Foundation for Democratic Youth - DIA

Calling All Bloggers!

2012-02-27T11:12:00.000+01:00

Become a Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) 2012 Blogger! We’re looking for service lovers to blog about their projects to feature on YSA’s (Youth Service America) blog. This is a chance to share why GYSD is important to you and to inspire others to get involved in the largest service event in the world. Share project ideas, planning process highlights, creative reflection activities, community impact, and more. Apply by 2/29 if you’re interested!

http://bit.ly/yXmFxy

How to plan a project?

2012-01-24T17:17:00.002+01:00

Quick guidelines for beginners II.

Action

Let people know about your project. Put up posters, distribute flyers, include announcements in newsletters or blogs, personally invite people, or promote your project on Facebook and Twitter. Register your project on GYSD.org.
Let the local media and public officials know about your project. Invite them to attend your project to cover it as a news story or to participate alongside youth volunteers. Ask them to help promote your project ahead of time or to recognize youth volunteers after your project.
Implement your project plan!
Make sure the project leaders are ready to make sure everyone knows where to go and what to do and are ready to answer lots of questions during the project.
Manage and recognize volunteers. Greet volunteers, provide orientation and training, and supervise throughout the project. Be sure to thank volunteers for helping before, during, and after the project.
Document your action by taking photos or videos. Try to remember as many details as possible so you can share with others after the project. Survey volunteers to gather information about who participated and what they thought about the project.

Reflection

Provide an opportunity for reflection for all project volunteers and for the project leaders. Reflection helps you analyze and understand the difference you are making, and what you are learning along the way.
Share what you have done and what you have learned from the experience by teaching others about the issue and how they can help. Create a video, play, story, or report for the community, present your results at a public event, write letters to public officials, distribute a press release, or send out a newsletter to parents, peers, and community members.

Demonstration/Celebration

Recognize and celebrate volunteers, partners, and special guests.
Evaluate your project, comparing to your baseline data to identify what changed because of your project. Share your impact with YSA by completing the GYSD report form to make sure your project is included in our annual GYSD Final Report.
Review the outcomes of your project and to assess what worked, what you might do differently next time, and to determine potential next steps. Determine what more you can accomplish and how you can sustain your project. Be sure to also seek feedback from the community you have served.

Register your project as soon as possible! First send me an e-mail about your plans and ideas to the regional coordinator: szucs.anna@i-dia.org. From January of 2012 you will be able to register your projects on gysd.org. (from gysd.org)

Nominate a Youth, Teen, or Young Adult!

2012-01-19T18:28:00.002+01:00

Do you know any powerful or influential youth, teens, or young adults who are making lasting and substantial changes in their community? I encourage you to nominate a powerful and influential change-maker for "The YSA List!"

YSA is currently accepting nominations for its inaugural YSA List: The25 Most Powerful and Influential Young People, in celebration of its 25th Anniversary! The "YSA List" will recognize 25 young people (ages 5 to 25) around the world that are making real, large-scale change in five categories:

Health

Education

Human Service

Human Rights

Environment

The "YSA List" will be announced in April 2012, in conjunction with Global YouthService Day, the largest service event in the world, and the only one dedicated to children and youth.

For additional criteria information, and to nominate a powerful and influential young person, visit http://www.ysa.org/25/list. Nominations will be accepted online through January 31, 2012.

If you have any questions, please contact the YSA Outreach team at outreach@ysa.org.

Workshop in Berlin

2012-01-19T18:24:00.001+01:00

Foundation for Democratic Youth recruits participants for the first workshop of the “How we shape our past” program in Berlin

-four people will be chosen,
-you have to have good proficiency in English,
-serious interest in history.

The selection will be made in the order of application. The selected members only have to cover 30% of the expenses of the trip to and from Berlin.

Call for Participation
How we Shape Our Past
The German Example
Workshop 1, Berlin (February 02 – 05 2012)

What is ´How we Shape Our Past´ about?

The way we deal with history tells a lot about us. By deciding which aspects to stress and which to forget, by connecting different events and interpreting them, and by contrasting us with ‚others’ and their development, we define who we are – and who we would like to be. The way we approach it determines, who we will become. In the last century, Europe has experienced both the facist and the stalinist ideology and the complex systems and societies which enabled them and were shaped by them. Their existence affected all of us. Their experience is a fundamental aspect of the conditions under which democracy in Europe has been and will be shaped in Europe. For our project, we decided to analyse the way we deal with history at different locations which had very different experience – and react to the past by very different policies until today. We will compare and contrast the way in which we chose to remember the darker periods of their histories and the conclusions we reach.

Citizens of Europe will realise a series of events and activities dealing with how our past shapes us and how we shape our past in the following locations.

Workshop 1, Berlin, 2 – 5 February 2012
Berlin Workshop 1: The German Example

Starting with Germany, the Workshop in Berlin aims to explore ´The German Example´ This will include:

Visiting and analysing historical sites and monuments in Berlin.
Discussing the historiography of the Fascist and Stalinist periods with experts in the field.
Interviewing members of the general public about their thoughts a memories of this era.
Documenting findings and observations made in Berlin.
Developing a framework of how to approach the future workshops in Prague, Budapest and Vilnius.

Your Host : Citizens of Europe

Citizens of Europe is a politically independent, non-governmental and non-profit oriented network of people from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds who realise projects that go beyond national boundaries. Citizens of Europe is open to everybody who sees diversity as an opportunity. We initiate, support and coordinate a wide range of projects, offer a pool of expertise, information and contacts regarding matters of European concern, and provide our members’ experience in NGO project management to ensure high standards in any activity we support. We want to help overcome the lack of coordinated independent civil action in Europe, but many local initiatives in Europe could profit from sharing contacts, infrastructure and experience.

Read more about us here! http://panorama.citizens-of-europe.eu/

Whom would we like to meet in Berlin?

Everyone who is interested in these two histrories and actively want to participate in a debate around these wide reaching topics. All opinions are valuable and will be considered. Academic and professional backgrounds are relevant for us only to the extent that they allow for interesting contributions to the debate.

We are willing to meet participants coming from the public and private sector, the academic community, civil society, arts, etc. Involving people with a variety of personal backgrounds will contribute to a lively debate with substantial results. We are particularly interested in people and organisations interested in contributing towards the program.

What are the conditions for participating?

On request, we will refund travel tickets (max 70 %, max. 125 EUR).

What do you need to do in order to apply?

If you are interested let me know at szucs.anna@i-dia.org, I’ll let you know the further details.

What happened last year? IV.

2012-01-10T14:23:00.005+01:00

Croatian Youth Network http://www.mmh.hr/en/

On 21st of April, National Consultations on Regional Youth Mobility took place at the Human Rights House of Zagreb as an integral part of the project „Advocating the Regional Youth Mobility Fund”. The event gathered approximately 30 participants from different non-governmental organizations, primarily youth NGOs, and many participants from public institutions responsible for youth issues. The National Consultations were mainly focused on discussion over the past experiences of the mobility of youth within the region, and on the needs of young people connected to mobility. Furthermore, the Consultations aimed to articulate the inputs correlated to three important programme areas of the future fund: fields of mobility which should be mostly supported by the Fund; types of activities which should be in the focus of its work; and finally, target groups (within youth population) which should receive majority of financial allocation.

Even though the event wasn’t widely covered by media representatives, many representatives of relevant public institutions joined the event to discuss over the issues connected to youth mobility in the region. The representatives from the following institutions were present: Ministry of Family, War Veterands, and Intergenerational Solidarity; Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations; Ministry of Science, Education and Sports; Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes; Department for Youth of the City of Zagreb; Student Assembly of the University of Split; etc.

This year Coratian Youth Network may join the event again. We are really looking forward to see their great ideas again!

What happened last year? III.

2012-01-05T10:20:00.002+01:00

Romania: New Horizons Foundation with 33 IMPACT community initiative youth clubs (out of which 30 are opened in schools)

The community service projects implemented by IMPACT clubs during GYSD 2011 covered a large area of interests and were based on the analysis the kids did in their communities to assess the local needs. Most of the projects were focused on children and youth, and the school environment. The IMPACT clubs addressed issues like: drug use among teens, violence awareness campaign, human traffic awareness campaign, environmental issues (awareness campaigns, cleaning activities), renovations of schools / kindergartens and outdoor spaces (parks), promoting healthy lifestyle in schools, cultural and artistic activities, intercultural Easter festival, promoting volunteerism, events for the elderly etc.

Five national media have reported about GYSD 2011 following the press releases distributed by New Horizons Foundation. Local media have reported about the local projects implemented by IMPACT clubs during GYSD 2011.

New Horizons Foundation and the youth clubs did a really good job and were able to involve 672 young people!

They are joining for GYSD 2012 as well, so keep your eyes on them!

What happened last year? II.

2012-01-02T13:08:00.003+01:00

The Vinspired story: http://vinspired.com/organisations

v achieved considerable success in promoting Global Youth Service Day, engaging approximately 40,000 young people aged 16 – 25 through integrated communications across traditional and social media.

v succeeded to focus on the promotion of micro-volunteering opportunities in England, enabling young people to respond to a range of flexible opportunities which could be carried out in small chunks of time, either online or in the real world.

Micro-volunteering opportunities broadly fall into three impact categories:

Helping charities and other worthy causes
Examples include:
Feed a starving person for free with a simple click of the mouse
Make a very seriously ill child smile with just a letter or an email
Microloan £10. Change a life. Get paid back. Reloan.
Knit a hat or other garment for homeless people

'Green' Actions' (Tackling environmental and energy issues)
Examples include:
Stop junk mail, save paper, save trees!
Plant a tree for free by using a search engine!
Reduce plastic bags. Distribute re-usable bags!
Help predict climate change with your pc!

Advocacy Actions (Highlighting injustices and wrongdoing)
Examples include:
Posters for Peace. Print them out. Put them up!
Act to end the use of animals in circuses!
Oppose the Arms Trade via non-violent action!
Reduce global warming. Join a Virtual March!
Boycott socially irresponsible companies!

Media Coverage
On 14th April, v invited Brooke Vincent, an 18 year old actress from one of the UK’s best known TV soaps (Coronation Street) to Carnaby Street in central London to carry out a GYSD Super-Hero stunt.

Accompanied by a group of young volunteers (all dressed in Super-Hero costumes of course!), Brook completed a number of micro-volunteering actions to demonstrate how easy it is to contribute small acts of kindness and make a difference.

Volunteers helped people with directions, distributed metro maps, gave out tissues, recharged mobile phones and a host of other mini-actions designed to surprise and delight shoppers in Carnaby Street.

As a result of this stunt, media coverage of Global Youth Service Day was extremely successful, with over 34 million Opportunities to See (OTS) the GYSD brand and messages across integrated media platforms.

Endorsement from public officials
v secured the support of Tim Loughton, Member of Parliament (MP) and Under-Secretary of State for Children & Families. Tim said:

„Global Youth Service Day is a unique opportunity for young people in England to be part of a global community of people that are doing something positive for their neighbourhoods. I’m proud that we are joining over 100 countries to support and celebrate young people taking action on 15-17 April.” Tim Loughton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families

v did an amazing job in introducing Global Youth Ervice Day 2011 to young people in England.
Their traditional and social media reach has laid strong foundations for the Global Youth Service Day brand, and enabled them to engage large numbers of young people in micro-volunteering actions. Engaging a well-known celebrity with youth appeal was extremely helpful in amplifying the GYSD campaign and encouraging new young volunteers to participate in positive social action. They are excited about the potential to grow their relationship with GYSD and EYSD in 2012, and they feel they have learnt a great deal.

Call for Partners - Global Youth Service Day 2012

2011-12-20T11:03:00.002+01:00

Join us to celebrate youth service all around the world!
GYSD is an annual campaign that celebrates and provides the chance for millions of children and youth to improve their communities through service and service-learning. Established in 1988, GYSD is the largest service event in the world, the only one dedicated solely to youth engagement, and is now celebrated in over 100 countries. On GYSD, children and youth address the world’s most critical problems in partnership with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and governments.

GYSD 2012 is going to take place on April 20-22, 2012.

Responsibilities of Country Partners As a Country Partner, your organization will be expected to:
• Recruit and coordinate youth organizations to participate in GYSD nationwide;
• Organize service/volunteer projects that create a measurable impact in communities, and
secure necessary local support to implement your projects and activities;
• Promote GYSD materials and resources available at GYSD.org;
• Conduct press outreach to gain exposure for your activities and global celebrations;
• Register projects on the interactive map at www.gysd.org.

Responsibilities of the Regional Partner

As Regional Partner, the Foundation for Democratic Youth is going to:
• Share information, materials and experiences regarding the organization of GYSD events;
• Assist and mentor Country Partners related to any phase of the organizing process,
including project planning, raising awareness, fundraising, marketing, etc;
• Offer e-mail and Skype consultation possibilities;
• Issue a regular newsletter.

Possible financial input

As Regional Partner, the Foundation for Democratic Youth can not offer financial support for Country Partners. However, Youth Service America, the global coordinator of this event will have a number of small grants to help realize projects. All Country Partners will have the necessary information on how to apply for these grants as soon as they are available.

Why and how to apply to become Country Partner

Global Youth Service Day is an ideal way to promote youth service in your country. Moreover, the fact that 2011 was assigned to be the European Year of Volunteering will probably generate an extra level of interest which can contribute to creating a significant level of attention for the positive contributions young people make every day in 2012 as well. Such attention can be beneficial to youth groups, communities, but also to the participating organizations themselves. You can apply till 10th of January here: http://gysd.org/partners/country/apply
If you are interested in this great opportunity, please share your ideas and plans about your future event in April, 2012. You can also join with any of your existing and regular events/programs too.

We support and are open to any of your creative ideas.

Hope to hear from you soon!

For further information please contact szucs.anna@i-dia.org

Global Youth Service Day in 2012

2011-12-06T20:30:00.001+01:00

We proudly inform you that our organisation has been selected as the Regional Lead Agency for Western Europe by the Global Youth Service Day campaign. After the successful last year we got the opportunity again to connect the organisations and foundations in Europe which have the similar strong belief and commitment in voluntary actions.The Foundation for Democratic Youth and Youth Service America have launched the European Youth Service Day program (EYSD) in 2011 and now we would like to continue. Over the years, millions of youth have participated in Global Youth Service Day across the world, and together with the leadership of organizations such as yours, they undertake thousands of volunteer projects that benefit their communities. The celebration of Global Youth Service Day is focused on creating a significant level of attention and public awareness around the world for the positive contributions young people are making every day. The celebration is marked by service projects, which take place in communities across each of the participating countries. The mass number of young people participating, and the expansive network of collaborating organizations mobilize a great deal of awareness and media attention.

What is GYSD?

2011-12-06T20:29:00.001+01:00

Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning.

Established in the United States in 1988, and globally in 2000, Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world, and the only day of service dedicated to children and youth. GYSD is celebrated each year in over 100 countries.

What is EYSD?

2011-12-06T20:28:00.001+01:00

The Foundation for Democratic Youth (DIA) and Youth Service America (YSA) launch European Youth Service Day 2012!

EYSD is the European version of Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) whos aim is to provide the opportunity for organisaions across Europe to build new relations, find new solutions and activate the European youth.

On EYSD, children and youth, in partnership with families, schools, community/faith-based organizations, businesses, and governments, will address the world’s most critical problems.

So why is EYSD good for you?

• It is the largest service event in the world, so your project is part of a global movement, a movement that includes young people around the world who are leading and participating in thousands of projects to address local, national, and global issues. You can widen you organization’s international scope and it is easier for you to get into other’s focus.

• EYSD is the only day of service focused on mobilizing and training youth as leaders who identify and address community needs through service and service-learning and educate the public, the media, and policymakers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders. Great way to strengthen your social capital in many fields.

• EYSD is an opportunity to recruit more volunteers, form new partnerships, secure additional funding, raise awareness of the issue or your work, celebrate your achievements, get help from dozens of different organizations, share various ideas, methods and the good spirit of being an active citizen.

2011-12-06T20:22:00.001+01:00

Country Partners serve as the lead organizer of Global Youth Service Day in their country. They promote GYSD, organize events, engage local media and government officials, and coordinate project registration and reporting. All Country Partners will be selected and supported by the Regional Partners. This is a NON-FUNDED position but Country Partners will have access to GYSD planning resources and promotional materials, receive special promotional materials and assistance with media and government outreach, and be featured on the www.gysd.org web page and in the 2012 GYSD Final Report.

Youth Service America will be launching the application in the first week of December on gysd.org, you can also apply immediatly to be a Country Partner via e-mail address: szucs.anna@i-dia.org

Disney grant

2011-12-06T20:21:00.001+01:00

YSA (Youth Service America), together with Disney, will provide Disney Friends for Change Grants. The grants fund youth-led service projects to support public education and social campaigns around environmental protection and sustainability, while increasing young people’s commitment to conservation, volunteering and innovation on Global Youth Service Day. The Disney Friends for Change program awards $1,000 grants to youth-led service projects around the world that demonstrate youth leadership, creativity, compassion and the commitment to making a positive impact on the environment.

Disney's Friends for Change is about taking steps together with your friends and family to make a positive impact on people, communities and the planet.

If you are interested, let me know: szucs.anna@i-dia.org. Official details will be provided until the end of this year.

About DIA

2011-12-06T20:20:00.001+01:00

The Foundation for Democratic Youth (DIA) is a Hungarian public benefit not-for-profit, non-governmental, nonpolitical organization, whose mission is to create opportunities for youth to develop democratic values and skills through experiential learning. In order to achieve this, DIA is developing young people’s citizenship skills through community-based learning in Hungary.

Thanks to the success of DIA’s KöZöD! National Youth Service Day since 2006, DIA was selected as Regional Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day 2011 and 2012. DIA will do its best to share the experiences and the know-how in working with over 30 000 young people in more than 300 local communities every year.

What happenned last year?

2011-12-06T20:19:00.001+01:00

Last year more than 70 000 young people from 8 countries participated in EYSD. It was also our goal to create international synergies, and to identify partners who would be open for future cooperation with each other. Thus, European Youth Service Day is more than just an event in mid-April, it is a network of European organizations open to celebrate the work of their volunteers, as well as to share their experiences in youth service in Europe. That is why it is worthwile to build on the networking and sharing aspects of EYSD, and organize preparatory meetings if possible.

Stories from last year

In every issue we will present some example from last year’s EYSD project.

The DIA story

Since 2006 we have been organising National Youth Service Day in Hungary. The main idea being to secure more visibility to youth service and volunteering in Hungary. The name of the program is KöZöD! (Get involved!), what in the following years became a well-known brand in Hugary. In the very first year we were able to invole 7 500 young participants. The following year we decided to involve all the Hungarian secondary schools to make the project more visible and creative. Many schools responded positively, while groups from the previous year were happy to come back. Most of Hungary’s population lives in small villages where young people have very little to do in their communities. These villages soon became our base and groups keep coming back with new project ideas. One must add that without DIA’s local presence through its regional coordinators, many of the projects would not come to realization. Young people, however creative they may be, often lack project management and fundraising skills.

Since 2006, numbers keep going up, although that is not the main issue here. What we hope to show to other countries, who might be just thinking about the possibility of joining EYSD, is that it does not have to be big. Not in the first year, not in the second one. Numbers are not the issue here.

The issue is, we believe, to send a clear message to the young people. And the message is that if you see problems around yourself, in your community, you do not have to wait for others to solve them. You can do it with your friends. And in our experience, (where there is a will there is a way) somehow, numbers just come along.

The ODINV/VITA story (www.odinlatvia.lv)

The Latvian Association of Social Volunteers (ODIN/VITA) unpacked and distributed 6 tons of food products for families in need. The 45 youngsters involved, worked different shifts to put the food into 10 kilogram packages. They also dealt with all the preparation, paperwork and documentation.

Our GYSD program in Latvia worked along with The Feed Latvia project to help distribute food among the families, this cooperation was benefical for both parties since Feed Latvia is a well respected
program established in 2009 and was a great outlet for the introudction of Global Youth Service Day for the local media there.

The beggining was very succesful as they planted the idea of the GYSD in their country. This year, following the success of last year, they are planning the preparation earlier and involving more NGO in the program.

GYSD and EYSD will be held on April 20-22, 2012.

Quick guidelines for beginners

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How to plan a project? Part I.

Investigate:

• Identify a local, national, or global community need that you would like to address.

• Map your community’s needs and assets, follow it in the news, interview community members and
key stakeholders, and find out how others may already be responding.

• Think about how your skills, knowledge, and the activities that you already enjoy doing could help.
Decide what change you would like to see, and how you will measure how you have strengthened
your community. Establish a baseline that you can measure again after your project, to see what
changed.

Prepare and Plan:

• Develop a common vision for success meeting a real need. Invite other youth, teachers or adult program leaders, etc…

(Experts on the issue, business people, community and faith-based organizations, and government representatives or officials to join you.)

• Develop a detailed project plan – list every task that needs to be completed, decide who will work on it, and assign due dates.

• Develop a project budget and fundraising plan. Include supplies, food, transportation, event space, volunteer recognition materials, etc. Plan to meet each cost with in-kind support, fundraising, grants, or sponsorships. (See below at the „grants” title)

• Build partnerships to help you identify project sites, recruit volunteers, provide project supplies, or secure additional resources and partners.

• Secure a location for your project and plan out the who, what, when, where, and how logistics of your project. Think about transportation, food, and alternate plans in case of weather, low turnout, etc.

• Recruit volunteers. How many will you need, and what will they need to do? Try to engage and accommodate youth not traditionally asked to serve in your community

• Register your project as soon as possible! First send me an e-mail about your plans and ideas to the regional coordinator: szucs.anna@i-dia.org. From January of 2012 you will be able to register your projects on gysd.org.

GYSD 2011 photos - Hungary

2011-06-01T10:11:00.000+02:00

Here is an unofficial selection of the hundreds of pictures from Hungary. We will soon have more pictures, so make sure to check back later.
1. Community center renovation, Sarosd
2. Painting at the Kossuth Zsuzsa Children's Home, Bicske
3. Renovation of the village museum, Perocseny
4. Renovation of the village museum, Perocseny
5. Run in the light running gala, Budapest
6. Run in the light running gala, Budapest
7. Waste collection, Budaors
8. Waste collection, Budaors

Global Youth Service Day 2011 Summary

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We are happy to report that this year’s GYSD was the biggest success in Hungarian GYSD history. We had 31000 registered volunteers who participated in 211 projects. These projects focused mostly on the following issues: environment protection and sustainability, healthy lifestyle, spring cleaning of parks, public places, playgrounds, inside/outside renovation of buildings, planting, gardening, visiting the elderly, children, and animal shelters.

All of these projects were designed and executed by young people, with special focus on the emotional and professional preparation for the volunteer work and the evaluation afterwards. On top of this, we organized a central event in Budapest, a running gala for visually impaired or otherwise disabled young people with 150 volunteers. The aim of this event was twofold, first, to organize a sports day for these young people who don’t often get the chance to do outside activities and second, to gather a lot of volunteers and give them an experience to work with people with disabilities, spend time with them, get to know them, and hopefully realize that there isn’t such a big difference between them at all. We had five celebrity guests on this event, one of them was Erika Miklosa, an international opera singer, who is also one of the Ambassadors of the European Year of Volunteering 2011. All in all we can say that the sixth GYSD in Hungary was a huge success with the highest number of projects and volunteers involved.

On the European level, we coordinated GYSD with the involvement of 10 country partners.

Croatia - Croatian Youth Network (YFJ member)
Estonia - Parnumaa Noorte Liit
France - AFEV
Germany - Ariel Foundation International
Ireland - Irish Youth Foundation
Latvia - ODIN/VITA
Moldova - NGO Certitude
Netherlands - Code-X
Romania - New Horizons Foundation
UK - Vinspired

For more information, please visit www.gysd.org or www.ysa.org

Culver meets Karinthy

2011-04-12T11:25:00.001+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7MIBrSERKU&feature=player_embedded

Students from Culver Academies (USA.) participated in a joint service programme with students from Karinthy Frigyes Bilingual Secondary Grammar School in Budapest (Hungary) between March 29 and April 1st, 2011.
Activities included volunteering in Karinthy's backyard, volunteering in SOFI, a school for children and youth with special needs and making furniture from pet bottles.
The program was organised by Egyesek Youth Association (http://www.egyesek.hu) and DIA (http://www.i-dia.org).

European Youth Service Day Newsletter No. 3.

2011-03-23T12:38:00.005+01:00

NEWS

10 Country Partners on board!

The Foundation for Democratic Youth welcomes our 10 European Country Partners from the following countries: Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania, UK. Those organizations who still haven't applied should hurry up if they want to join this prominent group, because preparations will have to start soon. Youth Service America gave us very positive feedback about the quality of the applications.

EYSD TIPS

Registering your event

One of the most important features of Global Youth Service Day is that it is measurable. Each year, the number of young people who decide to do some voluntary action on this day increases. We in Europe have so far not been the biggest contributors to these numbers, but this year, it is going to change! That is why we would like to ask all Country Partners to make sure that all youth projects are registered on the GYSD website, at this link:

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6492/p/salsa/event/common/public/create.sjs?distributed_event_KEY=311

Let's make European Youth Service Day a noticeable event in Europe, as well as globally.

***

Media outreach

Working with the media, the tricks and techniques of getting journalists to listen to the message and transmit it properly differs in every country and at times can be really hard. But when planning an event (and building a brand), a little media buzz can be extremely useful.

Here are a few tips:

- When dealing with the press, try to have a short and clear message;

- Convincing a few public figures to act as "ambassadors" of the cause might be a good way to generate attention;

- Don't forget that 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering.

COUNTRY PROFILE / PROJECT IDEAS

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2009 FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD (from the Global Youth Service Day 2008 & 2009 Final Report)

Although right now, we are busy forming a European tradition, it might be useful to turn towards other parts of the world and see how other countries celebrate Global Youth Service Day. Here are a few examples from places outside Europe.

In Afghanistan, students and teachers partnered with Youth in Action Association and local Rotary and Lincoln Center members to celebrate Global Youth Service Day in Jalalabad. More than 85 students with the Global Connections and Exchange (GCE) program presented skits, followed by group discussions and workshops about narcotics, narcotics, education, volunteer work, time management and ethics. Activities culminated with an awards ceremony sponsored by Jalalabad education officials.

In Bangladesh, students participated in environment, health, traffic safety and technology projects. Schools in Dhaka, Jessore, Comilla and Chittagong organized a trash pick-up project as they cleaned their school, classrooms, and nearby communities. At

the Pahatali Girls’ High school in Chittagong, a teacher and students went house to house providing information about basic health care such as personal hygiene, nutrition and handwashing. In Gazipur, students of Rani Bilashmoni Boys High School re-

paired the zebra crossing in front of their school.

In Kenya, National Lead Agency Kenya Slum Youths Development Organization (KESYDO) organized an awareness campaign around the Millennium Development Goals, highlighting the role young people can play in the country's development.

In Pakistan, six organizations across the country organized events for Global Youth Service Day, including events that combine the celebrations of volunteerism with a focus on environmental awareness and celebrations of Earth Day.

In Palestine, West Bank Community-Based Learning and Action Centers in Jenin, Nablus, Hebron, and Salfeet organized GYSD projects. Projects included offering free medical check-ups for bloodpressure, diabetes, blood type and heigh and weight measurements in underserved villages, tutoring programs, recycling campaigns, school repair, and public health education campaigns.

In Rwanda, Disney Minnie Grantees organized a mentoring program for fellow students with HIV/AIDS and an anti-bullying campaign in their school.

GYSD QUOTE

In Taiwan, President Chen Shui-bian spoke to youth volunteers, saying "A single individual who spends 1,000 hours doing good deserves respect, but if 1,000 people each spend one hour as a volunteer, the benefits to society are even broader and more enduring.”

European Youth Service Day Newsletter No. 2.

2011-03-23T12:33:00.006+01:00

EYSD TIPS

Central event

At DIA, we have made it a tradition to - besides the regional programs on EYSD - organize a central event as well. The central event usually takes place in Budapest, and it is always a big hype with a lot of media attention, and of course some kind of volunteer action.
Last year, DIA coordinated a food drive with the help of 15 schools from Budapest. They collected three tons of durable food, together with the Hungarian charity organization Feed the Children and managed to help dozens of large families in need.  This year, we are planning a running with disabled people, Run in the Light. In this special running competition, pairs are made up from people with visual or other disabilities and volunteers and they run together. This is always a very emotional event, so it takes a lot of planning, especially when preparing the volunteers.

Apart from the specific volunteer action, such an event can be very useful when trying to engage the media. We have had very positive feedback regarding our central events, and that is why we encourage all Country Partners to organize something similar, possibly with the help of the Disney grants.

COUNTRY PROFILE

FRANCE - AFEV

In Europe, France has been organizing the biggest EYSD events for years now. With seven years of celebrating youth service, and with around 30.000 youth in the last few years, AFEV is the real veteran of EYSD. They started with 5000 youngs participants, and the numbers just encreased from year to year. Now they organize EYSD in around 40 cities all over France, and they involve schools, families, civil and other organization into this celebration. Apart from getting young people to volunteer, they also conduct research every year about how young people see themselves, or how others see them. We talked to Claire Notelaers, AFEV's communication officer, to see her take on the situation of youth and volunteering in France.

"In France, the perception of young people in the society is rather problematic. According to our research in 2010, one French person in two has a bad opinion of young people and most of them think they are not creative (61%), not realistic/lucid (58%), idle and passive (62%), and irresponsible in their behaviour (56%). But they also admit that they find it enriching to be in contact with young people (83%) which could seem contradictory. We at AFEV try to change this perception and transform it into a more realistic one. We believe that by getting more and more young people to volunteer, we will be able to show what they really are, a great resource for the future. For us at AFEV, Global Youth Service Day is like a huge party of solidarity. On this weekend, we celebrate the energy of youth, of which - according to volunteers of AFEV - we have plenty."

PROJECT IDEAS

Living history class

In this special class, young people visit a group of retired people and listen to them talking about what life was like when they were young. In return, youngsters can talk about their time now, modern technology, the problems they face, etc. These classes bring two groups together, that are often isolated. By sharing these stories, a common feeling of cohesion is created, and young people can have a larger perspective on history, as well as their present life.

European Youth Service Day Newsletter No. 1.

2011-03-23T12:31:00.004+01:00

This is the first edition of the bi-weekly newsletter of the European Youth Service Day project. We will provide you with all the information you need to be able to organize a successful EYSD event in your country.

NEWS

The Foundation for Democratic Youth (DIA) and Youth Service America (YSA) launch European Youth Service Day 2011!

EYSD is the European version of Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), which is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning. Established in 1988, GYSD is the largest service event in the world, the only one dedicated solely to youth engagement, and is now celebrated in over 100 countries. On GYSD, children and youth address the world’s most critical problems in partnership with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and governments.

GYSD 2011 is going to take place on April 15-17, 2011.

By launching EYSD, we hope to create a better cohesion among the different youth service events in the region, as well as a European tradition.

ABOUT DIA

The Foundation for Democratic Youth (DIA) is a public benefit not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to create opportunities for youth to develop democratic values and skills through experiential learning. In order to achieve this, DIA is developing young people’s citizenship skills through community-based learning in Hungary.

Thanks to the successes of DIA’s KöZöD! National Youth Service Day, which it has been organizing for six years now, DIA was selected as Regional Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day 2011. DIA will do its best to share the experiences and the know-how in working with over 20 000 young people in more than 300 local communities every year.

COUNTRY PROFILE

In each issue, we will present a different country, and elaborate on how they manage their GYSD projects. We decided to start by ourselves, but we hope to present other countries, such as France or Croatia for example, as well as countries from outside Europe.

HUNGARY – Foundation for Democratic Youth

How did we start?

We started to organize our National Youth Service Day in 2006 when we were thinking of giving more visibility to youth volunteering and service in Hungary. We called it KöZöD! (Get involved.), which in the following years became a rather well-known brand in Hungary. In the first year we were able to mobilize around 1 500 participants throughout the country. The following year, we decided to make the campaign more visible and creative, so we contacted all the Hungarian secondary schools. Many schools responded positively, while groups from the previous year were happy to come back. Most of Hungary’s population lives in small villages where young people have very little to do in their communities. These villages soon became our base and groups keep coming back with new project ideas. One must add that without DIA’s local presence through its regional coordinators, many of the projects would not come to realization. Young people, however creative they may be, often lack project management and fundraising skills.

Since 2006, numbers keep going up, although that is not the main issue here. What we hope to show to other countries, who might be just thinking about the possibility of joining EYSD, is that it does not have to be big. Not in the first year, not in the second one. Numbers are not the issue here. The issue is, we believe, to send a clear message to the young people. And the message is that if you see problems around yourself, in your community, you do not have to wait for others to solve these problems. You can do it with your friends. And in our experience, somehow, numbers just come along.

Call for GYSD 2011 Country Partners!

2011-01-04T10:45:00.004+01:00

Do you believe in the power of young people?
Do you agree that they are our future?
Do you think that their efforts deserve appreciation?
In that case, join Global Youth Service Day 2011, a day when youth service is celebrated all around the world!

The Foundation for Democratic Youth, the Regional Partner for Western Europe is now looking for Country Partners to make this year’s event the biggest ever in Europe.

About GYSD 2011

GYSD is an annual campaign that celebrates and provides the chance for millions of children and youth to improve their communities through service and service-learning. Established in 1988, GYSD is the largest service event in the world, the only one dedicated solely to youth engagement, and is now celebrated in over 100 countries. On GYSD, children and youth address the world’s most critical problems in partnership with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and governments.

GYSD 2011 is going to take place on April 15-17, 2011.

Responsibilities of Country Partners

As a Country Partner, your organization will be expected to:

- Recruit and coordinate youth organizations to participate in GYSD nationwide;

- Organize service/volunteer projects that create a measurable impact in communities, and secure necessary local support to implement your projects and activities;

- Promote GYSD materials and resources available at GYSD.org;

- Conduct press outreach to gain exposure for your activities and global celebrations;

- Register projects on the interactive map at www.gysd.org.

Responsibilities of the Regional Partner

As Regional Partner, the Foundation for Democratic Youth is going to:

- Share information, materials and experiences regarding the organization of GYSD events;

- Assist and mentor Country Partners related to any phases of the organizing process, including project planning, raising awareness, fundraising, marketing, etc;

- Offer email and Skype consultation possibilities;

- Issue a regular newsletter.

Possible financial input

As Regional Partner, the Foundation for Democratic Youth can not offer financial support for Country Partners. However, Youth Service America, the global coordinator of this event will have a number of small grants to help realize projects. All Country Partners will have the necessary information on how to apply for these grants as soon as they are available.

Why and how to apply to become Country Partner

Global Youth Service Day is an ideal way to promote youth service in your country. Moreover, the fact that 2011 was assigned to be the European Year of Volunteering will probably generate an extra level of interest which can contribute to creating a significant level of attention for the positive contributions young people make every day. Such attention can be beneficial to youth groups, communities, but also to the participating organizations themselves.

To apply, click on the link: http://www.gysd.org/partners/countrypartner

For more information, write to lang.zsofia@i-dia.org.

DIA Starts Cooperation with Youth Service America (YSA) on Global Youth Service Day (GYSD)

2010-10-03T11:40:00.005+02:00

DIA has been selected as one of the European Regional Lead Agencies of GYSD 2011. DIA will cooperate wth NGO’s in the following European countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK in order to promote youth volunteering and active citizen particpation.

DIA has been coordinating National Youth Service Day (ÖFN) in Hungary since 2006 and was able to mobilize 10 to 20 000 young people every year in more than 300 local communities.

DIA Leads National Research on Global Education

2010-10-03T11:40:00.000+02:00

DIA has been commissionned by Anthropolis Foundation to lead a national research on the state of arts on Global Education in Hungary. The study will be presented and discussed at the National Roundtable on Global Education in Hungary in September 2010 with government and NGO representatives and practitioners. The aim of the process is to create a multi-stakeholder dialogue in order to promote new ways of teaching and learning of global issues.

DIA Launches the 9th Year of NOKIA Funded Youth Service Program: KöZöD!

2010-10-03T11:39:00.002+02:00

In October 2010 DIA will launch the 9th year of its national youth service program at an award giving ceremony. Awards will be given to the most outstanding youth groups of the National Youth Service Day 2010, and the authors of the best photographies taken at service events. The KöZöD! program includes a small grant scheme for local youth volunteer groups, a national network and public debate events throughout the country. Over the past 9 years more than 70,000 young people aged 14-25 were reached through a variety of programes.

DIA Leads the European Structured Dialogue Process in Hungary

2010-10-03T11:38:00.005+02:00

Funded by the European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme, DIA has started to coordinate the process of the European Structured Dialogue in Hungary. 9 public debate events will take place between October 2010 and January 2011 followed by focus group sessions, debate trainings and a national survey.

Vodafone Hungary Supports School-based Youth Service

2010-10-03T11:38:00.002+02:00

One of DIA’s staff members, Zsuzsa Matolcsi earned a one year grant from Vodafone Hungary in order to promote youth service in schools. Zsuzsa is one of the 3 full-time Vodafone Angels who – thanks to the Vodafone grant – can offer one year of their life to work on their dream project.

Debate Clubs and Debate Training in East Hungary

2010-10-03T11:37:00.003+02:00

Funded by the Norwegian Fund and the Open Society Institute, DIA continues its efforts to revitalize the debate culture offering professional development sessions, on-going mentoring to professionals working with socially disadvantaged youth in East Hungary. A Debate handbook was recently published to further assist the newly created Debate clubs. The 2nd National Debate Championship will be organized int he Spring of 2011 by DIA and its partners.

Morgan Stanley Supports Motivation Clubs for Another Year

2010-10-03T11:37:00.000+02:00

DIA will continue its Motivation Club program in 13 vocational and secondary schools in Budapest with the aim of promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and social responsibility. The program supports socially disadvanted youth through creative activities held in their schools to increase their chances to succeed in life. By the end of the year participants prepare a business plan and preferably produce a product. The Motivation Club program is featured at the Young Entrepreneurs’ Week in November 2010.