Because alcohol is not milk – advocacy in the field of alcohol policy

Project facts

Project promoter:
Slovenian NCD Alliance(SI)
Project Number:
SI-ACTIVECITIZENS-0005
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€60,000
Final project cost:
€59,352
Other Project Partners
Institute for Youth Participation
Health and Sustainable Development(SI)
Research and Development Institute UTRIP(SI)
Slovenian Association for Public Health
Environment and Tobacco Contro(SI)
Society for Cardiovascular Health of Slovenia(SI)
Youth Association No Excuse Slovenia(SI)
Programme:

Description

The “Because alcohol is not milk” initiative was created in 2018 (www.keralkoholnimleko.si) by key partners in the application. Recent activities and research have shown that the problem of alcohol in Slovenia is more worrying and complex than predicted, and that to some extent we can speak of almost complete indifference to alcohol use among minors and visibly intoxicated young people by politicians, entertainment industry and retailers, parents and other adults. The project is necessary because, from an advocacy point of view, we need to tackle comprehensively, strategically & start changing people''s beliefs and attitudes towards alcohol, while at the same time achieving tighter political measures to reduce alcohol use in Slovenia.

The main objective of the project is to achieve an improvement in the situation and to significantly reduce the indifference of the whole society towards alcohol and alcohol policy through comprehensive organized action and empowerment of policy and decision makers. The target groups are, in particular, policy and decision makers in the field of public health and beyond, representatives of (social) media, parents and other important adults, entertainment industry and retailers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field of public health. The long-term benefits of the project will be mainly for children and young people in terms of improving health and reducing the presence of alcohol in their daily lives.

Summary of project results

The “Because alcohol is not milk” initiative was created in 2018 (www.keralkoholnimleko.si) by key partners in the application. Recent activities and research have shown that the problem of alcohol in Slovenia is more worrying and complex than predicted, and that to some extent we can speak of almost complete indifference to alcohol use among minors and visibly intoxicated young people by politicians, entertainment industry and retailers, parents and other adults.

The project partners carried out communication campaing and advocacy action aiming at increasing awarness of the alcohol use among young people and the bad impact it has on their brains. They also carried out "secret buyer" action - trying to see how many shops will sell alcohol to minors (or not check their ID).

 

There was an improvement on the procentage of selles who would not check IDs of young buyers of alcohol. This was a positive results of the campaign. The project partners also held regular meetings with Ministry of Health and other stakeholders but did not result in any concrete change of the legislation.

Information on the projects funded by the EEA and Norway Grants is provided by the Programme and Fund Operators in the Beneficiary States, who are responsible for the completeness and accuracy of this information.