Chiara at the European Tobacco Youth Conference in Slovenia

Time flies, people say so true!

Exactly 4 weeks ago I had the pleasure of being the Fast Forward delegate at the First European Tobacco Youth Conference, which took place in Slovenia between the 15th and the 21st of September, funded through the Youth in Action EU Programme.

Flying has been both metaphorical and real. Indeed, not only it felt like flying (or rather, being catapulted) from Autumn back into Summer time (ahah, sorry, but my Italian-ness is always longing for sunshine and the Slovenian coast was just perfect!), but 60 young people flew and gathered in Izola, Slovenia, from 17 different European countries. These young people were representing in total 22 different youth organisations and associations which engage with young people on tobacco issues. These involved professionals, volunteers and students were from a variety of backgrounds, such as youth work, medicine, EU policies and economy.

I wasn’t the only one from Scotland! It was great to share this amazing experience particularly with the other 3 Scottish representatives: Lisa from Young Scot and the Youth Commissioners Lyndsay and Jordan! We made ourselves noticed by (attempting to) involve the other participants in a ceilidh and sharing Irn-Bru! And of course, as Scottish delegates, we spoke up and shared our experiences and projects in Scotland. Very interestingly, Scotland – with its Tobacco Free Generation Target by 2034 – emerged as a leading country in Europe in the field of Tobacco Prevention and in engaging young people in having their voice heard.

Moreover, it was fantastic to get to know so many initiatives around Europe, many of which used – as Fast Forward does – a peer education approach. It was incredibly interesting to hear the work carried out by young people in other organisations and the various resources and projects: sharing best practices was indeed one of the gems of this Conference.

The Conference was organised by the Slovenian youth organisation “No Excuse” (a completely youth led organisation) and led by its president Jan Peloza. They did a great job putting together the programme for the week, which focused on tobacco and youth. Its main aims were to:
• Establish a network of young people and youth organisations that work on tobacco in Europe,
• Develop and share skills needed for successful advocacy on tobacco policy in Europe,
• Update the participants of the Conference with the latest developments on the tobacco field in Europe and worldwide,
• Present good practice in youth organisations on the field,
• Plan further action on the field of tobacco and youth in Europe.

The Conference’s Final Plenary session was held at the Slovenian National Council in Ljubljana, gathered various speakers, including:
• Natasa Blazko (Ministry of Health – Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and Tobacco Directive)
• Nick Schneider (Human Rights and Tobacco Control Network – Empowering youth in Tobacco Control)
• Lejla Hercegovac, (Slovenian Parliament)
• Nijole Gostautaite Midttun (Lithuanian National Coalition on Alcohol and Tobacco Control)
• Dr Martin McKee (Professor of European Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine / Director research policy European Observatory)
• Marijan Ivanusa (World Health Organisation, Slovenian Office)

Alongside the main plenary sessions and the moments for socialising, participants were also able to take part in one extended workshop of choice between: tobacco prevention, tobacco policies; tobacco industry activity.

The one I attended was the workshop on smoking prevention, led by Sara Dinwiddie (SMART Youth and European Network for Smoking Prevention) and Matej Kosir (Institute for Research and Development “Utrip”).
During this workshop we looked at what prevention is and at the importance of evidence-based effective methods of intervention. Through paying attention to the prevention spectrum and the intervention framework, we identified the settings where intervention takes place and appropriate initiatives for each area. Following this, the workshop touched on marketing strategies and gave us an occasion for discussing, through practical group exercises, how different stakeholders may share a common interest in the field of tobacco intervention, even if having differences in their perspectives (e.g. youth workers, politicians, health practitioners). From the group discussion it emerged as fundamental to develop partnership working in order to actively involve young people and parents, within a bottom-up approach. Other points we covered concerned the need for challenging attitudes in order to support a change of perspective toward tobacco, also through the media, and the advantages embedded in promoting tobacco prevention by focusing also on the positives of quitting smoking rather than just on communicating the risks of tobacco smoking. Finally, the workshop included an introductory training on project planning and European funding.

Discussing as a group how all these aspects may inform our practice in tobacco prevention, we highlighted the importance of actively engaging young people in co-developing services, initiatives and policies, so as to create a joint ownership across all stakeholders: smoking and non smoking young people, parents, educators, decision makers and health professionals. We also agreed on the need for investing appropriate and substantial financial resources in order to provide staffing, training and sustainable development of youth-led initiatives, recognising the importance of the governments’ involvement and support for a multi lateral approach. Finally, sharing best practice across Europe emerged as an important asset to ensure that all projects are as successful as they can be.

Furthermore, during a morning of sharing practices amongst participants, I ran a 2 hour workshop for peer educators sharing Fast Forward’s style on how to engage young people in an interactive session on tobacco education. The workshop supported participants in reflecting on how to build a similar session targeted at young people to promote health and well-being in their own organisations. Attention was also given to the decision making behind planning the activities’ order in a session plan and sharing ideas for transferring them to other areas of work.

Learning from each other was indeed a great part of this youth event. It was very interesting to also learn more about e-cigarettes, to look more into statistics regarding tobacco and health, and to explore topics I’m less familiar with, such as other countries’ policies and information around the tobacco industry.

The First European Tobacco Youth Conference was great for networking across Europe, meeting the No Excuse organisers and all the other participants. It also revealed to be for me a motivating and refreshing week: being there on behalf of Fast Forward and thus with my “professional hat” on, it was truly inspiring to see so many young people keen and engaged in volunteering in this field.

Wondering about the next steps?
Well, at the end of the ETYC event we participants agreed on the value of having such cross-country youth network and that further action was needed. Therefore, we discussed how starting a European Youth Tobacco Network might be the way ahead. The Slovenian group of organisers promised to take leadership on the next steps for this network, and here at Fast Forward we are very keen to see what this will bring about and what other opportunities there will be for us to play a role and have a voice also an international level.
As for concerns at a more local level, I can say that a few ideas are already being processed for creating new initiatives within Fast Forward. Curious to hear more about these? Keep an eye on this blog page or come and volunteer with us!

Contact Chiara at chiara@fastforward.org.uk