5th EPF Youth Group Annual Meeting
© EPF Youth Group
On 18-20 of September, the EPF Youth Group gathered in Bucharest, Romania for the 5th Youth Group Annual meeting. This was the opportunity for the Youth group to discuss plans for 2016, do practical exercises on capacity development and run the new Board elections.
The three elected members of the Board of the EPF Youth Group are Aneela Ahmed (National Voices, UK) as President, Polis Stavrou (International Diabetes Federation Europe, Cyprus) and Cristina Iscu (Coalition of Patients’ Organisations with Chronic Diseases, Romania) as Vice Presidents. “The hope of better healthcare that is integrated and involves the voice of young patients is one that the Youth group and I will strive to achieve.” was Aneela’s first statement as the new EPF Youth Group President.
“It is an honour for me to be part of the EPF Youth Group and I'm very grateful for the opportunity. I'm very excited about the projects in progress and I'm looking forward to develop new ones together with the other members of the group.” Cristina added, as it is the first time she was elected in the position of Vice President.
Following the elections, the Youth Group worked on capacity development by using facilitation tools such as the elevator pitch, to build a definition of the EPF Youth Group.
“I believe that these capacity development exercises will have an impact for the future development of the Group and will improve the Group greatly. I'm looking forward to include more exercises in the future activities!” Polis said, delighted at the progress of the Youth Group.
Our capacity development activities consisted also of drafting the Mission and the Vision of the Group.
The Mission is to make the invisible iceberg of young patient visible to policy makers and the wider public by mobilizing, educating and empowering them to improve the lives of young people with chronic illness. The Vision is that young people with chronic conditions are valued members of society by being actively engaged, to influence policy changes and public awareness.
The EPF Youth Group developed an Action Plan for 2016 and a more detailed plan for the Roundtable on transition to Adult care, also foreseen in 2016.
After 2 days of hard work, the EPF Youth Group is committed to work even harder and achieve the goals set for the coming year.
For more information contact Valentina Strammiello, Programme Officer at valentina.strammiello@eu-patient.eu