Different Contexts, Common Aspirations
Global Youth Leading the #NormShift
Every August, International Youth Day asks the world to look at young people as leaders already shaping the future. The 2026 theme, set by the United Nations, is “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations”. It’s a recognition that young people everywhere face different national and local realities, yet share the same underlying hopes: dignity, opportunity, meaningful participation, and a sustainable, healthy future.
Nowhere is that truer than inside Movendi International’s Sober Youth Hub. Our youth leaders are students, young professionals, social workers, researchers and organisers. They live in Zimbabwe and Lithuania, Cambodia and Argentina, Sweden and Malawi.
Nineteen young leaders, across five continents. Their circumstances could hardly be more different: the alcohol policies that shape the environments they live and grow up in, the alcohol marketing they’re exposed to or being protected from, the social norms and wider culture around them. But listen to them, and one aspiration comes through again and again: the right to grow up, and thrive, free from an industry that profits from harming them.
For too long, the industry-manufactured alcohol norm has pushed alcohol into every celebration, every gathering, every high and every low. Young leaders across the global Movendi movement are replacing that outdated and harmful norm with a different one – where inclusion, health, community and self-determination come first. As they put it, this is a movement “for young people, with young people and by young people.”
That critical thinking and leadership for change now has a name and a peer-tested method: NormShift – the dedicated Movendi International intervention built to empower the next generation to question the alcohol norm and replace it with healthier, more welcoming and more inclusive social norms.
Different Contexts: What Young People Are Up Against
Across the movement, youth leaders describe strikingly different local pressures but a common thread: an alcohol industry that is targeting young people everywhere in the world directly.
In Uganda, social worker Kinobi Moses of Uganda Youth Development Link points to a specific and troubling trend:
We see a trend where persuasive alcohol advertising is targeting women. The alcohol industry is making girls and young women consume more alcohol. This in turn is leading to school dropouts, gender based violence and increased mental health disorders.”
Kinobi Moses, Uganda Youth Development Link
In Cambodia, Prak Monirath, President of the Khmer Youth Association, describes how alcohol has been woven into every life event by design:
The alcohol industry convinced youth to celebrate all kinds of special events including failure in exams, success in exams, funerals, weddings, gatherings and farewell parties by using alcohol. There is no protective measure, no alcohol policy in place. The easy accessibility and wide availability of alcohol drives youth alcohol use in Cambodia.”
Prak Monirath, President, Khmer Youth Association
In Serbia, youth worker at The Centre for Youth Work (CZOR or Centar za omladinski rad) Eleonora Novak points to sports sponsorship as deliberate form of targeting:
When we go to a sports match, we don’t want the main sponsor to be the alcohol industry, but instead someone who actually promotes a healthy way of life.”
Eleonora Novak, CZOR
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sajra Kovačević of the Center for Youth Education (CEM) frames the ask simply, as a matter of a safe environment:
I want to live in a healthy and safe environment, protected from the exposure to alcohol and its uncontrolled promotion.”
Sajra Kovačević, CEM
And in the United States, AjiFanta Maraneh, former Board Secretary of Movendi New York, names a workplace-specific version of the same pressure:
I call on all places of employment to end the use of alcoholic beverages as incentives and a tool for socialisation. We must normalise fun without intoxication and create safe spaces that are mindful of everyone around.”
AjiFanta Maraneh, Board Secretary of Movendi New York
Different countries, different tactics, the same alcohol industry playbook, adapted to local context.
World Youth Report
Youth mental health is shaped by the world young people live in. And as Moses, Monirath, Eleonora, Sajra, and Ajifanta are saying, the alcohol industry is driving risk factors in youth environments.
The World Youth Report on Youth Mental Health and Well-being examines how youth mental health and well-being are shaped by six social determinants, i.e. education, employment, family dynamics, poverty, technology, and societal attitudes. The Report highlights how inequalities in these areas create disparities in mental health outcomes, noting that stigma, discrimination, and unequal access to opportunities and care compound risks for young people.
Drawing on extensive literature reviews, expert consultations, youth surveys, and real-life youth testimonies, the Report stresses cross-sectoral action, inclusive policies, and youth-led initiatives. Ultimately, it calls for comprehensive approaches that ensure no young person is left behind in achieving mental health and well-being.
What the Report finds:
- Education, work, family, poverty, technology and social environments all affect youth mental well-being.
- Inequality and discrimination worsen mental health outcomes.
- Stigma and fear stop many young people from seeking support.
- Schools, workplaces and communities play a critical role.
- Digital spaces can support well-being, but can also cause harm.
- Prevention and early support make a lasting difference.
- Youth voices are essential to shaping effective solutions.
Common Aspirations: Why Young Leaders Choose Alcohol-Free Living
Set against those pressures, our youth leaders describe a shared reality: that staying and living alcohol-free is freedom, empowerment, and their way to live up to their fullest potential.
From Zimbabwe, Ellen Maparura of YADD speaks to this deep realisation at the heart of the movement:
As a sober youth leader, I have discovered that embracing an alcohol-free way of life is the key to unlocking a truly healthy life. Through my journey and experience, I’ve witnessed the transformative power of living alcohol-free.”
Ellen Maparura, YADD
In Estonia, Brit Maria Villand of Juvente Estonia puts it just as plainly:
An alcohol-free way of life is crucial for a healthy body and mind!”
Brit Maria Villand of Juvente Estonia
In Thailand, Nee Wannee of the Youth Strong and Development Network speaks of the self-esteem that comes with living free from alcohol:
Being alcohol-free shows you are confident in yourself.”
Nee Wannee, Youth Strong and Development Network
And her fellow network member Mook Napassakorn connects that confidence explicitly to resisting alcohol industry messaging aimed at young women:
Girl power is about loving yourself and having confidence and strength from within, not all the alcohol you consume in one night.”
Mook Napassakorn, Youth Strong and Development Network
These are youth values and lived convictions that young leaders arrive at in different contexts and share with each other in support and solidarity with the same aspiration: health, freedom, and self-esteem that don’t depend on a product built to profit from harm but on the innate capacities of every person.
Youth Innovation: Building the Global Answer
The 2026 theme’s third pillar – youth innovation – is where the Sober Youth Hub’s real work happens: building the community, the evidence and the policy case that make change possible.
From Lithuania, Fausta Dambrauskaite, Chairwoman of Žingsnis, speaks to what the global network itself provides: solidarity across very different national contexts:
Psychoactive substance use in youth is a big issue and organizing its prevention is a big task, especially as a youth organization. We’re excited to be a part of the community because we know it’ll bring us needed support in ideas, knowledge, and opportunities with people all over the globe dealing with the same issues and reaching the same goals as we are in Lithuania.”
Fausta Dambrauskaite, Chairwoman, Žingsnis
From India, Dr. Mansi Chopra, Senior Research Scientist at HRIDAY, brings the evidence base and the policy ask together:
Alcohol harms are real and affecting our youth! Young people need to be engaged and lead initiatives to prevent alcohol harm. For instance, we need a comprehensive advertising ban to safeguard today’s youth from the alcohol industry. This will create a safer, healthier future for our young generation.”
Dr. Mansi Chopra, HRIDAY
From Latin America, Beatriz Albuquerque and Gianella Severini, co-founders and advisory board members of CREA Red, connect the local to the global:
Tackling all aspects of alcohol harm is essential to protect the right to health, especially in the face of growing industry interference. As a youth network, we know that advancing evidence-based policies and strengthening global collaboration are key to safeguarding our generation’s present and future.”
Beatriz Albuquerque and Gianella Severini, co-founders and advisory board members, CREA Red
That infrastructure around community, evidence, and policy is what makes the next step possible: the shift in the norm itself.
Towards the NormShift
When the Sober Youth Hub leaders talk about these issues and why they do this, from their different perspectives emerges a common realisation: this work is about rewriting the story of the environments and social norms young people grow up: what is fun, what is self-esteem, what is inclusion, what is health and sustainability and how can they cooperate to create environments and norms with the human being at the centre, instead of harmful alcohol industry products and practices.
That’s the shift they’re really advocating for.
Filip Apelryd Nyman, Movendi Sweden, frames it as an act of resistance:
Resist the alcohol industry’s glittering allure, carve your own path, free your mind.”
Filip Apelryd Nyman, Movendi Sweden
In Kenya, Eric Omondi of SCAD names the norm shift itself as the target:
Growing up in a society where alcohol is highly glamorized, I have witnessed lives lost and families breaking. It is time to break the grip of the alcohol norm that erodes the very fabric of our society.”
Eric Omondi, SCAD
In India, Saburi Chopra describes the same work in the language of exposure and culture change:
As Youth Leaders, we are at the forefront of a global movement to challenge the alcohol industry’s harmful influence on young people. Our mission is about taking a stand against the targeted manipulation that normalises alcohol consumption among our peers. By unveiling the industry’s tactics and promoting alcohol-free living, we are setting the stage for a cultural shift that values well-being.”
Saburi Chopra, Social Entrepreneur, India
In Thailand, Mai Naphat of the Youth Strong and Development Network reframes whose interests a healthy society should center:
Social development is about creating a society where people are responsible for each other. Where people are in the center, instead of the products of Big Alcohol.”
Mai Naphat, Youth Strong and Development Network
Ellen Maparura, introduced earlier, returns with the line that ties resistance to collective ownership of the norm itself:
I believe our generation has the power to redefine what it means to live a healthy, happy life and it starts with choosing to stay alcohol-free. Let’s rise above the pressure and resist the manipulative marketing tactics of the alcohol industry.
The power is within me, the power is within you, and the environments and norms we create. Together we can create a better world and brighter futures for many more people.”
Ellen Maparura, YADD
In Sri Lanka, Danujitha Sadusha of the Youth Action Network locates that shift in togetherness:
By coming together and supporting each other, we empower communities to overcome the challenges of alcohol harm, building healthier, brighter futures for everyone.”
Danujitha Sadusha, Youth Action Network (YAN)
And in Malawi, Thom Kasimbi, a digital health enthusiast, frames the whole effort as an open invitation:
The Sober Youth Hub is a call to action for young people everywhere. We’re building a global network of leaders who are ready to stand up against the pressures of addiction industries and create a future focused on health, community, and empowerment.”
Thom Kasimbi, digital health enthusiast
Different words, different countries, and the same direction of intent and action – towards norm shift.
#NormShift
NormShift is a structured intervention that empowers adolescents aged 15 to 18 build the tools to question alcohol’s role in their daily environments. It supports alcohol prevention through critical reflection on social norms, media influence and the narratives the alcohol industry creates.
Movendi International coordinates the work from Sweden, together with partner organisations across four countries: Youthfully Yours SK and Flexskill in Slovakia, Better Future in Slovenia, and the Coaching Bulgaria Association in Bulgaria.
Most prevention work centres on the individual young person and the factors closest to them. NormShift takes a different starting point: it looks at the commercial drivers and cultural factors that make alcohol appear as if it was an unquestioned part of everyday life and environments, and equips young people to recognise and question those influences rather than only their own behaviour around alcohol.
The intervention was built together with adolescents from the outset. Their input, gathered through co-creation workshops and refined with expert guidance, shaped its themes, structure and design throughout.
The NormShift Guidebook is the heart of the intervention. Created with young people, for young people, it speaks directly to adolescents: through personal reflections, creative exercises and challenges they can work through at their own pace, it takes them from spotting a single alcohol advert to seeing the system behind it: how the alcohol industry builds and maintains the alcohol norm, and how that norm can be questioned, changed, and replaced with more inclusive and healthier social norms.
Co created with young people and refined with experts, the NormShift Guidebook is built to be used, tested and improved in real settings. It is available in English, Swedish, Slovak, Slovenian and Bulgarian.
What People Can Do
Nineteen young leaders, nineteen different starting points, one shared aspiration.
Together, they created and contributed to both the Sober Youth Hub and NormShift. These collaborative initiatives exist to reach many more young leaders.
This International Youth Day, Movendi International invites supporters, members and fellow travellers to stand with the young people leading the NormShift: read their stories, share them, explore the Guidebook, and help carry an evidence-based, values-driven case for alcohol-free environments and inclusive social norms.
- Open the NormShift Guidebook. See exactly how the alcohol industry builds the norm. Then get the tools to question and replace it in your own community.
- Do one thing to replace the alcohol norm. Look at your own environment and notice where alcohol just shows up as if it were “normal.” Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And based on that do one thing to challenge this alcohol norm. We have inspiration for you here.
- Save the date: October 3. That’s World Day for Alcohol-Free Living©, Movendi’s global celebration of alcohol-free norms, environments, and ways of living. Mark it, plan something around it, or simply show up.
- Bring a friend into the Sober Youth Hub. Positive change travels through our social networks and communities. So talk to someone in yours, and invite them to join.
- Amplify the youth voices and add your own. Different contexts, common aspirations. Repost a quote, tag a leader, write your own. Every #SoberYouth #YouthLead #YouthDay #NormShift post is one more sign that this generation is leading the norm shift.