We are excited to publish the first issue of the Maahara Digest! The aim of the digest is to create awareness and facilitate discussion on promoting social cohesion and addressing the vulnerabilities in our communities. Through the issues, we would also be showcasing the work of our sub-grantees and partners and their positive community-oriented approaches to promoting resilience!
The first issue of the Maahara Digest captures the work Journey, an NGO dedicated to promoting drug prevention and treatment, addressing societal stigma, and supporting recovery. This issue also highlights the findings and promotes the best practice of conducting a risk and protective factor assessment for drug prevention efforts.
Since 2021, Transparency Maldives has been supporting Journey’s drug prevention project, RISE. The RISE program was developed based on the International Standard on Drug Use Prevention (Second Edition) compiled by UNDOC and WHO. The RISE program follows NIDA and the International Standard on Drug Use Prevention Guidelines and has been conducted in 13 additional islands over the past 9 years. The program aims to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors for vulnerabilities within communities.
With our support, Journey has conducted the RISE Program in 4 different local communities, which include Fuvahmulah City, Kulhudhufushi City, N. Velidhoo, and Addu City. The following activities have been conducted under the RISE program in all the afore-mentioned local communities:
- 4 needs assessments to understand the risk and protective factors for vulnerabilities within the island community.
- 4 stakeholder sensitisation workshops, for 109 participants to create a sense of ownership of the program and gain community support and trust.
- A total of 94 youth and 106 parents have been trained through a 5-day youth camp and 5-day parent camp to empower youth with necessary skills for prevention and making healthy choices and empower parents to deal with their children and youth.
- A one-day youth camp was held to provide guidance and support to active users and provide information regarding the referral systems and a total of 406 individuals have been reached.
- Through a door-to-door outreach activity to provide guidance and support to active users and give information about referral support and interventions, a total of 3,587 individuals has been reached.
- After the RISE activity in each island community, a bi-monthly outreach is conducted in each island until the end of the RISE project, and to-date, a total of 406 individuals have been reached.
View/Download Mahara Digest Issue 1 here