the development of training curricula that are evidence-based, which go through a cycle that involves tapping expert panels, pilot testing, review and revision, and adaptation.

The training programmes conducted using these curricula help ensure that the quality and appropriateness of local, national and regional systems for drug demand reduction are supported and constantly improved.

Courses Available

Core

UTC Basic Level consists of eight courses that cover the broad spectrum of addiction treatment. It is designed to ensure that addiction practitioners develop a balanced perspective of the principles relating to both the science and art of addiction treatment. Each course is intended to enhance the knowledge, skills and competencies of addiction professionals, as well as promote evidence-based practice for the enhancement of service delivery and treatment outcomes.

UTC Advanced Level is a set of 14 courses, developed to provide a more comprehensive and theoretical foundation in the clinical practice of substance use disorder treatment. It is a specialised training course that aims to provide an in-depth continuing education with the latest information and skills-based activities to further enhance the capacity of the treatment workforce and standardise the quality of care and services they provide for their clients.

This curriculum is designed to educate substance use prevention practitioners on the science, knowledge, skills, and competencies associated with the implementation of evidence-based prevention interventions in various settings such as family, school, workplace and community. This training series is designed to meet the current demand for an evidence-based curriculum for substance use prevention that would complement the existing Universal Treatment Curriculum for Substance Use Disorders (UTC) for addiction treatment professionals.

Specialized

This curriculum is designed to develop provider skills in delivering culturally responsive prevention and treatment services for LGBTQ populations. This training will provide participants with an overview and understanding of the considerations that health providers should take into account to provide inclusive services aimed at people with diverse Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) with a particular focus on the treatment of disorders due to the use of substances.

WISE was created to increase understanding of women’s unique treatment needs and how to address them through practical knowledge and techniques. The four-course curriculum specifies how treating women for substance use disorders differs from treating those of men, and how to respond to women’s needs appropriately. It offers participants the tools and strategies to identify, assess, and treat women for substance use disorders with the goal of improving and optimizing outcomes and sustaining recovery.

CHILD provides treatment providers with the tools they need to identify, assess, and treat children with substance use disorders (SUDs) using age-appropriate interventions and methodologies. It is a six-course training programme that responds to the needs of children and their caregivers impacted by substance use and life circumstances of various social, cultural, economic, and political situations.

RSS helps social workers of the community to create the groundwork necessary to facilitate programme acceptance and community participation, and build a successful programme in prevention and treatment, with a focus on continuing, long-term effects. It also helps outreach and treatment workers to develop a range of outreach services and treatment camps to reduce the risks of drug use and improve health, and well-being, for substance users in rural and isolated areas.

ATI constitutes an innovative treatment model that focuses on the effectiveness of reducing the risk of criminal recidivism, providing effective treatment of problematic drug use and assuring adequate social integration. It increases treatment opportunities in the community for people with substance use disorders under the jurisdiction of the justice system who can safely receive this intervention without the need for incarceration. In doing so, ATI supports recovery and social integration of the individual and promotes the overall health and safety of the community.

This curriculum consists of two stand-alone courses: the Recovery Allies (Allies Link and Lend Inventive Engaging Support) Model and the PEER (Peer Experiences Empower Recovery) Model. Both courses focus on equipping participants with core competencies and skills to work as a recovery support professional. PEER is designed for those individuals who themselves are in recovery from a substance use disorder and the other is for those individuals who do not identify as being in recovery.

Download pdf

Child Intervention for Living Drug-Free (CHILD) Project

Addressing substance use disorders (SUD) in children is a challenge because mainstream SUD treatment services are mainly designed for adults and adolescent populations. There is little guidance to help treatment practitioners who are providing services for children falling in the age between infancy and adolescence. Left untreated, a growing population of children with SUDs could compromise the health, safety and stability of communities and nations.

Through its CHILD Project, DAP is ensuring children’s access to age-appropriate SUD treatment modalities by building the capacity of treatment practitioners to provide suitable interventions for children by addressing the gap that is characterised by treatment providers’ need for guidance in developing interventions that support children in the process of treatment and recovery from SUD.

Special Focus: Afghanistan

Drug Advisory Programme (DAP) started collaborating with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in late 1990s which resulted in the initiation of technical and financial support for establishing substance-use treatment centers in Kabul in 2005. Over the years, DAP support for Afghanistan increased to launch other programmes including faith-based substance use prevention, preventive drug education in schools, universal curricula training for treatment and prevention professionals, rural-based prevention and treatment, government institutional capacity building and women leadership programme.

Support to Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers

DAP provides financial and technical support for the operation of 86 substance-use treatment centres in 28 provinces of the country, which offer services in inpatient residential, outpatient and home-based settings. These centers are run by the Ministry of Public Health and NGO partners namely WADAN, SSAWO, ARC, ASP and OHSS. Treatment services are providing services for adult male/ female, adolescent and children in six provinces. Annually a total of around 25,000 clients receive treatment services in the 86 treatment centres across the country. With the aim of cost-effective and sustainable community-based approach for drug demand reduction programmes, DAP has developed rural-based prevention and treatment model and piloted it successfully in Afghanistan.

Preventive Drug Education (PDE)

The Preventive Drug Education project (PDE) was piloted in 2010 in the schools of four Afghanistan provinces of Kabul, Herat, Balkh and Nangarhar. The PDE lesson plans were later disseminated to 22 provinces. In 2017, the Universal Prevention Curriculum was implemented for the teachers of Afghanistan under the PDE project. Another of PDE’s highlight is its youth programmes. The Afghanistan Youth Congress is aimed at educating the Afghan youth on substance use prevention and building their personal skills. DAP also awards small grants and provide capacity building opportunity to Twenty Outstanding Youth Organisations (TOYO) to support their work in substance use prevention for Afghan youth. Currently, PDE project has reached 29 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan.

UTC Training for SUD Treatment Staff

DAP’s universal treatment and prevention curricula training programme in Afghanistan aims to expand the workforce and improve the quality of treatment and prevention services in the country. Started in 2012, the programme has trained over 1000 professionals on basic level of treatment curriculum containing eight courses, and over 150 professionals on Core and specialty tracks of prevention curriculum.

Afghan Women's Leadership and Fellowship (WoLF) Scholarship Programme

DAP embarked on implementing the Women’s Leadership Fellowship Program in 2017 through a partnership with Asian University for Women (AUW) and in collaboration with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) with the aim of empowering a generation of Afghan female leaders by nurturing and preparing them to navigate the abundance of challenges they will face. The fellowship gives these women an exclusive opportunity to serve their country as civil servants in government institutions and provides the potential for them to grow into their roles as government officials.

Institutional Capacity Building Programme

This initiative intends to improve and enhance the capacity of public institutions to perform their tasks more efficiently and to carry out its legally mandated roles and responsibilities more effectively with minimal external assistance. To improve its policy, coordination, and administrative skills, DAP deploys subject matter experts to areas identified in an independent study. This project has recorded some major accomplishments, including convincing tribal elders and communities to agree to not cultivate poppy in government-controlled areas, religious scholars issuing a fatwa against poppy cultivation and usage, and obtaining Nangarhar Province’s consent to eradicate over 300 hectares of poppy.