ANNUAL REPORT 2011

Annual Report 2011

A message from the Coordinators:
There were a number of notable achievements for Youth RISE in 2011. In the area of governance, Youth RISE became an independent entity, signifying Youth RISEs continued growth and success over the past years. We also appointed our first Board of Directors and redefined our structure, further solidifying Youth RISE as a network and ensuring we remain accountable to our constituencies. This increased stability allows Youth RISE to continue building our movement for change. This new organizational status has been accompanied by a revamp of our visual identity with the launch of a new logo and website. In 2011, Youth RISE also engaged in a greater diversity of activities, deepening our national and regional presence. The International Working Group (IWG), which consists of a diverse group of skilled young people from Albania, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda, were instrumental in our project development and implementation. Activities have ranged from grassroots peer-to-peer harm reduction training to engagement in international drug policy dialogues. As we look back on 2011, we are also looking forward to an exciting 2012. We look to engaging more young people in the movement and raising awareness of the importance of drug policy and how it impacts so many lives. We know that the future of drug policy reform and effective responses to drug use lies in our youth. The young drug policy reform and harm reduction activists of Youth RISE continue to demonstrate commitment and action, and amaze and inspire us.This should give us all confidence in a future for more humane drug policy.

Anita Krug International Coordinator Chantale Kallas Network Development Coordinator Robin Pollard Operations Coordinator

Youth RISE is...

Youth RISE (Resource. Information. Support. Education) is an international, youth-led organisation of young people committed to confronting the reality that young people today live in a world where drugs are more accessible on the street than the education and resources needed to reduce their harm. Current drug policies focused on prevention ignore the reality that some young people around the world use drugs for a variety of reasons, and they are getting sick, being incarcerated, and too often being shunned from society. This is unacceptable. Youth RISE aims to raise-up the voices of young people affected by drug policy, those who use drugs and those who seek to empower them.

Annual Report 2011

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In April 2011, the Youth RISE team had a two day strategic planning meeting with participation of all staff and IWG members. The meeting was important for setting the future course for Youth RISE as we redefined our mission and vision, and identified our strategic focus for the next 3 years.

Mission & Vision

Youth RISE is a youth-led network promoting evidence based drug policies and harm reduction strategies with the meaningful involvement of young people who use drugs and are affected by drug polices. Youth RISE envisions a world where society responds to drug use among young people through humane and evidence based policy and practice.

Strategic objectives
During the strategic planning meeting, Youth RISE identified six key strategic objectives: 1. Increase public awareness on the ineffectiveness of current drug policies, in particular the adverse impacts of drug policies on young people; 2. Mobilise, engage, and facilitate youth involvement in the drug policy reform movement; 3. Facilitate engagement of young people who use drugs and ensure their voices are heard at all levels; 4. Promote evidence based harm reduction interventions for young people who use drugs; 5. Engage in targeted regional, national and issue related advocacy; 6. Increase evidence to support advocacy and inform an effective response.

Governance
An important goal for Youth RISE in 2011 was to improve our organisational independence and strength. We progressed in a number of important areas, developing and solidifying our organisational structure and presence.Our first Board of Directors was created, increasing our accountability and improving our institutional strength. The Board will be critical in providing oversight and ensuring Youth RISE is fulfilling its mission. Our Board of Directors are:Directors are: Niamh Eastwood, Executive Director, Release Damon Barrett, Senior Human Rights Analyst, Harm Reduction International Caitlin Padgett, Independent Consultant and co-founder of Youth RISE Aram Barra, Drug Policy Programme Director, Espolea Youth RISE has been hosted by Release since 2009, an organisation which has given us guidance and support and with whom we have built a strong partnership. In order to continue our growth, build on our successes and strengthen our presence and work, Youth RISE officially registered as an independent organisation in the United Kingdom in September 2011. In addition, Youth RISE has also worked towards reviewing, redefining and strengthening its network structure. The network has now opened up for organisational membership thus improving its ability to develop strategic partnerships and share resources with other local, national and international organisations working on drug policy and youth issues. Clear criteria and application processes have been developed for individual and organisational membership and we have formalised memberships and partnerships with number of organisations working in the field.

My experience with Youth RISE has been awesome. Its exciting working with young brilliant minds who are ready to stop at nothing in promoting social change on issues that affect their lives and that of their peers. More importantly I have learnt and seen in Youth RISE that young people can do much more when given the opportunity - Adeolu Ogunrombi, IWG, Nigeria

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Youth RISE in 2011

Youth RISE pre-conference
On March 31st to April 2nd, Youth RISE held its first preconference immediately prior to the International Harm Reduction Conference in Beirut. The pre-conference brought together young harm reduction and drug policy reform activists from around the world and a space was created for young people to build and share knowledge, and to discuss and debate important topics relevant to young people who use drugs globally. The pre-conference also aimed to strengthen the youth voice and involvement in international drug policy reform advocacy at the International Harm Reduction Conference and beyond. Forty-five young people from 19 different countries participated in the event which consisted of workshops facilitated by Youth RISE IWG members and well respected guest speakers from the drug policy movement. On the third day of the pre-conference, participants reflected on the major issues addressed at the conference, and brainstormed key needs of young people concerning drug policy, harm reduction, participation of young people and human rights. From these discussions, a position statement was developed which reflects the issues of importance for young people who use drugs, and recommendations for a policy response that is crucial for their well being.

We want you to know that we are here, we are active and we are willing. Work with us in transforming passivity into leadership, discrimination into equality and neglect into empowerment - Anita Krug, Youth RISE International Coordinator opening speech at IHRA

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Participation in international conferences and events

Youth RISE remained active in international forums, representing the voice and needs of young people who use drugs.

Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Youth RISE participated in the 54th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna in March. During the meeting, many interventions were made by Member States on the need to protect future generations from the damages of drugs, however the participation of young people and real conversations about how to reduce drug related harms for young people was largely non-existent. During the meeting, Youth RISE released a statement endorsed by organisations globally that called on drug policy makers to address the needs of young people in their dialogue and policy decisions. Youth RISE also participated in the press conference and Drug Lords demonstration held outside the UNODC building on the first day that illustrated the failures of the current drug policy system and how criminals benefit from the system. Read a full report back from the CND here.

CLICK HERE Report Back from the CND

International Harm Reduction Conference

The 2011 International Harm Reduction Conference was held in Beirut, Lebanon and was a successful event for Youth RISE. Building on the energy and momentum created at the Youth RISE pre-conference, Youth RISE brought the messages from the youth to the broader harm reduction and drug policy community and maintained a strong presence throughout the meeting. The Youth RISE team delivered presentations, facilitated workshops and dialogue spaces, created and strengthened partnerships during the conference. Youth RISE also produced a report during the week, within which Youth RISE members wrote reflections and articles on certain aspects of the conference that interested them from a youth perspective. The report was distributed on the final day of the conference.

Youth RISE session at IHRA conference

CLICK HERE Youth RISE IHRA report 2011

Mali Youth Summit

Youth RISE Senior IWG Nikhil Gurung and International Coordinator Anita Krug participated in the UNAIDS Global Youth Summit held in Bamako, Mali. Here, young people involved in the HIV response from around the globe came together to strengthen the youth movement and develop a Call for Action.

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High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS

Anita Krug attended the 2011 High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, and was invited to make a statement at the official panel Prevention: what can we do to reach zero new infections?. With high level participants attending this panel event, this was an important advocacy opportunity and space to ensure the issues of young people who use drugs are addressed in such high level forums. You can read the full statement made by Anita here. Prior to the High Level Meeting, Youth RISE joined other global youth organisations in developing key advocacy materials for use around the High Level Meeting, and also co-organised and co-facilitated a youth pre-event. As the only organisation representing young people who use drugs (YPUD), Youth RISE ensured that HIV prevention among YPUD remained a key issue on the advocacy agenda for the youth engaged in the High Level Meeting.

Global Fund Partnership Forum

The 4th Global fund Partnership forum held in on 28-30 June in Sao Paulo took place at a pivotal point in the organizations discussions of the Global Fund Strategy 2012 2016. With over 300 delegates representing stakeholders group of the Global fund, the forum provided the opportunity to discuss how the Fund can achieve maximum impact, strengthen health system, promote human rights and focus on funding the right things. Youth RISE representative at the event, Adeolu Ogunrombi, teamed up with other youth delegates at the forum to advocate for a strategy that will be youth-friendly and that will consider young people as active partners during the implementation process.

IWG Adeolu Ogunrombi at the Global Fund Partnership Forum in Brazil

UNAIDS Inter-agency Task Team on HIV/AIDS and Young People (IATT/YP)

Youth RISE is part of the IATT/YP, contributing as experts on young people who use drugs on initiatives, publications and reports. Youth RISE IWG Zulaika Esentaeva attended the annual meeting in July in Paris, France and was selected to co-chair of the harm reduction working group.

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Regional activities
A primary objective of Youth RISE has been to strengthen our regional activities and work, and in 2011 we were successful in developing our regional presence and engaging in a broader range of activities at local, national and regional levels.

Africa
Youth RISE continued to expand its activities and presence in the African region in 2011. Senior IWG member Adeolu Ogunrombi (Nigeria) and IWG member Eric Ojok (Uganda) provided leadership for the growth of the Youth RISE network in Africa and development and implementation of projects. They also participated in a number of important events, ensuring that young people who use drugs issues and concerns were heard in regional dialogues. Adeolu Ogunrombi participated in the Africa Regional Dialogue of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law in Pretoria, South Africa in August. Adeolu was one of two CSO speakers selected to make an intervention at the meeting to government representatives, members of parliament and the Global Commissioners on HIV and the Law, and he spoke on HIV prevention among young people who use drugs and the law. Youth RISE participated in the technical consultation for the West and Central Africa region on Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention (PHDP) which was held in Dakar, Senegal between 20-22, September, 2011. At the event, Youth RISE advocated for inclusion and addressing the specific health and treatment needs of young people who use drugs and are also living with HIV. Youth RISE International Coordinator Anita Krug was invited to participate in the 2nd National Harm Reduction Conference in Mauritius. She networked with other conference participants learning more about the situation of drug use and harm reduction in East Africa, and delivered a presentation on harm reduction for young people who use drugs. Whilst in Mauritius attending the conference, Youth RISE was also invited to facilitate a workshop on youth friendly harm reduction. Harm reduction has been introduced to Mauritius only recently, and age restrictions still remain for youth, despite the clear need for harm reduction as more young people inject heroin and subutex. In partnership with local harm reduction organisations PILS and CUT, a one day workshop was organised in which 30 local service providers participated. The workshop consisted of training on youth friendly harm reduction approaches and identification of advocacy needs in the country. The participants decided to develop a national network to address the needs of young people who use drugs in Mauritius, and have since met to identify initial activities for 2012. In December, Youth RISE IWGs Adeolu Ogunrombi and Eric Ojok also participated in the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. With harm reduction recently being introduced on the continent, Youth RISE joined discussion with partners on the development of harm reduction and the strengthening of a harm reduction network in Africa. Youth RISE representatives also participated in the youth pre-conference and a three day training on the Global Fund for young activists.

Participants in youth friendly harm reduction training- Mauritius

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Asia
Senior IWG member Nikhil Gurung has been involved in the forming of a National Working Group on Young Key Affected Populations in Nepal. The group has recently had its first national consultation whereby key stakeholders including young people who use drugs, NGOs and UN organisations participated. They released a National Declaration of YKAP in Nepal following the meeting. Youth RISE IWG member Bikash Gurung facilitated a one day workshop on comprehensive harm reduction in Pokhara, Nepal. Participants of this workshop were young people who use drugs who work as peer outreach workers, and they were trained in harm reduction approaches and services. The workshop was organised in partnership with Save the Children and Recovering Nepal.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

In 2011, Youth RISE supported the formation of a local group of young women who use drugs in Kyrgyzstan. The group is called Ganesha, and is supported by Youth RISE IWG for the EECA region Zulaika Esentaeva. The group was formed as a response to the unfair militia treatment of young people who use drugs and the lack of youth in general harm reduction advocacy networks. The group has begun developing training materials, has developed their work plan for 2012 and has recently received funding from the OSF Youth Initiative to support their work. Youth RISE is also a key partner for the HIV Young Leaders Fund who are supporting youth led projects targeting young women who use drugs in the EECA region in 2012.

Girls of Ganesha, Kyrgyzstan

Europe

Youth RISE also participated in the first European Harm Reduction conference in Marseille, France. The theme of the meeting was capacity building, and Youth RISE networked and strengthened partnerships in the region. On the 17/18th of November, Youth RISEs Operations Coordinator Robin Pollard took part in the House of Lords event on Drug Policy Reform. The meeting presented the Global Commission on Drug Policys report and brought together senior representatives, ministers, senators, government drug policy officials and NGOs to discuss and promote evidence based, health orientated policies and to consider the best ways to deal with the UN Drug conventions as they stand. The event passed as a major success and as the only youth delegate representing the needs of young people affected by drug policy, it provided Youth RISE with a fantastic platform to discuss the issues facing young drug users through punitive policy measures with government drug policy officials, senators and NGOs from around the world.

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Middle East and North Africa

This years IHRA conference was held in Beirut Lebanon, and Youth RISEs presence, activities and membership in the region grew significantly. Following the conference, a group of Youth RISE members came together to create a new youth-led organisation called S.I.B.A. advocating for just and humane drug policies and harm reduction services. By fostering greater ties between young people in Lebanon, the organisation will build a strong advocacy voice on behalf of young people affected by drug policies, calling for improved access to harm reduction services and youth engagement in drug policy, human rights and harm reduction issues in the region. Since forming, the group have been very active and have organised and participated in a number of national activities including a strategic planning weekend, fundraising event, development and distribution of overdose prevention material, capacity building training, participations in round tables on drug policy reform with national partners, and harm reduction training as part of the Staying Alive Foundation project.

North America
A number of Youth RISE staff and members participated in the Drug Policy Reform conference in Los Angeles in November. Chantale Kallas and Aram Barra joined other youth activists on the panel entitled Building a global movement for drug policy reform: can young people lead the way?, where the successes, challenges and potential of youth involvement in the drug policy reform movement were discussed.

Latin America
The Latin American Conference was held in Mexico in September, and Youth RISE IWG for North America Lisa Salazaar participated in the main conference and youth preconference. At the preconference, young people came together to discuss key messages for younger generations, and produced a video calling for drug policy reform in the region.

International Coordinator Anita Krug participates in a demonstration in Vienna, Austria

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Youth RISE Up! For HIV Prevention

The RISE Up! For HIV prevention project is funded by MTV Staying Alive Foundation, and continued into its third year in 2011. Country teams carried out peer to peer trainings with marginalised youth in Nigeria and young men who use drugs and young women in prison in Lebanon. The teams also developed supplementary materials on challenging myths around drug use and overdose prevention in order to ensure we are providing resources that are applicable to a wide range of regions, cultures, contexts and issues. The Young peer trainers guide to provide sexual health and drug-related harm reduction education that was released in 2010 was also translated into Arabic and Russian in 2011.

ENGLISH SPANISH ARABIC RUSSIAN

<<<CLICK HERE Young peer trainers guide to provide sexual health and drugrelated harm reduction education

Raising awareness
Overdose Awareness Day

Training participants in Nigeria

On International Overdose Prevention Awareness Day, 31st August, Youth RISE members globally marked the day with an online vigil to remember the people who have died as a result of drug overdose. The network developed a youth friendly resource on overdose prevention that was shared with our members and partners through different communication channels. Youth RISE members in Nepal and Lebanon also organised local activities to raise awareness about drug overdose in their countries.

World AIDS Day

On World AIDS Day, Youth RISE released a short animation video that highlights the vulnerability of young people who use drugs to HIV and solutions for mitigating the spread of HIV among these youth. The video highlights in particular the harms of current drug policies and how criminalisation of drug use can impact on HIV transmission rates. The video received excellent feedback from those within and out of the drug policy field, and was shared widely on social media networks. You can see the video here:

CLICK HERE You Tube: World AIDS Day, Youth RISE

Youth RISE has become my family in a way--it is a great hub for resources on harm reduction, for networking, for advocacy on a global level. But, most important, it really does empower so many young people to voice their opinions on drug policy and eventually to act! Thanks to Youth RISE, we were able to mobilize young people who use drugs in Kyrgyzstan who are very motivated to provide information on harm reduction for youth in a youthfriendly way and do even more in years to come to build a stronger social movement. I think of Youth RISE as a revolutionary force that I am excited to be part of! - Zulaika Esentaeva, Youth RISE IWG, Kyrgyzstan

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Briefing papers
During Youth RISEs pre-conference in Beirut, a set of formal recommendations were developed on four separate themes that are central to the work of Youth RISE. These themes were then developed into four briefing papers: Harm reduction and young people, Criminalisation and law enforcement, Participation of young people who use drugs, Human rights, drug policy, and young people who use drugs.

CLICK HERE for Briefing papers: Harm reduction and young people Criminalisation and law enforcement Participation of young people who use drugs Human rights, drug policy and young people who use drugs

Looking ahead
As a newly independent organisation, Youth RISE is now looking forward to building a stronger base and further developing our capacity in 2012. We also hope to build off our newly established organisational membership structure and strengthen partnerships with youth organisations that align with our mission and goals. Whilst maintaining our presence in international forums, we also aim to develop and strengthen regional and national networks. Youth RISE will continue to support networks and groups of young people in their countries, including mobilisation of young user groups and those advocating for drug policy reform. For our local, national and regional work, IWGs will continue to play a crucial role. Advocacy will also continue to be a strong focus, and as we continue develop our communications our advocacy efforts will use creative mediums and become more targeted. We will also develop our take action and campaigns work, mobilising our membership to take action in the reform movement. We also plan to further develop our technical expertise in harm reduction for young people and drug policy, ensuring that our staff, IWGs and membership are experts and are at the forefront of the field. We aim to develop more standardised guidelines for service providers on youth friendly harm reduction, as well as develop further evidence and resources that promote harm reduction and drug policy reform. Finally, we will continue to expand our network, engaging and politicising a new generation of young people in the drug policy reform movement. In order for Youth RISE to be sustainable, and for our future leaders to be informed on rational drug policy, younger people must continue to be engaged. And that requires continued and innovative efforts.

Financial partners
The work of Youth RISE is possible due to the generous support of: - Open Society Foundation (OSF) is one of Youth RISEs strongest financial and strategic partners, and supports Youth RISE through its Global Drug Policy Program and Youth Initiative. - MTV Staying Alive Foundations mission is to encourage, energise, and empower young people who are involved in HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention campaigns. The Foundation supports the Youth RISE Up! for HIV Prevention project. - The Department for International Development (DFID) is the department of the United Kingdom Government that manages Britains aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. - Harm Reduction International (HRI) is the leading non-governmental organisation working to promote and expand support for harm reduction worldwide.

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The Youth RISE team

Board
Niamh Eastwood Damon Barrett Caitlin Padgett Aram Barra Executive Director, Release Senior Human Rights Analyst, Harm Reduction International Independent Consultant and co-founder of Youth RISE Drug Policy Programme Director, Espolea

Staff
Anita Krug Chantale Kallas Robin Pollard International Coordinator Network Development Coordinator Operations Coordinator

International Working Group Senior IWGs

Adeolu Ogunrombi Nikhil Gurung Nigeria Nepal

IWGs
Bikash Gurung Eric Ojok Erlind Plaku Lisa Salazar Sally Shamas Zulaika Esentaeva Nepal Uganda Albania Canada Lebanon Kyrgyzstan

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