Youth Action articles shared through the UNODC Youth Initiative provide opportunities to highlight youth-led and youth-focused achievements on drug prevention, health promotion, and youth empowerment from different parts of the world. This week, we are featuring the efforts of the DAPC grantee CAZAS from Montenegro, who partnered with UNODC in promoting substance use prevention in youth in 2020, and is now returning as a new partner in implementing a new project with the support of DAPC grants.
With their new project, CAZAS aims to empower youth aged 12 to 15 with skills and knowledge to be more resilient against substance use in Montenegro. They are focusing on enhancing the agency of young people, and creating safe and supportive environments in schools. CAZAS’s own survey with youth revealed that 83% of youth felt they didn’t have opportunities to develop soft skills and social and emotional skills, and that psychological services in schools were not responsive to their needs. Recognizing the pivotal role of schools in shaping young minds, CAZAS will conduct training skill building programmes through the school as a setting. CAZAS hopes that reinforcing SEL skills in youth will help youth to integrate skills, attitudes, and behaviors to deal with daily tasks and challenges effectively and ethically. CAZAS has mapped out and is engaging schools that will be participating in the project, as well as relevant government counterparts and stakeholders. With summer holidays in place, CAZAS will be actively engaging with students and youth once the school semester starts back!
CAZAS also took part in DAPC’s 30-year celebration this year, by participating in the high-level side event at the 66th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs that celebrated DAPC’s long-time fundraising efforts on supporting global drug use prevention initiatives. CAZAS shared experiences, best practices, and lessons learnt through its previous project “EmPOWER YOUTH”. Older students in high school were targeted in the previous project, along with parents, teachers, and other education stakeholders. For more information on how the DAPC funds have benefited the Montenegrin communities through CAZAS’s work, please view their interview here:
As they did with the previous project, CAZAS continues to strive to involve youth to be active contributors in their current project to achieve a dynamic and engaging learning environment. Stay tuned for more updates from CAZAS’s project!
Thanks to the generous support of the Drug Abuse Prevention Center (Japan).