By: Jackson Vincent

PUTRAJAYA, November 23, 2023 – The Strong Families Training of Trainer (TOT) was attended by 30 National Anti-Drugs Agency (NADA) officials from all states, including those from the Prevention Division, at the Mercure Hotel in Putrajaya.

The TOT was held for three days to train and prepare NADA officials as a pioneer group for the Strong Families module, which has been implemented in countries including Indonesia, Philippines, Zanzibar, Serbia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, the Dominican Republic, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and the United States.

According to the Head of NADA’s International Unit, Norkumala Abdul Rahman, this training programme is organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the Asian region based in Thailand.

“I hope everyone can take advantage of this golden opportunity to add new knowledge from the training organized by UNODC over the next three days, using it as an additional input to improve existing Prevention Education programmes so that they can be tailored to the needs of the community,” she said while kicking off the training session here.

The training sessions were conducted entirely by certified trainers, Dr Aala El-Khani assisted by Miss Watjana Arunrangsi (UNODC Bangkok), which positively boosted the competency of officials throughout the Strong Families module training itself.

Meanwhile, according to the Assistant Director of Kedah NADA, Rajesvary Gonoselan, all the information provided to implement the Strong Families program is very practical and worthwhile for the participants.

“Contents in the Strong Families programme is recommended for the implementation of interventions for 10 families which include both guardians and children aged between 8-12 years.”

“It is implemented for three weeks, with each session lasting one hour. The first week involves only the guardians for an hour, while the second and the following weeks involve both the guardians and the children,” she explained.

For the record, Malaysia is the most recent country to be trained in the Strong Families module with several other countries that have been trained and successfully implemented this programme.

Therefore, Malaysia will step forward to plan and implement it according to the plan that will be developed by all participants of this exercise.
Through the Prevention Division and assistance from the International Unit, NADA will supervise the adaptation of this module including the process of finalising the translation of the Strong Families module to Keluarga Utuh with UNODC approval.

In the meantime, Dr. Aala hopes that the participants will be able to formulate a comprehensive plan for the implementation of the program in the near future.

“In addition, this effort can also train a new group of trainers for this kind of program so that the implementation can be expanded further”, he explained.