Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence Programme in the South East Europe region
UNODC in partnership with the Lions Clubs International Foundation are working closely together to assist further school-based prevention competences in South East Europe (SEE). In this context, the evidence-based drug use prevention programme “Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence” was introduced to the region in 2014 in the first SEE country, Serbia. Following the successful implementation, the programme was gradually expanded in 2015 to Montenegro and North Macedonia. Moreover, with the two-year implementation modality, it was further expanded to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and also re-piloted in previous countries where initially a one-year implementation modality had been utilized so far.
The Lions Quest “Skills for Adolescence” programme is a school-based drug use prevention intervention by the Lions Clubs International Foundation. The programme targets students in the age group of 10-14 and emphasizes social-emotional learning, aiming to develop refusal skills to effectively cope with peer pressure, enhance scholastic achievements and students’ attachment to school, and delay, or optimally prevent, the onset of drug use. Lions Quest is implemented by previously trained teachers directly in the participating schools and comes free of charge, as a ready-made, fully comprehensive package. Characteristics of the programme are associated with positive prevention outcomes and are in line with the UNODC-WHO International Standards on drug use prevention.
Until today, the programme has been implemented in cooperation with the Ministries of Education across the SEE region ( five countries) and in 185 elementary schools, reaching more than 7,000 students. Furthermore, the programme was expanded also as a result of the same collaborative effort in Central America (El Salvador, Panama) and West Africa (Ivory Coast).
Research conducted in the SEE region has shown that the programme can live up to expectations, displaying positive trends in terms of substance use, normative beliefs, reduced intention to use substances, and refusal skills among the groups exposed to the programme.
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El programa “Habilidades para la adolescencia” Se puede plantear que es en esa etapa en la que se produce procesos de maduración biológica, psíquica y social de un individuo alcanzando la edad adulta y que culmina con la incorporación plena del sujeto a la sociedad. Por ello sería importante comenzar con la educación en edades más tempranas fomentando la autoestima, toma de decisiones y lograr minimizar la exposición a los riesgos. para lograr el involucramiento de los adolescentes en actividades comunitarias y el entrenamiento en habilidades sociales y de resolución de problemas.