The first part of the Regional Capacity Training (RCT) took place from June 5-15, 2001 in the Republic of Karelia. Norman Boucher, a consultant on drug and alcohol prevention from the city of Portland (The State of Maine, USA), visited five towns in Karelia: Segezha, Kostomuksha, Kem, Sortavala, Pitkyaranta.

Mr. Boucher provided training seminars on drug prevention and intervention strategies to audiences in the five Karelian cities.

In addition, Mr. Boucher took part in meetings with the representatives of city administration, education, social sphere, law enforcement and medical professionals.

The following topics were touched upon: what kind of information should be given to children about drugs and alcohol, what prevention work is all about, which methods of preventive work are most effective, the American experience in the sphere of drug prevention, and others.

The audience were particularly interested in the towns where this problem is acute (for example Kostomuksha, Sortavala), as well as in the regions where the problem of drug abuse has yet to grown to such a large scale.

The materials that can be used in prevention work on a daily basis by specialists from different fields were distributed during the seminars.

December 3-8, 2001 over 70 enthusiastic professionals got together to exchange knowledge in the area of juvenile drug prevention and learn how to teach the a drug prevention curriculum for 7th through 9th graders (DOM link). The seminar participants represented law enforcement, education, mental and health care from from Petrozavodsk, 5 other Karelian cities (Sortovala, Pitkyaranta, Kostamuksha, Segezha and Kem), Veliky Novgorod, Volgagrad and Irkutsk in Russia, two American police officers as well as some Ukrainian guests.

Leading the training and coordination of the seminar were DOM authors, Svetlana Vladimirnaya Goranskaya and Olga Sergeevna Baranova, chief of the drug-related crime prevention department, Petrozavodsk City Police Department, police officers and teachers who all had experience teaching the interactive DOM curriculum in Petrozavodsk ,American trainers Chief Bill Baker of the Laconia, NH Police Department and Officer Mary Beth Boe from the Winooski, VT Police Department.

	Mock International Police Acadamy Graduation. The seminar participants were divided into two groups. Graduate class members, which included all police participants who played the role of future police leaders from countries around the world and the audience, made up of educators and NGO’s who played the role of Project Harmony invitees intended to reinforce the importance of partnerships between police, educators and their communities. Information was shared that made the police and the audience believe that there was a need to find a new way of doing business if we were going to make the world a better and safer place for children.
	Presenter Evaluation Tool: The US trainers worked with the 9-member core group of trainers before the large workshops began to develop an evaluation system that would be use during the course of the week to assess the skills of the presenters.
	Presentations and Lessons at Orphanage: Three visits were organized and one lesson from the curriculum was given to the many children.
	The seminar participants from Karelia, Irkutsk, Volgograd, Velikii Novgorod and Ukraine made up working plans on implementing DOM curriculum in their cities.
	All the particpants got certificates on successful completion of the training on DOM curriculum.

The next phase of the program will take place in three different cities, where the trainers from Petrozavodsk will travel to Veliky Novogorod, Volgograd and Irkutsk in spring of 2002 to conduct similar seminars in each of these cities for local and regional professionals.