My name is David Rivett. It was at the beginning of 2009 that the WHO Europe Environment and Health programme asked me to work with the WHO CEHAPE Youth Network in their preparations for the participation of Network members at the 5th Ministerial Conference for Environment and Health. I was very pleased to say yes because it brought me full circle in the series of Environment and Health Ministerial Conferences.
I was responsible for the same task at the 4th Ministerial Conference which was held in Budapest in 2004 and where the CEHAPE was launched. At that time I worked in the WHO Young People’s Health programme and had been involved in young people’s participation in several initiatives such as the WHO health promoting schools programme and the 2001 Stockholm Ministerial Conference on Alcohol and Young People.
Young people’s participation has been a theme throughout my career which began when I was a teacher in the UK and continued when I became a youth worker and then responsible for drug prevention and health promotion programmes for young people in a region of South East London. Later my role expanded to include responsibility for national programmes.
Young people’s participation in the CEHAPE is now firmly established and the CEHAPE Youth Network’s participation at the Parma Conference is another opportunity to strengthen the Network’s national and international role in the Action Plan.
I am enjoying working with the Network members, who are planning to not only participate fully in the Conference programme but also to prepare a work plan for their future activities following up on the Conference outcomes.
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