The Covid-19 pandemic widely impacted the lifestyles of young adults. The European Year of Youth brings a unique opportunity to reflect on how different actors can work together to support young people across Europe in their personal development, including by creating initiatives with them instead of just proposing solutions for them.
As we seek to build a more sustainable post-pandemic Europe, notably through the European Green Deal, all layers of society should work together to find solutions for increased personal responsibility, such as partnership initiatives fighting against alcohol misuse, binge drinking, and promoting safe spaces for all.
Erasmus Student Network, one of the largest European student and youth organisations, and Pernod Ricard, a leading group in wine and spirits, partnered up to launch the ‘Responsible Party’ initiative in 2009. It aims to tackle the overconsumption of alcohol by young adults, helping to make the Erasmus+ programme healthier and safer for students. The 13-year learnings of Responsible Party have challenged the concept of responsibility of young adults by empowering them to make the right decisions. Its digitalisation since the pandemic, propelled by the Drink More Water campaign released last July, has broadened the scope of this programme by directly targeting more than 111 million young adults across the world.
Responsible Party is a pledge to the recently adopted EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices, as a collaborative initiative to reduce binge drinking among young adults, reduce alcohol-related harm, and promote responsible behaviour. It aims to contribute to a key EU Code aspirational objective – to promote consumer awareness of healthy, balanced, and sustainable diets, including sustainable food consumption, as part of healthy and sustainable lifestyles.
Incorporating sustainable behaviours in the relationship between youth and alcohol is a multifaceted task. Hence, public and private stakeholders will undoubtedly have to work hand in hand in this complex societal issue, one that is connected to other pressing issues such as mental health, safety, and consent. Responsible Party’s collaborative targeted actions have tried over time to achieve its objectives by involving diverse actors. The collaboration offers important lessons for future partnerships between companies and youth organisations that can be beneficial for society as a whole.
EURACTIV invites you to a high-level debate to discuss:
– What have been over the past 13 years the key ingredients of success of a partnership such as ‘Responsible Party’ and how does it contribute to empower young adults?
– How can PP partnerships contribute to a more responsible and sustainable Europe?
– How can PP partnerships enhance the willingness of stakeholders to actively fight the misuse of alcohol by young adults?
– How has Responsible Party contributed to the improvement of Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship programme, making it more responsible, healthier, and inclusive?