Are you a young person
- aged 18 – 30 years of age?
- fluent in English?
- studying, working, or living in one of the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, Norway or Ukraine?
- studying, working or with a background in health, well-being and/or youth issues?
- committed to advancing health and well-being at regional, national and/or subnational levels?
Do you wish to take part in a WHO European Project that will bring young people’s voices to alcohol policy?
In 2022 the Alcohol and Illicit Drugs Programme of the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) launched the WHO/EU Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION). With this project, WHO, in close cooperation with the European Commission, is supporting EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Ukraine) to implement best practices and capacity-building activities, to disseminate knowledge so as to reduce alcohol consumption and harms, in line with the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. WHO/Europe is now establishing a network to bring young people’s perspectives to the EVID-ACTION strategic agenda, activities and communications.
Specifically:
- to support the implementation of the different components of the EVID-ACTION project by co-creating plans that involve young people
- to support WHO’s communications to change the narrative about young people and alcohol so as to reduce stigma and discrimination that presents barriers to strategies to reduce alcohol consumption and harms, as well as access to support services
- to elevate policy dialogues with policy makers so that young people’s perspectives are understood and integral to the discussions
Why do we need young people’s voices on alcohol?
One in every 10 deaths in the WHO European Region each year is caused by alcohol, amounting to almost 1 million in total, and many of these deaths occur at a very young age. Alcohol consumption also has detrimental effects on many other health issues; it is a causal factor for more than 200 diseases, health conditions and injuries, and is a group 1 human carcinogen, causally linked to seven types of cancer.
There is strong evidence that many young people in Europe are choosing not to drink alcohol. The European Framework for Action on Alcohol, 2022-2025, adopted unanimously by the 53 Member States of the Region lays out as a priority for action,
“engagement with young people to harness their energies and experiences to develop coherent strategies to reduce the risk of harms due to alcohol consumption for their peers and for future generations”
Commitment required:
- Participate in meetings of the forum – at least one physical meeting per year. If they wish to nominate another person in their place, this must be approved in advance by the WHO secretariat
- Agree and adhere to working arrangements, including confidentiality arrangements that are agreed
- Be able to commit additional time to ad hoc tasks and projects that are agreed as part of the workplan
- Sign a declaration with WHO that they have no conflicts of interest, including but not limited to links with the alcohol industry
Ensuring diversity:
We wish to enable a diverse group of youth representatives to apply and welcome, for example, young health professionals; young people living with a disability or chronic disease; young people who live in remote areas; those being marginalised or stigmatized because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or ethnicity; those experiencing homelessness, violence, abuse or exploitation; refugees and migrants, and those without access to health or social services.
HOW TO APPLY:
To apply, fill in the application form here by 9 July 2023.
If you have any questions, reach out to: