Event highlights
The Youth Alcohol Network, which is part of the Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION), is dedicated to tackling alcohol-related harm. Young people from across the network joined an online meeting from 29–30 April 2025 and took part using a variety of collaborative platforms to share their insights and suggestions on alcohol policy, research and other initiatives.
In addition, the Youth Alcohol Network welcomed a number of new participants as membership continues to grow, making it – with 93 members – the largest youth network in the WHO European Region.
During the meeting, which was co-designed by members of the Permanent Advisory Committee of the network, participants were taught tools for effective self-organizing, which they will use to bring forward 4 different initiatives – research, alcohol policy, collaboration with other networks and a sober events toolkit.
Participants left this 2-day meeting overwhelmingly positive, sharing their excitement to start working on the various projects.
Event notice
The Youth Alcohol Network was launched in November 2023 as part of the Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION), a joint project of WHO/Europe and the European Union (EU). Since then, the Network has become an important pillar of the EVID-ACTION project, ensuring that young voices are integrated in its deliverables. Youth have been conducting research on QR codes on alcoholic beverages in various project countries, formulating the Network’s strategy and supporting EVID-ACTION’s communications activities.
Now, the Network is expanding with 43 new members, nearly doubling its size to 93 and ensuring representation from all 30 EVID-ACTION countries (the EU plus Norway, Ukraine and Iceland).
The expanded Network will convene for the first time on 29–30 April 2025 in a participatory online meeting. The content of the meeting has been co-designed with Network members, ensuring that it will be relevant and engaging both to new and established participants.
The meeting aims to:
- provide an understanding of the EVID-ACTION project and how the Network connects to its bigger picture;
- foster a sense of community among all Network members;
- define the roles, expectations and commitments of the Network;
- define structures and platforms to support collaboration, communication and knowledge-sharing in the Network; and
- identify specific areas of work within the EVID-ACTION project to which the Network will contribute.