UNODC "Strengthening Families Programme" is Spreading Out to All Regions of Uzbekistan

5-7 November 2018, Tashkent, Uzbekistan - "The moto of our programme is "Listen First!" which means, if we do not listen to our children, they will have to look for attention outdoors, outside of their homes and may be misled. Majority of us, as parents, are trying their own model of parenting. But children are very different from us. They require different approach. So, we aim to make it possible for children and their parents to become friends." - shares his experience Mr. Umidullo Sattarov, the national trainer of the "Strengthening Families Programme for youth aged 10-14" (SFP 10-14) during the training organized on the republican level.

More than 70 teachers, psychologists and youth leaders from 14 pilot schools of Uzbekistan participated in the SFP 10-14 ToT (training for trainers) in Tashkent. For three days, they were learning new skills from the SFP 10-14 Modules.

As a family skills training programme aimed at decreasing the use and intention to use tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs, children's behavior problems, and increasing children's social and life skills and family cohesion, the SFP 10-14 went successfully through the analysis and adaptation by the experts of Uzbekistan.

"We have been maintaining our cooperation with UNODC for more than 6 six years now. And this cooperation is developing and scaling up. Our joint initiatives fully satisfy the requirements of the current reforms taking place in Uzbekistan, specifically in terms of drug use prevention. We are working on adaptation and implementation of the international best practices that UNODC offers to Uzbekistan." - highlighted Mr. Akbat Tagaev, the deputy head of the Department on Spiritual and Moral Education of the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In 2016-2018, the SFP 10-14 was successfully implemented in 19 schools of Tashkent city, reaching out to 240 families.

Having witnessed real changes happening to families, teenagers, and teachers after participation in the SFP 10-14, the Ministry of Public Education made a decision to expand the Programme to all the territories of the country.

"Our compliments go to the Ministry of Public Education and the Government of Uzbekistan for initiating the concept of "Happy Schools" in the country. We are delighted that the modules of SFP 10-14 will be transferred to all the "Happy Schools" in the country. The "Happy Schools" project will be implemented in 13 regions of Uzbekistan and you will be a key part of the initiative." - said Ms. Ashita Mittal, UNODC Regional Representative for Central Asia, in her address to the training participants.

The SFP 10-14 will serve as a basis programme to the "Happy Schools" project of the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The project aims to assist in maintaining healthy and positive environment at schools through teaching the family skills - strengthening supportive attitude in the families, increasing resistance to stress and peer pressure, as well as creating trustful relationship between teenagers and their parents.

The trained specialists will return to the pilot schools and conduct trainings for families. Moreover, they will transfer their knowledge to other teachers from schools in the region on weekly basis as a part of the project Roadmap developed by the Ministry. It is expected that initially the "Happy Schools" project will reach out to nearly 140 families and will be cascaded further. 

The "Strengthening Families Programme for youth aged 10-14" is a part of the UNODC global project on "Prevention of drug use, HIV/AIDS and crime among young people through family skills training in low- and middle-income countries," and is implemented within the framework of the Sub-Programme 3 "Drug Prevention, Treatment and reintegration and HIV Prevention" of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2015-2019.

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