Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries (UNODC)

Piloting the Strengthening Families Programme in Kyrgyz Republic

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, March 2018 

The Strengthening Families Programme (SFP,10-14) is a parent, youth and family skill-building programme aiming to prevent substance abuse and other behaviour problems among teenagers. SFP 10-14 is being piloted in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science, the Republican Drug Treatment Centre of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Kyrgyz Republic; and the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighboring Countries. The activity is supported with funding from the European Union.

 The first stage of SFP implementation was conducted through a 4-day training workshop in Bishkek from 27-30 March 2018. During the workshop, 26 teachers/ school psychologists from 3 schools were trained under direct supervision of two international SFP experts and will serve as national SFP facilitators.

 Upon completion of the SFP training workshop, the first out of seven-primary sessions of the SFP programme was led by national facilitators in the schools. The international SFP experts provided their feedback on the national facilitators' initial training sessions. In total, 60 families in 3 schools will benefit from the SFP programme through 7-week sessions that will be held during March - May 2018.                    

Prior to the SFP training workshop, a coordination meeting was held between the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic. The main objective of this meeting was to further discuss activities in the area of drug prevention supported by UNODC. The Senior Programme Coordinator of the UNODC Regional Programme, Dr. Jeremy Milsom, talked about the proven the effectiveness of the family skills training programmes in preventing substance abuse, delinquency and risky sexual behaviour among youth. Ms. Abdyldaeva, chief specialist of the department of pre-school, school and out of school education of the Ministry of Education and Science, referred to the need for seeking new opportunities to scale up family skills programmes in the rural areas. She pointed out that the UNODC could be helpful in reinforcing the evidence-based family skills programmes in the Kyrgyz Republic.