Centrs MARTA

The project aimed to provide wider access to prevention education for vulnerable youth exposed to substance abuse disorder, with focus on tobacco, alcohol and cannabinoids. The project’s goal was to create a network of youth workers trained for inoculating a preventive attitude towards substance use disorder. We have also created a prevention manual that includes NFL methods and guidelines, adaptation for different groups and `recipes` for creating prevention campaigns. 

The target group was formed of active youth workers and volunteers engaged with youngsters at risk of social exclusion. Beneficiaries we engaged with (urban & non-urban) are: ethnic minorities, illiterates, affected by poverty, precarious family background, disabilities, aged 13-21 y.o., since these are, individually or combined, vulnerability factors for developing an addiction.

Project’s objectives:

• By the end of the project, 75% of the youth workers and volunteers involved will demonstrate advanced content knowledge of prevention work as measured by assessing outcomes on ex-ante and post project’s development.
• Raising the level of awareness with at least 50% among the participants involved in local actions of the relation between substance abuse disorder and social exclusion, employability, health, financial and social status by the end of the project, through NFL methods developed in a prevention manual. Measured after each action, through questionnaire.
• Granting access to preventive education for minimum 1000 beneficiaries/partner by the end of the project, by transferring the practice of preventive education as an optional or compulsory object in the curriculum of 10 organizations/partner within project’s duration.

• We conceptualized, tested and designed 40 methods of preventive education on substance abuse and included them in a manual of preventive education available for youth workers, teachers, professionals in education and support services for youth.
• We equipped 85 youth workers in four learning activities with competences and methods relevant for delivering qualitative prevention work. Most of them are actively using the project results and some of them became real ambassadors of preventive education in their communities and organizations.
• More than 15 organizations from Romania, and 10 from Latvia and Estonia imported the practice of preventive education, with a focus on vulnerable youngsters. Moreover, a spin-off initiative, namely a new NGO started to provide preventive education for disadvantaged teenagers using the methods and concept promoted by Prevention++ project.