On this section you will find news concerning South East Europe and about our partners activities
All hope seemed lost when the roof of ERA’s office collapsed following the heavy rains that hit Kosovo last year, fortunately nobody was injured as it happened over night, and then providence decided to show its kind face, and a wonderful project was just approved and sponsored by SIDA, the establishment of Sustainable Mountains Education Centre in Peja, in co-operation with SNV. An environmental education centre for youth in the whole region, and now ERA’s volunteers are merrily moving all the office materials to a brand new building presented to them by the municipality, could it be the Miracle of Christmas? And talking of miracles, lets welcome Lek, the newest and youngest ERA member, 17 months by now.
No it is not a weather report alarm, but it’s the first thing that came into our minds when reading all the activities CnC is carrying out this autumn. Europe for Citizens project LIFE “Life is calling…how far will you go?” as the first meeting ended up quite succesfully, parallel to that the international training course Youth Unlimited.Oh and by the way, remember the campaign Change-All ? well its not over yet, it continues with its great impact on Croatian society and beyond. All the information you want or need is just one click away http://cnc.hr/osx/hr/
27/12/2010 Kosovo’s Manna
All hope seemed lost when the roof of ERA’s office collapsed following the heavy rains that hit Kosovo last year, fortunately nobody was injured as it happened over night, and then providence decided to show its kind face, and a wonderful project was just approved and sponsored by SIDA, the establishment of Sustainable Mountains Education Centre in Peja, in co-operation with SNV. An environmental education centre for youth in the whole region, and now ERA’s volunteers are merrily moving all the office materials to a brand new building presented to them by the municipality, could it be the Miracle of Christmas? And talking of miracles, lets welcome Lek, the newest and youngest ERA member, 17 months by now. 27/12/2010 Croatian Hurricane
No it is not a weather report alarm, but it’s the first thing that came into our minds when reading all the activities CnC is carrying out this autumn. Europe for Citizens project LIFE “Life is calling…how far will you go?” as the first meeting ended up quite succesfully, parallel to that the international training course Youth Unlimited.Oh and by the way, remember the campaign Change-All ? well its not over yet, it continues with its great impact on Croatian society and beyond. All the information you want or need is just one click away http://cnc.hr/osx/hr/ 27/12/2010 From Serbia with News
Does Serbia need a Youth in Action National Agency? Hajde Da believes so, and its advocacy machine has started rolling, since Hajde Da is already one of the YiA contact points for Serbia, appointed by the European Commission and the Serbian ministry for youth and sport, working towards capacity building of regional and local information points and services to both young people and youth NGOs. This was the topic of the October 12-13 2010 Conference about the need for a national youth agency. Discovering about existing best practices in Europe today, and creating possible suggestions of how to shape the future Serbian Youth N.A. Hajde Da’s Youth in Action plans for 2011 include:
a four month mentorship programme supporting Serbian applicants and partners in using YiA. Including training courses as well as one-on-one coaching and mentoring. Parallel to that three training courses to improve the competences of youth workers at governmental and non-governmental level in Serbia today, in different parts of Serbia to ease the geographical distribution and outreach . You think that is enough? Not at all, there is also a planned seminar on how to improve the programme’s impact and efficiency in Serbia, and how to improve the quality and quantity of youth projects in Serbia today. Besides that the normal info-centre work will continue on a daily basis, supporting YiA projects involving Serbia. For more information check www.mladiuakciji.rs
The above seems enough to keep an international corporation busy, but not our Serbian friends, Cross Border for Democratic Citizenship of Youth, is the name for a joint Bosnian-Serbian project that will take place in 2011, to understand and compare where are their democratic societies heading, and how, by creating joint sessions and debates encouraging critical thinking, through the teachings and methods of Socrates and ancient philosophy.
Last but not least, our workaholics also thought about tradition, as for the third year in a row Body Frame has become a Hajde Da brand, the dance and theatre workshops for disabled and people with special needs, with the help of professional actors, choreographers and actors. The aim is to make a performance of physically and mentally challenged people together with war veterans and with professionals in performing arts, to have fun, present to the public a great show, and raise awareness about social exclusion. Go Hajdeda, keep on inspiring us. For more information about Hajde da acititiesplease visit Hajde da web sites www.hajdeda.org.rs, www.mladiuakciji.rs and http://www.hajdeda.org.rs/bodyframe/ .
20/09/2010 Juventas in Action
Hear, hear, hear, the newest youthNET partner from Montenegro this summer, for the first time, hosted a Youth in Action youth exchange. Well done to them, in hosting youngsters from Greece, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and of course Montenegro, tackling the topic "Promoting Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development". Bravo to them, for three main reasons, firstly for tackling in a youth exchange such serious topics and connecting them by making them relevant to European youth today, secondly for succesfully organising and running a youth exchange that according to those who witnessed "was a great and motivating success" and thirdly but not last, for making their first step into Youth in Action, and we are sure it is going to be first of many. In fact as we are writing Juventas' offices are probably hard at work, not to miss the 1st November deadline for more and more youth projects. Great! Yet if you are thinking that this very young and active group is active only within the borders of Montenegro, well you couldn't be more wrong, as this summer Juventas' volunteers roamed through European projects in Belgium and Italy, coincidentally all on Sustainable Development, if you are looking for a pattern there is one. Juventas has joined the long term sustainability project ORA, for more information www.orasustainableliving.eu . This is all from Montenegro, and we would like to leave our readers hungry for more. Juventas implements also a number of local educational activities as well as campaigns, keep on logging onto our blog in the coming weeks to learn more about it. From Podgorica is all.
20/09/2010 The Chronicles of ERA
From Kosovo, Environmental Responsible Action, this summer took the responsibility of guaranteeing a meeting place for youngsters and took the action of transforming their office into a youth club, maybe a bit crammed, but definitely a place for youths to meet, learn and have fun and to be with each other, and of course putting together youngsters from 12 to 17 the outcome? well read on.
Reka e LLages, Rugova region, witnessed these youngsters getting together in a summer camp to learn and to have fun, where you had nature and school, games and work, humans and nature, English and Albanian languages in use, students and leaders, all together enjoying the great outdoors, new fantastic ways of learning and a touch with nature that many youths today miss.
It is indeed great to give young people this opportunity of being out there and be together enjoying and exploring new ways of thinking and learning, yet it would be a great unjustice to limit ERA's success to this summer camp and imply that the city of Peja is only an indirect beneficiary of this succesful organisation. Well, it isn't! We have two words for you, Jam and Session, that's right, young musicians in Peja's office confronting, co-operating, having fun and entertaining over 60 Pejans, oh by the way, 50% of those 60 happen to be ERA full members now, way to go people, nice catch!
Definitely ERA is one of the prides of Kosovo's civil society scenario, and it would be a pity if their fame was to be confined to Peja, thank goodness there is youthNET, because when Brezice Mladinski Centr organised a youth exchange on performing arts, ERA sent over to Slovenia 10 of those performers above mentioned, and needless to say that they may well have their own fan club in Slovenia by now. To inspire and to pass on inspiration seems to be the motto of ERA these days. Yes because while camping, jamming and performing, as we approach the beginning of October, ERA's probably right in the middle of a Comics Workshop for 20 youngsters from Rugova, and conducting the long term environmental sustainability training EKOsovo, and co-hosting the SALTO study visit to Kosovo's youth reality, and the Anibar workshop on Environment... and I am almost out of breath. What to say ERA, you make us proud, keep on inspiring us.
20/09/2010 Be The Change You Want to See
Croatia, our Osijek partner, CnC, has put this famous Ghandi quotation into practice by turning it into a lifestyle for their organisation. Just to mention one, the CHANGEAJ campaign, ongoing successful activity that has had in the past (and has today) strong impact on all Croatia, what is this all about? its success is in its simplicity, peer education against alcohol and drug abuse among youngsters, combining activities and massive information campaigns through any media channel available. What do you think CnC? any ideas yet to turn this into an international campaign? let our readers know, maybe somebody wants to learn the secret of your success. Moreover it is very likely that this year yet another long term activity will be run and coordinated by CnC, Democracy 5, Croatian youth NGOs discussing and implementing youth policy. Of course all of the above will receive great coverage by a streaming online radio which will soon be on the air. Do these people in Osijek ever sleep? why I am asking? because until now only two activities were mentioned, wait until you read the list below.
Europe for Citizens programme financed them a project called "LIFE - Life is calling, how far will you go" About increasing the engagement of young people in their communities and making a difference through their active citizenship. 5 international meetings, trainings, seminars, learning from others and from each other and most of all inspire action and new ways of participation., keywords: Citizenship, Democracy, Non Violence. As youthNET's Newsletter we actually demand to have regular updates about this challenging yet very necessary project kicking off quite soon actually, 25th of October in Osijek. Best of luck from all of us!
Internationally the summer didn't go idle, apart from some renovation work taking place in their centre, and we all know that renovation and handcraft can even be a fun teambuilding activity, and besides continuing its regular workshops for youngsters and teenagers of Osijek, CNC also hosted a study visit of 8 Kosovo youth organisations to learn about the reality of youth work in Croatia and fostering co-operation with Croatian civil society and youth. This is also the point to brag a bit about the power of youthNET, remember the youth exchange we mentioned above in Montenegro? well CnC was there, and this is a small example on how tight are the relations between our partner organisations.
To conclude on a note that recalls the title of this article "Be The Change You Want To See" well we want you to "see" something, and graciously CnC has offered to share with us three videos from their EYF-CoE training course "CHANGE" - using theatre as a tool to prevent social exclusion. This is all from Croatia so far, keep tuned for more news. Enjoy the videos.
