The IDPP are pleased to work with the GIZ Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD) in developing the 'Innovation Lab on Drug Policies and Human Development'.
What is the Innovation Lab?
The Innovation Lab is an active policymaking event. It brings together experts and policymakers from around the world and range of fields. Working in small groups, they debate and design policies and interventions in specific areas of drugs-related development.
“This pilot, the first of its kind globally, represents a truly unique collaboration between a development agency and one of the world’s leading university-affiliated think tanks"
Why Now?
The intial goal of designing a format to encourage innovation is to translate the April 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) outcome document and recent international debates into smart policies in affected countries.
A pilot Innovation Lab was held in October 2016 at the LUISS School of Governance in Rome. The first such event, it is intended to be a starting point for developing both the format and innovative policies.
What Next?
The next Innovation Lab will take place in Feburary 2017 at LSE IDEAS in London.
“We believe that this cooperation between GIZ GPDPD and LSE IDEAS is setting a precedent on how to bridge the still wide gap between research and implementing agencies in the field of drugs"
Who are the partners?
The LSE IDEAS IDPP is delighted to be working with the GIZ Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD), part of the German Development Agency GIZ, on the Innovation Lab.
The GPDPD is implemented on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and under the political auspices of the Federal Drug Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany. It seeks to promote a development and health oriented approach to drug policy internationally.
Professor Michael Cox, LSE IDEAS Director:
“This pilot, the first of its kind globally, represents a truly unique collaboration between a development agency and one of the world’s leading university-affiliated think tanks.
It will enable the design of innovative drug-sensitive development policies through ongoing discussions with governments, international organisations and development bodies and ultimately to facilitate policy implementation.”
Daniel Brombacher, Head of the GPDPD:
“We believe that this cooperation between GIZ GPDPD and LSE IDEAS is setting a precedent on how to bridge the still wide gap between research and implementing agencies in the field of drugs and build a strong network of innovative agencies and institutions to work on the ground for a smarter drug policy in the framework of the Post-UNGASS process”.
Dr John Collins, Executive Director of the IDPP:
"We at IDEAS speak of UNGASS 2016 as inaugurating the ‘post-war on drugs era’. This era will be grounded to a far greater extent in the search for, and implementation of, evidence-based drug policies.
Whereas discussions in the past tended to focus on the need to allow innovations in national drug policies, this pilot will focus on designing and, perhaps more importantly, helping to implement development-sensitive drug policies around the world."
Read After the Drug Wars, the latest report from the IDPP on the 'post war on drugs era'.