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MINEDAF VII and Other Initiatives
SADC - Southern
African Development Community
SADC
Meeting of Experts (Lusaka, Zambia, 19-21 June 2000)
Proposed project on drug prevention among marginalized youth
On the second day of the Meeting the Executive
Secretary, Intergovernmental Committee, MINEDAF VII, was allotted time in the programme to present an outline of a possible regional endeavour on
drug prevention among marginalized youth in the SADC region, likely to
involve UNESCO and a number of SADC Member States. The purpose of tabling draft
project outline was to inquire from Senior Officials whether there would be interest among the SADC Member States to collaborate with UNESCO in this endeavour. The time allowed for discussion on this item had to be extended to nearly an hour and
a half because of the keen interest of the Representatives of the Member States. All the Member States represented (some 11 of them) expressed a strong interest for their countries to participate in this potential project supporting actions against the harm related to drug abuse, especially among the youth.
Because of the supposed ubiquity of increasing drug abuse among the youth in most countries of the region, it was pointed out (and rather strongly too) that the proposed project
could not only involve so-called “marginalized youth” because, in the words of one official, ‘marginalized youth’ have already fallen by the way side... Society has to be able to assist
youth before it is too late. Moreover, that process has to begin early on, in primary school, and continue on to secondary school and university.
The envisaged project therefore had to target youth especially in the first and second levels of education, since that is
at that stage the majority of youth in countries of the region are to be found.
The Senior Officials also recommended that this initiative be developed in close collaboration with the
SADC HRD Sector Coordination Unit, in order to assure specific country-level official involvement, especially in Ministries of Education, other line-Ministries (such as, Social Services, Health, Community Development, etc.) and
in order to ensure close cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations and local communities.
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