{"id":20209,"date":"2025-11-08T17:28:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T16:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20209"},"modified":"2026-01-11T18:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:06:30","slug":"regional-momentum-builds-as-friends-in-focus-reaches-montenegro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/11\/regional-momentum-builds-as-friends-in-focus-reaches-montenegro\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional momentum builds as \u2018Friends in Focus\u2019 reaches Montenegro"},"content":{"rendered":"
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United Nations –\u00a0Office on Drugs and Crime\u00a0\u00a0 – Youth Initiative<\/span><\/h1>\n

October 30th<\/sup>\u00a02025<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)\u2019s new youth peer-to-peer drug prevention programme, Friends in Focus, continues to expand its reach through successive pre-pilot implementations. First piloted in Serbia in February 2025, Friends in Focus aims to build youth-engaged communities that foster resilience through drug prevention efforts grounded in positive peer influence. Following successful pilots in Serbia, Italy, and Central Asia, the programme returned to the South-Eastern European region, with Montenegro as the latest host country.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As the second launch in the region, the Montenegro Friends in Focus pilot was made possible thanks to the support of the Government of Italy to UNODC. Another ingredient making the pilot possible is the strong local partnerships. The Ministry of Education warmly welcomed the programme and is endorsing the active participation of youth and schools in the cascade training sessions. And the key contributor to this pilot launch was CAZAS, a local non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting the healthy development of young people and advocating for youth education and drug use prevention. As the key implementing partner, CAZAS played a central role in organizing the Training of Trainers and recruiting youth trainers who will lead the dissemination of the programme in high schools of their communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Master trainers continue to be the core resource persons for each implementation round, providing essential knowledge and skills that enable youth trainers to confidently lead their own peer sessions on drug prevention. During 20 \u2013 22 October, young people from Podgorica, Nik\u0161i\u0107, and Bijelo Polje came together in Podgorica for a three-day Training of Trainers (ToT). Throughout the training, participants explored key topics around risk and protective factors related to drug use, challenged common misconceptions about substances, and reflected on the impact of social and group dynamics.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A key milestone of the training in Montenegro was the certification of a new Master Trainer for the South-Eastern European region. By equipping the region with a locally-based expert capable of leading Friends in Focus trainings, this development builds on the sustained engagement initiated in Serbia earlier in 2025. This advancement strengthens regional capacity by reducing reliance on external trainers and fosters greater ownership of the programme within the region. It also creates opportunities for neighbouring countries with similar languages to benefit from shared resources, expertise, and cross-border collaboration in youth-led drug prevention efforts.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The successful launch of Friends in Focus in Montenegro marks a step forward in strengthening youth-led drug prevention efforts across South-Eastern Europe. With a newly certified regional Master Trainer and a cohort of empowered youth trainers, the programme is now better equipped to strengthen its content, expand its reach, deepen its local impact, and foster stronger regional collaboration. UNODC remains committed to supporting young people by creating spaces for learning, leadership, and resilience, ensuring that youth voices continue to shape the future of prevention in their communities and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.unodc.org\/unodc\/prevention\/youth-initiative\/youth-action\/2025\/October\/regional-momentum-builds-as-friends-in-focus-reaches-montenegro.html<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United Nations –\u00a0Office on Drugs and Crime\u00a0\u00a0 – Youth Initiative October 30th\u00a02025 The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)\u2019s new youth peer-to-peer drug prevention programme, Friends in Focus, continues to expand its reach through successive pre-pilot implementations. First piloted in Serbia in February 2025, Friends in Focus aims to build youth-engaged communities that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,64,40,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe-uk","category-health","category-prevention-research","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20209"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20211,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20209\/revisions\/20211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}