Established by AB InBev prior to the creation of the Foundation, six City Pilot sites were selected to meet the first of the four Global Smart Drinking Goals (GSDG): reducing the harmful use of alcohol by at least 10% in six cities by the end of 2020, and implementing best practices in all markets by the end of 2025.
The City Pilots serve as laboratories for testing a package of programs, policies, and practices to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. The Foundation aims for the City Pilot Steering Committees to continue their work after the Foundation’s funding ends, both to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and to work on other public health efforts in the community.
The Foundation uses a set of criteria to determine which City Pilot initiatives to support. Read more about our Funding Criteria here.
The Foundation’s commitment to a multisector collaboration model is realized through the City Pilot Steering Committees. Members include representatives from local or regional government, the public health sector or health services organizations, law enforcement, and academia, and a representative from the local AB InBev company. Steering Committees are charged with proposing interventions aimed at reducing the harmful use of alcohol, which are adapted to local contexts and implemented by selected partners.
The Foundation employs a full-time Program Officer in most of the City Pilot sites to support the planning, implementation, and management of all Foundation-funded interventions, working with the implementing partners in partnership with various stakeholders. In addition, the Program Officers attend local Steering Committee meetings to provide updates on program activities and share Foundation-related updates.
Implementation Process
The six City Pilots serve as laboratories to identify effective interventions that can be brought to scale and have a citywide impact. The local Steering Committees, with technical assistance provided by members of the Foundation’s Scientific Partners Task Force (SPTF), receive guidance and technical assistance each step of the way as the City Pilots advance their efforts.
Click on the symbol for each step to learn more about what happens through the program planning and implementation process.
At this stage, formative research included a review of published research and other quantitative and qualitative data regarding the specific alcohol harms affecting their community, as well as interviews with local stakeholders and other key informants.
SPTF SUPPORT
SPTF members assisted the Steering Committees in compiling, and in some cases, conducting this formative research.
HBSA, the Foundation’s contractor for evaluating the City Pilot program, compiled and shared data on the nature and scope of alcohol-attributable harms in each community.
Program Selection
Once the Steering Committees have an understanding of the alcohol-related harms affecting their community, they identify the interventions they would like to propose supporting in their communities by consulting relevant literature, community stakeholders, and the tools and resources provided by the Foundation and technical advisors.
SPTF SUPPORT
SPTF partners consult with Steering Committees and share practical resources to help identify potential interventions and provide guidance on their implementation.
Program Adaptation, Implementation, and Monitoring
After identifying a final set of effective evidence-based interventions, the Steering Committees propose a workplan to be funded by the Foundation. The Foundation then reviews and approves the workplans, and works with the Steering Committees and community stakeholders to identify partners who can adapt and implement the selected interventions and to establish procedures for monitoring whether the interventions are being implemented as planned.
SPTF SUPPORT
SPTF partners provide technical assistance to the Steering Committees in the form of additional toolkits, guidance documents, and toolkits to inform how the interventions are adapted, implemented, and monitored.
Local stakeholders and technical experts also assist in the adaptation and implementation of the selected interventions and help identify potential implementation partners.
Evaluation
Once implemented, some interventions require a tailored intervention plan to determine their adherence to implementation fidelity and/or their impact in reducing intermediate outcomes that set the stage for a reduction in harmful alcohol use.
SPTF SUPPORT
The overall impact of the City Pilot program is being evaluated by HBSA, a supporting organization of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Focused evaluations of individual interventions are facilitated by local evaluation contractors.
Learn more about the primary outcomes in the Evaluation section.
Dissemination of Learnings
Steering Committee members, local implementing partners, and other community stakeholders are encouraged to publish and share their findings with local stakeholders. Interventions shown to be effective in one City Pilot site are presented to the other sites for their consideration.
To learn more about our publication standards, visit our Publication Policy page.
SPTF SUPPORT
SPTF members regularly share information, learnings, and best practices among themselves and coordinate the preparation and submission of scientific publications related to their work.
SPTF members are also available to collaborate with Steering Committee members, local implementing partners, and other community stakeholders to prepare articles and conference presentations.
Scale
After evaluation, Steering Committees are encouraged to bring effective programs up to scale and to share learnings from ineffective programs. They also identify and propose new programs to address any shifts that have occurred.
SPTF SUPPORT
SPTF partners consult with Steering Committees and share practical resources to help them refine and/or scale existing interventions and identify new evidence-based interventions
