The third edition of the Initiatives Programme (learn more about the second edition here) took place between June – February 2023 and resourced a broad range of activities; from art activism, to political advocacy, to capacity development by six community and advocacy groups concerning six countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mali, Poland and Russia/the Netherlands (although this workplan is international in its remit).
Activities this year concern projects whose geographic remit includes Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mali, Poland and Russia / the Netherlands.
Below, you can find more information about each project and expected outcomes.
The Initiatives Programme is possible thanks to the invaluable support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which enables our global campaign to promote harm reduction and resource grassroots mobilisation.
Bolivia | Led by Acción Andina
Acción Andina – Bolivia was created in 1992 and it is a collective of people who, in direct and constant relationship with the grassroots, work to change prohibitionist drug policies through legal reform, political advocacy, social mobilisation and the promotion of health and social responses to the problems of drug use, without recourse to criminalisation.
The project seeks to consolidate the articulation and organisation of women who use psychoactive substances, in a strongly prohibitionist and patriarchal national context where all drug use is deemed a crime, and where gender inequalities in the field of drugs remain invisibilised. This initiative focuses on three lines of action: the promotion of social organisation and mobilisation, the creation of platforms and mechanisms of expression for women who have been socially excluded and repeatedly imprisoned, the development of a manifesto and a proposal for harm reduction responses with a gender perspective, and the organisation of an exhibition based on literary and artistic work developed by the project.
Brazil | Led by the Free School of Harm Reduction
‘Harm reduction is the expansion of life’ —one of the many illustrations shared by the Escola Livre de Redução de Danos.
The Escola Livre de Redução de Danos (Free School of Harm Reduction) is a professional and political organisation born in Recife, Pernambuco, with the aim of strengthening human rights and citizenship for people directly affected by the impacts of the prohibitionist policies of the war on drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean, namely Black people, Indigenous people, women and residents of peripheral areas. The Free School operates on the basis of feminist, anti-racist, abolitionist, anti-punitive and anti-psychiatric-asylum politics, and seeks to stimulate care and prevention, research, training, production, communication, advocacy, and coexistence in order to intervene in the implementation of evidence-based, rights-affirming and harm-reductionist public policies, social technologies, and services. The Free School’s mission is to promote training and political organising for people who use drugs and harm reduction practitioners, recognise and share social and academic production, and concepts and practices of care, and stimulate peer-learning and dialogue on harm reduction and intersectionality, equity, gender equality, race, access to resources and well-being.
The Free School of Harm Reduction organises a series of cultural interventions promoting harm reduction and making visible the diversity of cultural expressions by people who use drugs in the city of Recife, Pernambuco. The events will also offer space for musicians, dancers, videographers, and other culture specialists to amplify this cultural production.
Indonesia | Led by Indonesia Act for Justice (Aksi Keadilan Indonesia)
AKSI’s ‘Art Speaks Justice’ saw an exhibition on harm reduction organised with satellite discussions between community and public authorities on the margins of Indonesia’s national day.
Aksi Keadilan is a community-based organisation who works on access to justice for people who use drugs, people living with HIV, and other minoritised groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.
This initiative will support the ‘Art Speaks Justice: Access to Justice for People who Use Drugs’ campaign, which through the framework of art activism promotes the importance of access to justice for people who use drugs. In these activities, Aksi will select artists from Jakarta to develop artwork that speaks to the theme. In collaboration with the Bogor Creative Forum and other art collectives, Aksi will hold an art exhibition celebrating this cultural production, and hold public discussions, music performances and other artistic expressions in support for access to justice. A social media campaign will support the ‘offline’ activities, developing related hashtags and messaging.
Mali | Led by the Association Kénédougou Solidarité
The Association Kénédougou Solidarité (AKS) was created in 1998 and was recognised as being in service of the public interest by the Malian Ministry of Health in 2001. AKS seeks to promote the health, environmental, educational and socioeconomic conditions of all citizens and, in particular, marginalised populations. AKS is a specialist organisation in the prevention and treatment of HIV, and conducts therapeutic, psychosocial, reintegration, prevention, advocacy and training activities in service of communities living with, at risk of, and affected by HIV.
AKS’ initiative seeks to engage administrative, penitentiary and police authorities in Sikasso and Kadiolo to advocate for the review of the country’s drug policies and, in particular, for the wellbeing of people deprived of liberty in relation to drug offences. This engagement will take the shape of information and awareness workshops with a focus on responses based on human rights and public health. These activities will be strengthened by a know-your-rights outreach campaign for people who use drugs, who will also create space to discuss health and intersecting issues such as gender, gender violence and human rights in contexts of detention. These activities seek to change authorities’ attitudes and responses to people who use drugs, ensure the engagement of peer educators in detention centres, transform the way penal authorities respond to drug offences and people deprived of liberty in situations of drug dependence, and promote rights-affirming responses in these spaces.
Poland | Led by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Activities by HFHR launched around the 26th June with a public discussion on the challenges in uptake of decriminalisation provisions in Polish law.
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) is the leading NGO involved in the protection of human rights in Poland, and one of the most-experienced in this field in the region of Eastern and Central Europe. Its mission is to defend human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Poland and abroad. HFHR’s Drug Policy Program aims to promote drug policies rooted in human rights and based on scientific evidence at the local, national and regional level.
HFHR’s initiative plans a series of informal, closed meetings between legal and law enforcement authorities, human rights lawyers, drug policy experts, and representatives from community-led networks to discuss the impacts of enforcing the criminalisation of drug possession. Advocacy and communication activities will be developed to support these forums.
International / Russia | Led by SKOSH
SKOSH is a sister organisation for the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice. The organisation’s goal is to promote health, justice, dignity and human rights in the area of drugs and drug policy through education, networking, and technological innovation. SKOSH aims to support community organisations in access to the latest international science and best practices and empower their participation in knowledge production and innovation.
SKOSH’s initiative will focus on three dimensions: 1) the organisation of solidarity and cultural events in the shape of photo exhibitions in Moscow (Russia), memorial events in Berlin (London) and Tbilisi (Georgia), and a ciné-forum in Paris (France) —all with a focus on cultural expressions by anti-prohibitionist activists and service clients in Russia; 2) the restoration of the ARF’s database of atrocities committed by Putin’s regime in Russia and Ukraine —which was partially destroyed during an attack on the organisation’s website by the government; and, 3) the production of a film on the impact of the Russian ‘war on drugs’.
