The Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently passed the Strategy for Addiction Prevention in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2025–2035. This is the result and an example of excellent cooperation between the authorities and the civil sector, in which the Addiction Prevention Competence Center played a key role. Director Amir Hasanović speaks about the work of this organization, the importance of civil society, expert support and international cooperation.
Mr Hasanović, your words are that this Strategy poses as a turning point in addiction prevention in the FBiH. Why?
That’s right, the adoption of this strategy is a turning point for the Federation because for the first time a systematic framework is being adopted when it comes to the fight against addiction. Until now, such a framework did not exist, and it will help all stakeholders know what to do and which models to apply.
What is the change that the Strategy brings?
The biggest difference is that prevention is approached strategically and in a scientifically based manner. You see, not all prevention is effective prevention. We have outdated approaches that can even be harmful, and just anyone could have been involved in prevention. For ten years now, we have been insisting on prevention based on scientific evidence – what science confirms as effective, what should be supported, and what should be stopped from being funded.
So, is the system of financing addiction prevention programs and projects also changing?
That is one of the effects, yes. The funds that were distributed often went to projects that were ineffective, sometimes even counterproductive. The funds were also distributed to various organizations such as beekeeping or fishing clubs that, while respecting their good intentions, are usually not qualified to deal with addiction prevention. These were usually one-off say-no-to-drugs events without any standards and which have no lasting effect in prevention.
Let’s look, for example, at the funds from lottery revenues, where 500-700 thousand marks have been allocated anually over the past twenty years. These are millions that have been spent without a systemic result. Now the allocation of grants and programs will have to be tied to the strategy: applicants will be required to refer to the Strategy and the proven recommended interventions, or approaches, proposed therein.
Are we talking only about the funds of the Federation or also lower levels of government?
The Strategy applies to all levels of government in the Federation. What comes next is its presentation in the cantons and local communities, and the development of tools that will help make decisions on a scientific basis.
Which brings us to the standards you mentioned a moment ago…
Yes, one of the next steps is to create a database of accredited programs – a kind of registry of “what works and what doesn’t”, based on European models such as those in the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) Xchange registry. In essence, we are applying European and global standards established by the EU and the UN – global standards tell us what effective prevention is, and European standards tell us how effective prevention should be done.
The idea is that all projects undergo evaluation and assessment as meeting the requirements / partially meeting / not meeting / harmful. This way, it would be clear what to finance and implement, and what we should stop doing. Unfortunately, for years, “prevention” in our country has been reduced to one-off lectures, campaigns and projects that sound nice, but leave few measurable results. With this ten-year strategy, we finally have a chance to, with this scientific approach, achieve thorough and coordinated work with measurable results.
Can you illustrate an example of a wrong practice used before?
As I have already said, many of the concepts that are applied are outdated and abandoned elsewhere, like one-off lectures, for example when a police officer comes to your school to talk to you about drugs. This is a completely superficial approach which can even motivate children to consume substances, instead of doing what science says they should. At younger ages, the focus should not be on substances, but on developing skills and resilience.
What does science say about this?
Science says that instead of focusing on the danger itself, we should turn to programs that strengthen competencies. Prevention is based on two pillars: one of them is strengthening individual resilience, competencies and skills that help a person be more resistant to risky behaviors, and the other is systemic, which entertains the social framework that regulates behavior.
Prevention must start from the family, and then go to multiple levels through school, workplace, local community, media… It is this second pillar that requires a strategic approach. The way of acting must change, the culture must change, it cannot be done campaign-wise but systematically. Education must also change, we lack social-emotional learning, it cannot be found in our school curricula. Social-emotional learning helps children to cope with life’s challenges in a healthy way. Prevention means creating a resilient individual in a resilient society.
Let’s go back to the Strategy for Addiction Prevention in the FBiH. How did it come about that it was created and adopted? What was the role of a civil society organization in that process?
The initiative was launched back in 2023 after discussions with the Federal Ministry of Education and Science. A working group was formed, which included representatives of key ministries, and the Addiction Prevention Competence Centre was engaged as expert and logistical support. We launched an initiative that the Federation Government accepted with open arms, especially after we organized an impressive conference of the European Society for Prevention Research that year. It was a major event, the most prestigious of its kind, and it left a strong impression on the government representatives.
The initiative was adopted in the last days of 2023, a working group was formed, and, exactly two years after the initiative was launched, the Strategy was adopted by the parliament.
Could it have been done faster?
It probably was, but you know the political circumstances and procedures here… However, in the end, the document was adopted unanimously, which is a rare case. We are proud that both the majority and the opposition voted for it, and that it was clear to everyone that this is a supra-political issue of enormous importance for society. I will repeat myself, prevention is a scientific issue and should be dealt with by professionals and science, and I am glad that the parliamentarians recognized this.
How important is this participation of the civil sector in the entire process and that it was, in fact, led by a non-governmental organization?
In European countries, prevention is often carried out by public institutions — public health institutes, ministries, civil service. Unfortunately, our state does not have enough professional capacity to do this. That is why it is good that we have civil society organizations that have become professionalized and can be the driving force of structural changes.
Our Addiction Prevention Competence Centre is, for example, a reference point for the implementation of the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC). In some countries, these reference points are public institutions, in our case it is an NGO. This allowed us to first train the members of the working group through the EUPC, and only then to build a strategy together on the same paradigm. As such, we can be a credible partner and complement to state institutions.
Of course, the invaluable role of our foreign partners and donors, such as the Kingdom of Norway and the SMART Balkans project, without which this would not be possible, is crucial.
What comes next after the adoption and implementation of the Strategy?
As a continuation of the work on the Strategy, we are now preparing an initiative to establish a special fund for addiction prevention. We will propose that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina allocate one convertible mark (1 KM) per capita per year for this purpose, which is approximately 2.5 million KM. This is a small percentage of the budget, but it could finance the systematic implementation of the ten-year strategy.
Prevention returns investment through cost reductions in healthcare, social protection, security and other sectors. We are currently conducting a so-called “SROI analysis” (social return on investment) that will show the long-term savings and benefits that prevention brings. The goal is to have clear arguments and numbers for negotiations with the Government, and this analysis is an important first step in making an economic argument. We want to show how much the state gains from savings through prevention — how much an intervention costs versus how much prevention reduces costs in healthcare, social protection and other sectors.
You mentioned the SMART Balkans project. How has the support of this project affected your organization?
The Addiction Prevention Competence Centre was the beneficiary of a core grant through this project, and I can say that it made the adoption of the Strategy for Addiction Prevention in the FBiH possible, and enabled us to bring this process to an end. This grant has positioned us as a leading factor in the development of scientifically based addiction prevention, especially through our credibility and visibility among decision-makers.
And according to what the strategy promises — and what science already knows — the greatest result will not be in documents, but in the years to come: less risky behaviors, more resilience and healthier choices.
Because addiction prevention is not a campaign. It is a system.