HR25 will bring together more than 1000 delegates from over 70 countries. The event will include high profile keynote speakers, over 60 sessions of various sizes (plenary sessions, major sessions, concurrent sessions and small workshops), film screenings, a poster display, an exhibition zone and a Dialogue Space, as well as numerous side meetings, events and satellite sessions.

In order to stage the event in cities and countries around the world, Harm Reduction International works with a local partner organisation with the willingness and capacity to co-host the event with us. It should be emphasised that co-hosting the international conference means much more than simply putting your logo on the event.

Although the co-host is not necessarily expected to make a direct financial contribution to the conference, agreeing to act as the main conference partner requires a significant commitment of your staff time, energy and ideas over a 12-14-month planning period.

Examples of tasks and responsibilities that the co-host will be expected to deliver include:

• Liaising with local and national government authorities on behalf of the conference
• Assisting with fundraising for the event’s core costs, and for scholarships for conference delegates
• Establishing and coordinating the Local Support Committee, holding and hosting regular meetings to arrange any local participation in the conference and its various activities
• Assisting in organising the provision of harm reduction services at the conference
• Assisting HRI’s International Review Committee with the online review of abstracts, and participating in the Programme Committee Meeting, a three-day event which takes place in London five to six months prior to the conference, during which members meet to further review abstracts and finalise the programme for HR25
• A large amount of administrative work, including assisting conference delegates in obtaining visas for travel
• Promoting the conference via various methods
• Assisting in local and national media work
• Assisting with local logistics

After receiving your expression of interest, HRI may invite you to submit a tender to co-host the 2025 conference. The purpose of the tender is to explain how your organisation, city and country best meet the requirements necessary to stage the harm reduction conference in an accessible and cost effective manner.  The tender should detail your ideas about the 2025 conference and the impact it would have on your country/region, and should be an accurate representation of your organisation, your city/country and the capacity of both to stage HR25, with all that this commitment entails.

The tender must clearly address the following questions (which may even be used as headings to structure the document):

• Who are you, and what does your organisation do?
• Why do you want to co-host HR25?
• What experience do you have in organising other conferences or events?
• Who are the key local/national partners and community organisations with whom you plan to collaborate for the logistical, fundraising and thematic/programmatic tasks?
• What would hosting the harm reduction conference mean for the harm reduction movement in your city, country and/or region?  What would be the medium- and long-term benefits for harm reduction advocacy work before, during and after the event? How do you plan to use the event to advance certain local/national/regional agendas?
• How will your organisation ensure the delivery of the responsibilities and tasks outlined in Section II over the 12-14-month conference planning and delivery process? Provide as much detail as necessary to demonstrate how your organisation has the required staff capacity, experience and capabilities to deliver this event
• How does your organisation and proposed host city/country meet the criteria below, which will be used by Harm Reduction International to assess proposals?
• Can you commit to HRI’s Anti-Racist Pledge? How will you work with us to ensure that HR25 furthers work on anti-racism?

Required elements for a successful host city/country include:

• Access to legal harm reduction services – including needle and syringe programmes, opioid substitution therapy and naloxone for both residents and visitors
• Cost-effective conference facilities suitable to house a conference of at least 1000 delegates (full venue requirements in Section VI)
• Accessible international air travel
• A strong hotel accommodation infrastructure to house delegates with a variety of different needs and budgets
• Political and/or financial support from the city/municipality
• No major national travel/entry restrictions

Desirable elements for a successful host city/country include:

• Political support from national/state government(s)
• Financial support from the host city, state and/or national government(s)
• Reasonably easy visa application processes
• Strong local networks of people who use drugs, and/or other civil society allies
• Options for the satellite provision of legal harm reduction and health services in the conference venue itself
• Strong media capacity, ideally including the potential for support from local high-profile personalities and key journalists

Please include a minimum of two venue options and estimated costs in your proposal.

The venue must be of an adequate size to hold the following sessions:

Mornings:

• Plenary room to seat 1,000
• Five concurrent sessions (four major sessions and one workshop)

Afternoons:

• Six concurrent sessions (five concurrent sessions and one workshop)

Throughout:

• Exhibition space (as central and hub-like as possible) with space for 20-30 stands (mix of shell scheme and less formal)
• Open space for double poster boards x 50
• Open but somewhat insulated space for ‘Dialogue Space’
• Film screenings (can be in plenary room)
• HRI office
• Speakers’ room
• Meeting rooms (x3 minimum)

Notes:

• HRI prefers not to use the plenary space for concurrent or major sessions
• Subdivision of rooms is acceptable, but not with free-standing boards. Dividers should be soundproofed
• Please check that the venues you have selected have current availability in April/May/June 2025 (Saturday-Wednesday); the period of the conference must not include any Public/Bank Holidays. Note: If there is a compelling climate-based reason to hold the conference later in 2025, please highlight this in your bid

Expressions of interest should be in the form of an email and should be received by 30 April 2022. After this time, we may invite you to submit a full tender. There is no set template for the tenders, although they should not exceed 15 pages.

Once received, tenders will be reviewed and assessed by Harm Reduction International.  Depending on the number of high quality bids, we may request additional information, and perhaps arrange phone or in-person meetings with the candidate organisations, before making a final decision.

At this stage, HRI is asking ONLY for expressions of interest by email, NOT submission of full tender.

Please submit initial expression of interest by email to:

HRI Conference Team
Harm Reduction International
conference[at]hri[dot]global