Friday, November 20, 2009

Youth Call for Entries- the 2nd Children's environmental health project competition

Dear Friends,

Five years after the launch of the “Children Environmental and Health Action Plan for Europe” (CEHAPE) at the Budapest Ministerial Conference, we are now seeking entries to the second CEHAPE Good Practice Awards.

As the health and environment youth coordinator, I am practically interested in hearing from youth related projects or projects in schools or being led by youth, as these are two of the competition categories. The entry form is only two pages, and will enable your project to feature on our CEHAPE website.


In March 2010, the Fifth Conference of Ministers on Environment and Health - "Protecting Children’s Health in a Changing Environment" - will take place in Parma, Italy. The Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health is the next milestone in the European environment and health process. Focused on protecting children’s health in a changing environment, the Conference will drive Europe’s agenda on emerging environmental health challenges for the years to come.

Keeping children’s health in the spotlight: Awarding good practice
Children’s health continues to be a leading concern; their health is at risk from a changing environment. The second CEHAPE Awards aim to uncover and highlight inspiring and innovative projects that promote children’s environment and health. Entrants must be based in one or more countries of the 53 in the WHO Europe region (map with full list of countries)
The winners of each category will be award 1,000 Euros towards their project, and will be invited to present their project at the Parma Ministerial.

How to enter: Tell us your story
To enter the CEHAPE Good Practice Awards, we want to hear about your projects and campaigns in children’s environment and health.

There are eight individual categories for entry:

• Water and/or Sanitation,
• Accidents and/or Physical Activity,
• Indoor air and/or Outdoor air,
• Chemicals and or Radiation,
Youth participation,
• Mobility,
• Climate protection,
• Schools

If you are involved in a project to protect children’s environmental health, please send us a completed entry form to Olivia Radu (olivia.radu@wecf.eu).
Information about the call is available in English, Romanian, Russian, Kirghiz, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Armenian and Georgian. However, the entry form can only be filled out in English and Russian.
You can find out more about the competition and the entries from the 1st Children’s Environmental health project competition on the website.

KEY DATES:
• The deadline for submission of entries is 7 December 2009.
• The winners across the eight categories will be announced on 22nd January, 2010.

The 2nd CEHAPE Awards have be developed jointly by Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF), Health & Environmental Alliance (HEAL), ISDE Austria and European Eco Forum, and are sponsored by the governments of Austria, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, and supported by the European Commission.


(On the photo: Sascha Gabizon WECF, Genon Jensen HEAL at the IMR, Vienna, June 2007)

Please help us by disseminating this announcement through your own networks.


Good luck, we look forward to receiving your entries!


Alina Bezhenar

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Choosing our Future

The “Choosing our Future” comic strip highlights – in a humorous and simple way – the recent evidence of harm to health from certain widely used chemicals.

Produced jointly by HEAL’s Chemicals Health Monitor project and Mouvement pour les Droits et le Respect des Générations Futures (MDRGF) in English and French, the publication and associated website aim to provide readers with what is currently known about the links between health and man-made chemicals and examples of individual action and EU policy opportunities that can help produce changes for the better.




French comic strip designer, David Ratte has created the stories that bring to life contemporary concerns about the man-made chemicals found in our bodies that are implicated in certain cancers, brain development disorders, asthma, allergies, immune deficiences and falling male fertility. The facts behind the dialogue are explained and supported by scientific and governmental references.

Our aim is provide advocates and the wider public with examples of individual action and European Union policy opportunities that can help change our future for the better.

to know more information and download book in English and French click here