UKRAINIAN HARM REDUCTION ASSOCIATION
16 Dovner-Zapolskogo ul., office 42B • 01001 Ukraine • Tel.
+380 44 536 17 78
Web site:http://www.uhrn.civicua.org
• E-mail: uhra-shapoval@ukr.net
Ukrainian Harm Reduction Association is a non-for-profit charitable organization, which started its activity since July 2002. The Association is created as a professional organization, its main mission consisting in dissemination in Ukrainian society of the best practices in the sphere of the struggle against HIV/AIDS epidemic adhering to the principles defined by the international human rights conventions and other related agreements.
In order to realize this mission the Association sets the following objectives:
- Work in the sphere of analysis and improvement of legislative
base in order to optimize responses of the public to the HIV/AIDS epidemic;
- Support for the development of Harm Reduction Program in Ukraine;
its topical and geographic growth;
- Development of professional basics of the Harm Reduction program;
- Development of the infrastructure for successful realization
of prevention programs and Harm Reduction Program, in particular;
The Association’s main areas of work:
1. Work in the sphere of IDUs and PLWA rights protection, overcoming stigmatization
and promotion of social integration;
2. Provision of informational, technical and other kinds of support for
Harm Reduction projects; ensuring continuation and development of Harm
Reduction Program’s activity in Ukraine; participation in the implementation
of international, state, regional and local programs aimed at HIV/AIDS
prevention in Ukraine;
3. Implementation of public control over the realization of the Harm Reduction
Program and other prevention programs, which are being realized or will
be realized in Ukraine;
4. Initiating and holding researches within the framework of harm reduction
strategy, including holding evaluation of efficiency of the Program’s
activity in Ukraine;
5. Development and support of the professional potential of the organizations-members
of the Association, creation of the resource database of the previous
activity of the Harm Reduction Program in Ukraine;
6. Informing the public and interested specialists about the results of
the Harm Reduction Program’ activity in Ukraine.
The founding members of the Association are 15 organizations, which are the most active and experienced ones realizing harm reduction projects in Ukraine during recent 3-5 years, having high indicators of efficiency, developed infrastructure and stable human resources potential, deep connection with target groups and authority at both local and national and international levels. Till 2003 the number of the Association’s members is expected to increase by 40 NGOs.
We consider creation of the NGOs network, efficiently implementing Harm Reduction projects among vulnerable groups of population in Ukraine to be a success.
1. Work in the sphere of IDUs and PLWA rights protection, overcoming stigmatization and promotion of social integration.
- Improvement of human rights policy for IDUs, commercial sex workers, PLWA within the framework of the harm reduction projects’ implementation;
- Improvement of legal conditions for more efficient provision of support for IDUs and PLWA in Ukraine;
- IDUs and PLWA rights protection;
- Improvement of the legislative base and policy in the sphere drug usage and problems of IDUs and PLWA.
Work in three main areas:
1. Creation of the network of constantly operating services on providing
legal support for IDUs and PLWA on the basis of harm reduction projects
in 23 regions of Ukraine;
2. Holding evaluation of the existing legislation in the sphere of drug
turnover and HIV/AIDS problems with the aim to formulate recommendations
on optimization of legislative base and mechanisms of the laws’
implementation, initiating related amendments into the laws, by-laws,
mechanisms ensuring implementation of the laws. This component will be
realized with involvement of lawyers-scientists, representatives of the
specialized Parliament committee, specialists of information and analytical
agencies as well as experts of international organizations operating in
this sphere;
3. Public education. Work aimed at decreasing the stigma, increasing of
the tolerance level and social integration of IDUS and PLWA in Ukraine.
This component will be realized with the participation of the specialists
of all-Ukrainian PLWA network.
2. Provision of informational, technical and other kinds of support for Harm Reduction projects; ensuring continuation and development of Harm Reduction Program’s activity in Ukraine; participation in the implementation of international, state, regional and local programs aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention in Ukraine.
- Participation in the realization of the international, regional and local programs aimed at the HIV/AIDS prevention in Ukraine;
- Holding intensive search of resources for ensuring activity of harm reduction projects’ activity;
- Participation in the related decision making bodies’ activity on distribution of available resources;
- The special project will be prepared with the goal to develop a mechanism of NGOs’ participation in realizing prevention programs by means of getting a social order from local government bodies. The mechanism of such cooperation will be developed, being a mechanism of the public’s participation in the process of creating local budgets and distribution of local budget funds for struggle against HIV/AIDS. There are plans to work out a mechanism on introduction of proposals for the deputies of local councils to add them into the local programs of socio-economic development and allocation of local budget funds for that.
3. Implementation of public control over the realization of the Harm Reduction Program and other prevention programs, which are being realized or will be realized in Ukraine.
- Creation and coordination of the work of the monitoring committee aimed at public control over the realization of the harm reduction strategy and other prevention programs. Among the members of the committee there will be representatives of the public, representatives of harm reduction projects in Ukraine, representatives of international organizations, doctors and officials. The objectives of the committee’s work will be as follows: defining the correspondence of the prevention work with the most vulnerable groups of the population with the real epidemiological situation and the needs of the target group, current monitoring of the programs’ realization, participation in the planning of the program’s activity for future, etc.
- Initiating joint projects with mass media, holding an active information activity.
4. Initiating and holding researches within the framework of harm reduction strategy, including holding evaluation of efficiency of the Program’s activity in Ukraine.
- In co-operation with the Institute of social researches the first unified survey of the projects’ activity was held; its goal was defining the efficiency of the Harm Reduction Program’s activity in Ukraine;
- Methodology of holding monitoring and evaluation of the efficiency of harm reduction projects’ activity is planned to be elaborated. The elaborated methodology will be recommended for usage for all harm reduction projects, which will provide an opportunity to acquire valid and comparable data;
- Participation of the projects in local and national researches, involvement of the projects’ representatives into the work of the respective experts’ groups.
5. Development and support of the professional potential of the organizations-members of the Association, creation of the resource database of the previous activity of the Harm Reduction Program in Ukraine.
- Working out methodological recommendations of the Harm Reduction Program in Ukraine. The work on preparation of the publication is being held by the group of technical advisers of the International Harm Reduction Program as well as the interested representatives of HR projects. Preparation and publication of the material is supported by East West AIDS Foundation. This book will become a summing up document of the practical results of many years’ activity of the program in the country; the book will be published at the beginning of 2003.
- On the basis of the developed guidelines on the management and realization of the harm reduction program the respective training film will be shot; it will illustrate the main moments provided by the methodological recommendations;
- Increasing the level of professionalism of the harm reduction projects’ personnel. Coordination of the creation of the national training center on preparation and probation of the projects’ personnel. Preparation of the respective group of trainers.
- In order to create a resource information center it is planned to renew the work of the information managers of the program in order to ensure connection between the projects’ network, providing them with the necessary technical and methodological information.
- At the site of the Harm reduction projects http://uhrn.civicua.org the information on the Association is located. It is planned to develop an on-line submission of applications on entrance into the Association as well as special section for accumulation of the projects’ experience. Also there plans to publish there the materials on Ukrainian experience of harm reduction program: reports of the projects, results of monitoring and surveys of the efficiency of the projects’ activity, a collection of the information materials, respective methods, programs of training courses and seminars, reports and feedback about the visited training courses, conferences, a collection of all articles, speeches, open announcements, creation of an all electronic library, regular update of the news.
6. Informing the public and interested specialists
about the results of the Harm Reduction Program’s activity in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Harm Reduction Association
All-Ukrainian Harm Reduction
Association is a non-profit, non-government, professional, charity organization
dedicated to HIV/AIDS prevention and drug related harm reduction.
