Alcohol initiative from Donegal charity getting international attention

A Donegal-based charity has launched a new initiative designed to challenge and resist the growing influence and impact that the alcohol industry is having on health and wellbeing.

Alcohol Forum Ireland, which is based in Letterkenny, and the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network (ICAAN), were joined last week by a number of international experts to launch the I-Mark.
I-Mark is a brand, a logo and a social movement which aims to build solidarity and visibility across the community, voluntary and charity sectors in Ireland in regard to non-collaboration with the alcohol industry.
Speaking at the onlne launch, Dr Anne Burke from the Letterkenny Institute of Technology and vice-chair of Alcohol Forum Ireland. highlighted how proud the charity is of this new initiative.
“Five years ago, Alcohol Forum Ireland was involved in setting up the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network and has been delighted to support this growing network ever since and are so proud that a small charity which was established 15 years ago in Donegal is now launching this national, and soon to be global initiative,” she said.

Global attention

Paula Leonard, Alcohol Forum Ireland’s national lead for community action on alcohol, said the I-Mark has gained a lot of attention globally. It was presented at the first World Assembly on Community Action on Alcohol in January and will be presented at the European Alcohol Policy Conference in Oslo in June.
“It’s been amazing to have developed a community-based initiative to support our work here in Ireland and to have had this level of interest from around the globe. Since the launch last week, we have had approaches from an NGO (non-government organisation) that supports work in six African and Asian countries, from a large NGO in Australia and from a children’s rights organisation in Colombia.

"We had already been working with Movendi International, which supports alcohol harm reduction work in over 50 low and middle-income countries, where industry activity is largely unregulated, to explore setting up a global steering group. It seems that our I-Mark is one of those cases that it’s the right idea at the right time.”
The I-Mark includes a toolkit which has been developed as a resource to empower and support organisations to build understanding of and independence from the influence of the alcohol industry. It also provides a useful checklist of questions for organisations to work through when and if they may be considering using industry-funded educational resources or accepting funding from the alcohol industry. Participating organisations commit to displaying the I-Mark brand, and refusing to enter into partnerships with or accept funding from the alcohol industry or any of its funded charities.

Policymaking

Professor Tom Babor, who has acted as an advisor to the World Health Organisation on alcohol policy, told the launch the I-Mark, was “an idea whose time had come”. He said there is a large body of evidence that now exists in relation to the tactics of the industry and its interference in policymaking; but reflected that the global public health community “perhaps, didn’t have the creativity to push an idea like this forward, as has now been done in Ireland”.

The initiative has been welcomed by many civil society organisations including ten Local and Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Forces; the National Youth Council of Ireland; ENDpae, an organisation comprised of birth, foster and adoptive families impacted by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder; and the Rise Foundation, an organisation established to support families impacted by addiction.
Several other national and local charities have expressed an interest and ICAAN are confident that the numbers of participating organisations will grow following the launch next week.
“Obviously, we are delighted with the support here at home in Donegal,” Ms Leonard said. “One of the first organisations to support this was Letterkenny Youth and Family Service and since then we are glad to have had interest from others including Donegal Youth Council and the Donegal Women’s Centre.”