Press Release

 

Athens, 28 June 2022

 

Board of Directors of the European Antibullying Network re-elected during Extraordinary General Assembly meeting

 

During the Extraordinary General Assembly meeting that took place on 27 June 2002 online, the members of the European Antibullying Network (EAN) unanimously re-elected seven (7) members of the Network’s Board of Directors.

 

The members of the Board were elected for another two-year term of office (2022-2024), reflecting the appreciation of the members of the Network for their work and dedication to the vision and the objectives of the Network for a safe school environment without discrimination, pain and fear.

 

The new composition of the Board of Directors is the following:

 

1. Costas Yannopoulos, EAN President / President, Board of Directors, The Smile of the Child, Greece
2. Maria Rita Bracchini, EAN Vice-President / Vice Director, Centro Studi e Formazione Villa Montesca, Italy
3. Gonzalo Santamaria, EAN Board Member and Treasurer /  Project Manager, ACCESO, Spain
4. Ferran Calvo Adalid, EAN Board Member / President, Baobab, Spain
5. Stacey Robinson, EAN Board Member / Psychologist/Transnational Project Manager, Merseyside Expanding Horizons, UK
6. Ioana Sandru, EAN Board Member / President, Asociatia Direct, Romania
7. Rossanka Venelinova, EAN Board Member/ President, Nadja Center Foundation, Bulgaria

 

 

EAN aims to achieve the following important objectives:

 

• to monitor and influence policies at national and European level to formulate a common European strategy against bullying in Europe.
• to coordinate initiatives and actions against bullying by developing partnerships throughout Europe.
• to empower professionals through the exchange of good practices and by providing training and appropriate tools.
• to raise awareness among the public, children, young people, parents and teachers on how to deal with bullying.

 

It is worth noting that the Network was created in 2014 in Athens on the initiative of the "The Smile of the Child" in the framework of the homonymous European project.  Today, 23 organizations from 15 European countries participate in the Network.

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EAN was conceived as an "umbrella organization", providing members with a platform and a framework to join forces, exchange good practices and materials, and thus develop joint actions to motivate all parties involved in the phenomenon of bullying: not only children who suffered from bullying, but also teachers, parents and children who practice bullying, who in fact often do not really know the serious consequences of their behavior and actions.

 

Within the framework of the Network's actions is the SAFER project, in which EAN participates as a partner, and whose purpose is to develop and implement an innovative method for the prevention of school violence and bullying, aiming to encourage inclusive education and based on enhancing the acquisition of social and political competences and knowledge, the promotion and ownership of common positive values and fundamental rights, not only at the level of students and schools but also at the level of the community.

The Network has also developed the anti-Bullying Certification Standard, the result of a collective effort by social scientists from many European countries, members of EAN and EUROCERT, while it is an international innovation to address this complex phenomenon.

The Standard codifies the requirements, which an Organized Structure should take into account, integrate them into a Management System, with particular emphasis on prevention and the formation of a coherent framework for dealing with bullying.

The Standard provides the opportunity to schools or other Organized Structures of formal or informal education, if they apply it, to request their evaluation by EAN and EUROCERT and to be certified, having the possibility after that, to use the European Anti-Bullying Certification Mark.