Since its foundation in 2006, the Institute for Research and Development “Utrip” (UTRIP) has been working comprehensively in the field of prevention and advocacy, particularly in the areas of alcohol and tobacco policy, illicit drug policy, various forms of behavioural (or non-chemical) addictions, prevention of different forms of risky behaviour in children, young people and adults, as well as social and emotional learning. As a non-governmental and non-profit organisation, UTRIP has a public interest status in the field of health care and youth work, and in 2022 it obtained consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is granted by the United Nations to non-governmental organisations to enable them to participate more actively in the various activities of the United Nations.

Due to its broader coverage of prevention and advocacy, UTRIP cooperates with a very wide range of international networks and institutions, and is particularly active in the European Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD), the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC), the International Confederation of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ATOD) Research Institutions (ICARA), Movendi International, World Federation Against Drugs (WFAD) and European Alcohol Policy Alliance (Eurocare). In 2017-2018, it was the World Bank’s advisory institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area of prevention and advocacy, and in 2021, it was also advisory institution to the Inter-American Drug Control Commission (CICAD), which operates within the framework of the Organisation of American States (OAS).

UTRIP is a full member of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA), the European association in the field of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (EUFASD) and the European Alcohol Policy Network (APN). It is also actively working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in particular through the international prevention campaigns “Listen First”, “Science of Care” and “Science of Skills”, and the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) and the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR).

UTRIP is (has been) a lead or key partner in a number of (around 30) European projects co-funded by the European Commission under various programmes, in particular in the fields of health, home affairs and justice, education and youth, and the European Social Fund (ESF). We are the national centre for the kindergarten prevention programme “Lubo”, the school prevention programmes “Unplugged”, “Good Behaviour Game” (GBG), “Lions Quest”, “Learning to Be” (social and emotional learning), “Teaching to Be” (well-being of teachers) and “Boys and Girls Plus”, the school prevention programme for parents “EFFEKT”, the family-based prevention programme “The Strengthening Families Programme” (SFP) by Prof. Karol Kumpfer and the (local) community-based programmes “Communities That Care” (CTC), “STAD in Europe” and “Club Health”. UTRIP runs a national network with the support of more than 40 Slovenian NGOs and other institutions in the field of prevention and advocacy “Prevention Platform” (www.preventivna-platforma.si), which is mainly co-financed by the Ministry of Health.