A community-based prevention program in western Norway: Organisation and progression model

Abstract

This paper presents the organisation, progression, and main findings from a community-based substance use prevention project in five municipalities in western Norway. At the central level, this project was organised with a steering committee and a principal project leader, who is situated at the Department of Health and Social Welfare at the county level. Locally, the way of organising differed, as one would expect from the community-based model. Top–down/bottom–up strategies can apply both in the way a community organises its efforts, as well as in the relationship between the central project organisation and the participating local communities. It is argued that it can be beneficial for the success of community action programs if one attains a “good mix” between top–down and bottom–up strategies. Factors of importance for such “mix” in the Hordaland project were that the municipalities applied for participation, the availability of economic funding, the venues for meetings between central and local project management, the position of local coordinators, the possibilities for coupling project work to otherwise existing community planning, and the extent of formal bureaucracy.