Youth Hands in Hands for Combating Drug and Substance Abuse (A3) — Turkey

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Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 3: Structured Dialogue

Venue: Istanbul, Turkey

Dates: 10-15 December 2018

Participants: Jitka Jurníková, Lukáš Hodonský, Kateřina Svobodová, Ondřej Suchomel

Please read the info-pack

Hosting organisation: Beyoğlu District National Education Directorate

Project report: 

Two weeks before Christmas people from Europe gathered in Istanbul to speak about drug and substance abuse, the programme lasted 5 days. First day of the project was mainly arriving day and first interactions among each other. Officially we started on the second day when we were finally complete. Our group consisted of 33 people from 8 countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and Turkey). The group was diverse, with high school students, university students as well as practicians from different fields (such as social work, public relations, arts). Programme was mainly made from lectures, first we listened coordinator of Drug and Substance Addiction Department of Istanbul government, she spoke about implementation of their strategy to fight against drugs. At the evening we organized intercultural night, during the event we presented our countries with some interesting facts, music, videos as well as typical food and drinks. Also public took part in this evening so there was full room of people. Next day we met psychiatrist who spoke about biological aspects of drug addiction and in the afternoon we met politicians and decision makers from Istanbul district of Beyoğlu. During all sessions we could ask questions and discuss. On Thursday we invited host from Police Department of Beyoğlu who spoke about criminality involving drugs, after that host from local NGO called YEDAM was presenting their work with addicted people. She spoke about prevention and rehabilitation activities. During those days we learned about situation in this field in Turkey but we also shared information from our countries, we could hear about school prevention programmes in Germany as well as about decriminalization of drugs in Portugal which successfully helped with substance abuse etc. Organizers planned the trip last day of project, during this day we could visit few museums and enjoy the view from Galata Tower, one of main touristic attractions. Then project coordinator made closing session in the evening after which we enjoyed some Turkish music and say goodbye to each other.

Jitka Jurníková

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