Palau PFS III Project will continue to scale up evidenced based efforts to prevent and reduce
substance misuse among all indigenous youth in Palau between 12-20 years of age through
enhancing infrastructure, improving staff/community capacity, and building a "community
partnership prevention delivery system" that converts prevention science into widespread
community practice. This project will serve the entire population of Palau throughout all five
program years which amounts to approximately 15,200 people for the entire project period.
The goals of the project are to: 1) build behavioral health prevention systems to prevent, reduce
and/or delay the onset of, and mitigate, symptoms and complications from substance abuse; 2)
develop a strong Needs Assessment; 3) increase capacity for social media awareness of mental
health wellness and substance misuse; 4) Increase capacity to implement the Strengthening
Families Program; and 5) ensure cultural adaptation for health access and health equity.
Objectives for this goal include strengthening and enhancing the Substance Abuse Prevention
System through infrastructure development, workforce development and staff capacity
development, and community group and partner agency capacity development, strengthening
and enhancing the Substance Abuse Prevention System through the development and
implementation of an evidence-based national prevention network, implementation of a
comprehensive set of evidence-based environmental strategies, and implementation of a
comprehensive set of evidence-based programs aimed at increasing the resilience of Palau’s
youth and strengthening family support systems.