"Construyendo Familias" or "Strong Families" is a family-based prevention program currently being piloted in Pereira, Colombia to build the skills of families in an effort to support the mental health of caregivers and their children of both sexes. The cost-effective program targets families parenting children between 8-15 years old under stress, including the Internally Displaced, refugees, those in conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as those in very rural settings.
Drug use is a critical problem in Colombia, with the consumption of psychoactive substances having serious repercussions on public health and communities. To address this, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) aims at changing the culture of prevention of drug use to align it with science. This is namely articulated through its global programme on prevention hosted within the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section. This cultural shift in prevention aims at supporting the health and safe development of children by addressing vulnerabilities at different ages of their development to reduce risk of early drug use and other negative social and health outcomes. In this context family functioning, bonding, and communication when based on scientific evidence approaches represent an important pilar of support for healthy and safe development of children.
The family skills output of this global program has been active in various countries since 2010 in collaboration with the various national and regional offices of UNODC. However, a gap existed in serving families living in low-resource settings, particularly those parenting in particularly stressful contexts. To address this, the global programme developed the Strong Families package, first piloted in Afghanistan and since then its piloting experience grew to over 40 countries globally.
In Pereira, the capital of Risaralda, drug consumption is double the national average, and minors start using drugs at an early age, with some street children even reporting deaths due to heroin overdose. With the possibility of an upscale at a national level, the program is seen as an important contributor for addressing the drug problem in Colombia and other countries facing similar issues.
As part of the Strong Families introduction to Pereira, a training of trainers was conducted in Colombia in collaboration with the UNODC Regional Office in Colombia that covers the Andean and Southern Cone region. The training involved theoretical and practical training of facilitators, and verification of cultural relevance. The theoretical training is currently being followed by a pilot training, which entails the implementation of the programme in at least two groups of twelve families each, under the supervision of a UNODC professional. Simultaneously, the cultural relevance of the programme will be tested and its effectiveness will be evaluated to ensure its integrity within the Colombian society.
The training process of national facilitators in Pereira has proven to be effective and evidence-based, with participants reporting acquiring new skills to reach out to caregivers, generate playful spaces with a defined and achievable purpose, and manage socializing tools effectively. The general objective of the operations is to train a sufficient number of facilitators on the "Strong Families" program, leaving the installed capacity in the municipality so that they can strengthen families in Pereira and further in Dosquebradas.
The theoretical training was evaluated by means of a satisfaction survey completed by the 36 participants at the end of the training. The survey revealed that 91.7 per cent of the participants were very satisfied with the training and found it to be very relevant to their professional activity. The majority of participants (91.7 per cent) also indicated that they were likely to use the knowledge they acquired in the next six months. The evaluation showed that participants gained significant new knowledge from the training, with 86.1 per cent indicating that it was very significant. Participants were also very satisfied with the content and general topics of the course. 100 per cent of participants responded positively to the question of whether the training provided them with new teaching skills for their work with children, caregivers, and families.
This initial pilot and growing experience with Strong Families will be followed soon by documentation study reflecting on the effectiveness of this programme on families benefiting from it in Pereira.