S.A.F.E.- Lifetime Achievement Award

Project VENDA has been working with vulnerable teens and young adults affected by substance use disorders for a decade. The one indisputable fact that keeps challenging us in the advocacy of drug abuse prevention for teens and young adults is that this is a social problem requiring long-drawn interventions, patience, commitment, and consistent effort. Around the globe, there is a deliberate and focused effort to normalize, or even glamourise, the use of drugs as a lifestyle choice. The lobby at work here is rich and powerful, and their motive is pure profit. Their Predatory marketing hits the most vulnerable populations, such as women, children, and youth. The younger generation living in an era of personal liberty, and rising affluence, become targets of this influence. Therefore this issue becomes more complex.

People involved in the advocacy of prevention and recovery do so by influencing governments and states' policies, and they often remain unappreciated, silent workers. Very few survive the test of time to continue this arduous and long walk towards creating Substance Abuse Free Environments for children and youth. Their efforts are often not acknowledged and go unnoticed because the world has not yet woken up to the great danger. These unsung heroes have dedicated their lives to avert this looming threat of an entire generation getting trapped into a vortex of poor performance, ill health, indiscipline, addiction, psychosis, isolation, insecurity, and a bleak future.

Project VENDA, with S.A.F.E. Lifetime Achievement Awards, intends to honor and acknowledge the contributions of those who walked in before us, guiding the work of creating the right to a drug-free childhood worldwide and contributing to the greater good of the world and humanity.

S.A.F.E. - Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

Mr Esbjörn Hörnberg

Mr Esbjörn Hörnberg has spent more than 4 decades as a development aid specialist, alcohol and drug policy advocate and chaired key positions in advocating for societal concerns with the goal that drug policy should be reducing the prevalence of drug use.
Mr Esbjörn Hörnberg’s chief roles with international networks IOGT International renamed now to MOVENDI International and World Federation Against Drugs with a global membership base of 300 organisations representing the entire spectrum from prevention to recovery services speaks volumes of his involvement globally with civil societies as a Human-Rights defender.
This S.A.F.E - Life-Time Achievement Award 2022 by the Fourth Wave Foundation - India is an expression of our appreciation for the key role Mr Esbjörn Hörnberg plays in advocating for SAFE - Substance Abuse Free Environments for children and youth.
This award is dedicated to Mr Esbjörn Hörnberg on behalf of all the children of the world and presented at the international forum CHILDREN MATTER – Right to a Drug-Free Childhood




Dr Edith Schlaffer Kropiunigg

Dr Edith Schlaffer Kropiunigg has spent more than 3 decades in the social sector and in response to the growing threat of violent extremism, launched the Sisters Against Violent Extremism (SAVE) network, the world’s first female counter-extremism platform. ‘MotherSchools: Parenting for Peace’ Model of the Women Without Borders speaks volumes of her belief in mothers as the first line of defence against extremism.
This S.A.F.E - Life-Time Achievement Award 2022 by the Fourth Wave Foundation - India is an expression of our appreciation for the key role Dr Edith Schlaffer Kropiunigg plays in building competence and confidence of women and mothers to effect positive social change in countries of crisis and transition around the world.
This award is dedicated to Dr Edith Schlaffer Kropiunigg on behalf of all the children of the world at the forum CHILDREN MATTER – Right to a Drug-Free Childhood.