Successful completion of the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence training in Croatia

4-8 July 2022, Pula, Croatia: UNODC, in partnership and with funding from the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF), the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education, and with the technical support of the Croatian Agency for Education and Training finalized the first phase of the implementation of the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence (LQSFA) programme in Croatia in December 2021.

Based on this positive experience, the Education and Teacher Training Agency of Croatia sought UNODC support to train local trainers with the aim of expanding the LQSFA programme to all schools in Croatia. Consequently, ten social pedagogues were selected and trained to become certified national trainers for the LQSFA programme. The five-day intensive training focused on effectively transferring knowledge to other teachers working with children.

The LQSFA programme is an effective evidence-based prevention programme for young people aimed to help them develop various social emotional skills, take responsibility, communicate effectively, make healthy decisions and resist substance abuse.

The LQSFA programme was initially launched in South-Eastern Europe in 2014 and gradually expanded to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia reaching more than 7,700 students in over 180 elementary schools across the region. Following a strict evidence-based implementation modality, the programme proved to be effective and showed encouraging results in substance use reduction, the intention to use drugs and dissuasive effects on the engaged students on substance use in their local environment.

Building on the gained experience in the region and the momentum, UNODC is looking forward to line up a new pilot of the LQSFA programme in Slovenia, starting in the second half of 2022.