Description:

The SOCPREVbis study is a follow-up project of an earlier study into the social prevention of drug-related crime and/or nuisance (SOCPREV, 2015-2018). The SOCPREV study provided, among other things, several guidelines for monitoring and evaluating projects that focus on drug-related crime and/or nuisance. These guidelines were compiled in a registration manual. This registration manual should enable cities and municipalities to register relevant process, output and impact indicators, making an evaluation of their projects possible (Pauwels, Vander Laenen, Maes, Mine, & De Kock, 2018).

The goal of SOCPREVbis is to translate the registration manual, as developed during SOCPREV, into practice. Cities and municipalities - and in particular smaller cities and municipalities - require targeted, concrete support in registering local and inter-municipal projects in the context of drug-related crime and/or nuisance. This requires practice-oriented and supportive follow-up research that SOCPREVbis meets by supporting a practical (and pragmatic) implementation of this manual.

In SOCPREVbis we will not only make a pragmatic translation of the SOCPREV registration manual into practice, but we mainly want to support and train prevention workers in registering and evaluating their projects, based on (a pragmatic translation of) the SOCPREV registration manual. By setting up a learning network, these prevention workers take on the role of registration ambassadors, where they also share their newly acquired knowledge in their respective city or municipality. All of this is done in close collaboration with employees of the FPS Home Affairs, Directorate-General for Security and Prevention. After the SOCPREVbis study, these employees will also be able to further support local projects in terms of registration and evaluation.

Objectives:

1. Implementing the SOCPREV registration manual in a selection (3) of cities and municipalities: a practical test;
2. Forming and coaching of "registration ambassadors" in a selection of municipalities/cities (3);
3. Support cities and municipalities in the registration of process, output and impact indicators, which should allow for later evaluation;
4. Training of the employees of FPS Home Affairs, Directorate-General Security and Prevention in supporting (and carrying out) the evaluation of projects and continuing to support the projects during registration.

Method:

SOCPREVbis includes five work packages:

1. Identifying registration ambassadors in 3 Flemish municipalities/cities, who are willing to implement the SOCPREV registration manual and apply it to project (s) within their municipality/city;
2. The implementation of the SOCPREV registration manual in the selected municipalities and cities;
3. Establishing a learning network by providing training to the ambassadors within the selected municipalities and cities on registration (cf. Train the Trainers) and by training employees in the yet to be established knowledge and expertise centre for Safety and Prevention (KEVP);
4. Possible adjustment of the SOCPREV registration manual for small, medium and large municipalities;
5. Providing a tool to the Knowledge and Expertise Centre for Safety and Prevention (KEVP) to be set up so that they can support municipalities/cities in registration and evaluation.

Expected results and products:

SOCPREVbis subjects the previously developed SOCPREV registration manual to a practical test and supports municipalities and cities in its implementation. Based on this field test and the obtained feedback, the registration manual will be adapted to the needs and wishes of end-users (Langer, Tripney, & Gough, 2016). We strive toward creating a pragmatic tool, supported by practice.

With SOCPREVbis we aim to emphasize the importance of registration and evaluation and to support municipalities and cities step by step in the various phases of evaluation, starting with registration, afterwards evaluation and finally communicating the evaluation results. After all, evaluation is the cornerstone of a cyclical, evidence-based policy (Farrington & Welsh, 2012; Silva & Lind, 2020).

Also, the employees of SLIV will be able to provide targeted support to municipalities and cities with the projects financed by the FPS Interior regarding drug-related crime and/or nuisance during their evaluation process.