After the fall of Communism in 1989, there was an increase in both the use and the diversity of illicit drugs in Bulgaria, especially among young people. This pilot project developed school-based drug prevention programmes that were embedded in local communities or neighbourhoods. Three schools in Sofia, Kazanlak and Blagoevgrad served as experimental sites where school-wide programmes were developed. To ensure optimal embeddedness, the Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR) methodology was used to develop a prevention strategy for the local neighbourhoods or communities surrounding the pilot project. The ultimate goal was to establish a school-based drug prevention programme that was geared to the complex social, economic and community contexts existing in Bulgaria.
