Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Unit
Background

Over the past 5 years, AHRN’s Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Unit has supported the development of human resources for harm reduction in Asia via: Facilitating technical capacity building short courses; Facilitating capacity building workshops, seminars, meetings, and lectures; Facilitating study tours; Undertaking assessments (i.e. RSA/RAR, training needs assessments); Technical assistance towards the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of harm reduction programs.

Facilitating technical capacity building short courses:

• Fee-paying short courses for individuals whose professional duties primarily revolve around the interface of the twin epidemics of drug use and HIV, with an ‘intermediate’ level of knowledge / expertise;
• 6-day short course on ‘Harm Reduction: Health and Social Care for People Using Drugs’ (15-21 March 2007).
• 4-day short course on ‘Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR)’ (20-23 February 2007);
• 6-day short course on ‘Harm Reduction: Health and Social Care for People Using Drugs’ (6-13 July 2006);
• 5-day short course on ‘Harm Reduction: Health and Social Care for People Using Drugs’ (6-10 March 2006).

Facilitating capacity building workshops, seminars, meetings, and lectures:

Skills building workshops at 8th ICAAP, Colombo (2007) and at International AIDS Conference, Bangkok (2004); National and regional capacity building support for Thai Harm Reduction Network (2005-present); Various capacity building activities with organisations including AIDS Access Foundation (Thailand), Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education (Thailand), Thanyarak Institute (Thailand), UNODC / National AIDS Control Program (Pakistan), LARAS (Indonesia), IHPCP (Indonesia), Myanmar Anti-Narcotics Association (Myanmar), Remedios AIDS Foundation (Phillipines), Red Cross / Red Crescent Society (China), Olof Palme International Centre (Sweden), among others; Regular training presentations and lectures to undergraduate and postgraduate students (including international postgraduates, and in some instances, to Faculty members) of Mahidol University’s Faculty of Tropical Medicine and ASEAN Institute for Health Development (AIHD), as well as Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Nursing and Faculty of Medicine (2003-present); Training topics most frequently include drug pharmacology and drug use; blood-borne viruses (i.e. HIV, HCV, HBV); global and regional overviews of drug use and harms; drug policy approaches (i.e. supply reduction, demand reduction, harm reduction); harm reduction responses to drug use and harms (i.e. outreach, drop-in centres, overdose response, needle and syringe exchange programs, pharmacotherapy, antiretroviral treatment); harm reduction advocacy; Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR); sexual health risks for people using drugs; and reducing drug use related harms amongst special populations (i.e. women and girls, young people, prisoners, migratory workers, refugees, etc.).

Facilitating study tours:

• 2-day study tour for ARHP Myanmar harm reduction implementing site staff (including outreach workers, ORW team leaders, and health / security bureaucrats) to Chiang Mai, to learn about comprehensive approaches to health and social care for people using drugs (including drug treatment, DICs, outreach programs, drug user organisation and network building, peer education, 03-04 May 2007);
• 2-day study tour for ARHP Guangxi (China) harm reduction implementing site staff (including outreach workers, ORW team leaders, Ministry of Health and CDC bureaucrats) to Chiang Mai, to learn about drug user self-organisation and network building, 10-11 April 2007);
• Longer study tours for Indonesian law enforcement officials to best practice harm reduction & police programs in the Netherlands (2003) and for health and law enforcement officials from Myanmar to Hong Kong’s 32-year-old Methadone Treatment Program (2004).

Undertaking assessments (i.e. RSA/RAR, training needs assessments):

• Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR) for two remote, mountainous provinces in far northern Vietnam – Cao Bang and Son La provinces (2007-ongoing);
• Training needs assessment of major stakeholders in both of the aforementioned Vietnamese provinces (2007-ongoing);
• Documentation of Best Practices and Needs Assessment of Service Providers in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Countries for UNODC, ROSA Project Number AD/RAS/2003/H13 (2004);
• Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR) for two remote hill-towns in Myanmar – Lashio and Laukkai (2005/06).

 Technical assistance towards the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of harm reduction programs:

• Formation of an Indonesian National Harm Reduction Network (Jangkar), technical assistance and capacity building support for Indonesian stakeholders, via AHRN Indonesia (2003-2006);
• Technical assistance and capacity building support for Myanmar stakeholders, via AHRN Myanmar (2003-present);
• Technical assistance and capacity building support for Vietnamese stakeholders, via AHRN Vietnam (2007-ongoing).

Staff and Consultants

The Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Unit currently includes four experienced full-time staff.  Profiles of these key staff are below. In addition, the Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Unit takes full advantage of AHRN’s long-established network of expert consultants who, when required, are selected to best match the technical assistance and capacity building requirements of the organisation / individual in question.

Paul Hardacre Consultant- Building Unit

With AHRN since February 2004; Harm reduction professional with more than 8 years experience; Harm reduction service implementation, workforce development and community education expertise working with the Queensland Intravenous AIDS Association (QuIVAA) and the Queensland Needle & Syringe Program (QNSP); Has worked in Australia, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, China, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos PDR, and Sri Lanka; Holds Graduate Diploma in Health Studies (Addiction) from the University of Queensland; Responsible for the coordination of technical assistance and capacity building activities at AHRN.

Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Centre and Facilities
Located separately within the beautifully landscaped 2 rai grounds of the AHRN Secretariat in Chiang Mai (Thailand), the Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Centre is the perfect venue not only for capacity building programs and workshops, but also for seminars, meetings and consultations. 

AHRN’s Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Centre is fully equipped everything needed to host or facilitate professional gatherings, including LCD projector, laptop computers, TV, DVD/VCR, whiteboard, standing flipcharts, etc. 

The Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Centre is approximately 126 square metres in size and can comfortably accommodate up to 40 people.  Catering is also available, so that participants can enjoy their breaks and lunch beside the pool, or relax in the shade of the trees.

If you are interested in booking the Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Centre and its facilities, please contact AHRN.

Request for Technical Assistance and/or Capacity Building
Contact Asia’s leading harm reduction capacity building and technical assistance solutions provider with your enquiry or request, today. Direct your enquiry or request to Fiona Oakes, Manager, Building Unit, via training@ahrn.net