Letter from the Director General

The Activities of the Dianova Network

 

On Dianova’s Annual Report 2014, by Montse Rafel

2014 has been a successful year for most of our members, who responded adequately to a growing social emergency by means of diversification and by making their services sustainable.

As an example, stands out Dianova Spain’s new humanitarian reception programme, implemented in reaction to the emergency situation that newly arrived immigrants are living. One may also mention our specialized facility in Uruguay, opened to address the needs of those suffering from addiction and mental illness, or dual pathology. Among other relevant events we can point out the opening of a second supportive housing unit in Quebec, Canada, for low-income homeless people, the success of the sixth edition of Mocktails 2014, a community-based health promotion campaign launched in Portugal, as well as the ongoing success of Dianova’s Training Centre, also in Portugal.

In the education field, the organization of International seminars and the implementation of the “Convivencial” school-based programme in Chile are also worth mentioning, in addition to the educational and personal development activities developed at La Villa’s centre for vulnerable adolescents, in Palombara Sabina, Italy.

As regards Dianova International activities, a great effort has been made by our International relations department with many work groups, conferences, participation to questionnaires and consultations, and organization of parallel events at high-level international meetings. Besides, as UNGASS 2016[1] is rapidly approaching, we participated in several conferences to advocate for better addiction treatment programmes, grounded on a public health perspective, and strictly avoiding  whatever form of repression or discrimination towards substances abusers. 

Throughout the year, we also maintained our commitment to the empowerment of women. As an example, we presented in October our programme for mothers with dependent children in Chile at the informal civil society hearing chaired by the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs at the United Nations in New York. As regards the events organized by Dianova and its partners, we have to highlight the conference “Education, Gender and Maternal Health“, with participation from Dianova Nicaragua, at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, and the position assumed by Dianova Spainin favour of long-term addiction treatment, at the annual meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), in Austria.

With respect to communications, 2014 was marked by the success of the “React” awareness campaign launched in five countries of our Network, and impacting more than 46 million people. In addition, a great effort was done to post articles online much more frequently and with more appropriate contents in the objective of improving our corporate web site and increasing our presence on social networks.

Last but certainly not least, we would like to acknowledge the essential role played by our personnel. This recognition is reflected on the one hand in the progressive implementation of the human resource management model which, among other elements, focuses on equal opportunities and, on the other hand, in our determination to offer decent working environments and conditions to achieve a better work-life balance.

Many thanks to all those who have contributed to the success of our programmes and activities throughout the year, and thanks to our beneficiaries for their confidence!


[1]UNGASS: the United Nations General Assembly Special Session will be dedicated to the world drug problem in 2016