Reading time: about 3 minutes, 8 video watching time with subtitles.
Summary: this post announces the imminent publication of new videos on the project’s website and YouTube channel, inviting members to communicate the urgency of the initiative in their own words. It outlines the establishment of democratic, open-source governance systems to ensure transparency, shared decision-making, and responsible management of the project’s funding, estimated at nearly three-quarters of a million euros. Two main open-source infrastructures are already functional: LibreTranslate, for extensive document translation, and BigBlueButton (BBB), for videoconferencing and collaborative education, adopted also by the French Ministry of Education. The text calls participants to assist in testing and improving these systems toward integration in schools and universities. It emphasizes sustainability, proper compensation for contributors, and the expansion of the network through engagement of skilled undergraduates, rough outlining the path ahead for the action network to be successful, sustainable, always improving.
More videos will soon be available here, on the main Action website, and on YouTube, to facilitate sharing and outreach. I invite every member to speak in their own words, conveying the urgency of addressing the challenges before us with the highest professional competence. Our collective strength lies not only in our numbers, but in the depth of our expertise, our commitment, and our determination across every region. https://health.int.eu.org/membership.html
It is an honor to be establishing fully democratic, open-source systems of governance and organization that guarantee every decision and every action belongs to the entire Action, never to a few hands. Each proposal will be openly discussed and subject to transparent voting. Every euro of the nearly three-quarters-of-a-million budget will be carefully valued and directed toward missions with measurable impact, shared with pride regardless of difficulty or outcome. This work is not meant to be easy, for many cling to their entrenched ways as if sacred, defending their normalcy with zeal. Despite the harshest setbacks, we are building a strong, cohesive, and truly excellent working network, one that protects its members, uplifts those in greatest need, and advances from schools upward toward a future of safety, prosperity, and genuine health for all, lived in peace.
By Monday, more videos will be available on our channel. Please share them widely. The website will also be updated, with all systems operational and continuously improving. New calls for consortium-based funding will soon open to support every working-group task. None of this will rely on voluntary labor alone. Sustainability, professional recognition, and fair reward are essential. Hard, honest work will be acknowledged, as we uphold the highest standards of open science together. We invite all to join in, contribute. Extend the invitation for everyone, all, to be part of this work.
Two core services are already active. LibreTranslate offers long-form translations for all members. We will contribute to this and all software solutions we implement, with the funds from the COST action, and further grants and income, from consortia and spin offs. This effort needs to be providing to all. For now, large text files remain the best option for extensive documents. This is one of the many shared resources we will continue to refine for global access, in gratitude to the few dedicated developers whose open-source work benefits us all: https://trans.health.int.eu.org/
BigBlueButton (BBB) is our videoconferencing platform, open-source, robust, and also adopted by the French Ministry of Education. We, too, are the trailblazers and the vanguard of this movement. I invite everyone to take pride in that role and to assist in testing and improving the system. Hundreds of funded missions will soon advance this effort. Our aim is clear: to make open-source educational and collaboration tools, videoconferencing, tutoring support, and classroom group systems, default installations in every school. None of this exceeds our reach; we simply need more colleagues to join us, including the best among our undergraduates who wish to contribute meaningfully: https://tele.health.int.eu.org/show/tell
Thank you. It is a profound honor to stand at the forefront of developing and implementing the new curricula on One health across the entire EU COST area, thereby enabling its adoption worldwide. This achievement rests on the dedication of our allies and members, each contributing with full commitment according to their capacities and circumstances. The action now calls for more leaders, for working groups to be established at every hub of responsibility. Such distributed strength is essential, ensuring that progress does not depend on the goodwill or ability of a few, but on the coordinated effort of all. Together we support, empower, and reinforce one another. Please, be patient for just a few more days. Every member will soon receive an invitation to join the new governance platform, progressively and inclusively. This marks another decisive step toward our shared goal: one health, for and with all.
