Video | ‘From Alternative Development to Development-Oriented Drug Policies’ explained by its authors

Daniel Brombacher and Sarah David talk about their article ‘From Alternative Development to Development-Oriented Drug Policies‘ published in the 12^th thematic issue of International Development Policy.

Daniel Brombacher is the Head of the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD), a global programme at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and under the political lead of the Federal Drug Commissioner. Sarah David has been working as an Advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) since 2016, focusing on development- and health-oriented drug policies in Latin America and Central and Southeast Asia.

This policy comment aims to trace the evolution of the concept of alternative development (AD)—alongside changes in the global drug control regime during recent decades—from a practitioner’s point of view. In recent years—unexpectedly given the niche that AD had formerly been—a growing number of countries have declared that they either implement domestic AD measures or support them abroad. The observable increase in AD interventions may be due to a growing engagement of governments, but could also be explained by a rebranding of existing measures, given the increased popularity of AD. The latest figures, from 2013, show that AD only accounts for 0.1 percent of global official development assistance. Though there seems to have been a slight increase in funding recently, the authors argue that a real surge in funding is so far not in sight.

Reference of the article:
Daniel Brombacher and Sarah David (2020) ‘From Alternative Development to Development-Oriented Drug Policies’ in J. Buxton, M. Chinery-Hesse and K. Tinasti (Eds), Drug Policies and Development: Conflict and Coexistence, International Development Policy, 12 | 2020 (Geneva and Leiden: The Graduate Institute, Brill | Nijhoff), https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.3711