Local units are made of young people who want to make positive change in local environment in the areas of public health (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, mental health, healthy lifestyle), youth participation and sustainable development. Basis of our program is the slogan "criticize, suggest, act", which encourages young people to prepare local events in order to provide improvements in the local environment. Program received many awards and UNESCO highlighted the program as a good practice.

Various smaller towns in Slovenia with logistical support from bigger local units.

Eurostat shows that young people in Slovenia are below the European average in youth participation. Below-average share of young people is involved in organized activities carried out by sports clubs, youth clubs and local organizations. Participation in the European Parliament elections in Slovenia is among the lowest Europe. Unconventional forms of political participation Slovenia are again below the European average. But adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 show above-average political activity at all levels, especially on the local level, and also above-average use the Internet to participate in political and general affairs. The data therefore show that it is necessary to promote the active citizenship of young people at the local level, which is what our program aims at.

We are connecting young people from different backgrounds to make a positive impact in their local communities:
50 young people aged 15 to 19 (activists) across Slovenia in smaller groups - participants in the program who will develop their skills and prepare their local initiatives
8 young leaders aged 19 to 24 who will lead the local units and activists, implement the program and prepare meetings for the activists, offer them support and will be the main link from the local units to the central organization
160 - 200 participants in the local initiatives

Local units will involve other stakeholders (schools, NGOs, youth organization) in their local environment too as a part of the activists’ initiative through which they will gain knowledge, skills and local connections.

The program will be implemented through the "No Excuse Method", which includes strengthening social and life skills and empowering young people in the field of public health. With this method we strive for the active participation of young people and encourage their active spending of free time. Participants will receive an extensive 1000-hour educational process through which they will acquire the necessary knowledge and develop skills to promote healthy lifestyle. We ensure the quality and consistency of work with young people by following various competency models, which will also be developed or improved within this project, by educating various groups of young people involved in the project and providing support for skills development through a program of mentors and youth workers.

We will have at least 50 young people involved in the program who will implement 8 local initiatives in 8 different regions. We will prepare and implement 5 joint trainings for activists and an improved competency model with a set of skills, knowledge and attitudes for personal growth. Participants will acquire skills that will help them spend their free time actively, to be active citizens and to also activate their peers and also benefit them in employability. They will have relevant information and social skills to decide on a less harmful lifestyle which will lead to a lower incidence of harmful behaviors. The program will have an impact also on the entire youth sector by supporting the addressing of public health issues and thus on the majority of the population.

We give young people the platform to develop their full potential and an opportunity to express their opinions and beliefs in a safe and stimulating environment. We offer them the necessary tools to strengthen important competencies and to create positive change in their local environment. With our help they develop, transmit, implement and evaluate effective programs aimed at reducing health inequalities, increasing health and environmental literacy and promoting active citizenship to achieve sustainable development. Young people are active creators of local initiatives that change their local environment for the better, and through it they acquire important competencies of active citizenship. Through their initiatives they also activate their peers to be engaged in society.

Our main topic of work is preventing chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Tobacco use, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from a NCD. NCDs kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally and most are associated with behaviours in teen years: over 150 million young people smoke worldwide; 81% adolescents don’t get enough physical activity; 11.7% of adolescents partake in heavy episodic drinking. Our organization acts as a slovenian youth NCD alliance and targets young people in which the prevention of NCDs is most important to develop the life and social skills of young people to prevent addiction and to offer young people an established platform for developing their own potentials.

Travel and accomodation costs: 3.000,00 €
Material and consumable costs: 3.400,00 €
Leaders costs: 5.919,43 €
Employment costs (part-time): 10.000,00 €
Expert fees: 5.000,00 €
Promotion and marketing: 7.400,00 €
Other and indirect costs: 500,00 €

As much advice, comments and feedback as possible so we can make our program even better and more suited to the local environments. We also strive for implementing the program internationally so we would be happy to receive information if this would be possible in other countries.