Training & Exchange

  • Partnership
    • The NEWIP training and exchanges are managed by Drug Scouts.
      The Drug Scouts project was established in 1996 by a group of young people from the party scene which came together, collected and spread information about legal and illegalised substances in clubs and on parties. For two years they did harm reduction party work based on voluntary work only. In 1998 the project became part of the NGO SZL Suchtzentrum gGmbH. The project now has 3 paid part-time employees, 2-3 interns and about 20 volunteers. The volunteers are the main support of the projects party- and club-work.

      The first NEWIP training session included participants from:
      Drug Scouts, Techno Plus, Energy Control, Modus Vivendi, Check In, Jellinek, chEck iT!, Le Tipi, Psychologist Withoud Borders, UNIPD, Safer Festival, The Regione Emilia Romagna
  • Context
    • All the projects involved in NEWIP are working with volunteers. A volunteer is an unpaid member of the group, actively participating to the development of the project. Generally a volunteer is issued from the local scene (raver, clubber, using drugs or not).

      The level of knowledge among the volunteers of the different projects is therefore quite different. In addition there are always new volunteers joining the group as well as new technologies etc. Training is an essential element of peer projects, which plays and important role in the cohesion of a group. It also helps in the development and implementation of a project’s working policies and practices.

      Training programs should always endeavor to incorporate internal and external factors that are crucial to the development of the project.
  • Objetives
    • The specific objective of the WP is to train peers/professionals for the creation of a multidisciplinary European team to work at party settings.

      The themes of the training will be: chill-out intervention, crisis intervention, use of multimedia materials, emerging issues, cultural specificities, research and evaluation, exchange of best practice, etc. Three seminars will support each project member to expand his/her knowledge and to exchange information between different teams working in this field area.
  • Methodology and Time Table
    • There will be 3 training seminars and 6 interventions in different European countries to practice what was learned in the training sessions. Basic keywords for all training sessions are self empowerment and dissemination of information. Meaning self empowerment of volunteers by volunteers and professionals. Dissemination of information to other volunteers and drug users by different means.

      The WP training is closely linked to all other WPs. Best practice and tools developed in other WPs will be passed on to the participants of the seminars, practical experience gained on interventions will be used and adapted. It will also be used to enhance the WP guidelines. Internal and external partners and the experience of volunteers as well as the use of training concepts from HTN and the Club Health Network will insure high quality seminars.

      Intended dates for action
      (M refers to month, January 2011 being Month 1)
      Timetable of the Work Package by month.

      M5: First training session
      M7 intervention – practical experience
      M9 intervention – practical experience
      M18: second training session
      M19 intervention – practical experience
      M20 intervention – practical experience
      M29: third training session
      M31 intervention – practical experience
      M32: end of WP
  • Participants info
    • Possibilities for new partners to join the training sessions.
      The second training sessions (May 2012) will focus on training volunteers for the summer common field interventions. We plan to train 25 volunteers from across Europe. Besides preparing the volunteers for the common interventions (summer 2012), topics for the trainings session will include first aid for drug emergencies, drug checking and New Media.
      To learn more about the topics visit the Emerging Media and Drug Checking Work packages pages on this site, you can also have a look at the documentation from the last training seminar.

      Who can join?
      Projects who are active in harm reduction party work and have volunteers who need training. Also people from countries/cities where no harm reduction party project is established yet are welcome to apply. However, there should be already plans in progress to set up a harm reduction party work project/group in your city.Projects who want to take part in the training and intervention have to become collaborating partner of NEWIP.
      Club owners, health councils and safer nightlife stakeholders interested in developing a Safer Party label can join the Party+info session. For more details, check out the Party+ workpackage info.

      When?
      The next Training sessions will take place from 3rd-5th of May 2012 in Budapest. 

      Selection criterias:
      Naturally, volunteers should be available full time for the training sessions and also the summer interventions, since one aim of the training sessions is to practice the things learned. Basic knowledge about harm reduction drug work is preferable. Volunteers taking part in the training sessions are expected to pass on the knowledge to their fellow volunteers and keep a record on how they passed the knowledge and how many people they reached. All volunteers are expected to support the process of creating a training manual and follow the evaluation process. Good English communication and writing skills are mandatory.

      The price.
      The NEWIP will cover all costs for the training seminar and the intervention including travel, accommodation and food for 25 paricipants

      How?
      Fill out the application form and sent it back to: training@drugscouts.de and coordination@technoplus.org by 8th of March 2012. Applications sent at a later date will not be considered!

      DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION FORM

      DOWNLOAD THE INFO SHEET
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