Implementation

Once the goals, content, methods and activities of the prevention programme have been determined and the support and cooperation of the community has been assured, the programme can begin. In the case of formal education, it is important that a prevention programme should be implemented adequately, because to develop a prevention programme and to integrate it in the general school curriculum requires time and effort on the part of the programme defenders and the school. Again, it should be stressed that all staff and other personnel have to be involved and committed to the prevention programme from the outset. They have to feel that it is their programme and their responsibility to strive for good results.

Implementation will be more successful if the following conditions are met:

- The school has indicated that it will adopt the prevention programme.

- The school has been involved in the initial development stage.

- The conditions (time, costs, content of the programme, educational materials, training facilities etc.) are favourable to the organization or target group.

- The school agrees on the goals, content, methods, location, and time schedule of the programme.

Outside formal education settings, the timing of a fixed-term or continuous prevention programme within the community involving youth clubs, sport or leisure clubs, community citizen centres is very important. For example, inviting citizens to join a drug education programme during holiday periods or high media coverage of sporting events will result in a low attendance. Advertising about the programme in a medium they do not use, or selecting an unfamiliar location, will also result in minimal attendance.