National Briefing: Strengthening Families Programme Successfully Implemented in 12 Schools of Tashkent City

On June 19, the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan in collaboration with the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) organized a National briefing for the TV and radio channels, as well as for the print and internet-based information agencies.  The purpose of the briefing was to inform the wider public about completion of the scaling up cycle of the "Strengthening Families Programme for youth aged 10-14" (SFP 10-14) successfully conducted at 12 schools of 11 municipal districts of Tashkent city.

Representatives of the Ministry of Public Education, UNODC ROCA Drug Demand Reduction Team, national SFP 10-14 trainers, teachers and psychologists, youth leaders, parents and their children, and the mass media gathered in the Children Centre "Barkamol Avlod" in order to discuss the results of the SFP 10-14 implementation, share opinion and formulate future plans.

The briefing was opened by the Deputy Minister of Public Education Mr. Alisher Sadullaev. In his welcoming speech Mr. Sadullaev highlighted: "Cooperation with UNODC in implementation of the family skills programs gives positive results and I witness it today. Nowadays many parents are too busy at work and have many obligations. This program helps us to attract attention of parents to their children and allows parents to allocate special time for them. Only in collaboration with parents, schools and community we can bring up healthy and well-educated youth."

Mr. Borikhan Shaumarov, UNODC ROCA National Project Officer, presented the analysis of statistical data collected from participants during evaluation. The results of evaluation demonstrated statistically significant positive changes, youth increased knowledge about resistance to substance abuse by 39%, harmony within the family increased by 59% and communication between family members increased by 37%.  These positive figures of evaluation proved effectiveness of the program and showed that it reached main goals.

Families who participated in the briefing had opportunity to express face-to-face opinion to the Deputy Minister. One of the teenagers told that now he could say "No" to the bad habits of his friends and he can withdraw them from getting into the troubles.

Director of school #173 noted that she had a poor communication with her own kids. But thanks to participation in the program, and observing positives changes occurred with other parents, she improved relationship in her family.

The discussion, presentations, and videos shared at the briefing, as well as interviews obtained from organizers, national trainers and public education specialists were aired on the main national channels, such as "Uzbekiston 24", "Yoshlar", "Mahalla", "Davr," and published in the newspapers and Internet-based platforms.

The briefing once again showed understanding and close cooperation between the Ministry of Public Education and the UNODC ROCA. The "Strengthening Families Programme" is a part of the UNODC global project on "Prevention of drug use, HIV/AIDS and crime among young people through family skills training programmes in low- and middle-income countries".

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For more information

Please, contact Ms. Gulnar Kudaybergenova,

Training Associate, UNODC ROCA

Tel: +998 (71) 120-80-50

E-mail: gulnar.kudaybergenova[at]un.org