ID: HR19-900

Presenting author: Valentin Simionov

Presenting author biography:

Valentin Simionov is programmes coordinator with the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) and, as part of this role, he facilitates capacity building processes in collaboration with peer networks at regional and country level in Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South-East Asia.

Strengthening community led organising and advocacy through normative guidance

Valentin Simionov

Issue
The importance of the meaningful involvement of people who use drugs in ending the HIV epidemic is increasingly emphasised at global level in policy and programmatic documents alike. However, despite their central role, drug user organisations have limited de facto access to decision making processes and they lack resources to grow stronger. The drug user movement would be strengthened by greater resources, and yet resources are not allocated because the movement is perceived to be in need of strengthening.
Setting
To address those issues, INPUD provided capacity building on the Injecting Drug User Implementation Tool (IDUIT) to a diverse range of drug user organisations based in Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia.
Project
This presentation focusses on INPUD’s work in building the capacity of drug user networks to participate in all decisions and services that impact the lives of people who use drugs and to advocate for access to funding. Furthermore, INPUD’s experience in disseminating information, providing technical assistance and financial support to country and regional level networks will be discussed in the context of community empowerment. A special focus is given to the IDUIT training/consultations organised in the last two years in collaboration with our partners, allowing for stronger networking and representation. Using a mix of interactive sessions, INPUD facilitated a training/consultation process which resulted in recommendations for future advocacy and community empowerment work.
Outcomes of the INPUD’s capacity building work:
• The IDUIT is used to advocate for right-based services in Tanzania and Nepal
• The French and Russian versions of the IDUIT are well known and are used in country level advocacy work in Eurasia and West Africa
• Community representatives from Nepal, Zanzibar, Senegal, Cameroon, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan are using the Implementation Tool in their national level work.