T H E R U R A L Y O U T H E U R O P E M A G A Z I N E

Once an IFYE –always an IFYE

Read on page 09

Managing youth projects

Find out on page 14

Who won the Youth Projectcompetition this year?

Check pages 04–08

01/2013

www.ruralyoutheurope.com C O N T E N T S | 2

info – rural youth europeis published by Rural Youth Europe. Views and opinions expressed in thispublication do not necessarily reflect those of Rural Youth Europe. Text mayinclude informal translations of statements and documents. Reproduction ofarticles is authorised provided the source is quoted and copies of the articleare sent to Rural Youth Europe. This newsletter is published with the supportof the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and theEuropean Union (Youth in Action-programme). Responsible editors expresstheir gratitude for all received articles and encourage every member organi-zation to contribute and to enrich our newsletter.

RESPONSIBLE EDITORS: Mikko Välitalo, Emma SilénADDRESS: Karjalankatu 2A, 00520 Helsinki, FinlandPHONE: + 358 45 234 5629E-MAIL: office@rural youtheurope.comWEBSITE: www.ruralyoutheurope.comPHOTO-CREDITS: www.PHOTOS.com, www.fotolia.de, rural youth europeCONCEPT & LAYOUT: madergrafisch (www.madergrafisch.at)

SPRING 2013 EDITION

02 Contents

03 EditorialBrussels

04-08 Youth Project of 2012 competition

09 Where are they now?

10-11 Youth exchange in Finland

12-13 IFYE exchange

14 Managing youth a project

15 Postcards

16 Calendar 2013

p. 03

p. 04

p. 09

p. 10

p. 12

p. 14

p. 15

RuralYouthEuropeRural Youth Europe (RYEurope) is a Europeannon-governmental organisation for rural youth.Established in 1957, it is an umbrella for youthorganisations working to promote and activateyoung people in countryside. It provides international training possibilities and works asan intermediary between national organisationsand youth organisations and public institutionsat the European level. Rural Youth Europe is amember-led organisation: democratically constituted, the organisation is led by youngpeople for young people.

Rural Youth Europe aims to:• Educate and train young people and createan awareness of rural and social issues.

• Actively encourage rural populations and industry.

• Support the development of new rural youthorganisations.

• Network with other European NGOs.• Lobby and highlight the problems and needsof rural youth to focus the attention of inter -national and national bodies, as well as thegeneral public.

Rural Youth Europe unites 26 member organisations across 21 European countries.The membership base is over 500,000 youngpeople who either live in rural areas or have aninterest in rural life.

If your organisation is interested to joinRural Youth Europe or you would like moreinformation about our events, please contactoffice@ruralyoutheurope.com or check ourwebsite www.ruralyoutheurope.com

Grab your future! – Study visit toimprove your advocating skills

Brussels, Belgium2-6 December 2013

Brussels is the capital of politics and negotiations. The aim of thisstudy visit is to deliver knowledge from experts on youth popu-lation. In particular, rural youth as they are in average less inter-

ested and less active in politics and therefore less successful in lobby-ing and negotiating. The study visit is about to deliver self confidenceand certain skills to participants to improve their position in all demo-cratic processes on national and international level.

In addition, the study visit aims to introduce the importance ofEuropean institutions and their work itself. Participants are about tomeet leaders in interactive discussions and workshops. Importance isas well recognised in a wide range of backgrounds of our participantsand therefore reinforces awareness that Europe is gathered in diversi-ty.

Aims:- To deliver information and awareness about the workof European institutions

- To reinforce advocating skills of youth leaders

Objectives:- To provide lobbying, negotiating and advocating skillsfor 30 young people

- To understand importance and work of European institutions - To improve socialising and networking process amongstthe participants coming from different backgrounds

- To distinguish stage fright and improve public speaking - To develop leadership and coaching skills

ROK ROBLEKBoard Member

3 | E D I T O R I A L www.ruralyoutheurope.com

Spring, spring, spring!

F inally, the spring is arriving! When youget the INFO magazine it will almostbe summer already, but then think

back a couple of months and remember howthe leaves started to grow and how peoplesuddenly started to wake up from their wintersleep. In some languages the word “spring”means to run or to jump. That is indeedexactly what the animals do when let out forthe first time after the winter; it’s quite a suita-ble word, isn’t it?

Talking about jumping and running and beingenergetic in general – the annual spring semi-nar is soon coming up. This year the theme is“coaching for inclusion – closing the gap bet-ween urban and rural youth” and will takeplace in Strasbourg in May/June. The semi-nar is a co-operation between Rural YouthEurope and the Youth Express Network Y-E-N. Both organisations have worked on thetopic of coaching before and therefore wenow have a common study session. As apart of the prep team I can assure you thatthe whole prep team has been working hardwith the project and want to deliver an intere-sting and useful seminar.

From one project to another; we say congra-tulations to Clonakilty Macra na Feirme fromIreland who won the annual youth projectcompetition 2012 with the project “Randomacts of kindness festival”. More about thecompetition and the rest of the entries can befound on pages 04–08.

It’s time for me to stop writing now, so I wantto wish you all a very nice summer with lots ofsunshine and productivity!

EMMA SILÉNBoard member

www.ruralyoutheurope.com Y O U T H P R O J E C T | 4

RuralYouthProjectof 2012

Winner – Macra na FeirmeRandom Acts of Kindness FestivalIn July last year, Clonakilty Macra organised the uniquethree days "Random Acts of Kindness Festival" to sprea-

ding positivity. The aim of the project was to run somethingfor the community to bring a smile to people's faces and toshow, what people can do when they work together.

The slogan was "fun, free and for all ages" and so it was afestival for everyone. The festival started on Friday, whenthe Town Mayor opened the event with a bubble blowingceremony. Then a street party was held on the town’s for-mer main street and three local bands, two of whom hadcollaborated to write a song about spirit of the festival.

One business gave away food while another providedface-painting and balloon modelling. Over 1,000 peoplewere gathered on the street and all age categories wererepresented.

After a Kids Sports Day on Saturday morning, a voluntaryorganisations showcase was held in the afternoon and this

Rural Youth Europe set up

a best practise competition

for the first time in 2009

to encourage the exchange

of project ideas, give

inspiration and provide a

learning opportunity for

rural youth organisations.

Enjoy reading about these

amazing projects and

remember you can take

part too with your best

practise project!

best pract

ise

competition

2012

5 | Y O U T H P R O J E C T www.ruralyoutheurope.com

Winner – Macra na FeirmeRandom Acts of Kindness Festival

was twinned with a Speakers Corner event. Local groupsand charities could spread the message about what theydo and recruit new members. Over 20 groups wererepresented and all were very grateful to have the opportu-nity to speak on their work in the community.

Around the town on Saturday, kindness zones were setup, where volunteers distributed gifts donated by localbusinesses, such as passes to the cinema or theatre or alocally produced yogurt.

Many collaborative events developed over the weekend.For example the Rugby Club joined with the Tidy Towns tocarry out a cleaning project on some local St. Vincent dePaul premises. There were several workshops also carriedout including drumming, ukulele and breakdancing.

The festival ended on Sunday with a Jungle themed BBQin collaboration with the Jungle City project. One of thehotels in the town hosted the event and supplied the food.

Some of the Jungle animals were present, traditional Irishmusicians played while one of Ireland’s best known story-tellers did a Children’s Storytelling session. Face-painting,balloons and bubbles were again a feature while a HulaHoop group joined in to supply entertainment for all pre-sent.

Everyone who visited the Random Acts of KindnessFestival was just happy and enjoyed the amazing commu-nity spirit. It was a real pleasure to see the joy on faces ofthose present. The festival received lots of media attentionin the media and many newspaper and radio stationsreported about the festival and the national TV brought it intheir main evening news.

For their efforts, Clonakilty Macra will be invited to the nextRally and awarded with the Rural Youth Project travelingtrophy.

LUKAS HELFENSTEIN,Vice chair

www.ruralyoutheurope.com Y O U T H P R O J E C T | 6

Beefy’s Bike Ride was a Wales-wide charity projectthat involved members of Wales YFC aged from 11

upwards. Each year, the Wales YFC chairman selects agood cause to promote. The chairman of Wales YFC for2011-2012, Dylan “Beefy” Jones, decided in his year ofoffice to commit to raise funds for Wales Air Ambulance.Wales Air Ambulance is a charitable organisation thathas assisted many YFC members and their communi-ties, by providing a helicopter ambulance that can reachsick and injured people in remote and difficult to reachareas. It has saved the lives of many friends of YFC, andwithout receiving charity would no longer operate.

Beefy decided to raise awareness of and money for thisgood cause by challenging himself to cycle the 568miles around Wales. He hoped that by visiting each partof Wales he would be able to encourage members fromthat county to join in, and to raise awareness. The cyclewas carried out over a series of weekends, and involvedYFC members and supporters from each of the 12counties within Wales YFC. This was completed over 6weekends commencing in August 2012 and ending inOctober 2012 with each leg varying from 23 to 70 miles.At each of the stops, an event was held which was devi-sed and organised by the YFC County federation.These ranged from raft races, to a promise auction to

barbecues and involved further members of the commu-nity, in a voluntary capacity.

Members were encouraged to join Beefy in his cycle foras much as they felt they could. This saw some mem-bers complete the whole 500 miles (Aled Jones), othersa few hundred miles and others just 15 miles. Over 100YFC members and supporters, the youngest being 12and the oldest 67 joined Dylan and Aled along the wayon their bikes. However, many more members wereinvolved in the project through the events at each stopthat were held to raise funds for the Air Ambulance andto bring the YFC county together. The Bike Ride finishedin Cardiff for Wales YFC's AGM weekend.

Members were encouraged to train in advance, to worktogether to cycle in teams of friends, and it was anopportunity to draw past YFC members back who werekeen cyclists to encourage more novice cyclists to takepart. The objectives were to raise funds for the AirAmbulance, to raise awareness of the work undertakenby the Air Ambulance to support rural communities, tobring members of clubs and counties together, toencourage young people to "get fit" and to take on achallenge. It was also an ideal opportunity to generatepositive publicity for all those involved.

1st Runner Up –Wales Young FarmersBeefy’s Bike Ride

7 | Y O U T H P R O J E C T www.ruralyoutheurope.com

For their 65th anniversary,Cappagh YFC from Northern

Ireland wanted to run a project tostrengthen the team work and to raisemoney for the less fortunate in theirlocal community. The club has donea tractor trek 40 years ago, so theydecided to do something similar astheir parents already did when theywere young Farmers. The idea of aTractor Trek 2012 was born.The trek should go around all sixcounties and in each town the clubpasses, they want do collect moneyfor charity. Beneficiaries would be theSaturday Club, which supports andhelps those families with disabledchildren and Macmillan Canceron

who supplies help and care to thosepeople suffering from cancer.The club president gave his a 1985Volvo BM Valmet and supplied allcost that occurred to restore the oldtractor. Then the project was dividedinto the four working task groups:Restoration; Planners; Away Teamand Advertising/Evaluation. So allmembers could bring in theirstrengths and felt as an important partof this project, what then generated afantastic team spirit in the club. The teamwork of all four groups wasvery successful and the club went onto run a successful tractor trek overthree days and raised a total of£4879.66 for the two charities.

2nd Runner Up – Young Farmers club of UlsterStrengthen our club,Helping others, Tractor Trek 2012

The project started when a young-ster in Hankasalmi began to plan

the musical “Santa Claus and theMagic Drum” which is a children fairytale. To make with the project some-thing for everyone, the idea for aseries of three events, each targetinga different age, was born. “Prom of the elderly people” was theevent for the older people of the city.The day started when the young peo-ple together with the local hairdres-sers and make-up artists preparedthe elderly for the prom. When theneveryone was ready the prom startedand the day continued with liveaccordion music, dancing and sin-ging. Coffee and cake was offered tothe elderly and at the end of the daythey were all very happy about thisday.

For the musical the group startedpractising in September and in end ofNovember they gave three perfor-mances, which were all free of char-ge. Although the target group for theevent were the children and familiesliving in Hankasalmi, the event rea-ched a very broad at all ages. Alsopeople from the neighbouring munici-palities came to see the show. In totalover 1700 persons came to enjoyone of the three shows. As a last event, the committee orga-nised a Christmas Disco which gene-rated also some action for the youn-ger people. The over 50 youngsters involved in theproject reached nearly 2000 peopleand generated a solidarity between thegenerations and offered activities, joyand new experience for everyone.

2nd Runner Up – Finnish 4H”Working for Santa! – joy for peoplein different ages in Hankasalmi”

www.ruralyoutheurope.com Y O U T H P R O J E C T | 8

OTHER PROJECTS:Germany: me.you.us.for ruralareas.

In the nationwide project“me.you.us.for rural areas”German rural youth promotedtheir work and made society, citi-zens, politicians and the mediaaware of it. The organisations ofthe federal states were actively

included in the project and all had their own subpro-jects, where the citizens were involved and got thefeeling of what it means to be a member of ruralyouth. For the project-closing, members from all overGermany travelled to Berlin to show how diverse ruralyouth in Germany is and left marks, when they sho-wed their common love for rural youth.

England: Drive it Home:Saving Lives on Rural Roads

In this project NFYFC campaig-ned for a reduction of car insu-rance costs. Therefor they aimedto convince insurance compa-nies that they are save drivers.Together with a road safety cam-paigner NFYFC provided training

courses for young farmers and educated them tobecame a “Drive it Home Champions”. Whit theirskills, the champions were then multiplier in local ruralroad safety sessions, where they train others abouthow to react in dangerous situations and motivatethem to behave save on rural roads to evade acci-dents.

Latvia: Step 2012During three days Latvian YFCorganised the rural youth deve-lopment seminar “Step 2012” forits member and other interestedyouth. Invited experts gave lectu-res about different innovativeagricultural sectors and entrepre-

neurship skills. After the lectures the youth deepe-ned their knowledge in workshops and debatedabout the different topics. In the evenings the atten-dees actively used the time for informally discussionsand exchanged a lot of knowledge and experience.

Germany: Strong for Rural AreasWith “Strong for Rural Areas”German Rural youth wanted toidentify the needs of young peo-ple who see their centre of life inrural areas. Society, experts and

members have been interviewed and included in theproject. In a competition the members very invited todesign creative road signs that show grievances andimprovement proposals for rural areas. The best roadsigns are then going into production to create publi-city and confront the political parties with the needsof the youth in rural area.

Finland: Our Earth HourOur Earth Hour was an interna-tional sustainable developmentproject of a Finnish and Frenchyouth group, which was aimingto improve the social influencingpossibilities of young people inrural areas. Kick-off was with a

Skype connection, when they got to know eachother and made promises to each other and theenvironment. The main events were then two campsin Finland and France, when the youth got experien-ce about natural preservation and volunteering. Nowafter the project the youth is still in contact with eachother.

Wales YFC: International YouthVolunteering Project

In August 2012, seven WelshYoung Farmers took volunteered10 days at Camphill Communityon an organic farm which is cen-tral for create a safe and securehome for people with mentaldisabilities. Together with Czech

volunteers they did construction and renovation workwhich was, after a substantial flood, essential for thecommunity. The group learned to communicatethrough language barriers and were able to exchan-ge cultural knowledge, discuss various ways of livingand educate each other.

Wales YFC: Food on the WyeWith “Food on the Wye” WalesYFC developed a food festivalthat gives local producer a plat-form to promote and sell theirproducts to the local community.During the festival Wales YFCorganised a number of different

activities, such as demonstrations, workshops andcompetitions, all related to food. These activities andthe stalls of the producer with a wide variety of all sortof homemade products, made the festival to a cosyfamily event that brought the young people of WalesYFC and the community of Rhayader together.

In previous editions we have interviewed

some of our past chairpersons to find out

where they are now. In this edition of INFO

magazine, we’ll introduce you to one more past

chair and ask what his highlights on the board

where and what is he doing today.

9 | I N T E R V I E W www.ruralyoutheurope.com

Where arethey now?

Luuk GeurtsI have been on the board of ECYF4H-clubs as the name was atthat time. First one year as a representative for the group of theNetherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I was elected tothe board at the general assembly in Austria in the summer of1990. One year later I was elected as a vice chairman for 2years and after that Chairman for 2 years.

I joined the board in the turbulent years when Helga Stark hadtaken over the secretariat (from Bob mcGregor who had runnedit for several decades), and the secretariat had moved to Bonn.The Berlin wall had fallen and we tried to find ways to includeeast European rural youth organisations into our organisation.We invited them to rallys and seminars at the youth centre inStrasbourg to get to know each other more. We tried to findways how they could make money to pay their membership fee.

We had reforms in the group representation system and also amembership fee reform. At that time the Netherlands decided toleave our organisation in favour of MIJARC, as they could notafford to be a member of 2 European umbrella organisations.During my last year Helga resigned as secretary general and wehad to find a successor. Luckily we were able to hireSandra Lont. So I can for sure say that my period atthe board was all but boring.

During my first year we started the magazineand I was the first responsible board memberfor the magazine. Being a board memberopened the doors of Europe for me. I repres-ented our organisation in several other orga-nisations like Youth Forum and EuropeanCoordination Buro. I got the possibility to meetyouth who all were very engaged in their organi-

sations and who tried to understand what democracy means onEuropean level. Finding ways to cooperate together to influencethe EU, and to understand that Europe is bigger than EU. I lear-ned about all these different ways that organisations are organi-sed and runned. Learned to understand the European dimen-sion of things etc. and developed abilities to understand someof all these different "types" of English that Europeans – andeven people from the British Isles – speak.

Now 23 years later I live in Oslo, Norway. I left all my roots in theNetherlands and found out how universal a technical job is. I'mworking now as a mechanical engineer on development of seismological equipment to be used in sea. I have put all myengagement in voluntary work at rest when I left the Netherlands.I have, together with my wife, renovated a hundred years oldwooden house and enjoy cross-country skiing and choppingfirewood at my cabin in the mountains.

If you asked me, would you do it again then it is very easy to sayyes. It is not always easy to take on so much responsibility, butyou get so much back. I work now for an international company

and have colleagues from all over the world. Trying to under-stand each other and finding ways to bridge different

ways of thinking is a daily challenge. I enjoy workingin this environment. I have great advantage of theexperience and knowledge I gained during mywork on the board. Whenever I travel around inEurope I can meet friends and enjoy their com-pany over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

Keep up the good work. Youth clubs are thebasis of democracy and enjoy every small step

in understanding each other!

Whereare they

now?

www.ruralyoutheurope.com F I N L A N D | 1 0

In February 29

young people

gathered in Pori,

Finland. And yes,

after sauna they did

jump into an icy lake.

Would you jump into an icy lake?

This Gather2Gether winter editionwas a part of a series of seminars.The first one was held in Austria lastsummer and there are two morecoming: in Spain next summer and inSlovenia spring 2014. The idea forthese exchanges was developed inRural Youth Europe spring seminar2011 in Strasbourg, France. The pro-ject in Finland was funded by theYouth in Action programme.

The aim of the week was to give theparticipants a chance to experienceFinnish winter, to understand theeffect of winter on Finnish economy,culture and way of living. Also wediscussed about the challenges andpossibilities of winter. Each countryalso had a presentation about thewinter in their country.

The location of a study visit was city ofPori. The participants got to know thecity and its people by doing differenttasks during a race around the city.

During the week we also spent alot of time outside, playinggames and doing some tra-ditional winter sports.And we even created

1 1 | F I N L A N D www.ruralyoutheurope.com

Would you jump into an icy lake?

new ones! In the end of the week wehad winter Olympics and the partici-pants had a chance to try ‘tandemskiing’ which means skiing with manypeople on the same skiis. The partici-pants were introduced also to NordicWalking, one of our national sports.

It was an amazing experience to bethis time in the prep team. Organisingsuch an event teaches so much andyou really learn to appreciate all workthat has been done when havingseminars abroad, for example.Clear, blue sky, full moon and thebonfire. New friends and memoriesthat will last forever. Once again oneunforgettable week was behind.

ANNIKA SAVILUOTO &MIKKO VÄLITALOFinnish 4H

Read on to find out a little about the International Farm/4H YouthExchange (IFYE) programme and about what the EuropeanInternational Farm/4H Youth Exchange Alumni (EIFYEA) group canoffer you!

After World War II in 1948 the IFYE exchange programme started,with the intention of rebuilding personal relations between youth

from the USA and countries all overthe world. The participants

had such fabulous expe-riences that they wan-ted to meet up againto relive and discusstheir adventureswith like-mindedpeople. The firstmeeting/reunion,when 15 IFYE’srepresenting sevenEuropean countries,

met at the WorldExhibition in Brussels in

1958, was the start of theEuropean IFYE Alumni group.

They had such a fantastic time thatthey decided to meet again the following year in a different coun-try, and hence the EIFYEA annual conference commenced andcontinued to this day.

Over the years, the IFYE exchange programme expanded; by1964 there were ten European countries participating, now there

are twenty and they offer various exchanges from 6 weeks to 6months to such places as New Zealand; Australia, USA, Canada,Costa Rica Kenya and Taiwan as well as within Europe. You stayin host families and have a unique chance to learn about the cul-ture and life in a country from the inside. Participants on theexchange programmes are known as ‘exchangees’, and aftertheir exchange they have the opportunity to join their country’salumni group. In addition, the exchangees can become a mem-ber of EIFYEA and most importantly attend the annual conferen-ce!

The exchange programme is organized differently in differentcountries. Make contact with your national organization that sentyou to the Rally or your national 4H/ Landjugend/ Young Farmers

www.ruralyoutheurope.com I F Y E | 1 2

Did you have a great week at the

European Rally or on your IFYE exchange

trip? Do you want to experience the fun,

friendship, and fantastic experiences all

over again, and again, and again? Do you

want to make the last day of the

European Rally or your exchange trip just

the start, not the end, of your career as

an international globe-trotter and friend

maker?

IFYE Exchange a friendship catcher and life long experience

and ask as for the IFYE programme. They are looking for candi-dates age between 18 -30 to send out.

In 2012, the conference was hosted by Sweden, this year it willbe held in Wales and next year in Germany, it is a great way tosee around Europe! The ‘conference’ (it is actually a social event)attracts approximately 140 – 200 exchangees. Some have justreturned from their trip in 2012 and others traveled 50 years ago!

In 2012 the 54th EIFYEA conference was held in Kungälv,Sweden from the 21st – 28th July. 150 members from 16 diffe-rent countries attended and experienced much of Nordic life.

The venue, Nordic Folk High School, overlooked a medievalBohus fortress, and a river – fantastic. The group attended amedieval festival in the fortress - including a display of medievalgames on horseback! The west coast of Sweden is rugged,undulating and rocky – on Monday, we had the opportunity toexplore the coastal towns, villages and islands to experience lifeon the coast. On Tuesday we split into teams and traveled byboat, tram, train, bus and on foot in Gothenburg on a treasurehunt. In the evening the fancy dress theme was ‘EIFYEA goesRoyal’, Princes’, Princesses, and Elvis ‘The King’ attended!’

On Wednesday, there were various trips to choose including; avisit to a mushroom farm where they literally grew before our eyes!On Thursday the traditional midsummer, celebrations were relived– several weeks late! We created our own floral garlands; learnedto dance; built a maypole; played traditional games; ate sevencakes (a tradition!) and concluded the day with a barbecue.Exchangees did what we do best: participated, laughed, partiedand enjoyed! Friday was relaxing: canoeing, massages, visitingthe coast were options prior to dressing up for the formal farewelldinner in the evening. Many stay up all night before departing forhome on Saturday and starting their count-down for the next con-ference! See a 6 minutes resume of an IFYE conference on :http://youtu.be/VCKJByREyg8

This year you could be there too! The conference will be held inMonmouthshire, Wales from 25 July - 1 August and there aresome places left. See the European section of www.ifye.org formore information. We hope to see you in Wales in July or at anot-her EIFYEA event in the future.

SALLY YOUNG & HILDE W. RISER

1 3 | I F Y E www.ruralyoutheurope.com

IFYE Exchange a friendship catcher and life long experience

www.ruralyoutheurope.com L I F E 3 | 1 4

A step into the unknownI will never forget the moment in the favela of Sao Paulo, Brazil, when the

little girl taught my Norwegian colleague and me how to play the

tambourine. We did not speak the same language, but she was very strict

about our errors and she had us practicing again and again until we did it

well enough to join the whole orchestra to play on the street.

Our projects in South America and Asiaare not about European helping thepoor. They are about equal respect andexchange in all directions. We can learnsomething new all the time if we areopen to what is around us.

As Secretary General at Rural YouthEurope my field is mainly Europe, butyouth work is my passion and on my freetime the projects reaches until China,Nepal, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela,Uruguay and Brazil. The project of 2013,Live Innovation For Environment,Entrepreneurship and Employment(LIFE3) is the third intercontinental projectI coordinate. As the name says, it isabout innovative and sustainable wor-king opportunities. In the previous twowe worked on equality between ethnicgroups and on non-formal education.

What these projects have in common isthe aspect of community developmentand that the target group is youth in ruralareas and suburbs –so a lot similar likewhat Rural Youth Europe does. Theseare multi-task projects which consists ofseveral seminar, volunteer projects, jobshadowings and meetings which all aretaken place during one year. The con-cept that has given the most to our par-ticipants is to “live another reality”. Thismean that we take off all luxury of fancyhotels and tourist sightseen and con-centrate on living the everyday life inanother culture by using homestays asaccommodation and keeping short termvolunteer project as the main activity.This is the concept that has given thou-sands of young people unforgettablemoments and the inspiration to do seve-ral long-term follow-up activities.

These intercontinental projects are main-ly funded by the Youth in Action sub-action Youth in the world and it is expec-ted that this kind of activities could recei-

ve funding also in the new youth pro-gram of the European Commission star-ting in 2014. Here follow my adviceabout project management of interconti-nental youth projects:• It is a big advantage to know the part-ners personally in advance and youcan meet them for instance on globalyouth congresses.

• Start planning the application severalmonths before the application deadli-ne to develop the best possible appli-cation and to get all partner docu-ments in original from the partners intime.

• Keep up the contact all the time withthe partners to act in time if changescome up.

• Have a preparation meeting in thebeginning of the project to togetherdecide on program of activities andcommon rules, and to clarify technicalprocedures.

• Give responsibility to the partners forthe activities they host – it might not beexactly like you as coordinator hadplanned, but often it might even bebetter than you could imagine.Anyway, be prepared to give supportor step in when needed.

• Do risk assessment together with thepartners – take into account every-thing from airline strikes and politicelections to poisonous snakes andearthquakes.

• A common working language make themanagement easier, but for the sake ofinclusion it should not be required. It ispossible to be creative regarding thelanguage, but expect translation/com-munication to take time.

At the volunteer projects we often workwith children in the local communities.

1 5 | P O S T C A R D S www.ruralyoutheurope.com

Greetings from Switzer

land!

I am enjoying early sp

ring here in Swi

ss

rural youth Gene

ral Assembly. I left

from

the -15 degrees

Tallinn and lande

d

almost +15 degree

s Zurich.

And here I am in a nic

e small town,

Neunkirch. Yest

erday we had tw

o excur-

sions to the loca

l businesses’; fir

st we

saw a farm that pr

oduces lumber woo

d

and uses it for e

nergy and the se

cond

visit was to the

Rimuss factory whe

re

they produce alc

ohol-free vines. E

vening

ended with big r

ural youth party

.

I have heard many room

ers about wake

up call in Switze

rland but

this time they used an e

mpty bin, I was al

ready expecting

chainsa-

w’s and cowbells

, bit disappointin

g. ☺

GA has been fas

t and productive

and emotional,

as almost half of

the board is end

ing they term. My highlig

ht of this GA wa

s how all

the regions than

ked their leaving

representatives

. I also saw many

familiar faces from differen

t Rural Youth Eur

ope events.

Thank you Ueli

and Swiss Rura

l Youth for invitin

g me, and good luck

for the new chai

rwoman Cornelia.

KADRI TOOMINGAS

Chair

Greetings from Vienna!

Your board held the first board meeting for this year in

Vienna, Austria. We met the very nice representatives

of Landjugend Austria over breakfast in a fancy café.

During the meeting we discussed their current situation.

They told us about what they are doing in Austria and

how their organisation is doing at the moment. During

the actual board meeting the development plan for the

next three years was discussed. Now it’s up to you and

your organisations to suggest what you would like to

have in it. All in all we had an intensive but productive meeting.

Now we are working on what needs to be done until the

General Assembly in Ireland in August. Maybe we see

you there?

EMMA SILÉNBoard member

• Prepare the participants well beforedeparting for the activities.

• Do the documentation of costs carefully.

• Read all details about rules for visa,immigration and flights.

• Follow up and support the individuallearning process of both participantsand leaders, it is equally important.

• Let the participants eat and sleepenough, then all other challenges areeasier to solve.

• In the end you are just the coordinator,so the content should come from thepartners, partners and communities.Trust in them, be flexible and expectthe unexpected –it is no use of a pro-ject coordinator in panic.

If you have further questions about appli-cation procedures or project manage-ment of intercontinental projects, don´thesitate to contact the Rural YouthEurope office!

PIA NURMIO-PERÄLÄSecretary General

At the volunteer project in Peru we haveshowed youth in the slums how to installsolar light bulbs and become entrepre-neurs on the field.

CALENDAR 2013

SPRING SEMINAR 2013“Coaching for inclusion: Closing the gap between urban and rural youth”

26 May – 2 June 2013,European Youth Centre Strasbourg, FranceThe overall aim of the event is to explore coaching as a tool for inclusion of young people. The study sessionwill explore how coaching can help young people overcome barriers they face in their daily lives and promo-te their social inclusion and active participation in society. Participants will gain knowledge, skills and expe-rience of coaching methods and techniques and how they can be adapted to different target groups. Thestudy session will promote multiplication of skills and knowledge by developing concrete tools and resourcesto use in the home organisations and local communities of participants. Participants will develop coachingtools and resources which can be adapted to different target groups in their local communities.

RALLY 2013“Get Involved!”

3 – 10 August 2013,Tipperary, IrelandMacra na Feirme will to host the Rally 2013 in Tipperary, Ireland on the theme of community engagement."Get Involved!" is a multilateral youth exchange for 60 young people from different rural areas in Europe. Forone week in August 2013, rural young people will have the chance to discuss and find solutions to the acti-ve participation of young people in the sustainable development of rural areas across Europe. The Rally willbring participants together to share their ideas and views on issues related to the lives of rural young people.The title of the project will be: Get Involved! Developing citizenship in rural communities.

AUTUMN SEMINAR 2013"Inspiring Change: Transforming Communities through Innovationand Entrepreneurship"

12 – 19 October 2013,Malvern, Worcestershire, EnglandThe National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) will host the Autumn Seminar 2013 in England.The seminar will explore the theme of youth entrepreneurship in rural communities and aims to strengthenintercultural links through citizenship. The study will answer the following key questions: Why is entrepreneurs-hip important in rural areas? How can social media be used in a positive light to support and grow businesses? What resources do we have at a local level that can facilitate innovation? How can Citizens useinnovation and entrepreneurship to make their communities better places now and in the future?

STUDY VISIT"Grab your future"

2 – 6 December 2013Brussels, BelgiumThe study visit aims to improve advocating skills.

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