The official quarterly newsletter of Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw

NL 34 (Summer 2009)

Editorial - News from the network - News from the partners

Dossier - Little voices

EDITORAL

As you will read in the newsletter, there have been a lot of projects going on inside the network and there are many upcoming. That's not new. But what is new, is that we will organise for the first time a Youth Democracy Project within the network. The project ‘You(th) for Human Rights' is a project which includes a series of meetings, national and international, and is targeted at young people between 18 and 30. The whole idea is getting young people's opinions on the forefront of our network. More information on this project you can read under ‘news from the network', but I would already like to advise you to take a look on the project's website: www.youthforhumanrights.eu.

The dossier of this edition of the newsletter is also focussed on something new: the new EU strategy on Youth adopted by the European Commission. This strategy is based on European-wide research of over the past years. Now it has become a strategy, which means that for the coming years, all initiatives made in the field of youth will be put into the framework of this strategy. Therefore it makes quite a lot of sense that, when working with young people inside the European Union and making use of European funds for doing this work, we take a look at this new strategy because it has become part of our framework in which we do our work.

Enjoy reading,

Rein Meus, General Secretary of Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw

NEWS FROM THE NETWORK

Equipping young volunteers - STEP 2 training

Maybe you already heard from the participants, but the STEP 2 training course on project management "Equipping young volunteers" was a big success. It brought together participants from 13 EU countries, including Hungary which is not yet member of our network! We hope that all participants enjoyed the training as much as the host and training team. Actually, I'm are sure they did. Don't believe me, than check out the video report on www.youtube.com/dbyntv . Next to a video report the host team created a website especially for the training course http://www.dbyn.nl/tc2009/ and also a new group on facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=71657073774.

Nice to meet you(th)! - Youth Exchange on intercultural learning

The Youth exchange "Nice to meet You(th)!", Step 1 of the DBYN training structure, was a success as well! 44 Participants from Austria, Belgium, Czech Rep., Germany, Italy, Malta, Poland, Spain and UK joined the activities with enthusiasm, incredible energy and good mood! Helped by an international team of trainers the participants explored the topic of intercultural learning through different kind of activities, workshops, reflections and a lot of games!

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/563

From Experience to ... action!" - Meeting of international volunteers

This new project for international ex-volunteers is a pilot for DBYN. We want to start organising a meeting once every year for ex-volunteers who have done an international voluntary service. The main aim for the meeting is to empower them to start-up their own local and/or international projects, based on their experience as ex-volunteer. We have just send out a call for participants and trainers, so if you are interested ... get in contact with your local DBYN organisation.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/561

You(th) for Human rights - Youth Democracy Project

More good news was received when also the Flemish national agency approved the application form for the youth democracy project You(th) for Human Rights. "You(th) for Human Rights" brings together young people active in organisations who are working with non-formal education on one side and young people working with youth who are facing fewer opportunities like minor-aged refugees, Roma youth, homeless young people and young people in special youth care. They will exchange their experiences and opinions with peers from different countries and with policy makers active in the field of Human Rights. The framework of this exchange are methods coming out of Human Rights Education. Furthermore the project promotes local and international youth initiatives as a way for the participants to keep on being listened to. From preparation to evaluation the project will take up to 6 months. The main activity of the project is a European Congress on Human Rights Education, which will take place in Brussels. Around 50 young people from 12 EU countries will attend this Congress, representing the local organisations.

More info: http://www.youthforhumanrights.eu

Erasmus internship

Over the past months the international secretariat has been working on opening the international secretariat for European students as part of the Erasmus programme. We have currently 2 universities which are interested in cooperating with us. Next year in February we normally expect our first intern coming from Germany. The internship will last for 6 months in which the intern will get to know all aspects of the work we try to do. In the preparation process we had a meeting with a candidate for the internship. If all goes well, we can finalise the application procedure in the beginning of October.

3 Projects submitted to the EACEA

For the first time we have submitted project applications directly to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (in other terms the European Agency for Youth in Action applications). the projects submitted before the 1st of June deadline are a seminar on Youth Advocacy and or STEP 2 training course on project management for next year. We also submitted one project for the deadline of the 1st of September. This application is for the STEP 1 youth exchange which will take place in Krakow next year. As we all have put a lot of effort in these applications we hope both of them will be granted.

Meeting YFJ contact person

On Monday the 24th we had a visitor from the European Youth forum. Ben Vanpeperstraete, who is a bureau member, can over to get to know our organisation a little better. We had the chance to better introduce what we are doing with DBYN, but we also discussed on some topics important to the YFJ. This informal meeting should be a first step towards a better communication within the YFJ.

NEWS FROM THE PARTNERS

SPYS prepares more volunteers! (Malta - SPYS)

SPYS.int is many projects within a project, by and for young people who are interested in having a voluntary experience abroad offering young people the opportunity to make a difference through its voluntary network based in different parts of the world.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/490

Air Solidair by Jeugddienst Don Bosco vzw (Belgium - Jeugddienst Don Bosco)

During the last weekend of March, Jeugddienst Don Bosco vzw organised Air Solidair, the first meeting of international volunteers in Belgium.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/537

AZ meets MYDG (Germany - Aktionszentrum)

On the 17th of April representatives of the Aktionszentrum visited the organisation Muirhouse Youth Deveopment Group in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two organisations have been working together since the early '90: youth exchanges and EVS-projects are the main topics of this collaboration. Last year a group of youth workers and volunteers from MYDG came to Benediktbeuern in April to visit our youth centre. A group of young people also joined the European Youth Week. We are planning future activities together and we hope to make the partnership even stronger for the next years.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/538

5 Years Don Bosco Youthnet Nederland! (The Netherlands - DBYn NL)

On the 15th of April we celebrated the 5th anniversary of Don Bosco Youthnet Nederland. The celebration took place in Rijswijk in the presence of the Salesian delegation of Netherlands, the provincial and his vicar and many local and international guests. During the celebration a convenant was undersigned by DBYn NL with the 'Stichting Don Bosco Werken Nederland'. After the formal part, the dinner and a reflection the celebration was closed with a party.

Aksanti - presentation of volunteers (Czech Republic - SADBA)

On Saturday, 13/6/2009 at 7:30 p.m. a program called AKSANTI (= „thank you" in swahili) will take place in the Salesian provincial house in Prague, Czech Republic. The new missionary volunteers will present their voluntary places, we will have the possibility to talk with our present volunteer in Sudan and many former volunteers in Bulgaria, India, Congo, Zambia and other countries. The guests will get the opportunity to taste the African, Bulgarian, Indian and Mexican food, try an Indian sari or an Mexican sombrero and win some interesting things in a competition. The program will be moderated by Leonardo Teca from Angola.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/552

Seminar on young immigrants (Italy - Federazione SCS)

The Federazione SCS/CNOS has promoted a seminar on the theme of the social integration of the young immigrants. The seminar was realized the 21st of May 2009 in Rome and its subject was the development of the active citizenship of the immigrants that must not be passive beneficiaries of the public policies. Several workshops, carried out by experts, were realized during the seminar.

More info: http://www.federazionescs.org/node/302

SAMEN celebrates 25 years of action (SAMEN - Netherlands)

The Dutch organisation SAMEN JONGEREN EN STRAATKINDEREN will celebrate its jubelee on 11th october 2009 at Don Bosco Jeugd- en Jongeren centrum in Rijswijk (NL).

More info: http://www.samen25jaar.nl/

Festival Lumen 2009 (Slovakia - DOMKA)

Festival Lumen, the greatest gospel music open - air festival in middle Europe in Trnava took place the last weekend in May. It attracted more than 8 000 mostly young people from the the whole Slovakia and abroad. The motto of this year was "Call for freedom" which is supposed to remind the young people that this year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of subversion of socialism. The festival ended with the performance of the music group Third Day, which is the owner of many prestigious awards such as Grammy. Besides, fans could see great performances of the groups such as LZ7 (Great Britain), The Cadettes (Norway), Starfield (Canada), Hillsong Kiev (Ukraine) and other Slovak or foreign performers. This year was a bit effected by rainy weather, but it didnt take much from the joyful atmosphere of the festival. The festival offered also additional activities such as discussions and workshops.

More info: http://www.fln.sk/

New happy minibus (Slovenia - Skala)

On 16 May in Ljubljana, in the "Fuzine" district, a new "Happy Minibus" will help the Salesians and their helpers to find and meet youngsters on their own ground and suggest to them the advantages of instruction, education and evangelisation.

More info: http://www.infoans.org/1.asp?Lingua=2&sez=1&sotsez=13&doc=3908

Great IDEA took a very hot start! (Belgium - Jeugddienst Don Bosco)

During the hot weekend of 3 to 5 July, the welcoming weekend for the volunteers of the Group EVS Great IDEA took place in Belgium. Colunteers from 5 countries out of the network arrived after many delays safe and sound in the Oase center in Groot-Bijgaarden.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/560

Volunteers Send-Off in Benediktbeuern (Germany- Germany)

After the last pre-departure seminar from the 10th till the 12th of July, the Aktionszentrum celebrated the send-off of 22 volunteers. Volunteers with their families joined the celebration together with the responsible staff of the Aktionszentrum.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/562

Jugend Eine Welt celebrates volunteers (Austria - Jugend Eine Welt)

On the 11th of July there was a celebration for the 15 young Austrian Volunteers with "Jugend Eine Welt", a Salesian NGO, engaged in the human and social development of poor and marginalsed young people around the world.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/564

16th European Youth Week in Benediktbeuern (Germany - Aktionszentrum)

From the 8th till the 15th of August 2009 the Aktionszentrum hosted the 16th European Youth Week. The slogan of the week was "Challenge your self": 55 participants from 8 countries (Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Spain) took part in challenging activities with great creativity and enthusiasm!

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/566

India, the Volunteering Experience through my Eyes (Malta - SPYS)

It's the home of a colourful culture which brings with it a mixture of emotions. After the excitement that you've finally decided to take such a big step, the fear of the unknown grips you to the point that a few hours before you leave you could easily turn back and not go at all. As soon as you arrive in India the overwhelming atmosphere takes over the fear and you can think of nothing else other than the sights and sounds which fill your first few days.

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/567

9 days with INLINE (INtercultural LINE) (Czech Republic - SADBA)

In the beginning of August SADBA organized summer camp INLINE for czech children aiming to improve their language skills. For that reason we invited volunteers from abroad and changed our main language to English for a few days. Let's continue with words writen by one of the participants:

More info: http://www.donboscoyouth.net/node/568

DOSSIER

A new era of EU policies for youth - Commission adopts a new EU strategy for youth

Entitled "Youth - Investing and Empowering", the new strategy acknowledges that young people are one of the most vulnerable groups in society, especially in the current economic and financial crisis, and in our ageing society, young people are a precious resource. the new strategy is cross-sectoral, with both short- and long-term actions. The actions involve key policy areas that affect Europe's young people, particularly youth education, employment, creativity and entrepreneurship, social inclusion, health and sport, civic participation, and volunteering.

The new strategy also emphasises the importance of youth work and defines reinforced measures for a better implementation of youth policies at the EU level. The strategy "Youth - Investing and Empowering", which is a follow-up to the renewed social agenda announced by the European Commission in 2008, has the following goals:

1. to create more opportunities for youth in education and employment,
2. to improve access and full participation of all young people in society, and
3. to foster solidarity between youth and society.

The Commission's adoption of the new strategy on youth follows an extensive consultation exercise undertaken in 2008, involving national authorities, the European Youth Forum, youth organizations and other stakeholders. (See MEMO). Young people themselves were consulted on-line and will now be invited to react to the Commission's proposals in a new phase of the permanent dialogue between the EU and its youth.

To know more:

• European Commission: Press Release "A new era of EU youth policies"
• Communication from the Commission "An EU Strategy for Youth - Investing and Empowering. A renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and opportunities"
• Commission Memo "The New EU Youth Strategy: the importance of consultation and dialogue"
• Commission Memo "EU Youth policies: Frequently Asked Questions"
• Commission Memo "The First EU Youth Report"
• Citizens' summary "New EU Youth strategy: Youth - Investing and Empowering"
• Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission "An EU Strategy for Youth - Investing and Empowering" - IMPACT ASSESSMENT
• Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission "An EU Strategy for Youth - Investing and Empowering" - Analysis of national reports concerning the implementation of the common objectives for a greater understanding and knowledge of youth
• Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission "An EU Strategy for Youth - Investing and Empowering" - EU YOUTH REPORT
• Appendix to the Youth Report
• Presentation on EU's strategy for Youth: Investing and Empowering
• DG RTD report "European Research on Youth"
• Report on "Evaluation of the European Commission framework for cooperation in youth policy"
• Report on "Results of the online public consultation in the youth field"

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1458_en.htm

LITTLE VOICES

The Animators' Creed

We believe in each and every person. We accept each on e in his or her present state of freedom and maturity. We believe in each one's capacity to be and do good. We consider each one a actor and not just spectator. We gradually awaken the inner powers and open to them new horizons. We believe in the liberating force of love. We are convinced that every person needs to love and be loved. We believe in the commitment of educators who are actively present among the young, establish personal, healthy, and liberating relationships with them, and create with them an environment conducive to growth.

From ‘Salesian Youth Ministry Made Simple'