2019 was a busy year for our small but dedicated team. But it’s safe to say, we made significant progress throughout the first of our new three-year Strategic Plan 2019-2021. As the national charity working to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, everything we do is focused in three key areas: Outreach and Engagement, Research and Education.
Download our 2019 Annual Report
We are also pleased to announce that we are on the Good Governance Awards shortlist for 2020. The awards recognise and encourage adherence to good governance by non-profit organisations in Ireland. Like all charities, we are committed to maintaining the highest levels of governance, transparency and accountability. It is the trust that you have in us to deliver our mission that drives to keep working towards our two ambitious goals for a healthier society: 1) To delay the age of first drink, and 2) Reduce the number of adults who drink more than the low-risk weekly guidelines.
HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR WORK IN 2019
- More than half a million people visited Drinkaware’s website (+31% on 2018), with over 2 million pageviews (+46%) and 314,653 people used our drinks calculator (+68%). These increases clearly show a growing appetite for understanding drinking habits and making changes to protect physical and mental health.
- Over 65,000 health promotion resources distributed nationwide, including our popular standard drink measure cups, booklets, drinks calculators and posters.
- Launch of Drinkaware Index 2019 (link below), a landmark new study quantifying cultural norms and behaviours surrounding Irish drinking patterns for the first time, which was subsequently shortlisted for a Research Excellence Award.
- 5,900 members of the public engaged in face-to-face conversations with Drinkaware at exhibitions and events attended including a team favourite, the National Ploughing Championships.
- Collaborative partnerships, including an information video with Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) to raise awareness about driving safely the morning after drinking alcohol (840,000 campaign video views). We also joined with the Road Safety Authority for the 15th annual Coca-Cola Designated Driver campaign.
- Public awareness health promotion campaigns, including a Christmas partnership with Newstalk that challenged listeners to rethink their drinking habits over the festive period (reaching an audience of 344,000).
- An innovative Workplace Wellness Programme that delivered 33 workshops, facilitated 63 other wellness events including information stands and reached 2,615 employees in businesses of all sizes across Ireland.
- Completion of Year Two of (a three-year) independent evaluation of Drinkaware’s junior cycle Alcohol Education Programme, conducted by Maynooth University, with over 15,000 pupils educated since 2016.