The Active seminar that is right now going on has more than 40 participants learning about intercultural understanding and global solidarity. You can read about our days, our thoughts, how the accomodation is, what the experts have told us, what we like and do not like, simply - you can read about everything that comes on our minds if you click on our blog - You(th) are us.
The Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs published a petition calling upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to only provide future funding for the Urdd Eisteddfod on the condition that alcohol is not sold on-site at the Eisteddfod.
Do you also think that the Festival should be supported by goverment only under condition that alcohol is not sold there? Sign the petition here.
APYN is calling on one of its member organisations from the EU to organize a National Pilot Consultation on Alcohol and Young People. The Consultation aims at identifying the views of young people towards alcohol related harm and what solutions they think would best tackle the problems identified. The outcomes of the National Pilot Consultation will feed into the European Conference to be held in Budapest between the 7th and 9th of May 2010, as well as to serve as a basis for the continuous work of APYN.
To read more and apply, click here.
All the nominations should be sent to ec@activeeurope.org before 21st of March 2010.
The European Conference aims at gathering for 2 working days young people coming through the members of APYN to discuss alcohol policies and young people, with a special focus on cultural realities and differences regarding alcohol consumption and social inclusion in alcohol policies.
To read more and apply, click here.
The application is to be sent to ec@activeeurope.org latest on 14th of March 2010
Public service advertising campaigns that use guilt or shame to warn against alcohol abuse can actually have the reverse effect, spurring increased drinking among target audiences, according to new research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. The ads triggered an innate coping mechanism that enables viewers to distance themselves from the serious consequences of reckless drinking. Anti- or "responsible" drinking campaigns have long been a mainstay of health departments, nonprofit organizations and even beverage companies. Yet alcohol abuse remains a persistent and growing problem linked to the deaths of approximately 79,000 people in the United States each year. "Advertisements are capable of bringing forth feelings so unpleasant that we're compelled to eliminate them by whatever means possible," said Duhachek. "This motivation is sufficiently strong to convince us we're immune to certain risks."
To see the whole article, visit this link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180300.php
A rough outlined program of what’s going to happen on Experience, both the Active and IOGT people is put up at the Experience 2010 pages.
Take a look at www.experience2010.no.
Remember that you also can subscribe to news from the Experience 2010 page when we update it, so you always will get the latest news.
The campaign is over, we have printed 8 different stickers - 1 was the logo of the campaign and 7 were selected out of all the contributions, we published two magazines, one booklet, one poster and one book! We are very thankful for all the input, which helped us to create media to communicate our two messages: 1) youth participation is hindered by alcohol consumption and 2) alcohol is a trigger of violence
To see the products, just click on following words
All the material is also in printed version and it is possible to order from Active office.
Do you want to spent one year in Active office working on our seminars, helping to organize them, come up with new ideas how to promote alcohol free lifestyle among youth? Do you want to learn how to apply for projects and how to manage them? Do you want to see how other youth organisations function and what we do on political level? Do you want to spent one year in Sweden, learn a new language and meet people from all over Europe? Then it is time for you to apply for EVS in Active office. Send us your motivation letter, your CV and contact details to office(at)activeeurope(dot)org and you might be the one who will be in the centre of Active happening from September 2010. Right now we have two volunteers in the office - Sanja and Janika so do not hesitate to contact them and ask about their work and life in Sweden.
For practical questions, contact our Secretary General. Contact to all the staff members, is here.
The deadline for sending us your motivation is 10.03.2010.
"Seminar on Youth drinking and binge drinking" will take place in Brussels, 25th February 2010 under the Alcohol and Health Forum of the European Commission and it would be a great experience and the opportunity to take a step forward into policy making! For further information and draft agenda, click here. The number of places is limited, so please be quick!
To apply, send the email with name, age and role in your organisation to the email ec@activeeurope.org. The first deadline is 7th of February 2010. It is also possible to apply after that (as the call was out so late), but the faster you react, the better opportunities you have.
In 1994 there was material about alcohol's shadow sides that dominated the newspapers, while material about alcohol's pleasures took less column space. Fifteen years later, this relationship turned vice versa:
The share of columns that emphasizes the pleasures of drinking has doubled to 55 percent
The percentage of column reporting on harm caused by alcohol has shrunk from just over 40 to under 30 percent of the alcohol discussion.
The positive approach dominates all newspaper categories, both-local, district and national newspapers.
The whole article can be found here.
The latest booklet "Content matters" which describes in a simple and understandable way what Active is concerned about and what Active works for can be found here as text. No downloading, no special programes, just simple click and you can read.
If you want to see the complete pdf version that includes pictures, postacards and activities, click here.
The clip should express a personal vision of Europe and be able to captivate a young and wide audience via internet or mobile devices through its original, creative or aesthetical approach. The European Commission is expecting video clips having the potential to create a real impact on an audience aged 15-35 of all genders and socio-economic backgrounds.
Applicants should convey a positive vision of Europe with an artistic, documentary, humoristic or fictional angle, picturing personal or public situations, current or historical, of European life in their immediate environment: family, enterprise, community, association, city, village; local events – music, fashion, leisure, games that could represent an original vision of Europe. The deadline for entries is 15th March 2010.
To read more, click here
Rules of the competition are to be found here.
Content matters booklet was not originally planned as a outcome of the campaign, but during the process, we understood, that there is a need for a simple summary of facts and connections between youth participation, violence and alcohol consumption.
To see the booklet in electronic form, click here. If you want to order the booklet in paper form contact the office at office(at)activeeurope(dot)org and we will send you few issues.
Curious about how it went for Active board at the meeting in November? Check here. The next board meeting is held in Bratislava between 5th and 9th March 2010.
If you have any suggestions, comments or complaints, you can address them to activeboard(at)activeeurope(dot)org and they will be added to the meeting's agenda.
Experience 2010 is a combination of the three events; Active’s summer camp, Active’s congress and IOGT International World Congress. Wheter you’re intressed in only one of these or all of them, you’re welcome!
It all takes place in the town of Fredrikstad in Norway, a bit south of the capital Oslo, the first week in August! This makes it a perfect holiday for those who will spend a bit time in another place. There will be a lot of fun summer activities like trips around the area, sport activities and such, but also a bit more serious activities such as workshops and seminairs!
Signing up for Active members is now already open at our website. Here you can read more about your price for participating and such. The website will be updated with content the whole year to August, so stay tuned. You can also sign up for our newsletter to get information right in your inbox!
Our website address is www.experience2010.no. Check it out!
The Active congress will be held in the end of July/beginning of August, but the nomination committee has to start working already now. Eventhough there are more than 7 months left for the current board, it is time to start thinking, who would be the most appropriate person for the Active board in the period 2010 - 2012.
You can nominate the candidates by sending an email to the nomination committee nomcom(at)activeeurope(dot)org. Do not forget to write:
- Name of the nominee
- Contact of the nominee (email, phone)
- Organisation
- Country
- Position (President, Vice president, Secretary, Treasurer, board member)
- Your motivation to nominate the person
The winning picture of the 4th round are "Alcohol kills" and "Alcohol is waste of my time"
We are right now printing them and they will be soon available in your organisation. You can also order them from the office by sending us an email with a request and your address.
The campaign is now officially over. We are working on the composition of the book which will be published in the beginning of the year 2010.
Thank you all for you participation!
You can find all the contributions on the Content matters webpage.
You have just few days left to express your interest to be one of the leaders of our next seminar "Youth are us" in Bratislava, Slovakia. You can read more about the seminar here.
Send us your motivation to office(at)activeeurope(dot)org latest on 15th of December 2009.
Half of Australian adults find that 15 to 17-year-olds should be allowed to drink alcohol at home. Moreover, 63 per cent of the Australians earning higher salaries than $100,000 agree with under-age drinking.
The researches have showed that an early introduction to alcohol carries greater risks of long-term harm and health authorities recently advised under-age people to avoid alcohol for as long as possible because it increases the possibility of accidents, illness, antisocial behaviour, risk taking and alcohol dependence later in life.
In Australia, every week sixty young people are hospitalised and one dies from alcohol-related problems.
"The DMW - Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (German Medical Weekly) published an article on the idea of a new prevention method in which adolescents are supposed to be taught responsible drinking in school. According to psychologist Dr. Johannes Lindenmeyer pupils could learn about the dangers of alcohol more effectively by "testing" it on themselves in class. "The students would drink an amount of alcohol that was agreed on in advance, then check their own alcohol level and the effect on themselves with computer based performance test and video footage", he explains. With this method especially those youngsters that are drinking excessively can see that amongst their peers they belong to the "beginners group" who cannot yet handle competently.
Elvira Surrmann, consultant for prevention of addiction in Berlin's Senate Administration for Education, Science and Research, strongly disagrees and states that any measures which involve alcohol being served in school are not acceptable. She explains, "All psychoactive substances damage the body that is still in a stage of development more than the grown up body".
Active concurs with Elvira Surrmann. Rather than teaching young people how to drink they should learn not to drink. Not only adult role models but also emotional support from parents and other grown-ups is essential to avoid children falling into dangerous drinking behaviour. Not only the pupils need to be educated!"
When you’ll read this, when you out there will read this, I really hope that it will remind you about the great feeling of taking part in an Active seminar or camp. Or maybe you haven’t been in any yet? Than I really hope that this will be the tale that will make you take the next opportunity and sign up for the next Seminar or camp with Active - sobreity, friendship and peace.
The greatest thing with being a prepteamleader must be the chance and opportunity to see the transformation of the group that from the beginning was set together without a single clue who the others are, but in the end only to discover that we all are the same and we all share the common opinion that this world would be a better place to live in if there were no such things as drugs. Total strangers become great friends in the period of one week.
For the moment I don’t know where to start. All tales start with the very cliché “once upon a time” but it would be unfair to say that because everything is still going on in our minds and in each and everyone’s daily life so this time I’ll just rewind the tale.
Thanks for a wonderful week: It’s so many new impressions, thoughts and most important friends that I have been given this week.
The topic “Be the change you want to see in the world” was the red thread through the whole seminar. We had a lot of discussions and I really believe that everyone got the chance to share their opinion and ideas.
The arrival was late for some of the participants (or as we were saying in the prep team: “pax”) on 23th October Friday night.
Already the first day we had to discuss and come to a common understanding what a conflict is and how we know if it´s a conflict? Maybe it’s a just a misunderstanding?
On Sunday we had an exploring activity in Skopje with different tasks like imitating statues or what the time is on the clock over Skopje museum? And why is it all the time the same?
Monday and Tuesday somehow disappeared in the deep participation of the forum theatre and the street action.
And now I’m sitting here, after a long and information full week, just finishing the last evaluation of this seminar, waiting to be able to prepare the final party.
I have no idea how this will end but I´m pretty sure that also this tale has a happy ending. And until the next time, I’ll hope you all have been having a good reading and make sure not to miss the next seminar the second week in March 2010 held in Bratislava. And of course don’t forget to book the summer with Active in Fredrikstad-Norway.
See you soon!
/ Jimmie Norberg (member of the preparation team of the seminar)
EMBARGO until 6 am (5 am GMT), Wednesday, 25 November, 2009.
European health and safety organisations call for stricter EU-coordinated alcohol policies
Amsterdam, Wednesday, 25 November 2009 - Twelve European health and safety umbrella organisations call for stricter EU-coordinated alcohol policies. In a joint policy statement released today, the twelve organisations urge the EU Council of Ministers of Health:
- to ensure minimum pricing policies, sales restrictions and discount bans in all Member States;
- to introduce a EU- labelling system for alcohol products informing consumers of the specific risks related to alcohol consumption; and
- to adopt the principle of zero tolerance to alcohol consumption before driving or at work and to reduce BAC- levels to 0,2 maximum throughout Europe.
Alcohol on the agenda of EU-Council
On the 30th of November 2009, the EU Ministers of Health will gather in the EU-Council for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs. At that occasion, the Swedish Presidency will propose a stronger EU-coordinated approach in alcohol policies.
Alcohol consumption forms an integral part of the European culture. Fortunately, a large majority of those who consume alcohol do so in moderation. However, the European region is the heaviest drinking region in the world, consuming on average more than 2,5 times as much alcohol as the rest of the world.
In a joint policy statement, twelve European umbrella organisations working in the field of health and safety in Europe, call upon the Ministers of Health to endorse the Presidency initiative and to decide for more vigorous alcohol policies in order to effectively reduce injuries and violence due to alcohol.
Innocent victims of alcohol
'"Alcohol is a toxic substance and is a major risk factor for accidents and injuries", says Wim Rogmans, general secretary EuroSafe. Around 40% of all unintentional and intentional injury deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption in Europe. In the EU, each year alcohol is responsible for at least:
- 10 800 road traffic accident deaths;
- 27 000 accidental deaths at home, at work or in leisure time;
- 2 000 deaths due to interpersonal violence; and
- 10 000 suicides.
Alcohol does not only harm the individual drinker, but also harms innocent bystanders such as young children in families disrupted by alcohol (5-9 million children), vulnerable road users, and victims of domestic violence and street crime.
Priority to health and safety
"Health and safety aspects related to alcohol consumption should be prioritised over free trade interests", says Johan Lund, president of the Injury Section of the European Public Health Association. "Alcoholic drinks should therefore not be considered as an ordinary consumer product".
National authorities and the European Commission need to cooperate towards a much stricter regulation and enforcement of controls on the marketing, sale and consumption of alcohol. There must also be a renewed effort to increase risk awareness among consumers.
This is fully justified because:
- consumers, as potential victims of alcohol related accidents and violence, have the right to be protected from harm done to them by alcohol; and
- alcohol related harm has an substantial impact on the entire EU region and countries have difficulties in dealing with this in isolation.
Stricter alcohol policies needed
The organisations that endorse the joint policy statement, call upon Member States and the European Commission to ensure a stricter and more co-ordinated alcohol control policies in order to effectively address this important risk factor to injuries and violence, by:
- ensuring minimum pricing policies, sales restrictions and discount bans in all Member States;
- introducing a EU- labelling system for alcohol products informing consumers of the specific risks related to alcohol consumption; and by
- adopting the principle of zero tolerance to alcohol consumption before driving or at work by reducing BAC- levels to 0,2 mg/ml maximum throughout Europe (currently in most member states set at 0,5 mg/ml).
"Public health authorities should increase their efforts in education, and public awareness rising campaigns", says Mariann Skar, general secretary European Alcohol Policy Alliance. Special attention needs be given to:
- youth and young adults: as it is proven that an earlier age of onset of alcohol consumption, tends to lead to greater consumption at adult age, delaying the age of onset can help reduce harm;
- workplace settings: as those in the workforce represent the bulk of heavy drinkers, the workplace is a promising setting for primary prevention; and
- older persons: as at older age, body and mind become less tolerant to alcohol in particular while combined with medicines, older people need to be made aware of the risks involved.
Mrs. Skar highlights also other cost-effective measure addressing individuals at risk: "brief advice by health professionals in primary care setting or emergency departments has also been shown to be most effective. The health sector should also systematically collect information pertaining to alcohol use from all injured patients attending emergency units. This information should be used for driving the political agenda at local, regional and national level".
Joint Policy on 'Alcohol and injuries' statement is being endorsed by the following twelve European umbrella organisations:
European Public Health Alliance (EPHA),
European Alcohol Policy Alliance (EUROCARE),
La Prévention Routière Internationale (PRI,)
European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR),
European Public Health Association/Injury Prevention Section (EUPHA),
European Society for Emergency Medicine (EuSEM),
European Network of Safety and Health Professional Organisations (ENSHPO),
International Life Saving Federation of Europe (ILSE),
Network for International Collaboration on Evidence in Suicide Prevention (NICE-SP),
Federation of the EU Fire Officer Association (FEU),
European YOUTH Forum (EYF),
European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (EuroSafe).
For more information, please contact one of the statement editors:
- Wim Rogmans, general secretary EuroSafe, Amsterdam, Tel. +31 655 308 297,
E-mail: w.rogmans@eurosafe.eu.com
- Mariann Skar, general secretary European Alcohol Policy Alliance (EUROCARE), Tel. +32 2 736 0572,
E-mail: mariann.skar@eurocare.org
- Johan Lund, president of the Injury Prevention Section of the European Public Health Association, University of Oslo, Tel. +47 22 850 631, E-mail: johan.lund@medisin.uio.no
Researchers interviewed 800 college students several times during two years to get to know their drinking beliefs and behavior. The results showed unrealistic optimism about the drinking behavior: the students who thought that they had a smaller chance of having drinking problems than other students, were actually most likely experiencing problems such as hangovers, memory loss and problems with police.
The study called "The Dark Side of Optimism: Unrealistic Optimism About Problems With Alcohol Predicts Subsequent Negative Event Experiences" is available free of charge for a limited time http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/11/1540.
As you can see, we have rebuilt our webpage. The start page is going to be more vivid, with more updates. So keep an eye on what's going on. You can also comment it and suggest some changes in our Guestbook. We will not alter the design, but ideas about content and technical improvements will be considered. Thanks!
The research carried out in Denmark shows that alcohol policy has a significant impact on the vulnerable groups such as youth. Price has a huge impact on drinking mostly among young people. Price reduction of alcohol products caused that the number of hospitalized young people under 16 years increased with 26% since 2003 when there were made changes in Danish alcohol policy. Since then, there are more young people who have experienced damage caused by alcohol consumption.
The study is published in European Addicition Research. The original text is to be found here.
That's what all those who have been members of a preparatory team for Active seminars say. Do you also want to experience that? Active will hold a seminar in Bratislava, Slovakia from 8th till 14th of March 2010. If you want to prepare and lead that seminar, write us about your motivation and skills latest on 15th of December 2009 and send it to office(at)activeeurope(dot)org. We will pick preparatory team members before Christmas. The team will have a meeting in the beginning of January in Örebro to plan the seminar. So count on it when you apply. To read a bit more about the seminar, click here.
According to a new report published by WHO, to win 5 years in global life expectancy, five factors should be dealed with: childhood underweight, unsafe sex, alcohol use, lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and high blood pressure.
The importance of alcohol as the risk factor of ill health and premature death globally has risen during the last 7 years, as alcohol used to be the fifth risk factor, but at the moment it is the third risk factor after childhood underweight and unsafe sex. Also many deaths and diseases are caused by multiple risk factors what means that they could be prevented by reducing any of the factors.
The publication by Pierre Andersson points out that anyone interested in global development issues should be aware of. Alcohol is an obstacle to development. Pierre Andersson concentrates on the impact of alcohol consumption in developing countries.
The nations with weak economies and unstable democracies have fewer possibilities to deal with the problems caused by alcohol and most of them are lacking the alcohol policies to protect their citizens. The alcohol industry is expanding in poor countries, having the influence to their social development and keeps many people still impoverished, but the industry keeps on seeking for new markets and greater profits.
The book is an interesting reading with good photos and real stories and it is possible to download it from here.
The winning pictures of the third round are "Lost idea" and "Crazy enough". Congratulations!!!!
See the originials, check out all the contributions, vote or contribute yourself on the Content matters website. The campaign closes on 15th of November 2009.
If you want to contribute to the agenda of the meeting, send us your proposals, comments, questions latest on 17th of November 2009.
The original deadline 8th of October is postponed to 18th of October 2009 to give the interested persons more time to apply. We are looking forward to your essays.
Active - sobriety, friendship and peace is a European youth organization gathering 35 000 young people who have decided to live sober. We consider alcohol consumption an obstacle for development of individuals and society. There is too much harm caused by alcohol. We think we can contribute to improvement of living quality of individuals in different societies by abstaining from drinking.
As a political officer, you will be responsible for communicating our political demands; you will advocate our policies and create contacts and cooperation with national and European institutions dealing with our topics, prioritizing alcohol policy. You will prepare background information for our representatives at external meetings and for internal discussions, you will update the Active board and the office staff on latest happenings in the fields of alcohol policy and you will help our Member organizations to advocate for our aims on the local level. This work will be happening in close cooperation with the Active board and the Secretary General.
We expect you to:
- Have advanced knowledge on alcohol policy
- Have a good communication and language skills (English is obligation, other languages are an advantage)
- Have a good knowledge of Active’s policies
- Identify with our aims
- Have an experience with representation and advocacy
We prioritize those who
- Can relate their studies to the work description
- Who are members in some of our member organizations
- Who have experience with NGOs work
- Are between 18 and 30 years old
You will be employed on a project basis, part time (approximately 10 hours a week) and in addition to that you will represent Active at events related to our topics. We need you to be flexible and able to react fast according to the current demands. Sobriety is a condition.
The position is open from 15th of October 2009 until 15th of April 2010 with possibility to prolong it.
If you are interested in the position, send us an essay on the topic: “Youth organizations and alcohol policy. What has been done and is there anything more to do?” We recommend the essay to have maximum 3000 characters (without spaces). Do not forget to attach your CV. The email address is activeboard@activeeurope.org
The deadline for the applications is 8thof October 2009 at 11.59 p.m. You will be informed about the decision within a week from the deadline
Maik Dünnbier and Kristina Sperkova presented the Active campaign "Content Matters" at the Expert Conference an Alcohol and Health in Stockholm (21./22. Sept), which was organized under the Swedish EU presidency and gathered both policy makers and industry. The workshop has been recorded as a webcast and can be found here.
The minutes from the Active board meeting in July, in Albania are available online
Even though we really liked our EVS volunteers we had from the September 2008, they had to go home and the new ones have arrived. We are happy to welcome Rosi Siedelberg and Janika Tamm in the office and wish them great time with/in Active.
Content matters has two winning pictures of the second round. The pictures will be very soon available as stickers. Congratulations to the winners and thank you all who have contributed so far!
The campaign continues. There are two more rounds left and there is still time to contribute.
..you can search for some answers in FAQ and if you do not find them there do not hesitate to ask the organizers: glevin(at)activeeurope(dot)org
Read our press release about welcoming Swedish presidency here or in the following text.
*Alcohol is more than ever a European public health problem*
Active warmly welcomes the Swedish EU Presidency today and wishes good luck, persistence and maximum successes for the upcoming 6 months!
”We are thrilled to see the comprehensive, well-balanced and bold agenda of the Swedish Presidency for the coming healf year,” says Actives Secretary General Kristina Sperkova. ”As a European youth organization we are especially happy and thankful for the Swedish efforts to put alcohol on the aganda. To improve society, we need a Europe-wide restrictive alcohol policy.”
Europe is the region with the highest alcohol consumption in the world. Worldwide alcohol accounts for one in 25 death cases and for 5% of all deseases. Some of the deseases are directly caused by alcohol and would not occur without it. Some other deseases are increased by alcohol consumption. In Europe the costs that alcohol burdens society with every year are as high as 125 Billion Euro. Active is especially concerned about this number because the group affected strongest by the alcohol burden are the children and young people – Europe’s future.
In the face of these facts we once more want to express our support for the Swedish Presidency. Higher import quotas to protect the restrictive alcohol policies; a strong effort to provide safe environments for the young members of society; and a clear signal against the paramount lobby activities of the alcohol industry that does not take public health into concideration – are Actives policy demands.
We need community action to tackle the alcohol burden. ”In this sense Active members hope that the Swedish effort will have the effect that many more member states start seriously working on alcohol problems. Active and its member organizations will be ready to contribute,” says Kristina Sperkova.
For further information:
Kristina Sperkova, Secretary General
After the printed stickers, and the latest edition of Transit, the “Content matters” campaign continues, and announces the next issue of Transit that will be published at the beginning of August. In order to have as interesting edition as possible, Active’s is calling YOU for the contributions. If you have a story, want to share something funny, or have an important message for the rest of the Europe, please contact us. The next edition should focus on alcohol connected to youth and violence. What can youth do in preventing the violence? Write us your thoughts!
Please, send us your contributions until 12th of July 2009, at alexandra*activeeurope.org.
*=@
If you are wondering how to get to Active summer camp in Albania cheap and still comfortable - Active brings you solution.
Active is organizing a bus that will go from Slovakia through Hungary and Croatia and will bring us to the camp place - Vlora. The bus would leave from Slovakia on 18th, would go 19 hours and would reach Vlora on 19th of July. The travel back would be on 25th from Vlora to Bratislava. This bus would cost 120 Euro.
So YOU just need to find cheap travel to Slovakia (train or bus connenctions are very good, Ryanair and other low cost airlines are flying to Bratislava or Prague, Brno - Czech republic or Vienna-Austria both very close to Bratislava). This travel expense is covered by Active up to 200 Euro.
If you want to join contact us on office*activeeurope.org until 22nd June 2009
See you in the bus (hopefully)
*=@
Check the winner of the first round of Content matters campaign - category "picture". The picture is in printing right now and will be sent out in a form of a sticker to our member organisations and partners. You can keep contributing to the campaign with the pictures, slogans and essays related to connections between alcohol and youth participation OR alcohol and violence.
Are you a responsible, but crazy leader? Are you eager to gain international experiences? Do you have time in the end of october? Are you good in conflicts solving? If you answered yes, we want you!
Active is preparing its next seminar in 23th - 29th October 2009 in sunny Macedonia! The topic is conflict management - solving and prevention of conflicts, mutual understanding, tolerance etc. The creative part of the seminar will be preparation of Photo exhibition and street action.
The responsibilities of the prep team members are to plan the whole event - prepare program, lectures (as creative as you wish or can), fix the acommondation and other practical stuff, to lead the entire seminar, to prepare the lifetime experience for you and for the others particpants too.
"Be the change you want to see in the world" - prepare the best Active seminar!
Interested? - Write us email with the motivation why do you want to be in a prep team to office*activeeurope.org
Deadline? Yes, please 30th June 2009
*= @
Hello dear Active people!
Following the preparations for the summer camp in Albania this year, we are quite sure that this will be an unforgettable event!
In order to make it even more fun, we are offering you chance to be a workshop leader at the camp! So, if you want to give your own spark to the camp, make an unforgettable workshop or even make people build a sand castle your way, please contact us at office*activeeurope.org
The workshops that are in need for a funny, crazy, responsible and brilliant leader (so far) are: sand castle competition, photography, making alcohol free drinks, making the Camp’s song and many more. You are very welcome to propose your own workshops!
Each person that would lead the workshop at least two half days, will get a 20 Euro discount of the participation fee!
See you in Albania!
*= @
Active is preparing the next issue of Newsletter and you have the possibility to send your contribution.
Do you have any interesting news that you would like to share with us? Did anything relevant happend in your neighbourhood? Did your organization prepare interesting event or you want to share your ideas with other Active members? Write to emina*activeeurope.org
The deadline is 18th June 2009
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Click and check! There are many options. Some more expensive but also more comfortable, some cheaper including adventure of changing from plane to another plane, it is up to you what way you choose - all of them lead to Vlora - the venue of Active summer camp 2009.
ALARM!
Ten thousand of civilian refugees on Sri Lanka are now running away from the war on the island. An estimate is that more than 100 000 people are trapped inside the war-zone. The refuges have been on the run for months and as the government forces have been advancing the area where the civilian population has stayed has been smaller every day. The lack of water, food, medicines, toilets and shelter means they are running away from the war and into a humanitarian catastrophe.
FORUT, which is owned by Juvente and the IOGT-movement in Norway, is one of the biggest development agencies on the Iceland. They have people with good local knowledge in the area, but need more money to make an impact and help the civilian population. What they do is getting water tanks, build latrines, clear land, put up shelters, providing for clothes, food etc. They are also giving psychosocial help to children.
Because of lack of funds to do this important work they have started a fund-raising campaign for the relief work on Sri Lanka.
If you want to contribute you can send money to Norwegian account 7220.05.36003 or Swedish account 90 04 63-1. Mark your contribution with “Sri Lanka”
You can also read more on www.forut.no (on Norwegian).
Glamourous picture of alcohol vs damage caused by alcohol. Accidents, violence, passivity - that´s what is very often hidden under the nice design of alcohol commercials. There are many stories about negative impact of alcohol that are in the shadow of shining commercials promoting drinking society. "Content matters" is here to give space for the stories behind the nice cover.
Content matters is campaign arranged by Active - sobriety, friendship and peace, financially supported by Council of Europe. The campaign will last till the end of the year 2009. The final product of the campaign is a book written by YOU.
Click here to see the webpage and the first contributions.
UNF Söderhamn (one of the local clubs of UNF) is organizing an international conference "Sober Work".
The aims are:
to share experience and know more about Sober organizations;
to create a network of Sober organizations and run your own projects in future;
to use the opportunity to visit the biggest Sober organization in Sweden;
to establish new contacts and explore beautiful Hälsingland
The Conference is held from 15th to 18th of May in Söderhamn, Sweden
Working language is English
Participation fee 100 Euro
All the other expenses (food, accomodation and travels) are reimbursed.
In the case of interest, contact marina.cuzmina(at)gmail(dot)com latest on 30th of April 2009
The European Commission in partnership with the European Youth Forum launched a blog on health and young people, where young people are encouraged to send comments and testimonials. The best bloggers will be invited to attend the Conference which will take place on 09-10 th July in Brussels , and which will be preceded by a youth camp on the afternoon of the 8th.
The health initiative also comprises a website for the actual conference and for a competition where youth could win a video camera, a photo camera or a Nintendo Wii.
Moreover, YFJ Member Organisations will be invited to send representatives to the event, so please save the date!
Here you can download the next issue of Active´s Newsletter.
EUROCARE (The European Alcohol Policy Alliance) is an alliance of some 50 voluntary organizations working on the prevention and reduction of alcohol related harm in Europe. Member organizations are involved in research and advocacy as well as treatment and education programs.
For more information about our organisation visit www.eurocare.org
Profile:
· University degree (minimum 4 years) in political sciences, public health/health promotion or equivalent
· Relevant working experience
· Excellent English verbal and written communication skills
· Knowledge of alcohol policies desirable
· Knowledge EU Institutions would be an asset
· Good team player, but able to work independently in a small, dynamic, international team.
· Computer literate
Your job:
· Monitoring and informing members of relevant developments in EU Institutions and in Member States
· Building relations with EU policy makers and other relevant organizations
· Drafting position papers, press releases and policy briefings as required
· Contributing to newsletter and website
· Preparing and organising meetings and events
· Representing the Organisation in meetings
The role will provide the successful applicant with an opportunity to participate in a culturally diverse and expanding European network with exposure to many organisations - EU institutions as well as other NGO’s- working on alcohol policy.
The last two years have seen pivotal developments in the European alcohol policy field, led by the European Commission, with the release of the “EU Strategy to Support member States in Reducing Alcohol Related Harm”, and the recent launch of the “Alcohol and Health Forum”.
To apply, please send your CV and covering letter by 15 April 2009 to: Mariann.Skar@eurocare.org
The Active office is preparing an article about Youth participation that will be publish in the
next issue of Transit (Active´s magazine).We would like to make a research among youth
about youth participation. Here you can find a questionnaire with 4 questions. Please ask
your friends, friends of your friends, brothers, sisters, classmates (it also includes people
outside Active) to answer them. Our target group are 14 - 16 years old.
We have a small reward for the one who will submit the most answered questionnaires
and send it to us. Except of the good feeling the winner will get a camp T shirt from Albania
camp.
So do your best and you will be rewarded!
Deadline to send questionnaires 12.4.2009
you can send it via email (alexandra@activeeurope.org) in word document, scanned copies or on our address Active - Sobriety, Friendship and Peace Signalgatan 3, 702 25 Örebro, Sweden
UNF in cooperation with Active is calling for the nominations for advanced drug policy course Advocacy for real.
The aims of the projects are to spread knowledge about the EU democratic system, about advocacy work; to share best practices and to create network between the participants from different countries and to create forum for exchange of experience and methods about advocacy between the participating members and organizations.
This project consists of 2 meetings - first one in Stockholm (you will learn about alcohol politics and advocacy in the EU) on 3rd -5th April and the second on 28th April - 1st May in Brussles - the study visits to different NGOs and the EU-parliament etc.
If you apply for the course, you automatically assign for both meetings - in Sweden and in Brussels. All the other costs are covered by the organizers. Your travel costs will be reimbursed after you have attended 80% of the course. The participation fee is 30 Euro
If you are interested send us an email with your personal information and short motivation letter to the office@activeeurope.org. The deadline for applying is 22nd of March 2009.
Active will chose 3 - 5 participants who will be informed within 48 hours since the deadline.
Here you can read the Active's Newsletter for February 2009.
To see the previous Active's newsletters, and the newsletters from our partners, please click here.
The aim is to raise awareness among young people on the positive impact of European integration on their everyday lives.
The competition is for young Europeans, amateur photographers, aged 18-30. It is opened till 31st of May 2009. Entrants should be resident in one of the 27 EU Member States.
6 best participants will be awarded with high-value photographic equipment.
More information about the competition and how to apply, you can find at: http://www.cor.europa.eu/pesweb/photocomp2009.html
Working Group on Education
The main goal of the Working Group will be to assist the Bureau in steering the work of the YFJ and its Member Organizations on the issues of education during the 2009-2010 period, as outlined in the current Work Plan. The main focus of the area will be on a holistic approach to education in Europe.
Working group on Youth Policy Mainstreaming
The main focus of the area will be the implementation of a European policy framework for participation; the European Parliamentary elections; and a strong youth agenda for the EU, CoE and UN.
Working Group on Human Rights
The main focus of the area will be the participation and inclusion of young people with migrant backgrounds.
Working Groups on Youth Work Development
The main focus of the area will be the contribution to the establishment and/or development of National Youth Councils in all EU countries and South East Europe; and strong cooperation with other regions in the world.
Working Group on Employment
The main focus of the area will be to develop good practice on the creation of jobs and decent working conditions for young people, with additional objectives pursued in the fields of health, climate change and sustainable development.
For more information contact the Active office.
Deadline for sending application is 10th of February 2009.
The topics are:
How does climate change affect you?
How can you tackle climate change through youth-led solutions?
You can send photos, videos and essays to http://www.essaycompetition.org/ , by 22nd of February 2009.
All young people from all over the world that are between 18 and 25 years of age on June 15, 2009 have a right to participate.
The prizes are: 3000 USD, 2000 USD, 1000 USD and more.
Finalists also get a chance to participate in the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics in Seoul, Korea.
More information about the International Essay Competition 2009 you can find at http://www.essaycompetition.org/.
Here you can read the Active's Newsletter for December 2008.
To see the previous Active's newsletters, and the newsletters from our partners, please click here.
Whole press release you can read here.
Whole press release you can read here.
"Juvente Germany is looking for an expert in public relations. She/He has to lead a workshop in the Juvente's winter camp (26.12.08 – 01.01.09) in Bielefeld, Germany. The workshop has the goal of a public action. The task is to bring young people to the extent that they can organize an own public action. The young people should not have a prefabricated solution strategy. The task of the expert would be to monitor and to steer the youth on the right track.
A very important criterion is that the expert must be able to speak German."
For more information please contact Alexandra Joss at: sisterly3*hotmail.com
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Whole press release you can read here.
The Active board has finlized the minutes from the latest meeting. You can read through if you click here.
The next Active board meeting is held in Sarajevo from 27th of February till 1st of March 2009. Feel free to send your proposals and questions that can be discussed at the meeting to activeboard*activeeurope.org
On 15th of November, Kadri Vanem, former board member and treasurer of Active, was elected to the bureau of European Youth Forum on the General Assembly of the YFJ taking place from 12.-16. of November in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Kadri will start her mandate from 1st of January 2009. The new president of YFJ is Tine Radinja from WOSM. Christoffer Grönstad, Xenia Constantinou were elected vice-presidents of YFJ and Marianne Muona, Agnija Jansone, Michal Kadera, Luca Scarpiello, Johan Ekman, Ben Vanpeperstraete, Hamlet Ohanyan will be the next bureau members.
Active warmly congratulates all the new bureau members, but especially Kadri for this achievement and wishes her success and best time in her new position as the YFJ bureau member 2009-2010.
WHO was asked by its Member States in May at the World Health Assembly to develop a global strategy to combat the harmful use of alcohol. All parties with an interest in reducing the harmful use of alcohol were invited to share their views in a public hearing being organized by WHO.
Here you can find our contribution.
IT IS OK NOT TO DRINK!!!
Approximately 60 delegates met at the Active congress in summer 2008. This is the statement approved by the youth from 20 European countries.
There are 9 000 000 families in Europe with at least one parent being addicted to alcohol or other drugs. Children in such families grow up without a safe environment. This often turns into insecurity and difficulties of trust. Also these children more likely than others are at risk to develop an own addiction.
Active with its 500+ youth groups and 25 000+ members offer a safe and alcohol free environment where children of addicts can learn to be children again, experience friendship and trust. By this Active breaks the chain to reproduce the alcohol problem into the next generation. Every child shall have the right to grow up in a safe environment - even if it is not their own home.
But Active can not solve the problem alone – therefore all youth organisations in Europe should offer alcohol free activities and discuss their attitude towards alcohol consumption - both in their organisation as in society in general.
