Evaluating the Fight Against Drugs: From Reporting to Measuring Effectiveness

Head of the Anti-Drug Working Group of the Expediency Discernment Council called for redesigning evaluation indicators for anti-drug policies and shifting from quantitative measurement of activities to assessing effectiveness and outcomes.

According to Ambassador Arjan Homairad, the head of the anti-narcotics task force of the Expediency Council, in the meeting of the anti-narcotics task force of the Expediency Council, referring to the promulgation of the general anti-narcotics policies in 2006, he stated: these policies have been formulated in the form of 11 paragraphs, and despite the passage of nearly two decades since their promulgation, it was necessary to design and formulate accurate and appropriate indicators to evaluate the extent of their implementation.

Appreciating the efforts of experts, academic experts, executive directors and members of the previous working groups, he considered the process of compiling evaluation indicators as the result of a collective and continuous work and added: the actions taken in the past periods have been the foundation for the formation of the current framework and the efforts made in this direction should be considered part of a continuous and complementary process.

The head of the anti-narcotics task force of the Council of Expediency, while appreciating the scholarly approach and interactive spirit of Dr. Zulfiqari, the secretary general of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters and his colleagues, said that the opening of the 19-year suspension of the evaluation indicators of the implementation of the general policies approved by the martyred leader Rizwanullah was due to the establishment of the headquarters in the main rail. Pointing to the difference of the new approach in developing indicators, he stated: One of the main features of this period is the attention to the supervisory position of the Expediency Council and the design of indicators that can determine the level of achievement of the general goals of general policies; Because the goal is not to enter into the executive details of the devices, but it should be determined to what extent the actions taken have led to the realization of the desired goals.

He continued: In the previous approaches, the number of activities, the amount of discoveries, the number of medical centers and the number of educational programs were among the indicators of interest; But in the new approach, the main question is what effect these measures have had on the target community and whether they have been able to reduce harm, change consumption patterns, and improve the prevention and treatment situation or not.

Emphasizing the necessity of using new models of governance, Homairad added: new indicators are designed based on consequences and effectiveness to enable the evaluation of the real results of policies. For example, in the field of prevention, instead of focusing only on the number of training classes, it should be checked to what extent the set of actions of the responsible institutions have helped to identify addiction early, increase the awareness of families, and reduce the time interval between the occurrence of addiction and the family's knowledge of it.

Referring to the measures taken to organize the indicators, he said: In order to create more coherence in the evaluation process, 11 clauses of general policies have been grouped into four main clusters, including coping, prevention, treatment and reduction of harm and social support, and enablers.

The head of the anti-narcotics task force of the expediency assessment council added: In addition to using the expert capacity of the responsible institutions and experts, valid international models and successful experiences have also been taken into account in compiling these indicators so that the indicators have the necessary measurement capability, accuracy and efficiency and strengthen the platform for regional and global interactions.

Referring to the completion of the stage of compilation and presentation of indicators, he stated: The next step is to evaluate the degree of realization of general policies; In the sense that it should be determined to what extent each of the policies have been realized, in which areas we have faced non-fulfillment or weak performance and what were the factors affecting this situation.

Homairad considered one of the important challenges of the regulatory system in the field of combating narcotics to be the dominance of the financial and compliance perspective on performance evaluation and said: In many cases, the evaluations have been focused on whether the allocated credits have been spent and the anticipated activities have been carried out; While the basic question is what results these expenses and activities have brought and to what extent they have been effective in changing the behavior of target groups and realizing policy goals.

The head of the Anti-Narcotics Working Group of the Expediency Recognition Council explained the proposed model of three-level monitoring and stated: In this model, first, the operational monitoring of the processes and the review of the implementation of the measures in the prescribed schedule are taken into account; In the second level, the performance of the devices and the degree of compliance of their actions with the plans are evaluated, and in the third level, the degree of achievement of strategic goals and the effectiveness of policies in the long term are measured.

He added: In this framework, operational monitoring on a quarterly basis, adaptive performance evaluation on an annual basis, and evaluation of strategic effects in long-term periods, including 5-year periods, are foreseen. The aim is that the information obtained from these three levels provides a more accurate picture of the performance of the devices and the success rate of the overall policies.

Referring to the other tasks of the working group, Homairad said: Helping to formulate comprehensive plans, monitoring and explaining the current situation of the fight against drugs and addiction in the country, assessing the level of realization of general policies, examining the necessity of reviewing policies and adapting laws, approvals and bills to general policies are among the work axes of this working group, which are carried out within the framework of the scientific, cultural and social commission of the "Social Committee" Expediency Council.

He added: In the evaluation process, an institution including the precise determination of the responsible agency and cooperating agencies is particularly important for each of the indicators. In this way, it is possible to determine what responsibility each device has taken, what actions it has taken, and to what extent its performance has led to the expected results, and what is the possible deviation angle of the system from the communicated policies.

The head of the Anti-Narcotics Working Group of the Council of Expediency also pointed out that the general policies approved by the Supreme Leader are under the constitution and beyond all laws and resolutions, therefore, adapting the laws and regulations to the general policies and identifying possible contradictions are among the important tasks of the working group, which is followed with the aim of strengthening the coherence of policy making and monitoring the implementation of general policies.

In the end, he expressed the hope that with the establishment of an integrated, intelligent and effective monitoring system, the field of more accurate evaluation of the performance of the institutions, the identification of obstacles to the implementation of policies and the presentation of a clear picture of the achievement of the goals of the fight against narcotics will be provided, and the assembly, in cooperation with the headquarters of the fight against narcotics, will be able to present a documented, detailed and strategic report to the Supreme Leader.

In this meeting, some members of the anti-narcotics working group of the Expediency Detection Council also expressed their views, opinions and suggestions about the issues raised.