A Welsh stop smoking youth organisation has gone international with its first successful foreign project being delivered in a Belarusian orphanage in Minsk thanks to European funding.
The Filter Wales is a youth project which supports 11 to 25 year olds from across the country to quit smoking through engaging and inclusive workshops. Run by tobacco control campaign group ASH Wales Cymru, it has already worked with 6,000 young people over the past 4 years.
40% of long term smokers in the UK start before the age of 16 and currently 9% of 15 to 16 year olds in Wales smoke regularly.
The Welsh scheme is being replicated as part of a new European, Erasmus Plus funded project called The Filter Europe. It will run in five partner countries; Spain, Austria, Romania, Belarus and Poland – with Belarus the first to start this substantial project.
The new European project will specifically work with hundreds of youths from disadvantaged areas, just as The Filter has done here in Wales.
The Filter Europe recently launched in Minsk’s Number Five Orphanage and aims to teach the children about the harms of smoking through informal discussions and art therapy.
Around 50% of men and 11% of women smoke in Belarus – a country where the tobacco industry is owned by the government.
Mikalai Karenski, who runs the Belarusian project, said, “Any kind of dependency, such as with smoking, restricts a person’s choice and prevents them from building their life as they want.”
“We taught the children how important it is to be independent, including independent from smoking. It is important to teach them to be responsible for their life, their choices and they understood that. We all need to realise that independence is the path to personal growth.”
Julie Edwards, who runs ASH Wales’ European partnerships, said, “This project is a great opportunity to share best practice with other European countries on how to tackle young people smoking.”
“Young people are the tobacco industry’s key target since they are the only ones who can replace their lifelong, but dying customers. Two thirds of smokers start before the age of 18 and that’s why we must tackle this problem.
Suzanne Cass, Chief Executive of ASH Wales, said, “Working alongside other European countries will be an invaluable learning experience for ASH Wales’ youth team who already work with so many young people in disadvantaged communities across Wales.”
