Harm Reduction Public Lecture

Lead Organisation: Students for Sensible Drug Policy Zimbabwe (SSDP)

Supporting Organisation: Great Zimbabwe Administration

Students for Sensible Drug Policy Zimbabwe in partnership with the University of Zimbabwe and the Great Zimbabwe Administration will be hosting two public lectures concurrently at the two aforementioned Universities on the 26th of June 2020, Support Don’t Punish Global Day of Action.

The public lectures will be focusing on sensitising the participants on Harm Reduction Strategies for People Who Use and Inject Drugs and the topic of the lectures will be ‘Harm Reduction as a Vaccine’. On Harm Reduction, areas of concern will be the definition of harm reduction, core principles, pillars and the services that are available in Zimbabwe and other countries. We are looking forward to gather a group of social workers, students who use and inject drugs, student leaders, lecturers, peer educators and supporting organizations. The panelists will initially take the participants through the topic of interest and after that allow the flow of questions, answers, debates and discussions on the topic. We look forward to gathering a group of peer educators who will be able to sustain and impart the knowledge beyond the Global Day of Action.

Presenters will be given t-shirts; other t-shirts are going to be given randomly by playing a game; active participants who will be raising hands to give answers will also be given t-shirts to foster contribution and motivation amongst participants. During and after the session we are going to take group photos raising placards and photos will be shared with our supporters and fans around the globe. Remarks will be made from invited organizations and the Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

After the sessions we are going to do a clean-up campaign, picking up litter and holding the Support Don’t Punish Banner around the campuses.

If the Covid-19 pandemic continues and if we continue to have restricted movements, we are going to conduct the following activities:

1) Create a WhatsApp Learning chat to foster a group discussion on the related topic ‘Harm Reduction as a Vaccine’

2) Podcast with Supporting organizations to be circulated amongst social media platforms

3) We are trying to reach out to Capitalk radio station to be given a slot to articulate the topic

4) Online Webinar on the topic ‘Harm Reduction as a Vaccine’ with interested participants

However, we will find another day, after the lockdown rules are relaxed to still hold the public lectures and act in solidarity with the Global Day of Action. This is because data tariffs might beunaffordable for some of our targeted participants.

Leading and Supporting Organizations that is expected to be present on the event:

(a) Members from the Zimbabwe Republic Police

(b) Students Executive Council University of Zimbabwe and Great Zimbabwe University

(c) Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network

(d) National Association of Social Workers

(e) Students and Youths for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SAYWHAT)

(f) Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) and Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (ZICOSU)

We are still sending invitations to various other organizations that work in related areas to make our event a worth remembering moment.