BRUSSELS, 14/07/2016 - This month the Slovaks took up the EU rotating presidency, with a number of events. The full program is here.  ECF will attend the conference on Education in and through Sport which the Slovak government is generously hosting on 18-20 July. The ECF goal there is to focus on opportunities for expanding cycling in SK.

In all the hubbub with Brexit, and the routine of the, some might have missed the start of the Slovakian presidency. The ECF has not, nor has the hardworking team at Ekopolis, the Slovakian ECF member.

On 20 July, in the Slovak Ministry for Transport, Ekopolis will host a workshop on the WHO’s Health Economic Assessment Tool . HEAT “is designed to help you conduct an economic assessment of the health benefits of walking or cycling by estimating the value of reduced mortality that results from specified amounts of walking or cycling.”

“HEAT is now ECF’s key tool for health lobbying in Europe. This is because it gives transport planners and decision makers the numbers they need to show the value of walking and cycling,” said Dr Randy Rzewnicki, the ECF Policy Officer who will lead the workshop.

ECF has taken up the challenge to get more EU member states to learn about it, use it & get governments to endorse it. This was recommended in a recent report by two top experts in the field Dr Nick Cavill (Cavill Associates Ltd) and Dr Sonja Kahlmeier (Physical Activity Consulting). See the report with the full list of recommendations here. 

The workshop is scheduled to begin at 10am, Wednesday, 20/07/2016 in the Slovak Ministry for Transport. There are still places available at the workshop. If you wish to attend, contact Mr Jan Rohac from Ekopolis (rohac[AT]ekopolis.sk). You can find more information about the event here.

A word about Ekopolis

The Ekopolis Foundation (Nadácia Ekopolis, known also as the Slovak Environmental Partnership) is the non-profit non-governmental organisation which supports active people and communities in their effort to pursuit of sustainable development, including cycling and non-motorized transportation. The foundation was established in 1991.

Example activities

We are providing support to local communities, organisations and individuals who try to develop sustainable mobility and non-motorized transportation and tourism (building and marking of cycle routes and greenways, their development, promotion and advocacy). Two way of support:

• Financial – mainly grants
• Non-financial – consulting, expert work, advocating and facilitating.

In addition we implement our own programmes on sustainable mobility, like operation of ecological biketaxis Velotrixi in Slovak towns, expert work on non-motorized transportation, traffic calming, public spaces adjustments, etc.

A word about ECF HEAT workshop

ECF’s HEAT workshops range from 60 - 90 minutes in a short form and up to half a day in longer form. In these workshops participants are guided and work to apply good practices and examples from other places to local, regional and national circumstances. 

More information about the HEAT tool is available at http://www.euro.who.int/HEAT