Evaluation Plan Proposal for Crime and Substance Abuse Prevention Programs in Jalisco, Mexico

INTRODUCTION:

For the past six years, Mexico´s stand on criminal justice public policy has attempted to shift from a crime reduction perspective to a social prevention strategy focusing on citizen rights and primary prevention.  One of the key components of this new approach is drug use and crime prevention selective interventions in vulnerable youth of selected high risk, high violence communities across the country. Research indicates that evaluating results of this new strategy needs strengthening; only 27.5% of government funded prevention programs in Mexico include relevant results indicators (México Evalúa, 2004). Indicators used are often linked to tertiary prevention, rather than primary and secondary prevention that could show results beyond drug use in youth.  This proposal describes a comprehensive evaluation plan suggested and implemented for a government funded crime and drug use prevention program in the city of Jalisco, Guadalajara in Mexico.

METHOD

A total of 14 community programs were evaluated using evaluation plans that incorporated exploratory, summative and formative approaches, with quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques integrated. The first phase of the evaluation design implemented was a participatory diagnosis with focus groups applied to youth and adult members of communities. Summative evaluation was based on pre-test/post-test assessment questionnaires using validated scales that were constructed to show results beyond drug use reduction. Categories of analysis included: self-efficacy, leadership, communication, empathy, individual and community resilience. The objective of the instruments was to collect information regarding changes in participants´ perception of individual and community capacities to prevent drug use. Methodology facilitators completed field diaries that complemented findings regarding the implementation process and changes in participants and provide inputs for the systematization of the implementation process.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings highlight that for drug use prevention program evaluation in violent zones of vulnerable communities to succeed it is necessary to; 1- engage stakeholders in the evaluation plan (policy analysts and designers, facilitators, directive institution members, amongst others), 2- design evaluation plans that are coherent with the reality of the contexts in which selective programs are implemented, 3- make results visible, 4- enforce mechanisms that will guarantee that evaluation results will be used as valuable input for future public policy design and implementation; and 5- focus efforts on building institutional capacities of implementing organizations so that evaluation can translate into organizational culture. Challenges for future evaluation design include the strengthening of quasi-experimental components in community prevention programs.