Three projects from Belgium, Poland and Lithuania were awarded the Pompidou Group’s 2021 European Drug Prevention Prize, on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Group on 28 October 2021, at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The projects awarded in 2021 are S.A.M.E.N. (Together) project in Belgium, TripApp in Poland and Operation Snowball in Lithuania, selected out of 53 candidate projects received from 28 countries.
First launched in 2004 by the Pompidou Group, the European Drug Prevention Prize is awarded every two years to highlight drug prevention projects that have proved successful in involving young people. It seeks to recognise innovative projects led by young people for young people. A jury of seven young people (aged between 16 and 21 at the time of their appointment) evaluated candidates and awarded the three winners a trophy, a diploma and prize-money of €5.000. This year the jury added two new selection criteria: sustainable development and response/adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The winning projects:
S.A.M.E.N. – Belgium
S.A.M.E.N. (=TOGETHER) is a multidisciplinary project for youth with shared responsibility, ownership and commitment. It aims among others at reducing legal and illegal drug use, providing alternatives to substance use and abuse and limiting harm to oneself and to society as a whole. The project is based on a bottom-up approach, involving peers and role models but also working with the city administration and elected officials to encourage change in how drug prevention programmes are carried out.
TripApp – Poland
TripApp is an app meant to reduce the harms related to the use of drugs, through providing people with honest and reliable information about them. It connects people directly to drug checking results, harm reduction service providers, safer use information and drug law legislation. The app allows for real-time alerts about drug-related risks and informs about local drug services in 15 different languages. TripApp was created by young people to promote data-driven prevention.
Operation Snowball – Lithuania
Operation Snowball is a preventive youth programme which aims at raising awareness among young people of the effects of psychoactive substances and their impact on the human body, making them feel responsible for their actions, health and public welfare, and developing their psychological resilience, communication, cooperation and leadership skills. The project shows the importance of sobriety in a way young people accept it – through youth camps and tailored activities.
At the ceremony, the jury noted other shortlisted projects that they thought would merit special recognition for their unique approach to drug prevention and the societal impact they achieved: Teen inside out (Ukraine), Join Effort Project (Belgium), ICan (Netherlands), Skjenkekontrollen (Norway), Escape Room – Home Party (Luxembourg), The dose – a peer theatre (Austria).
