Global Perspectives Reflective Paper
Submitted by: Malik Mugwe (0089)
Center: St Mary’s School (KE073)
Word Count: 965 words
Topic: Health
Issue: Drug Abuse
Aim: Creating awareness on the effect of drug abuse especially among the youth
Outcomes: The outcomes of our report include creating an Instagram Account
(@sobervoiceske) increase the reach of our voice, coming up with trainings for the
youth in order to educate them on the different effects of Drug Abuse and the creation
of different posters that we were able to hand out and hang around our school
premises.
Cultural Perspective: We chose to use a case study from the United States’ rising rate
of illicit drug use and general drug abuse.
Drug abuse is contextually the excessive use of illicit drugs which often tends to lead to health issues
and could potentially impact an individual’s interactions with their friends and family. It is because of
this that we decided to raise awareness on this topic in the hopes o it being resolved for future
generations to come.
Evaluation of Project Outcome
During the whole work process our outcomes were rather successful in terms of our aim which was to
spread awareness of the effect of drug abuse on the youth. By creating an Instagram Account we were
able to increase our outreach even to those we could not physically interact with by posting videos
introducing our work and making our aim clear and known. We also managed to create workshop
training in schools as well as addressing the assembly with speeches highlighting our aim from time
to time. According to those we were around most, namely fellow students of our institution, we were
able to gather our main strength: which was our work ethic and motivation to truly contribute. We
were able to get this through multiple interviews we carried out among the students. However, one
limitation we were given was focusing too much on detail which in truth, made us miss certain
deadlines we set for ourselves. We ended up focusing too long on trying to design the powerpoints
and the posters that at some point we set aside the actual heavy research we needed to include.
Evaluation of Own work Process
My work process mainly involved interactions between individuals in school and with people who
know anyone affiliated with drug abuse in order to broaden my understanding of the situation. I also
ended up being the group photographer by default as I had some prior experience. Furthermore, I was
part of the team required to make the training materials. However, something that deterred me was my
time management skills which made me lose track of when to write and when to carry out my
interviews. From this I was able to learn that in order to improve this for future work processes, I need
to begin dividing my time properly because as the photographer, I rarely found myself being in the
photos themselves..
Evaluation and Reflection of Team work and own performance as a team
member
One benefit of working as a team in this team project was that I was able to work more efficiently by
having support and motivation from my like-minded peers - something absent in individual work.
This was evident especially when we were making our training workshops for younger students
because it let me see different perspectives and inputs on how to carry out such mentorship, which
really opened up my mind. During our online discussions, we were able to come up with new ideas
even outside of school hours which helped us to get even more ideas.
However, one challenge was going off topic during my discussions with the group. More often than
not, we found ourselves discussing the previous weekend’s football matches or new gaming updates
to catch up on after the exam period passed. This resulted in some of our sessions having minimal
work done which only added to our workload in the coming months.
One strength I was able to bring to the team was a strong work ethic to lead my example rather than
by words alone. This was useful when I took up the task of creating a PowerPoint outlining our
training preserved for the year 8 and 9 students.Although, one limitation of my contribution would be
not being able to actively take part in conversations. This is because some people would rather learn
by listening, rather than doing and I failed to grasp that.
In the end I was able to do what I was tasked with such as creating a powerpoint for the training
workshop, researching different cultural perspectives, and hanging up posters around the school and
in my neighborhood. This I believe, was exceptionally achieved just as planned. However, for future
collaborative projects I would speak up more to lead my team and improve my confidence.
Learning about different cultural perspectives
Before starting my research on the issue of drug abuse, I did not think it was something that was
widely done, especially in more developed countries- namely, the USA. Through my research, I was
able to find that in the USA alone, roughly 12,146,954 people as of 2021 are drug addicts and this
number is only expected to rise (worldpopulationreview, 2025). To my surprise, 1.19 million 12 to 17
year olds reportedly take drugs or drink alcohol (NCDAS, 2025). This truly put into perspective the
gravity of the situation, making me realize that drug abuse is an issue that binds more people than we
think. Thanks to the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation
Towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem, highlighted by the
World Health organization, they are also supporting our cause though on a more global scale
(UNODC, 2009) (WHO, 2019). Through this initiative I was able to learn that drug abuse is a
pressing issue in today's society and eradicating it starts from making people aware of the problem.
My findings helped my team learn how big of an issue drug abuse is compared to our previous
understanding of it. This helped us plan accordingly when letting people know of it via social media
and posters and also in educating other students. Overall, the project was a success in meeting our
aim.
Bibliography
National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics. (2023). Teenage Drug & Alcohol use: Statistics,
Facts and Data. NCDAS; National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics.
https://drugabusestatistics.org/teen-drug-use/
Drug Use by Country 2025. (2025). Worldpopulationreview.com.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/drug-use-by-country#title
Political Declaration anD Plan of action on international cooPeration towarDs an
integrateD anD BalanceD strategy to counter the worlD Drug ProBlem. (n.d.).
https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_52/PoliticalDeclaration2009_V0984963_E.pdf
World Health Organisation. (2019). The Public Health Dimension of the World Drug
problem: How WHO Works to Prevent Drug misuse, Reduce Harm and Improve Safe Access
to Medicine. Www.who.int. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MVP-EMP2019.02