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		Unity "Health promotion works through concrete and effective community action. At the heart of this process is the empowerment of communities, their ownership and control of their own destinies." Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986 History of the Unity Project In the mid-1990's, the Monitoring System at Jellinek identified that figures of alcohol and other drug use amongst young people attending clubs and dance parties in Amsterdam and surrounding regions was increasing. The most prevalent drugs being used were alcohol, tobacco and cannabis, followed by ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamine (Korf, et al. 1995). There was also evidence of poly drug use, particularly in relation to the social use of alcohol at these events. During this time staff at Jellinek also identified that most drug information for people in the dance-scene, occurred via traditional health promotion methods such as posters, information brochures and flyers. Informal contacts with 'insiders' in the dance scene revealed that there was a great sense of 'affinity' with other members of the scene, particularly with regard to looking after each others 'well being'. Continued contact between Jellinek and 'clubbers', resulted in the formation of a partnership to develop a relevant and credible drug information intervention involving participation from the target group. Thus Unity was founded. During the developmental phase of the project, meetings were held with key informants in the Amsterdam dance scene, who were also interested in becoming 'peer-educators'. At these meetings there was extensive discussion about what the aim (message) of the project would be and how the target group would be reached. The result was a peer led intervention that involved the provision of harm reduction information through a 'shop-front', which would appear at large clubs and dance parties in Amsterdam. Conversations and advice on alcohol and drugs would be provided by trained peer-educators and would be supported by the provision of information brochures. Since its humble beginnings in the 'Melkweg' (a large club venue Amsterdam), Unity has expanded and now attends between 40 festivals and dance events per year. Excellent contacts and 'in-roads' have been made with festival and club promoters and Unity is welcome and supported at almost all major dance events in Amsterdam. Unity also collaborates with other stakeholders like First Aid, security, police, policy-makers and politicians. Unity is also a member of the European Basics Network – an umbrella organisation for the promotion of drug information and harm reduction in party spaces in Europe. In 2002, Unity also began collecting data on drug and alcohol trends in the dance scene for input into Jellinek's drug monitoring systems. Since 2005 the Unity Model has been successfully implemented in 3 other regions in the Netherlands. Unity is a peer led intervention that is part of a national Dutch 'safer dancing' policy, a prevention mix of education, support facilities and juridical measures. Some of these measures consist of compulsory chill out rooms, free access to drinking water, First Aid, climate control and co-operation with 'drug alert' campaigns (dissemination of information about contaminated pills on the market). The Dutch Ministry of Health guidelines (Stadhuis en House) are predominantly aimed at improving the safety of dance events, which is also a complimentary aim of Unity. Unity is a true community development project: it is based on need, developed in conjunction with the community, and utilises appropriate health promotion tools. The project is still owned by the community it has aimed to serve. As Nutbeam (1998) states, a good health promotion programme is one that addresses the priorities and needs that the community itself has identified. Unity is a health promotion action, which fully adheres to this principle. > more... Outline of the Unity Project Unity is overseen by a Steering Committee made up of representatives from the following sectors: drug policy & research, festival/dance promotion, prevention/health promotion and the media. This Committee meets every 4 months to discuss the direction and implementation of the project. Jellinek 'houses' the project and provides the administrative infrastructure and resources to implement and evaluate the project. Currently Unity is coordinated and managed by 7 people – a Coordinator (20 hours per week) and a 6 Peer Coaches (in total: 35 hours per week). The project also utilises the skills of approximately 50 trained 'peer-educators' or volunteers. The Coordinator is a staff member of Jellinek and is essentially responsible for the overall management of the project including the budget. This position works closely with the Peer Coaches, who originated from the target group and are contractors to the agency. The Peer Coaches manage the implementation of the intervention in the field including; liaison with festival promoters; selection, training, supervision and on-going contact with peers; and data collection for monitoring and evaluation, etc. Aim of the Unity Project The primary aim of Unity is to: • provide the dance-going public in Amsterdam and surrounding regions with drug information, • inform people attending dance events about the potential harms of drug use, and • monitor drug trends in the 'dance-scene'. As stated earlier, the Unity Model utilises peer education to reach the 'dance-going public' with information about alcohol and drugs. Volunteers are trained as 'peer-educators' to engage those who visit the Unity stand in a conversation about alcohol and drugs. During a visit, written information is often distributed and myths and risks associated with substance use are discussed. Visitors to the stand are also encouraged to fill-out a drug or alcohol knowledge test and feedback is given via the peer-worker, which often prompts a further conversation about drugs. Through its network Unity is also able to disseminate ‘Red Alert’ information about dangerous pills. The Unity project is an excellent example of how a peer-support programme can be implemented. The vast majority of 'peer-educators' are motivated and enthusiastic about the intervention as are the staff involved with the project and those who visit the stand at dance events (the target group). Objectives of the Unity Project The objectives of Unity are to: • Select and recruit 10 peers per year to the project, who form a representative sample of the dance/club scene (from gabber to trance to house) • Provide comprehensive alcohol and drug information and skills based training to 'peers' • Attend at least 40 large dance festivals or events per year in Amsterdam and surrounding regions • Reach at least 7.000 members of the dance public with drug information and advice via conversations and provision of written materials at a 'shop front' • Evaluate and improve the intervention • Monitor trends in substance use in the dance scene for input into Jellinek drug monitoring systems.  Projects (1 to 6 of 9)   Yo quiero, Yo puedo Life skills and substance abuse prevention for children and adolescents The Program Yo quiero, y... > more...   Unity "Health promotion works through concrete and effective community action. At the heart of this pr... > more...   The Hub The Hub was established in October 2000 with the purpose of delivering a range of early interventio... > more...   Southwark TV Chris Haydon is the Director of Community TV Trust [CTVT], a specialist media charity based in Londo... > more...   THE SMOKING ZINE Youth have access to more health information than ever in the past. Yet, health risk behaviour such... > more...   Colombianitos: Goals for a Better Life The Colombianitos Soccer Club, Goals for a Better Life, aims to reduce drug addiction and crime and ... > more...  Next 6 Projects >