The Project
AIMS:
Opportunities for youths are lacking. To this end, a youth section within Victoria Local Council was set up in January 2010. Made up from members aged between 16 and 30 the group held its first brainstorming session led by the Mayor Dr. Samuel Azzopardi. The main aim of this brainstorming session was to determine the way forward. It is hoped that the Youth Council can make a difference for the local youth. The role of the Youth Council is providing expertise on local youth policy and assisting with the development of local youth employment, gaining policy and practice.
Project partners
| Partner | Country | Municipality |
| RightNow ehf | Iceland | Reykjavik |
| ICSRA | Iceland | Reykjavik |
| Victoria Local Council | Malta | Victoria – Gozo |
| Esenler Municipality | Turkey | Istanbul |
| Santa Maria da Feira Municipality | Portugal | Santa Maria da Feira |
| Dobele Municipality | Latvia | Dobele |
| Comune di Santa Severina | Italy | Santa Severina |
| Ajuntament de Tarragona | Spain | Tarragona |
| Exchange Association | France | Vaison la Romaine |
| Youth Information Center | Greece | Thessaloniki |
Project period
| Youth in Europe 2015-2017 | |
| Project 3.206 |
About
Youth in Europe is an evidence-based program in primary substance use among adolescents. The program has been developed and tested by the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA) for over 15 years and has led to the lowest prevalence of substance use among 10th grade students in Iceland. The core elements of the approach include: a) use of a theory-based, multi-level community-wide prevention; b) application of empirical evidence drawn from systematic social research as a foundation on which to inform policy and guide local-level practice; and c) collaboration between researchers, policy makers, and key community stakeholders, including parents, and those in the community youth organizations and schools, to deliver prevention activities at the local level.
Results
The impact will be threefold: (i) increased knowledge within the communities about how to reduce the likelihood of substance use among European adolescents; (ii) a broad European alliance among researchers, policy makers and practitioners, (iii) increase in protective factors and decrease in risk factors for substance use as well as decrease in substance use, all measured in a randomized survey among adolescents at the end of the two year period.
Project idea:
The Youth in Europe Programme[1] has been developed under number of years in over 20 cities of Europe and has grown in number of participating cites throughout the years. The developing agency is The Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA) which was founded in 1999. ICSRA is the main professional partner in the Youth in Europe project, supported by Erasmus+, Strategic Partnership of KA2. The European part is based on the Icelandic model for prevention and has been distributed to number of countries. The aim is to decrease the use of substances by young people.
ICSRA has already performed surveys among young people, age 10 to 20 years old for over 17 years and has constantly developed its services to the public sector responsible for wellbeing of young people. The main task is to collect data in the area, analyse the data and publish the findings. The main aim of the organisation is:
- to advance and distribute knowledge on the social determinants of health, well-being and behaviour of young people
- to enhance the quality of life of young people by improving health and well-being through the process of education and social change and
- to create a venue for collaboration of scholars; specifically, for the education and training of young scholars.
