Bio
Matej Košir is the Director of the Institute for Research and Development »Utrip« (UTRIP) (www.institut-utrip.si). He has been working in prevention and advocacy in the field of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs for more than 22 years. He is the author, co-author and reviewer of scientific articles and evaluator of European projects in the field of health and research. He is a lecturer and facilitator of various education and training courses in the field of prevention and advocacy. In the period of 2015-2016, he worked at Oxford Brookes University in the UK, as the project manager of their European project in the field of prevention science (»Science for Prevention Academic Network«). In the period of 2017-2019, he was an external consultant to the World Bank Group in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of alcohol and tobacco policy and prevention, and in 2021 an independent consultant of the Organization of American States (OAS) and its Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD). In Slovenia, he has been leading the network »Preventive Platform« (www.preventivna-platforma.si) for more than 10 years, in which over 40 different (mostly non-governmental) institutions and organization actively participate or support. Since 2006, he has been involved in more than 25 European projects in the fields of health, justice, education, youth and research as a project or work package leader. He is the co-author and co-developer of the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC), published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in September 2019 (https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/manuals/european-prevention-curriculum_en) and the contributor to the second updated edition of the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention, issued in 2018 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) (https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/prevention/prevention-standards.html). In 2017, the European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) has awarded him with »Leading European Prevention Science Practitioner Honour« at the 4th EUSPR conference in Vienna (Austria). In 2020, the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) has awarded him and his wife (Sanela Talić) with »International Collaborative Prevention Research Award«. He is a PhD student in Preventive Science at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb (Croatia), President of the International Confederation of Research Associations in the field of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ICARA) (https://www.icara.info/) and Deputy Chairperson of the Vienna NGO Committee (VNGOC) on Drugs (https://vngoc.org/).
Abstract
How investing in advocacy can improve the situation in the field of evidence-based prevention policy and practice
Over the last decade, the Utrip Institute has invested heavily in improving advocacy knowledge and skills, and helping to create some successful advocacy coalitions, particularly in the areas of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis policies. At the same time, the Utrip Institute paid great attention to the promotion of and advocacy for evidence-based prevention, especially regarding the implementation of UNODC/WHO International Standards on Drug Use Prevention and European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS). Significant progress has been made in prevention policy and practice, the number of preventive interventions and trained programme providers has increased, and funding for prevention programmes and advocacy campaigns has increased as well. However, many challenges remain for the coming years, in particular in linking long-term and sustainable funding to the implementation of standards, improving the culture of monitoring and evaluation, and improving formal and non-formal forms of education and training for the preventive workforce. The authors will present the key results and good examples in the field of prevention in Slovenia in the last decade and the challenges for the future. The results will be presented by some collected quantitative and qualitative data and information from different national and international sources.