Mid Term Meeting

Scottsdale Arizona, June 2006.

 

In order to achieve its aims and objectives, Treatnet's strategies include several means to facilitate information exchange and communication amongst its members as well as a series of meetings aimed at reviewing and agreeing upon project progress.

In this regards and complying with the project implementation plan, a Mid-term Meeting was organized to discuss general and specific aspects such as good-practice documents development, advances on the training component, as well as plan for continuous work on ongoing issues according to the implementation schedule.   Key issue to plan for the future are the -data collection and evaluation components, as well as initial planning fro the project's second phase.

Another important aspect of this meeting and one for which it was also originally planned, is to allow Treatnet members to actively participate in a recognised international conference on drug dependence in order to facilitate interaction and visibility of the Network, as well as gaining exposure to latest research developments in the area of drug dependence treatment. In this regard, the mid-term meeting will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona within the context of two important scientific events. Firstly, the 2006 NIDA International Forum: International Trends and Needs in Drug Abuse Research where Treatnet members have been invited to actively participate in a poster session and also, to be members of a discussion panel on drug dependence treatment. Secondly, Treatnet members will attend the CPDD 68 ^th Annual Scientific Meeting, where state of the art research on drug dependence treatment will be presented.

 

The objectives of the mid-term meeting are:

·          To present progress of working groups with regards to the development of good practice documents

·          To identify common areas for work and coordination amongst working groups

·          To reach consensus on key concepts (Best/promising practices, documents structure, use of terminology)

·          To present progress and discuss future plans for the network's advocacy strategy

·          To plan on further implementation of activities such as data collection, monitoring and evaluation

·          To receive feed-back on the training needs assessment conducted by the Training Consortium

·          To present and discuss the content of the training package

·          To introduce and discuss the capacity building plan

·          To explore a project idea and funding possibilities for Phase II

·          To introduce Treatnet members to a recognised international conference on drug dependence in order to facilitate interaction and visibility of the Network, as well as exposure to latest research developments.

 

I .                      Expected Outcomes

 

Based on the objectives, it is expected that the meeting will produce the following outputs:

·          Working groups have presented their document outlines, received feed-back and have a clear view of the way forward for completing the best/promising practice documents, establishing links between areas of common interest between working groups

·          The process for planning and implementation of data collection and evaluation has been agreed upon

·          The initial concept for phase II has been discussed and agreed upon and a process for the development of a project idea, project document, and fund mobilization has been outlined

·          The training needs assessment report has been discussed and feed-back incorporated

·          The content of the training package has been discussed and agreed upon

·          Plans for capacity building have been discussed and agreed upon

·          Consensus has been reached with regards to criteria for identification of good practices in drug dependence treatment and rehabilitation,   and these are applied to the documents under production

·          Treatnet members are informed of the advocacy strategy and agree on a plan to actively participate in international meetings to enhance the network's visibility and international recognition.

 

II.                   Participants

Treatnet members

Capacity building consortium representatives

UNODC headquarters team members