Open Hand Maldives

“Open Hand” was officially registered on 28th July 2009 by a group of recovering addicts who wanted to help other addicts to maintain their recovery as non government organization registered with the ministry of Home Affairs; Open Hand functions within the principle of the Maldivian laws and regulations. Open Hand has a vision of creating a society that is aware of the several concerns surrounding drugs abuse and address the community on drug related diseases. The NGO works on primary prevention, and aims to profitably prevent youth from testing and experimenting with drugs, and supports and facilitate drug users to enter into recovery programs and maintain a healthy and a supportive recovery. Our key objectives are: To enable a supportive environment for recovering addicts to rebuild their lives and become productive members of the community; To create awareness among the Fuvahmmulah community and addicts through outreach intervention and education To conduct awareness campaigns that prevent adolescents and youth from exposing to drug Key lesson learned - If aftercare activities are conducted regular basis there is keen interest from active and recovering addicts to participate and work towards rebuilding their lives with optimism and dedication. The support structure enable recovering addicts to keep them clean and not relapse into their previous life style of crime and drugs. Even thought they were back in the same societal environment. Creating awareness to the general public is crucial in order to remove stigma and discrimination against recovery community. Implementation of drug abuse prevention campaign was an opportunity to address stigma and discrimination.