Dear All, I am adding Arnfinn in this exchange, because he has also been contacting a few people in the countries we have agreed. Let's make sure we coordinate our efforts to avoid duplication. A relevant update from my side is that I have contacted Wolfgang Ahrens and it may be possible to have the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS) join the proposal. This would make Germany a very good candidate for the implementation of interventions. Can we agree who is going to contact people at the German Institute of Public Health, and who should be contacted? As for Lithuania, Arnfinn has contacted and spoken to Ieva Gudanaviciene, from the Ministry. I am not sure what the latest is on this contact. Through a different contact (Mindaugas Stelemekas) we have learnt that the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences are already involved in a competing proposal, and it looks like they are planning interventions in Lithuania as part of that. This makes their participation in our bid undesirable, in my view, so we have dropped this pursuit, but if the Ministry expressed interest and were not involved in the proposal in which the University is involved, we could definitely consider them as partners. Other countries mentioned were Montenegro and North Macedonia. I am not sure if people in either (or both) of these countries have been contacted at this stage. I would be grateful for an update. Again, let's make sure we coordinate efforts. As a general principle, for the countries that will implement interventions, I think it would be ideal to have the relevant Public Health Institute/ Agency involved, as well as a youth organisation (provided a suitable one exists in the country). A University partner may be useful, but would not be essential, as academic inputs into the project would be mostly provided centrally. I aim at circulating synoptic descriptions of the two intervention packages (for the age groups 12-18 and 19-25), which may also help conversations with potential implementing countries. The intervention package for the older age group will involve more challenges, and we may struggle to find three countries willing to implement it. But you can give me your comment when I circulate the descriptions, hopefully later today. Franco From: Caroline Costongs <c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu> Sent: 17 March 2026 09:51 To: Monika Robnik <Monika.Robnik@nijz.si>; Sassi, Franco <f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>; Katja Cic <Katja.Cic@nijz.si> Cc: Dorota Sienkiewicz <d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu>; zhealth-mgmt <zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk>; Mojca Gabrijelčič <mojca.gabrijelcic@nijz.si> Subject: Re: Z-Health - suggestion to add a partner from Montenegro CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Katja and Monika, This is great we'll wait for that information then. In the meantime, we should reach out to Germany (BIOG - I suggest Yvette) and Lithuania. Regarding Lithuania, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania is an observer to EuroHealthNet. Our contacts are: audrius.sceponavicius@sam.lt<mailto:audrius.sceponavicius@sam.lt> and radvile.jakaitiene@sam.lt<mailto:radvile.jakaitiene@sam.lt> Lithuania has Health Bureaus at the local level, funded by the MoH that can implement interventions. Caroline ________________________________ From: Monika Robnik <Monika.Robnik@nijz.si<mailto:Monika.Robnik@nijz.si>> Sent: 17 March 2026 08:44 To: Caroline Costongs <c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu>>; f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk> <f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>>; Katja Cic <Katja.Cic@nijz.si<mailto:Katja.Cic@nijz.si>> Cc: Dorota Sienkiewicz <d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu>>; zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk> <zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk>>; Mojca Gabrijelčič <mojca.gabrijelcic@nijz.si<mailto:mojca.gabrijelcic@nijz.si>> Subject: Re: Z-Health - suggestion to add a partner from Montenegro Dear Katja, dear Caroline, Thank you both for your reflections. To further inform our decision, we will also check with our contacts at the Ministry and come back with additional input shortly. Looking forward to aligning on this together. Best regards, Monika
Katja Cic 03/16/2026, 09:45 AM >>> Dear Caroline,
Personally, I do not have a strong preference because I have worked with youth in both of these countries. The International Youth Health Organization has a seat in Slovenia, not Montenegro, even if Sanja is the current president - we need to keep this in mind for geographical balance. I am also adding Mojca and Monika to this conversation for easier alignment. Mojca, what do you think - should we prioritize Montenegro or North Macedonia in this case? Kind regards, Katja
Caroline Costongs <c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu>> 03/16/2026, 09:30 AM >>>
To sporočilo izvira izven naše organizacije. Bodite pozorni pri vsebini in odpiranju povezav ali prilog! Dear Katja, Yes, we need to decide now which country to invite, as Mojca also mentioned North Macedonia. We are in contact with Nadica Totikj, Department of Health Promotion and Monitoring of Disease at the Institute of Public Health of Republic of North Macedonia and can also easily reach out to them. We can then invite Sanja and the Youth Health Organisation for the dissemination work package, which would be quite powerful as well Or, indeed, we invite CAZAS to implement the intervention and the NIPH of Montenegro as a second partner to help with the research. They now have a new director, Ivan Samardžić. What do you think? Caroline ________________________________ From: Katja Cic <Katja.Cic@nijz.si<mailto:Katja.Cic@nijz.si>> Sent: 16 March 2026 08:59 To: Caroline Costongs <c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu>>; f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk> <f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>> Cc: Dorota Sienkiewicz <d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu>>; zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk> <zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk>> Subject: RE: Z-Health - suggestion to add a partner from Montenegro Dear Caroline, To follow-up on Friday's meeting, do you want to reach out to Sanja about CAZAS' participation or would you prefer if I do it? Kind regards, Katja
"Sassi, Franco" <f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>> 03/13/2026, 12:01 PM >>>
To sporočilo izvira izven naše organizacije. Bodite pozorni pri vsebini in odpiranju povezav ali prilog! Dear Caroline, Thank you for your suggestions. Much appreciated. I am including the management team here, and Katja, who is coordinating the youth co-creation component at the moment and can comment on your suggestion about including the International Youth Organisation. I will get back to you on the other suggestions. Franco From: Caroline Costongs <c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu>> Sent: 13 March 2026 11:27 To: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>> Cc: Dorota Sienkiewicz <d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:d.sienkiewicz@eurohealthnet.eu>> Subject: Z-Health - suggestion to add a partner from Montenegro CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Franco, Yesterday I had a useful meeting with Sanja Šišović<https://www.ehfg.org/biography/sisovic-sanja>. She is President of the International Youth Health Organisation<https://yho.network/> (her email is: sanja.sisovic@yho.network<mailto:sanja.sisovic@yho.network>). This network would be a great partner to have as part of the WP on communication and dissemination, and Sanja would be a great project partner. In addition, Sanja is working at Cazas in Montenegro. A health NGO (20+ years) working to improve health, universal health coverage, support for vulnerable groups, and youth empowerment. They implement four (4) programmes: 1. HEALTH promotion, supporting strengthening of universal health care. 2. EMPOWER - organizations, non-formal groups and individuals through capacity building, networking and mentorship. 3. SUPPORT vulnerable populations in Montenegro through providing psychosocial, legal and peer support and help and service provision. 4. YOUTH empowerment in Montenegro through education, advocacy and promotion of activism and volunteerism. Their website is not so clear http://cazas.org/ They do have a PIC code and (unsuccessfully) lead an Horizon application recently. She mentioned two interesting interventions we could consider for our bid: 1. 'Friends in Focus' Youth Initiative led by United Nations - Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC has created prevention programmes that focus on families to help parents become better parents through enhanced caregiving, as an effective investment in the healthy development of children and youth. In Montenegro, UNODC, with the support of the Ministry of Education and CAZAS implemented a peer-to-peer drug prevention programme. CAZAS played a central role in organising the Training of Trainers and in recruiting youth trainers who will lead the programme's dissemination in the high schools of their communities. Website: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/prevention/youth-initiative/friends-in-focus.... & https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/prevention/youth-initiative/youth-action/2025... (2) UNICEF initiatives in Montenegro for parents * Caring Families: Helping parents give children the best start in life. * Parenting of adolescents: a 9 week programme to support the parents/ caregivers of adolescents * Mini parenting master classes: Helping parents give children the best start in life. Webpage: https://www.unicef.org/montenegro/en/parenting-0 As we need implementing partners - including in the East, they would be a good candidate. Caroline [Image] Caroline Costongs Director +32 2 235 03 20 146 Rue Royale 1000 Brussels, Belgium www.eurohealthnet.eu<http://www.eurohealthnet.eu/> www.eurohealthnet-magazine.eu<https://eurohealthnet-magazine.eu/> LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/company/267124/?trk=tyah&trkInfo=tarId%3A1422521953987%2Ctas%3Aeurohealthn%2Cidx%3A1-1-1> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/eurohealthnet/> | Bluesky<https://bsky.app/profile/eurohealthnet.bsky.social> | YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVKKXwTtG9AYlmX4YuIwbeQ> [Image]<https://eurohealthnet.eu/publication/social-inequalities-in-health-in-the-eu/>
