Addressing Drug and Substance Misuse amongst children,

young persons and the general population

Community Re-integration Pillar

Faith R Mavengere

Child Protection Technical Advisor

Ministry of Public Service Labour & Social Welfare
 Presentation Outline
• Understanding the Community Re-integration Pillar
• Pillar activities
• Role of DSD in tackling substance misuse and abuse
• Update and best practices
• Work plan
 Drug & Substance Abuse Pillars.

DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IMT PILLARS

SUPPLY REDUCTION COMMUNITY

DEMAND TREATMENT AND
PILLAR HARM REDUCTION REINTEGRATION
REDUCTION PILLAR REHABILITATION
National Security in PILLAR
Ministry of Youth, PILLAR Ministry of labour
the President’s Ministry of Health
Sports, Arts and Ministry of Health and Social
Office and Home and Child Care
Recreation and Child Care Welfare
Affairs
Effects of substance and drug abuse
Family Community
disintegration disintegration

HIV & AIDS

SGBV

Reduces
economic Death (Suicide…
production Opharnhood)

School Mental
dropouts disorders
Disability

High Crime
Poverty
Rates
 Understanding Community Re-integration
Family: a group of people united by ties of marriage, blood and adoption constituting a household and
interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually of spouses, parent, children and
siblings
Community: group of people who are socially interdependent, who participate together in discussion
and decision making, and who share certain practices that both define the community and are nurtured
by it (work….geographic…religious…social media)
Community Reintegration:
• is a process of bringing the survivor back to the family and community through a comprehensive
package of rehabilitation services meant to restore the social functioning of the concerned individual
• Everyone’s recovery journey is individual to them and is related to their community, society and their
aspirations. Sustaining a successful, fulfilling, independent life away from specialist services depend on
support networks embedded in the wider community. Therefore, community re-integration is key to
sustainable recovery.
• Re- Integration involves a wider community, education, training as well as recovery follow ups and
psycho-social support.
Understanding Community Re-integration…
 Pillar Activities
• Co-ordinating the IMT to ensure effective implementation of drug and
substance abuse prevention, reduction and mitigation activities
• Provision of Psycho-Social Support services to reduce stigma and
discrimination and to restore human worth and dignity. The services are
available to the survivor, family members the community and service
providers.
• Building the capacity of survivors, their families and community for self
sustenance and resilience through sustainable livelihood projects.
• Ensuring access to health services through provision of medical assistance
to survivors who are unable to raise medical fees for their medication.
• Capacitate community cadres and volunteers to identify survivors of
substance and drug abuse, offer support and refer them for further
specialist rehabilitation services.
 Pillar Activities
• Linking survivors with Social Protection Services to build
resilience eg. Vocational training for youths and adults, Education
Assistance ,Food transfers, Social transfer etc.
• Prevention of relapsing on survivors who have successfully
undergone rehabilitation by conducting follow up visits and
supervision, formation of support groups, creation and
strengthening of income generating projects and Internal Savings
And Lending (ISAL) schemes, strengthening parenting initiatives
to encourage social networking through peer to peer support.
• Provision of alternative care to child survivors who are in need of
care in terms of the Children’s Act (Chapter 5:06)
 Role of the Department of Social Development in
tackling the Drug & Substance use menace
•Coordinating drug and substance abuse activities at district, province and national
level.
•Child protection and safeguarding - statutory mandate
• Public places of entertainment policing
•Information Dissemination through Awareness Campaigns.
•Assisting the courts through the provision of Probation Officer’s reports in
response to child protection issues.
•Providing Psycho-Social Support to the survivors and families
•Provision of places of safety for child survivors in need of care.
•Provision of social protection services to improve individual and household
resilience
 Linkages with other programmes
Comprehensive Services
EDUCATION

IC
ECONOM
CAS RE NGTHENING
ST
MANA E
GEME
NT

LEGAL
SUPPORT
PROTECTION

HEALTH
DISABILITY
 Update and Best practices
• Participated on the National Youth Day and exhibited
• Trained Social Development Officers from 4 Provinces on Drug and Substance abuse programming
• Currently resuscitated Child led child Protection Committees as well as Drug and Substance Abuse
taskforces in all provinces
• Linking drug users with Social Protection services which include BEAM, Harmonised Social Cash
Transfer(HSCT), Assisted Medical Treatment Orders(AMTO), FDMS
• Providing Psychosocial Support Services to children and families
• Establishing, resuscitating and strengthening of existing parenting initiatives.

• Workforce capacity strengthening

• Establishment of early warning systems in education institutions and in the community.
• Directory of service providers
• Referral pathway
• Single registry and MIS – Kenya, SA, Namibia
• Development of a Multi-Sectoral Protocol on the Management of Substance Use, Misuse and Abuse
 Work Plan
• Conduct inception meetings in all our 10 provinces on constituting inter-
ministerial committees at Provincial and district levels.
• NCMS training unpacking the Children’s Act to stakeholders who directly
handle cases of children found in possession or exposed to dangerous
substances.
• Creating, resuscitating and strengthening support groups in all districts.
• Capacitating all community cadres and leaders (CCW, Child Protection
Committees, traditional leaders, Village Health Workers) in all districts on
how to identify and where to refer cases of suspected and use of
dangerous drugs within the communities.
• Partnering with REPSSI on the creation of psycho-social support center in
Harare.
 Work Plan conti…
• Conducting community sensitization meetings on campus and in
schools - awareness campaigns
• Technical support visits to all districts covering border posts.
• Continue with registration ,monitoring and supervision of PVOs.
• Conducting Quarterly coordination meetings
• Training of workforce at community and all levels (Social
Development Officers, Education officers, Police officers, Prison
officers, CCWs, Caregivers etc) on preventing and responding to
Drug and Substance abuse
 .

THANK YOU