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by Bette Reimer, Coordinator, VCATOD Word
and PDF versions § Drug or alcohol strategies in Europe or the Americas § Policy discussion papers § Prevention or treatment best practices § National, regional or worldwide statistics The VCATOD is a global ‘virtual library’ of information not easily found elsewhere and is being built by a partnership of organizations in Europe, the Americas, Austral-Asia and Africa. The Web site is trilingual with parallel pages in English, Spanish and French. Web Site Features Documents Database One of the main features on the VCATOD web site is the Documents Database. The purpose of the Documents Database is to provide a single point of access to policy and practice documents published on sites across the Web. The full-text documents indexed in the Documents Database include policy documents, government reports, literature reviews, program best practices, national drug strategies, and statistical compilations. Online Discussions A second feature of the web site is an online discussion tool. This feature provides a means for information sharing and dialogue among professionals. To-date, discussions have been by invitation and are password protected. The online discussions focus on a topic of interest to professionals, are moderated, and take place over a set time period of several weeks. Summaries of the discussions are posted on the Web site for the benefit of everyone. Recently, a discussion took place on “Developing projects in the area of drug prevention”. The idea behind this discussion was to bring together experiences of experts who are currently working in the area of prevention in Latin America to exchange ideas and opinions on how to mobilize and share resources and efforts. The discussion took place in Spanish and had 35 participants. Participants were from both governmental and non-governmental organizations from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Canada, Paraguay, Peru, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Cuba. Machine Translator The site includes a customized machine translator that can be used to translate the full-text documents indexed in the Documents Database as well as sections of text such as comments contributed to the online discussions. Partnership The partnership has now grown to over 45 organizations in 24 countries. Partners in the Virtual Clearinghouse include multilateral organizations, national government agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Multilateral partners include the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs of CICAD, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization. Countries represented by national government agencies and non-governmental organizations include Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Peru, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and South Africa. Criteria for Partnership An organization wishing to become a partner in the Virtual Clearinghouse must meet a set of criteria. This set of criteria specifies partners must be: § An organization or agency, not just an individual, § Disseminating information on the Internet, and not merely advertising a product or service, § Producing alcohol, tobacco or other drugs information based on the literature, research, or the organization's established policy or program experience, and § Working at provincial/state, national, regional or international level. Organizations that do not qualify for, or are not interested in partnership, but wish to contribute to the information base, may do so through arrangements with partner organizations. Partner Roles Partner organizations are asked to: § Link to the Virtual Clearinghouse from their own sites, § Encourage the use of, and promote, the site among their colleagues, § Appoint a contact person to liaise with the Virtual Clearinghouse Secretariat, § Identify documents to add to the Documents Database, and § Participate in online discussions and governance as desired. If your organization would like to become a partner in the VCATOD, please visit the Partners section of the web site and complete the application form, or contact Bette Reimer, Coordinator, VCATOD Secretariat, breimer@ccsa.ca |
