By the Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN)
WHRIN is taking the occasion of August 18, “Never Give Up Day” as apt opportunity to launch the round-up report of support don’t punish with a focus on women, 2022. Never give up day provides a common platform for health and social care organizations and others to redouble determination and connection. WHRIN thus celebrates the impactful resilience and determination of our global community with this summary of some of the actions from 13 countries around the world which galvanise attention on the gendered failure of drug prohibition and urgent demands for reform.
Original campaign kit available here.
On 26th June, for Support Don’t Punish Global Day of Action 2022, WHRIN encourages action from interested groups to improve drug policies and services for women and nonbinary people who use drugs. All are encouraged to participate by utilising materials provided with this campaign kit and WHRIN will promote your action in the global round up.
Priority is given for small grants to global south applicants and consortia proposals (where one or more groups from the same country join forces). Consortia proposals may be eligible for a larger grant amount. Proposals will ideally include both elements of community engagement and outward advocacy.
Small grant funds are to be used for campaign activities (e.g. poster printing, community transport costs) and not individual fees (e.g. consultancy fees, facilitator wages) To unify this campaign, please make use of part or all of the campaign ‘kit’ (poster, slogan, logo and/or press release) hyperlinked in this notice.
In light of any ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, depending on your country regulations, actions such as marches or interface in live groups may be restricted. In such cases, participants can look to other possibilities such as through use of social media, webinars, sending press release/statement to media, parliamentarians, strategic poster mail out, creating a podcast, etc … For more information of the WHRIN SDP experience, please watch this video:
The 2022 poster, featuring the slogan “Prohibition Harms Women” can likewise be translated and adapted for your country (please write to [email protected] if you need help to create a translatable version).
The optional press release/statement can be translated, adapted and have your logo added.
Your action plan or small grant application can be found here.
Those participating are asked to provide a short campaign summary by the first week of July 2022 which will be compiled to showcase the global scale of the campaign – targeting UN agencies, drug policy forums and via partner harm reduction, drug policy and other relevant agencies. In contexts where publication of identifying imagines could have negative repercussions, it is proposed that the poster is held in front of faces to protect identity, or that blur face options be offered. Campaign organisers will be responsible for coordinating informed consent (see example template here).
Many thanks for your involvement and support!
