Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) would like to inform you about the possibility of obtaining resource assistance/funding for initiative groups and organizations of the community of people who use drugs to achieve necessary objectives.
The competition is announced jointly with the Eurasian Drug Users Network (ENPUD). Community expert capacity is a significant resource for EHRA and partners in countries in the processes of organizing, implementing and discussing the results of resource support.
Taking into account EHRA Position Paper on Drug Policy, we are striving to make international and national drug policies recognize the fact that drug use is a complex socio-cultural phenomenon and acknowledge at the legislative level that:
- People use drugs for various reasons, including for socialization or leisure purposes;
- Drug use is not the evidence of mental illness or antisocial behavior in most cases;
- Certain patterns of drug use carry health-related risks, and therefore drug policies should be based on harm reduction principles.
The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association would like to offer its assistance by providing necessary resources to promote humane drug policy, including (but not limited to) four sub-grants for organizations/initiative groups.
Implementation time June – November 2019
Languages: Russian and English
We are going to provide our assistance to: initiative groups and organizations that either have a legal status or not legally registered, managed by the community of people who use drugs.
The total budget for sub-grants is $17,500. 4 groups/organizations will be selected to receive the funding in the amount of 4,375 USD each for a period of 3 to 6 months.
Our approach to grant allocation.
The practical implementation of one of EHRA’s principles – our work starts with a request and ends with the result, requires allocation of resources to implement the activities that have already obtained interim results during the previous allocation period of 2017-2018, as it is possible that further assistance is required in such cases.
In this regard, EHRA uses the following quotas for grant allocation:
– two grants in the amount of 4,375 USD each will be allocated to the countries that have already taken part in the previous allocation period of 2017-2018 so that the activities already started will have a practical effect.
List of the countries and the results achieved:
Belarus – new OST regulation was signed, new services of the OST program are implemented: take-home methadone, out-patient treatment/hospital admission/detention without interrupting treatment. Description of previous activities can be found here.
Georgia – promoting drug policy reform based on previous experience of civil society mobilization. The history of the White Noise Movement can be found here.
Kazakhstan – documentation of the process of expanding OST coverage, advocacy to make the OST program stable in the country; advocacy for implementation of the recommendations received from the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR*) on drug policy in Kazakhstan. Description of previous activities can be found here. Here you can find out how the community managed to prevent closing the programs with the help of regional and international funding.
Kyrgyzstan – amendments to the Code of Misconduct as a result of the community-led monitoring of negative consequences. Here you can find out what was done in Kyrgyzstan in 2017-2018 thanks to the resources provided.
Lithuania – drawing attention to the need of drug policy reform in the country, including by promoting harm reduction services during festivals; harm reduction training of night club employees. The experience of the Lithuanian youth movement is described here.
Estonia – advocacy for implementation of the recommendations received from CESCR during the 65th Session on drug policy and HIV in Estonia. Description of previous activities can be found here.
– two grants of 4,375 USD each will be allocated to two organizations/groups in the following countries: Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Latvia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Croatia, Montenegro, Czechia, the Kosovo territory.
Deadline for submitting applications: 12:00 am 24 April 2019 GMT+3.
Information on resource assistance for the community
to change drug policy in member countries of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association
The assistance is jointly provided by secretariats of ENPUD and EHRA as part of the project “We Will Not End AIDS Until We Adopt Harm Reduction and End the War on Drugs” of the International Harm Reduction Consortium, which now involves eight international and regional networks of people who use drugs and harm reduction and drug policy organizations, such as International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD), Eurasian Drug Users Network (ENPUD), Youth RISE, Harm Reduction International (HRI), Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA), Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA), and Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN).
Here you can find the description of the processes and results of the joint work of the country teams of the movement #Narconomics: from street to government &EHRA & ENPUD & members of the International Harm Reduction Consortium in 2017-2018.
The project was implemented with the support of Robert Carr Fund.
Thematic priorities
You are free to submit an application for any issue directly related to opportunities to change either your life or the lives of your peers who use drugs. Your application should contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the group/organization in the field of drug policy and available harm reduction services meeting the people’s needs in accordance with the EHRA Position Paper on Drug Policy.
We will do our best to find funding or opportunities to implement the maximum number of grant proposals, if we receive more applications for resource assistance in drug policy than we can actually finance.
How to apply for a small grant
Fill in the application form (download Word document)
Send it to Olga Byelyayeva, EHRA, e-mail: olga@harmreductioneurasia.org, tel.: +37063036691
Application deadline: April 29, 2019, 12AM, Lithuanian time.
You will receive a confirmation of received application.
Evaluation criteria
Criteria for prioritizing the provision of assistance:
- Evaluation criteria: the group/organization has already collected evidence and data to build the evidence base of the problem – up to 10 points
- The group/organization has formulated its objective for 2019, provided the activities plan and documented its previous actions to solve the problem – up to 10 points.
- The group / organization understands what results it is going to achieve and what actions are necessary to take to do this – up to 10 points.
- Small grant allocation budget provided – up to 10 points.
In turn, EHRA and ENPUD agree to obtain approval from the groups/organizations on the information to be published on the decisions taken, as well as before and during the implementation of the project.
Key dates
| Activity | Result | Deadline | Person responsible/focal person |
| Call for proposals | Published on the EHRA website and social media | 12 April 2019 | Igor Gordon, EHRA, Program Team Lead Igor@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063652650 |
| Submission of applications from the community of people who use drugs | The full list of received applications provided to the experts | Until 29 April 2019 | EHRA, Advocacy manager and an expert on drug users community advocacy olga@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063036691 |
| Commission members review and evaluate applications | Commission members provide the evaluation sheet | 26 April – 5 May 2019 | Team of experts on resource assistance |
| Informing applicants on the results | The list of priority topics for resource assistance is provided, the results of discussions and consultations are published on the EHRA website and social media | Until 10 may 2019 | Team of experts on resource assistance sign the Agreement. The Agreement is published. Person responsible for drafting and publication of the Agreement: Olga Belyaeva olga@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063036691 |
| All applicants are informed about the results to determine who is ready to seek resources further. | The list of all requests is agreed upon with all the applicants and published to find additional funding or opportunities. | Until 10 June 2019 | Igor Gordon, EHRA, Program Team Lead Igor@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063652650 |
| Preparation and signing of agreements on provision of the basic package of financial support for 4 groups/organizations | Work plans agreed, ageements signed | Until 10 June 2019 | Tatiana Fomicheva, EHRA, Head of the Finance and Administration Team tania@harmreductioneurasia.org |
| Providing resources for 4 groups/organizations on priority issues | Documentation of the advocacy process. | June – December 2019 | Team of experts. Responsible for communication Olya Belyaeva, EHRA olga@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063036691 Alexander Levin, Specialist on drug policy, ENPUD sasha.levin75@gmail.com |
| ENPUD will organize an Internship in Germany for small grant recipients to get acquainted with progressive drug policy and acquire practical skills in its implementation. Here is a video about the drug policy model of Portugal, which the group members studied in theory and practice as part of the Project "#Narconomics: from street to government" in 2017. | Representatives of 4 groups/organizations together with the resource assistance team developed, agreed upon and conducted the internship. The information is published on the websites and social media of ENPUD and EHRA. | August-September 2019 (dates will be specified until June). | Alexander Levin, Specialist on drug policy, ENPUD sasha.levin75@gmail.com Olga Belyaeva EHRA, Advocacy manager and an expert on drug users community advocacy olga@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063036691 |
| Communal effort to find opportunities to provide resource support for all groups that have requested assistance. Communication with groups waiting for assistance and seeking opportunities to expand resource assistance based on existing requests. | Seeking funds from other projects, informing donors and partners about requests for resource assistance, receiving funding or submitting requests to partner organizations. The implementation of the request. Documentation. Informing the general public using media. | June – December 2019 | Igor Gordon, EHRA, Program Team Lead Igor@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063652650 Specialist on Advocacy, ENPUD (will be selected after the applications will have been received) |
| Analysis and evaluation of actions, results, experience and next steps - together with EHRA, ENPUD and the group/organization of the community of people who use drugs. | The monitoring, assessment and lessons learned questionnaire completed. | November – December 2019 | Olga Belyaeva, EHRA olga@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063036691 Alexander Levin, ENPUD sasha.levin75@gmail.com |
| Informing the members of EHRA, ENPUD, their partners and donors about the activities implemented by the community and its partners, as well as suggestions for further actions. | The description of actions, country advocacy and general regional overview are prepared, proposals for future activities are provided. | January – February 2020 | Олą Belyaeva EHRA olga@harmreductioneurasia.org +37063036691 Alexander Levin, Specialist on drug policy, ENPUD sasha.levin75@gmail.com, and Specialist on Advocacy, ENPUD |
The group of experts to analyze and evaluate the requests according to the criteria and to formulate a priority list of resource assistance: Eliza Kurcevic, Masha Plotko and Olga Belyaeva (EHRA), Alexander Levin, Expert on Drug Policy (ENPUD/EHRA Steering Committee Member); Larisa Solovieva, ENPUD Coordination Council Member. Igor Gordon and Tatiana Fomicheva – managers of the resource assistance program for EHRA community.
We also involve experts from EHRA Steering Committee and Executive Board and experts from partner organizations in implementation processes of resource assistance according to the topic of the request. Here is a link to detailed information about the people who will help us prioritize and implement resource assistance.
All experts are professionals in their field, have a solid background and understanding of the topic and achieved high performance in their countries, at the regional and international level, and protect the interests of the community of people who use drugs.
Questions and feedback
To get the answer to your question as soon as possible, submit comments or provide feedback, please refer to our contact persons:
Olya Belyaeva, EHRA, e-mail: olga@harmreductioneurasia.org, tel.: +37063036691
Igor Gordon, EHRA, e-mail: Igor@harmreductioneurasia.org, tel.: +37063652650
You can also ask a question, leave a comment and give other feedback on Facebook pages of EHRA and ENPUD.
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