"In the face of many changes, the process of creating, participating, and maintaining a public space affords migrant families much needed 'social capital' that builds stronger families, more closely knit networks of families, and more neighborliness and social governance."

Published by the Alliance for Open Society International (AOSI), this 30-page report is part of a series of publications describing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s "Drug Demand Reduction Program" (DDRP), which was launched in 2002. The DDRP funds non-governmental organisation (NGO) endeavours to address social problems among vulnerable populations involved in or at risk of involvement in drug use in Central Asia. Organisers contend that geography and recent socio-political events, including the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Afghan conflict, have contributed to increased heroin transmission. At the same time, various issues (e.g., male economic migration, concentrations of rural to urban migrants on the edges of cities, economic and social pressures, etc.) have exacerbated community disadvantage and driven ever-increasing numbers of people in Central Asia toward crime, have undermined already-fragile economies, and have threatened to overwhelm health systems. The 5-year DDRP sought to engage all levels of society in reducing demand for heroin and other opiates by educating intended populations on drug-related issues and promoting healthy lifestyles providing access to alternative occupational and leisure activities.

Specifically, the Tajikistan sites reviewed for the DDRP Drug free Public Social Spaces Model development process include:

1. Taekwondo National Federation (TNF), Dushanbe - TNF manages a sports complex for men and women in Dushanbe (the capital city). Following persistent advocacy, the TNF was able to mobilise the local communities and to obtain permission from the local city administrations, or "hukumat", to establish drug-free social spaces. Two sports fields were constructed, with new park benches and tables surrounding the play areas to encourage mixing between long-term residents and recent arrivals in the city. Also, the local community participated in the effort to renovate a building as a gathering point for both long-term residents and migrants. A series of DDR seminars were held, with a process centred around interactive discussions based on animated videos.
2. NGO DARK, Chkalov, Sughd province - After the Tajik civil war, many rural migrants came to Khujand and Chkalov, settling in an area of apartments with no sports or recreational facilities. This area reportedly has high levels of crime, fights, and drug dealing, as well as a large influx of rural youth and a high percentage of female-headed families. The Noviy Rayon sports field project aimed to provide an opportunity for recent migrants and long-term residents to make joint decisions about a new community resource and to discuss the issue of youth drug use.
3. NGO Tashabbuskor, Mastchoh district, Sughd province - In 2004, NGO Tashbbuskor received a DDRP grant for construction of a sports field (in which the local community volunteered to carry out a significant part of the work), as well as advocacy activities, a public awareness campaign, and DDR education. As part of the project, a locally born former drug user who had become a successful sports personality was invited to participate in sessions on the theme "Sports Against Drugs"; the purpose was to decrease stigma and discrimination. Community leaders, mahalla committee representatives, and religious leaders were invited to the trainings and provided input into discussions.
4. Taekwondo Club Pamir, Khorugh, Mountainous Badakhshon Autonomous province - Recognising that drug smuggling is common here due to proximity with the Afghan border, Pamir Club carried out a drug-free community space project in 2004. The organisation began with community mobilisation: actively involving key persons including mahalla committee representatives, informal youth leaders, leaders among long-term residents, and migrants. Pamir Club sports trainers conducted DDR seminars, developed a drug-free social space (a sports field), and integrated migrants into the urban community by ensuring that sports team membership is based on place of residence (rather than on "status").

Benefits of these projects may be summarised as follows:

• "Drug free space is a space where children can play with children and where adults and extended kinship networks can gather and interact....Through this phased intervention, a targeted group of adults, parents, migrant families, and mahallas, rather than being treated as fragmented populations needing separate or distinct interventions, are directly involved and collectively empowered to create a community level response to reducing drug demand. The DDRP Drug free Public Social Spaces projects facilitated social contact among recent arrivals and their longer term urban-resident neighbors in a friendly atmosphere that combined social activities with drug demand reduction education..."
• "The drug free spaces projects focused on migration: one of the most important and unrecognized influences on HIV and drug use risk."
• The DDRP projects provided access to difficult-to-reach, vulnerable populations. "Each project sought initially to open a dialogue between newly arrived and longer term residents. In each case the creation of a drug free social space was a tangible and achievable goal that required community cooperation to complete. The completion of the project also...created social mixing aimed at building social capital."
• The projects provided visible improvements to community infrastructure, which can lead residents to take greater pride in their neighbourhood.
• Drug-free spaces can serve as catalysts for sustainable community activities.

Here are some key recommendations and lessons learned:

•  At the structural level, interventions need to consider issues such as policy, gender, and marginalisation of risk groups. At the community level, interventions need to address issues of power, community norms, social networks, and social capital. At the individual level, interventions need to address issues such as literacy, socioeconomic status, agency, and health seeking behaviour.
• Social capital creates connections among individuals by creating links of obligations (and, thus, trust), permitting people to exchange information, and increasing pressures on individuals to behave in a socially desirable manner. But "Migrants face special challenges of maintaining social cohesion within their communities in exile as well as building links with local populations in an environment in which the structures that previously supported social capital are missing..."
• A social capital network in some form must already exist, and appropriately motivated individuals are prerequisites for action to occur. In Central Asia, hashar, a pre-Soviet form of collective voluntary work, is a mechanism for mobilising community assistance.
• Caution should be exercised when anti-drug coalitions undertake community anti-drug initiatives because they may serve to repel and increase stigmatisation of individual drug users.
• Maintaining good relationships with local authorities is crucial to DDR project success. Without the support of locally elected officials, it is difficult to obtain permission from police or medical services to work with groups such as sex workers and active drug users.
•  With regard to pre-project planning:
  • The selection of a place for building a drug-free space should be on a competitive basis through advertisements in newspapers to attract local community interest and through analysis from a recognised research company of available data about the number of migrants in each district.
  • The characteristics of the intended group should be clearly defined to ensure effective project implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
  • A good understanding of the city is important (e.g., areas of disadvantage, high migrant populations, and drug dealing should all be considered).
  • The languages spoken in the intended group must be determined, and sensitivity toward the use of the national language must be considered. This may mean planning for appropriate staff and making materials available in more than one language.
  • Local leaders of the government administration, police, and health authorities should be engaged. When approaching local administrations, migrant issues should be framed in clear terms of fostering relationships among local long-term residents and migrants as well as reducing the risk of drug use and HIV. The absence of DDR and reproductive health education from local school curricula may require further attention.
  • The community should be engaged through seminar-based needs assessments, and the starshina (elder) in each building should be approached. Traditional community mobilisation, hashar (organised through community leaders), offers the potential for ensuring long-term maintenance of equipment supplied through projects.
  • A system of referrals, either for drug treatment, street business, or further involvement as a volunteer with local NGOs, is integral.
  • Public events such as World AIDS Day are opportunities to collaborate with other organisations and raise the profile of DDR projects.
• During project initiation, organisers found that initial seminars in private apartments are useful to assist in determining community needs; the NGO DARK noted that individuals who attend the initial seminar are more likely to be among the most motivated and frequently progress to working as volunteers and peer educators. Roundtables with parents as well as local religious and community leaders introduced the project activities to local communities and served to promote the projects. Word-of-mouth following project commencement was particularly effective method of increasing enrollment in courses. Involving local informal youth leaders in the process was also stressed, and high-profile local sports personalities were involved in some projects.
• As the projects progressed, organisers learned that:
  • The DDR seminars allow word of mouth to spread among residents. Community leaders should be invited to observe actual seminars and discuss issues with local residents.
  • Specific recreational facilities should be prepared for each age group and gender, and separate DDR and reproductive health seminars should be provided to males and females.
  • Videos and accompanying interactive teaching style were very popular with youth at all sites surveyed. Community discussion forums can facilitate genuine social support networks among residents. Seminar role plays can assist individuals in real-life situations involving drug use.
  • Because of stigma, anonymity is important. Disadvantaged migrants living in larger cities without authorisation may need initial assistance in obtaining a document showing internal residency registration ("propiska") as a trust-building measure.
  • Re-design of public spaces should facilitate social mixing of both parents and children, which helps build the feeling that children are safe outdoors.
• Baseline behavioural surveys of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour (KAB) should be undertaken where feasible.
• Staff training and capacity building "served a valuable function in facilitating the development of inter-organizational referral networks and information sharing among recipients. Well-established local NGOs frequently provided capacity building assistance for smaller NGOs."

Contact

Please open the document, and scroll to pages 24 and 25 for detailed contact information for all those involved in this project.

Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) Express, May 29 2009; and email from Rustam Alymov to The Communication Initiative on September 9 2009.