PERSEPOLIS: Participatory ExperiRienceS EmPOwering Local InitiativeS in Iran

The fourth component of the programme will focus on national policies and operational strategies aimed at combatting the drug scourge. Considering that sustainable solutions to the drug menace have to be deeply rooted into the social culture, the project will assist the national Drug Control Headquarters in enhancing the national anti-drug and criminality culture. Interventions will target specifically the cultural and ethical aspects of the individual and institutional fight against drugs and criminality, by rewarding positive examples of this struggle and by initiating public campaigns on the societal cost of the drug and criminality cultures. The mass media, including cinema, TV, radio, newspapers, as well as arts, intellectuals and people-owned cultural events will serve as preferential vehicles for implementing the activities of this project. With a view to facilitating the mobilisation and active participation of the civic society in the anti-drug effort, the project envisages to strengthen the capabilities of national drug control institutions in planning community based drug control strategies and interventions. Training on participatory planning methodologies will be provided to national institutions, which are responsible for drug control policy making, and to a pool of specialized participatory planning moderators created within these institutions. The moderators will then serve as the key persons for the decentralisation process under which local, community designed drug control action plans will tackle the specific problems of the drug issue in the I. R. of Iran.