YMCA World - June 2012

YMCAwORLDwww.ymca.int

YMCAan empowering space for Young people

N3 June 2012

EditorialGreetings from the Secretary General P 4

Youth Empowerment in Action P 5

World Alliance Executive Committee Meeting 2012 P 7

YMCA England P 8

YMCA France P 10

YMCA Georgia P 12

YMCA Germany P 14

YMCA Macedonia P 16

YMCA Kosovo P 18

YMCA Moldova P 19

YMCA in the Czech Republic P 20

YMCA Ukraine P 22

YMCA WORLD No 3 June 2012

A biannual publication of the World Alliance of YMCAs. Published in English and Spanish.

President: Mr. Ken Colloton Secretary General: Rev. Johan Vilhelm Eltvik

12, Clos Belmont, 1208 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: (+41 22) 8495100 Fax: (+41 22) 8495110 Email: office ymca.int Website: www.ymca.int Facebook.com/ymcas Twitter: www.twitter.com/ymcaint

Editor: Carlos Sanvee Editorial Assistant & Distribution: Suzanne Watson Graphic Design: Messaggio Studio Resource Material: Claude-Alain Danthe, Jose Varghese, APAY

Easter, for me, has always represented an invitation to reflect more personally on my faith and spirituality. While Christmas is a period of celebration, Easter becomes a time of introspection.

This year, Easter became a very unique reflective period for me in the midst of major YMCA movement shaping activities in Nairobi, Kenya. During this holy week, the YMCA World leaders came together and were actively involved in the strategic meetings held to prioritise and create an agenda for Youth Empowerment as the core focus of the World Movement.

While our thoughts and discussions followed a well designed process to describe and recount the various dimensions of the core focus of the YMCAs worldwide, I was, in my own way, reflecting on the link of this crucial stakeholders meeting to my own faith and spirituality.

On the one hand, I was reflecting on the path Jesus made on his last journey from Jericho to Jerusalem and the implications this would have on my own life. Ultimately, in following the path Jesus took, it invited me to embark on my own journey from Nairobi by using Youth Empowerment as the main vehicle.

During my mental and emotional journey I came across this biblical passage:In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17, NIV

I wonder why the youth and elders are shown to differ in this way? Why should the youth have visions and the elders dream? Why should visions come first and dreams come later? Is it intentional? How could this passage be applicable to us today?

Those who work with dreams professionally, such as psychoanalysts, explain dreams as manifestations of our deepest desires and anxieties, often relating to repressed childhood memories or obsessions. In much the same way I think dreams are an expression of the thoughts we dont always acknowledge to ourselves and the memories we avoid. In my limited understanding of the dreaming mechanism, they seem to represent a close connection to our history and past experiences and a wistful reflection of our desires. Our dreams then are deeply personal.

Visions and prophecy, are on the contrary, are related to our connection to the future, the unknown we fear, desire or wish to explore. Our relationship to the future and perhaps our visions of the future often extend to those fears, desires and wishes we have for others around us as well.

Youth Empowerment is geared toward the future. It is about sharing our vision of the world through the same lens young people will use. The scripture I noted previously sees the strength of vision and a determination of our future lie in the way in which the youth view the world. They do not dream of themselves only, they see a vision for progress and strive towards that future with the enthusiasm and energy. I think this is where the scripture was most enlightening. While the youth create a vision and strive for that vision, the older amongst us provide a memory through their dreams and act as guides, not obstacles, that shape and support youth activity.

As much as Easter represents a rebirth, for me it now also represents the rebirth of the youth empowerment vision within our movement.

Throughout the world, youth face impoverishment, discrimination and suppression of their voice. In this issue of YMCA World, we see how this is occurring and being addressed in Europe specifically. The YMCA is not insensitive to these realities. Our mission calls for us to stand for the most underprivileged and the most vulnerable and as such Youth Empowerment should be a concern for all of us.

Embarking on Youth Empowerment is not just an organisational strategic direction, it is also at the heart of our call to serve God and Humanity.

The stories published in this issue illustrate an expression of both dreams and visions. Dreams of how YMCA members in general want to see their societies and a Vision held by young people in their quest for a better future for themselves and the generations to come.

Carlos SanveeApril 2012

www.ymca.int YMCA WORLD JUNE 20122 JUNE 2012 YMCA WORLD www.ymca.int 3

Thank you to all the Stakeholders for joining us at a historical junction!

The 62nd Executive Committee meeting of the World Alliance of YMCAs took place in Nairobi Kenya a few days before Easter. We had also called for a Stakeholders meeting, as we felt that having reached a really important road crossing we wanted to ask the wider leadership of the YMCA for advice and direction. More than 80 YMCA leaders from around the globe came together in Nairobi to talk about NEW WAY and Youth Empowerment. Included in this number were the 30 members of the Executive Committee.

The ecumenical services that preceded the meetings filled the days with the gospel of Easter. Young African voices filled the room with songs about the suffering of the Son of Man and the Son of God. As we undertook our work, we also followed Jesus on his way to Jerusalem.

We started slowly by going back in history and looking at milestones from recent years of development, the Stakeholders meeting in 2008 in Geneva where Resource Mobilisation was discussed, the World Council in Hong Kong with a strong focus on young people and the need for a higher visibility in the world.

We moved to a presentation of the results from new research carried out by the World Alliance. One of the questions was: What do you understand by Youth Empowerment in the YMCA?

Then we presented the new vision Youth Empowerment in Action with the Change Model in three phases: 1. Space, 2. Transformation, 3. Impact.

KenColloton JohanVilhelmEltvik

After that we discussed in smaller groups for a long time. What did our YMCA Mission tell us about young people and the future focus?

We went into details of a possible Implementation Plan, we talked about the need for 200 young Change Agents to help us implement our vision on our way to the next World Council in Estes Park in 2014.

Enthusiasm started to grow; voices sounded louder, clearer, there were smiles on many faces. We discussed how to resource the vision; how to find the money needed to train 200 young people to be Change Agents for Youth Empowerment in Action?

Next day we worked in groups with people from our own Areas to discuss how we could implement this vision in our local situations, how we would adjust the vision to our own realities in the different parts of the world. By mid-day we were ready to test our common understanding of the vision. We all raised our hands in support of the focus for the world movement, for all of us, YMCA Empowering Young People. It was unanimous! 80 arms were raised in support of NEW WAY and Youth Empowerment.

Handshakes, applause, congratulations. This is unifying our movement!

In the afternoon we went to a local YMCA in Nairobi to experience Youth Empowerment in Africa, Subjects to Citizens, S2C.

The Stakeholders meeting in Kenya became a resounding success, excellently organised by Kenya YMCA and Africa Alliance of YMCAs.

GREETINGSfrom Ken and J

ohanWorld leaders from 30 different countries gave a unanimous thumbs up to

the proposed global Youth Empowerment in Action model at the YMCA

Stakeholder Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, held on 31 March and 1 April 2012.

This model builds on our rich YMCA context and history where we have recognised the immense and impactful contribution to youth empowerment at a local grassroots level. Essentially, our change model for youth empowerment will connect local, national, and regional actions. More young people will have confidence, will fulfil their potential and lead change. And we will collectively demonstrate impact and enhance our imagelocally and globally, said Johan Vilhelm Eltvik, Secretary General of the World Alliance of YMCAs (WAY).

While there was much debate on how to define youth empowerment, support was given to the change model and the WAY Secretariat was given the go-ahead to coordinate the roll-out of Youth Empowerment in Action, while area and national movement leaders committed to raising awareness of the model and working with WAY on its implementation.

The working definition of youth empowerment is: To give youth the platform and tools they need (whatever that may be, depending on the young persons starting point) to feel needed, trusted, and able to believe in possibilities, to further trust themselves to lead and believe they can make a difference, thereby becoming a change maker in the world.

This is about collectively mobilising young people on all continents, to possess the confidence and skills to express their vision and values, and to create change in the world. It involves 200 young change agents who will work at local level to ensure that the Youth Empowerment in Action is achieved, said Romulo Dantas, Executive Secretary for Youth Empowerment, WAY.

Three pillars characterise this model.Space: refers to the enabling environment or platform whereby young people are able to act, decide and fulfill their potential facilitated by the YMCA.

Transformation: Refers to the unique transformational learning and personal development the young person experiences by interacting with the YMCA in the shape of opportunities for development.

Impact: Refers to the personal life-changing experience and the community impact generated by young people on the individual and collective level inspired by a mindset of global citizenship and social responsibility.

The development of this change model grows from the work of the Impact and Image Task Force, and draws on the research conducted with the YMCA family.

Explaining the results of an image and impact assessment, Patricia Pelton, Chair of the Task Force, said, Youth empowerment is central to our work across the movement - it is this which differentiates us from other global movements. Now, there is a clear link between impact and image. To be well known and to attract new sources of funding, we need to demonstrate that we make a difference in young peoples lives.

In terms of research, the goal was to establish a clear picture of some of the biggest challenges facing young people in each Area of the world to help YMCAs better serve young people world-wide.

Youth Empowerment

in ACTION


World Alliance Executive

Committee Meeting 2012,

NAIRObI, KENYA

The NEW WAY strategy of the World Alliance of YMCAs (WAY) has

built a solid foundation in its first

year of implementation, according

to Johan Vilhelm Eltvik, Secretary

General, who delivered an address

to the World Alliance Executive

Committee, in Nairobi, Kenya,

during the meeting held on 2-3

April 2012.

The strategy concerns Youth Empowerment, Resource Mobilisation and Movement Strengthening.

The NEW WAY positions the YMCA as the main youth movement in the world, which in reality means that the YMCA is the main server to young people in the world. Our change model is designed to draw together all the work that is being done from local to a continental level, and in this way empower more young people and ensure we have even greater impact to provide young people with the space to transform their communities and the world, said Johan.

The NEW WAY fundraising campaign to raise funds for capacity building in the Areas and National Movements for better income generation on all levels of the YMCA is already a success, showing a return on investment of 5,5. This is being achieved through the Investors Circle.

It was noted that key resolutions from the Hong Kong World Council 2010 are integrated in the strategy. These include a clear focus on young people, increased visibility and positioning of the YMCA, and a focus on the Investors Circle.

Further, the four resolutions made in Hong Kong are all being implemented, those being:

Statement from the Youth Forum Acting and advocating for Climate Justice Engagement on Alternative Tourism Hoop Springs Eternal

The research results indicated that: Significant gaps exist in young peoples access to

education, health, jobs/employment;

Major demographic increases are forecast in the 15-29 age group in Africa, Asia and Pacific, and the Middle East;

Clear challenges are seen for all Areas of the world in youth employability. Unemployment is high in many parts of the world; young people represent up to 75%;

In general, youth involvement in the political process is low or is declining. Civic engagement and interest in volunteer service is rising;

Education is a challenge in all Areas of the world; and

Health issues include unnatural threats (suicide, accidents), known diseases (tuberculosis and malaria), alcohol and drug dependency, poor nutrition, obesity and diabetes, in addition to HIV/AIDS.

The four key areas that emerged as common in terms of youth empowerment are: Employment; Health; Civic engagement; and Leadership development

To achieve the youth empowerment goal, three key levels have been identified.

Preparations: survey, training curriculum, selection of change agents

Training and Capacity Building: training at Area level, aligning with change model, strengthening communications

Sharing and Visioning for the future: sharing Youth Empowerment in Action at the World Council 2014, visioning for the future at the Youth Forum

Reflecting on the NEW WAY of the World Alliance

The most important focus is on the statement from the Youth Forum. The NEW WAY places youth empowerment and young people at the centre of the strategy, and the Youth Empowerment in Action model seeks to unite YMCAs globally around this.

Climate justice has been added as an overarching goal for the focus areas of Youth and Health, Youth and Employability, and Youth and Civic Engagement. World Alliance engaged in COP17 through the Climate Justice Caravan and will be strongly represented at Rio 2012.

Alternative tourism is seen as an important part of the Global Citizenship engagement, and the World Alliance recently took part in a workshop in Cambodia and will continue to explore how it can coordinate this important engagement globally.

The Hoop Springs Eternal basketball initiative has been converted to the World Challenge and will be organised on October 13 all around the world with a focus on youth empowerment.

Many strides have been made in terms of increasing the image and visibility of the worldwide movement. Much of this involves deepening the social media penetration and in this connection, the World Alliance has received the NAYDO award for Social Media Presence.


For four nights last August, the UK hit the world headlines for all the

wrong reasons. What started out as a shooting by Police of a young

man in Tottenham in North London, escalated to riots in a number of

towns and cities across the country. Scenes of rioters fighting with Police,

looting and buildings on fire dominated our television screens and, for a

brief time last August, it felt as if the whole country had been engulfed by

a tide of lawlessness.

After the riots had subsided the inevitable public backlash of anger followed with one question being asked why? Were the riots caused by a deep seated resentment against government policies and their impact upon young people, or was the situation seized upon by a group of opportunists seeking to engage in criminal behaviour? Seven months on and that question is still being debated.

What has emerged has been the typical profile of a rioter early 20s, male, educational under achiever, more likely to have been a victim of family breakdown and likely to be without a permanent home. Many of these traits draw similarities with the profile of many YMCA residents in the UK.

However, despite these similarities and the fact that many YMCAs across England found themselves right in the middle of the riots, the number of YMCA residents arrested for offences relating to the riots remains in single figures. From the many hundreds arrested nationally, less than 10 (out of a YMCA residential population of over 7,000) have been charged with any offences.

The significance of this fact may not at first be clear, but what happened last August was that many YMCA residents had the opportunity to engage in, and maybe even profit from the riots, but instead rejected that option in favour of playing no part in what took place. Discussions with these residents after the event showed that many took that decision because they felt the YMCA was showing them a different direction and were opening up opportunities in life to them. These young people had a place to stay, they were being assisted in finding work and acquiring training why throw this away for a moment of criminal madness on the streets.

The national inquiry into the riots is yet to report, but it would do well to look at these cases. The YMCA in England has shown that where young people are given hope and opportunity they will do what is right. How many of those young people who did riot last summer may have done something different had they had similar opportunities presented to them?

Over the last year, young people from the English Movement have been

working closely with international colleagues in areas of peace justice and

democracy. As part of this work six young people attended a peace and

reconciliation seminar in Prague organised by YMCA Europe.

Adi Davies, a participant from Bolton YMCA said:

I benefitted hugely from my experience in Prague, after an emotional rollercoaster of a week looking at peace work and sharing amazing personal experiences with some very special people, I felt changed and challenged to do more. The global perspective of our movement felt very real, I felt inspired by the young leaders and volunteers, my opinion valued and I was in awe of some amazing leadership from the staff team of YMCA Europe. The links and friendships I have made will last a lifetime and the seminar has made me realise that peace work is something I want to be involved with in the future. A huge benefit for me has been understanding conflict and reconciliation better, being able to take the stories and situations back to my local YMCA and share them with others and the youth I work with. I truly believe opportunities like this are life changing.

At the same time as the seminar in Prague took place, six young people travelled to Bangladesh to participate in the School of Peace (SOP) Seminar organised by the Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCAs and the Christian Churches of South East Asia. One of those participants, Rachel Dyne from Tees Valley YMCA, took up the invitation to join the next SOP Seminar from February to May on the subject of living with diversity.

Reflecting on the days activities at the SOP seminar in Bangladesh, Shabeb Khan, and a youth work staff at City of Bradford YMCA in England wrote:

Another day, another lesson learned. Today we talked about transformation of ourselves and of society. Amazingly insightful as we learned that tolerance and acceptance of differences is not enough as this will not last. I have always been proud of the tolerance and acceptance of the British people but as we know there are many examples where this has boiled over and led to discrimination (e.g. the current situation with EU migrants). Instead we need to have engagement and dialogue and in such a way we can be one step closer to being a truly integrated society. This is not easy but each one of us has a responsibility to try to achieve this to have peace and justice. I feel we, in Britain, are closer to this than many societies but we can no longer live parallel lives with our minorities and must strive to change this. We must create a new identity for ourselves which combines and celebrates our differences rather than just tolerate and accept...

The English movement will use the experiences of all those who took part in the international seminars to empower young people to further promote the understanding of peace and diversity at a local level and ensure it is embedded in YMCAs and local communities.

YMCA England

RIOTS IN ENGLAND

The English Movement

works in partnership on peace

and reconciliation.

YMCA EnglandNational President: The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr. John Sentamu

National SG/CEO: Ian Green

Number of Board and Committee Members: 13

Programme Participants: 750,000

Top 5 most successful programmes: Housing, Healthy Living, Youth Participation, Childrens Work, Education & Training

Target Groups: Families, with an emphasis on young people

YMCA Spain National President:

Jos Antonio Corrales

National SG/CEO: Pedro Fueyo


Programme Participants: 8000

Top 5 most successful programmes: Childhood, Youth and Family Programs, Social Inclusion,

Employment, Camps, International Programs

Target Groups: Childhood, Youth, Family,

Immigrants.


Youth unemployment is high in France and particularly so in sensitive urban areas, where there is risk of social unrest. At the same time, some companies have difficulties in recruiting staff. This observation led the YMCA in Toulouse, the fourth largest city in France, to create Cap Entreprise in June 1993, an innovative approach which has proved to be very efficient. The following conditions for success were listed and applied:

Look for hidden jobs.

Build a partnership with private companies: more than 900.

Offer each job-seeker individualized support by a YMCA adviser.

Aim at efficiency in the recruitment process and prevent discrimination: as soon as a job is identified, a meeting is organized at the workplace with one single candidate (to give him/her a 100 % chance to get the job). No rsum is presented. 70 % of these contacts lead to a recruitment.

Extend the advisers support to the candidate in the workplace, for up to 6 months after the job is secured until he/she feels secure in the job and is satisfied.

A further step was achieved last June with the opening of Plateforme Emploi Entreprises, an employment centre in the heart of Empalot, a sensitive urban zone in the suburbs of Toulouse. The Robert Monnier YMCA joined other key actors to work together in one venue: private companies, represented by their national federation, the Medef (employers union); the State and local authorities; the Chamber of Commerce and Industry; local associations. This is a unique experience in France. The project is supported by the French State and the European Commission. Sylvie Llovera, in charge of Inclusion and Employment at the Robert Monnier YMCA, has been entrusted to coordinate this Plateforme.

Today, more than 50 % of the local residents who have entered the center have found a job and now have a more positive vision of companies. The recruiters are also totally satisfied. They have found the skills they were looking for. We hope that, resulting from these successes, that this innovative project will be developed.

Youth vacation & international exchange programsThrough our Summer Camps, International Exchanges and Work Camps, young people from 4 to 25, are invited to get involved in the choice and the organization of the activities on a day to day basis, as well as in the decisions concerning the group. These programmes are run by volunteers who have developed specific expertise, creating conditions for young people from different nationalities, social and cultural origins to mix, and welcome anyone who can be part of the project, whatever his/her difficulties.

A high level of tolerance and solidarity arises from these exchanges. Participants develop strong ties long after the end of their vacation, leading often to volunteer involvement. The 13 YMCA hostels in France also encourage social and cultural diversity. They are developed and run so that the price is really affordable (10 to 15 per night). They also remain open all year long, in order to secure permanent jobs for the local staff.

Civic Service: how to be a volunteer in France or to welcome a French volunteerDedicated to young volunteers (18 to 25 year olds), this programme, financed by the French State, similar to the European one, allows French people as well as foreigners to get involved in a YMCA organization in France and abroad. 20 volunteers were involved last

year. 40 will join us this year, developing a large panel of skills in the YMCA hostels and social residences, programmes for migrants, vulnerable people, and promoting sustainable development, etc

PassPotes: a joyful learning of democracy as young as 7 years of age.PassPotes is a camp for 7 to 12 years olds set in a beautiful landscape in Auvergne. How do you get organized when living in a group? Who takes the decision and how? The Conseil des potes (Pals Council) is here to make sure that everyone is listened to and takes part in the everyday decisions. In small

groups, the children elect their representatives. The would-be mayor must learn to listen, to argue and campaign for his candidacy, to respect each opinion, to help reach an agreement and be the speaker for his group...

Searching for what we have in common, beyond cultural differencesEach year, in a program run by the French YMCA, in association with foreign partners, a group of students, young workers, job-seekers, meet successively in their three home countries. Immersed in another culture, sharing educational and leisure activities, they are invited to think over what they share, overcoming

the usual clichs. The last tri-national programme involved young Burkinabe, German and French participants. The young workers from YMCA Le Havre will long remember their experience in Germany and Burkina Faso and have decided to volunteer with Burkina Faso.

YMCA France

YMCA FranceName : UCJG YMCA France Alliance Nationale

National President: Mr. Marc Lehning

National Secretary General: Ms Myriam Verger

Number of board and committee members: 10

Number of program participants: 80 000 (48 000 youth)

Top 5 programs: Employment programs preventing discriminations, Residences for young workers, Youth camps, Intercultural exchange programs, Volunteer program

Target groups: young people and vulnerable adults

The main fields of activities in France include: social inclusion and vacation & international exchange programs

YMCA DenmarkNational President:

Mr. Rev. Ole Bjerglund Thomsen

National SG/CEO: Mrs. Kirsten Lund Larsen


Programme Participants: Children, youth, young adults and

families

Top 5 most successful programmes: Children, Youth, international

project, leadership training, local development

Target Groups: Children, Youth

The YMCA Cap Enterprise

Programme:

getting a job when living in a sensitive urban zone


The YMCA of Georgia is one of the oldest existing Non Governmental organizations in Georgia. Since its establishment in 1992, the organization has been working hard to provide support and care to the most underprivileged segments of society. During the past 20 years dozens of programs and projects have been carried out, serving children and youth from orphanages, IDP (Internally Displaced Person) and poor families and ethnic minorities etc. There have been various challenges and obstacles, as well as many success stories along the way, but few projects made such an impact as Roots for Reconciliation initiative.

In Georgia, peace has always been urgently needed - something that was lost overnight and achieved with great difficulty. The word peace is present in everyday vocabulary of the people we use it when saying good morning; we wish peace when offering toasts for our loved ones at the table. Peace has a real value in Georgia... and throughout the entire Caucasus...

The aim of the project Roots for Reconciliation is to promote peace-building and civic participation in the process in the Caucasus region through the implementation of camps, and sub-projects in Georgia, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, with particular focus on involving youth from conflicting areas in the region.

Such initiatives are truly needed and are, in fact, implemented in the Caucasus region by many organizations who work hard to promote peace and to settle conflicts. I have personally been exposed to the work of many of them. But whilst they do invest remarkable efforts and energy towards the peacemaking process I observed one detail most of them speak and accentuate on conflicts, causes and roots of the conflicts... And The Roots for Reconciliation project was somehow different in its nature it focused on connectors, on things that once united people and brought them together; the common roots that they once had and still have... And, as a result, we now have leaders in YMCAs in the region that are peace practitioners they are young people that carry peace...

The Roots for Reconciliation project has been very successful in devising aprocess that creates a safe space for relationship-building based on Do No Harm principles. The young people have used this space to build relationships across cultural divides. They have done this on the basis of what can only be characterized as a deep love for their fellow young men and women. It is this ability to engender love across cultural and political divides that represents the main achievement of the project.

Bruce Britton (Framework UK)- from the Conclusion of the Roots for

Reconciliation Project External Assessment Report.

It was not an easy process, far from it we have implemented 14 major events within the framework of the project which involved hundreds of young people from different ethnic and social backgrounds; there were many difficulties in organizing and implementing the project, we have had tensions between participants and disagreements between staff; but the feeling that the project was worth all the efforts and energy has always been with us...

I would like to highlight two events within the project that have influenced me most In August 2008, Georgia suffered from a military conflict with Russia that resulted in numerous casualties and destruction, thousands had to leave their households and flee for safety. The situation was critical.

The project management staff was very swift to react to the emergency although there were no funds allocated to tackle this particular issue, - already in October, together with our partners and friends from Armenia YMCA, we were out serving those affected by the conflict.

Exactly one year later, in August 2009, 70 young people from Georgia, Armenia, USA & Russia got together in Yerevan, Armenia to attend ProFest. It was very sensitive issue to bring youth from Georgia and Russia together, with tensions still high and all the links broken between two countries... But we ventured and the event was total success based on feedback from the project participants that have been involved during the entire cycle of 2007 2010, the ProFest was the best experience of it all...

We were not the only ones to value the impact of the project positively it is now set to continue until 2015...

Its really one of the best periods in my life. These three years in this project I get so much that many people wont be able to get in their whole life. I even dont know how to explain my feelings about this project and its events. There is so much to tell, so many emotions, feelings, stories, memories, people and events . You dont understand the meaning of the word war when you dont see it and its results with your own eyes. And we went to see it. We were in Tbilisi and Gori only two months later after the war. We met with the refugee children and their parents. We worked with them and understand the real meaning of war how horrible it can be. Peoples lives were changed in few minutes; they lost their houses and become refugees. And I heard stories about how parents were afraid of toy guns or bombs. After seeing these all, of course, I want to live in peaceful region and peaceful world . As to me I would like this project to go on and on and never end because it did really very good things and still has a lot to do. I would like to see more and more participants from other countries and one day maybe from the whole world. And I would like to finish with words of Stefan Zweig who said: If you want peace - prepare it, prepare, without sparing the forces, every day of your life, each hour of your days. I think this is the thing that we did, do and hopefully are going to do.

Lusine Vardanyan - project participant.

Revaz Shavladze YMCA Georgia

Roots for Reconciliation Co-coordinator in 2007 2010

YMCA GeorgiaNational President: Zurab Bokuchava

National Secretary General: Gela Chikhradze

Number of Board and Committee members: 7

Number of programme participants: 300

Top 5 most successful (common) programmes/projects in local YMCAs: 1. Roots for Reconciliation, 2. Orphan Children,3. Refugee/Internally Displaced Children, 4. Cultural Heritage, 5. Jazz Program

Target groups: Underprivileged young people; Orphanage Children; IDP (Internally Displaced Person) families...

YMCA BelarusNational President:

Olga Lukina - National Board Chairperson

National SG/CEO: Alexandr Artushchenko

National Board: Evgenij Zhvirko, Sergey Shyman,

Vladimir Malashkevich, Anna Liskevich, Kristina Mirsalimova,

Vitali Mlechko

Tensing Committee: Nadya Lukashenko (Chairperson), Sergey Shyman, Viktoria Surkova,

Evgenij Zhvirko, Ksenia Timofeeva, Olga Krus, Artiom Golovachov

Scouting Committee: Vitali Mlechko (Chairperson), Olga

Belaya, Denis Ananiev

Programme Participants: members of the organization and schoolchildren, students, people

involved in actions (about 9-10 000 people a year)

Top 5 most successful programmes: The principal programmes of a

republican level are as follows: Youth for the Healthy Way of Life, Ten-Sing, Scouting, School of

Leader and International Youth Cooperation

YMCA Georgia

ROOTS OF PEACE


Talk to each other learn from each other: Politicians at the YMCASince 1997 the YMCA Germany has been running a country-wide campaign under the patronage of the current Minister of Youth. Members of the parliaments of the federal states, the German parliament, and the European Parliament visit YMCA camps, youth workers camps, international meetings and

congresses, and invite the participants to discuss about politics in general or about a specific topic. For a couple of years this has also been possible in other European regions. In that case, our YMCA groups meet politicians from the host country, or even diplomats.

PiP Politiker im Praktikum (Politicians in training)This country-wide campaign PiP exists since 2006, under the patronage of the German Minister of Education.

Members of Parliament of their respective federal states or members of the German Federal Parliament work as interns at a local YMCA for at least 4 hours a day, to find out about every-day youth work, for example at open-doors, as a workshop leader during a congress, as a referee during a sports event, as a cook on a YMCA camp, as a steward for a major event, as a craftsman during a work camp etc.

Both of these campaigns involve children, teenagers, young adults, and (young) families and youth workers. They both serve the purpose to show that the work of the German YMCA is recognized and appreciated by politicians, and in particular that our participants get in touch with politics in general and learn to develop their own, political dedication, and last but not least, that the general public recognizes the work we are doing as YMCA. Both of these campaigns take place all year round.

berlin dialogueSeveral times a year, voluntary and full-time workers of the German YMCA meet members of the German Parliament in the capital city of Germany, Berlin, to talk about political or current issues. Visiting memorial places and places, where politics are made, is also part of these trips.

These three projects serve the lobby work for young people and the work of the YMCA. Politicians get to know young, committed, voluntary youth workers. Moreover, they serve the purpose to create a political dedication among young people. YMCA workers get an inside view of political work and its context.

Sigrid MllerExecutive Secretary for youth politics,YMCA Germany

Starting in September 2012, the International YMCA University of Applied

Sciences, Kassel, Germany is offering a B.A. programme in Human

Development and Leadership (HumLead) online.

The programme is creatively designed to offer pragmatic, relevant application, with a blend of academic scholarship and practitioners engagement in cross-cultural dialogue and sharing of contextual experiences.

The degree programme will inspire those desiring a qualification in the field of Human Development and Cross-Cultural Leadership, for those engaged in NGOs, Mission agencies, for YMCA staff and voluntary leaders, those who have special interest in the area of cross-cultural understanding, conflict resolution and community development. It could also be valuable for people seeking a foreign degree which helps in personal and professional advancement in life.

The B.A. HumLead is fully accredited through the German government, hence recognized worldwide. Alumni will be able to move on to graduate programmes at any other university. The programme will be delivered in English.

It is a fulltime, three year programme with a combination of interactive online courses with two-week residencies (face-to-face) every year. These residencies will be held at different places world-wide offering exposure to different socio-cultural contexts, starting in Germany in September 2012.

The programme seeks to encourage sustainable development, inclusive Christian faith, ethical leadership, compassion and special skills to inspire participants to proactively hold on to tradition and change, particularity and plurality, human dignity and spirituality.

The program costs 300 per month with additional costs for the three mandatory residencies. Possibilities for scholarships in full or in part for deserving applicants who are formally recommend by the respective YMCA movement will be explored. The application deadline is April, 30th 2012.Those who need a visa may apply earlier.

For application please see: http://www.cvjm-hochschule.de/index.php?id=785&L=0

bAChELOR OF ARTS IN

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EVS (EUROPEAN VOLUNTARY SERVICE) STORYIn the middle of July Eva and Goran returned from their European Voluntary Service in Bulgaria. On 29th July and information sharing session took place in YMCA Bitola. Here are some personal impressions about what took place:

The Youth in Action Programme, administered by the European Commission, provides a legal framework of informal educationthat takes place outside the education system. Through one of its activities - EVS (European Voluntary Service) volunteers encourage personal, social and professional development, based on learning through everyday activities, learning by doing. The matters most discussed in this program are international solidarity and tolerance, anti-discrimination, xenophobia, etc. The goal of the EVS (a programme that is open to all young people of aged between 18 and 30) is to support young people to participate in various volunteer activities in and outside the European Union countries, working on individual or non-profit group projects with which they will have an opportunity to share their ideas and skills with young people around the world.

This experience is formalized through Youthpass a certificate where the volunteer individually submits what he has worked on and learned during the EVS project in which he participated. My EVS project, ONEnTHE CROWD was the project of FIRE-theater-art-culture FOUNDATION organization from Sofia-Bulgaria an intercultural dialogue of tolerance and

solidarity through theatre. The subject of the project was Xenophobia and its impact on society. During the project we were involved in the creation and performance of non-verbal theatrical performance associated with the above topic. Parallel to the work on the main performance, we were also included in the campaign to promote EVS and in the FEST STUDIO workshops for circus techniques, theatre and pantomime.

The main performance THE FIRE DRAGON included non-verbal performance that took place on stage and performance with techniques for open juggling with fire. Besides us, the volunteers from Macedonia, 13 other volunteers from Serbia, Greece, Spain, Poland, Lebanon, Sweden, and Bulgaria also participated in this project. The story was based on the traditional Bulgarian legend of Geo Milev, recast as a scenario for pantomime. Our work included preparation of a script, costume design, set design, all under the guidance of Elena Pap (theater director and an expert on non-verbal theater). Good cooperation, mutual understanding and friendship with the volunteers resulted in a successful performance and it was a memorable and unique life experience. If youre creative, you want to share your ideas and abilities with young people around the world and to learn something new, then EVS is an experience that you must not miss!

Ana Sekulovska

The Peace Corps volunteers and YMCA this summer again organized the Young Mens leadership camp in Tajmiste in Macedonia. We are proud to tell you that the camp was a huge success. Young men from all over Macedonia attended the camp and learned about Democracy, Leadership, Technology, Health, the Environment and Project Design & Management. 46 young people from different ethnic groups, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds also learned to accept one another, work together and become friends. A goal of the camp was to equip these young men to go back to their communities and take action to improve them. Over the next 3 months we will be encouraging and assisting these young men to implement projects for community improvement. So, not only was this camp was a success but it also improved the lives of the campers and helped cities and villages all over Macedonia. The Camp was fun and full of new experiences, for some it was a first to sleep outside in a tent. In addition to regular classes each day, campers could choose electives such as Hip-Hop dancing, languages, guitar playing, archery, and much more. We finished the week with Olympic Games and time around the camp fire where the young men could reflect upon the week and share their experiences.

Here are a few quotes from Leadership Camp:

Volunteering is helping in the development of our community, getting new experience and a chance to give the best from you.

Hristijan (Kicevo)

After camp I will have respect for other ethnicities and help others, making projects to make life in my community better.

Riste (Delcevo)

Before the camp I didnt care about my community. Now when I go home Im going to correct every mistake, to do better my community. I learned a lot of Health, what is good and bad for us. How to keep nature clean and how to protect the animals...

Giorgi (Prilep)

In first day I was camping and it was amazing because I have never been camping... I helped others and other campers helped me. In classes I learned how to make projects in the correct form, I learned how to be with other people of other nationalities, other religions...

Qani (Veles)

Young Mens Leadership Project was the best experience I have ever had.... I now know how to make a project; I know how to debate... how to work in teams...about health, environment things that I did not have any idea.

Shkodran (Gostivar)

The generous donations for this camp helped to bring Macedonia a little closer together and change the lives of its future leaders for which we, Macedonia and the campers, are sincerely thankful.

Written byNathaniel Hussey, Scottie Pinkster and Justin

Boutwell

YOUNG MENS LEADERShIP CAM

PYMCA NetherlandsNational President: Mr. Werner van Katwijk

National SG/CEO: Mr. Drs. Cees Bremmer

Number of Board and Committee Members: National Board consists of 6 members

Programme Participants: 50.000

Target Groups: Age groups: 6- 12; 12-16th; 16 plus; Our target groups are as well on local level as on national level; A trend is an increasing focus on healthy life style programmes

Top 5 most successful programmes: Summer Camps, Y-camps summer camps for kids with diseases like ADHD/ASS (autism); Summer camps for low-income or less privileged communities and families, Training volunteers programmes, Preventive local youth work programmes ( a wide range of activities,)

YMCA Macedonia

YMCA ScotlandNational President:

Professor Ted Milburn CBE

National SG/CEO: Peter Crory

Number of Board and Committee Members:

Executive Committee - 12

Programme Participants: YMCA Scotland provides

approximately 15,000 support and development sessions to young people each year. The primary target group for YMCAs across

Scotland is vulnerable children, young people and their families.

Top 5 most successful programmes: Street-based youth work, Health

and well-being programmes, Community-based Mentoring,

Youth and Family Centres, Refugee and asylum seekers

Target Groups: Primary target group is vulnerable

children, young people and their families


It is a phenomenal fact that in Kosovo more than half the population is under 25. This clearly means that if any solutions and changes are to take place this will have a higher likelihood to be successful if it comes through youth. Youth will always be that generation of any given population that is most open to learn, but at the same time is also most at risk to fall into extremes. Youth in Kosovo have not received adequate non-formal education that could unite their energy to work on the problems that faced them. Furthermore, very few were aware of social needs such as democracy and human rights. The previous political system has always discouraged any advocacy activities undertaken by youth-about youth. Nowadays, their energy and willingness to work hard on social issues related to the reality youth faces are being noticed. It is a chance for us to use this will and energy of youth and help them inspire each other by giving them a chance to build a common goal no matter the differences.

Just as anywhere else, youth in Kosovo respond with great enthusiasm to drama, music and multimedia. It is for this reason that multimedia activity has proven to be an extremely effective tool for engaging youth in a process of personal and social transformation.

The project Media Tools for Peace Advocacy teaches youth through training sessions, workshops and seminars about conflict resolution, democracy, peace building and social media. In parallel they have produced scripts and storyboards for four videos promoting peace. By receiving adequate training the youth become agents of social change through their media performances. Trained multiethnic young people who have been assigned in 4 teams according to their locations, will produce 4 videos in respective targeted communities as mentioned above according to the guidelines.

The project targets youth aged 17-24 years old. The reason we target this group primarily is that this is the age when people still develop their personalities, attitudes and cultural values, and define their lifestyles. They are also ready intellectually to understand social issues as well as skilled to work on movie production projects.

All the videos will soon be published on YouTube. Please feel free to join the YMCA Kosovo Facebook group.

YMCA Kosovo Team

On the Christian holiday, April 7, 2001, in the former Parliament of Moldova, YMCA Moldova Alliance decided to take part in the active assistance of the removal of building debris piles left by recent vandals after destruction perpetrated in the building is the former Parliament. Youth from the YMCA Moldova Alliance consider these actions a matter of principle, since not all the young people of Moldova should be associated with discontent and riots that took

place at the time. Many have their own rules and principles of Christian morality, which are aimed at building up and building a proper democratic state. Civic responsibility to their people must be present at each respectable citizen of his country. Youth is the future of the country and an example of the Volunteer YMCA Moldova Alliance, which by their deeds and good works show brotherly love and humility, which is inherent in every citizen a patriot of his country.

YMCA Moldova

YMCA Kosovo

MEDIA TOOLS FOR

PEACE ADVOCACY PROJECT


The YMCA in the Czech Republic offers a wide variety of leisure-time activities for children, young people and anyone with a young spirit. Each local YMCA has a specific programme through which it fulfils the YMCA mission statement. We do not have special programmes focused just on building Peace, Justice, and Democracy. All of our programs are intended to empower young people to be strong, mature citizens who work for Peace, Justice, and Democracy in the world. TenSing is an international youth work programme which offers a space for young people to express themselves through their culture with the help of creative cultural forms. The mission of the Scout Section is spiritual, moral and physical education of children and youth in the spirit of the YMCA and its fundamental principles. Summer Camps are one of the important means by which theYMCA has enriched the lives of young people from its beginning. Nowadays the YMCA runs around 70 camps a year each local YMCA organises camps

with different focuses sports, tourism or scouting; or camps with creative or spiritual programmes. Family meetings focus on the restoration, improvement and strengthening of family life as a basis forthe development of healthy individuals and society. The association organizes programmes for spouses, parents with children, youth and families. The YMCA creates cultural and sports programmes for children and youth under the age of 18. Programmes have a positive influence on their value orientation, self-knowledge andself-discipline,courtesy and co-existencewith others. After sixteen years of running basketball groups, we observed great achievements in the field of sports in the second basketball league. In school categories older and younger students earned the title Master ofthe CR. TheCzech team was at the World Championships in Brno and six players were nominated from the YMCA Znojmo.

YMCA in the Czech Republic

YMCA in the Czech Republic

National President: Rev. Yaroslavl Pechar

National Secretary General: Rev. Radislav Novotny

Number of Board members: 5

Number of Committee members: 21

Number of programme participants: 44 449 people

Top 5 most successful (common) programmes/projects in local YMCAs:

1. TenSing; 2. YMCAs Scout; 3. Summer Camps; 4. Family

meetings; 5. Korfball

Target groups: Young people, Families

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Creation of democracy, justice and peace among school children is one of the priority programmes of the YMCA in Ukraine. We believe that democracy, peace and justice have to be visible at school where children spend a lot of their time. This is why in 2011 a programme Dont Laugh At Me (DLAM) was launched by the YMCA. The Mission of DLAM is to promote a safe, caring, respectful environment for children and youth wherever they are. The programme comprises specially recorded music, interactive performance, discussions and other classroom activities.

DLAM came to us thanks to the initiative of a USA Peace Corps Volunteer, who saw its impact in his hometown in America, where this program is introduced in more than 20,000 schools. In December 2010 the founder of the programme, Peter Yarrow (from the legendary folk group Peter, Paul and Mary), together with his team of educators, visited Ukraine and held trainings for the YMCA Ukraine volunteers, who have been taught how to work on this project with school children and how to train other teachers and psychologists to use DLAM in their everyday work at school.

Today YMCA Ukraine has trained leaders in DLAM, who now work in schools in 8 local organizations. They regularly work with children and also hold training courses for teachers, spreading this programme throughout their regions.

Using the Dont Laugh at Me manuals a teacher or YMCA leader is able to create a caring, compassionate, democratic and cooperative school environment. Since the effective tool of learning is through doing, the manual focuses on giving children the experience of learning in a caring community - a classroom, characterized by a healthy expression of feelings, creative resolution of conflicts, appreciation of differences and equal opportunities for all.

The power of music and art are the best tools to transform, inspire, and build positive relationships among students. Different interactive activities in the program me help to empower them and to enable them to become respectful personal, important catalysts for good change in their class, school and community.

We really hope that by creating a caring and peaceful childhood we create a democratic society for the future.

Target groups: mostly young people 10-30 years of age, including children and youth from underprivileged social/economic groups, handicapped, orphans, and young criminals.

YMCA Ukraine

YMCA UkraineNational President: priest Ievgenii Zhabkovskiy

National Secretary General: Viktor Serbulov

Number of Board and Committee members: 6 members in the National Board; 5 program Committees from 3 to 5 members in each

Number of local associations: 21

Number of programme participants: around 2 500 participants of the constant YMCA programs, during the year through different programs YMCA reaches around 40 000 people

Top 5 most successful programs: HIV/AIDS prevention, Spirituality Development, Ten Sing, Sport (basketball mostly), Scouting

Target groups: mostly young people 10-30 years of age, including children and youth from underprivileged social/economic groups, handicapped, orphans, and young criminals.

PEACE, JUSTICE, DEMOCRACY

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YMCA World - June 2012