Funding and quality of harm reduction services in six EECA countries

The first year of the Regional Program “Harm Reduction Works – Fund It!” in the six member countries of the project (Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, and Tajikistan) is coming to an end. Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) in cooperation with six partner organizations and 16 initiative groups of people who use drugs (PWUD) conducted assessment of the following:

• Expenditure and costs of harm reduction services; needs and gaps in the funding of harm reduction programs

• Adequacy of harm reduction services to meet the needs of PWUD community

On February 25-27, 2015 a meeting of the Regional Technical Advisory Group (RTAG) is taking place in Vilnius. At the meeting, the participants are discussing the results of the assessment conducted to determine which actions EHRN, partner organizations and initiative groups of PWUD will be able to take in 2015-2016 and how they will be influencing the process of taking budget-related decisions on funding harm reduction in the countries. With declining funding of harm reduction programs from international grants, the need increases to efficiently interact with state and municipal authorities on funding of harm reduction services and the mechanism of state funding of NGOs.

The results of the first year of the Program “Harm Reduction Works – Fund It!” will be reviewed at the meeting.

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