CU in 10 Years

the brochure is ready

2010-01-03T00:22:00.003+01:00

HURRAH.

We have the pleasure to present soon the CU in 10 years
brochure and you'll never guess where the first presentation
will be hold.

The launch is on 11 January 2010 at 16:00 hour at the
beautiful island of Saaremaa.

So join us if you dare or stay home.

the final outcome of the meeting in Bulgaria

2009-11-09T17:01:00.005+01:00

One of the main reason to meet in Bulgaria was to discus the final outcome of all the enquiries, investigation and research. After a long debate we came up with the following outcome.

TOPIC 1 – active European citizenship
Opinion Youth.

Bulgaria: There is not enough information about: the European Union, project possibilities, intercultural learning, youth issues and volunteering work.
Estonia: Youngsters don’t have sufficient knowledge about the opportunities for them in Europe. Also there is not enough support to realize projects.
Netherlands: A lot of youth from our region / community feel like Europeans. But young people miss information and do not know where to find the budget to set up projects.
Denmark: It is important for Danish youngsters to take part in a European society because it gives the youngsters so many opportunities.
Italy: our youth do not know much about European possibilities, both because of a lack of information about it and a lack of interest in this topic.

Opinion Policy makers.

Italian politicians believe in Europe and think it is important to create synergies between different realities. They are aware of the existence of European programs but they think they are not well advertised.
Bulgaria; They consider that for those who search there are enough opportunities for participation. They suggest that schools have to collaborate better with youth centres.
Netherlands: Our politicians thinks it’s a good initiative and they encourage it. They hope that youth from the region will be more interested in Europe.
Danish politicians are trying to reach everyone through interactive information campaigns. They are aware of the European dimension but it’s also far away from them.
Estonia: European vs. local awareness? There is plenty of information about EU. The essence of local government should be explained more: connections between EU and local level and which exactly the power range of making decisions is.

Overall outcome …..

Information about the European Union is not equally spread and the accessibility differs from country to country. Youngsters miss the direct link between EU and their life.
Youth can search on the internet to find more EU info but the EU websites are not youngster friendly and they do not appeal to the young people.
The distance between the youth and the European Union is big. Brussels feels far away.
Brussels expects that youth will come to them instead of they going to them.
More knowledge about the EU can lead to a better understanding.
The youth want to be more informed about the European Union.
The government needs to spread more information about the European Union.
European Union is not as popular as Brad Pitt or Kylie Minoque.
Make recommendations about the EU to make it popular.

We recommend to make special Youth groups that’s has only one task and that’s to promote the European Union.

Slogan: Democracy is our playground.

TOPIC 2 – Structure for the youth council
Opinion Youth.

Italy: The youth council is not known by Italian youth unless they are involved in it. They think politicians should pay more attention to them.
Denmark: We all have different problems to approach the youngsters. We have problems to get in contact with local policy makers, rules and budget.
Estonia: The connection with politicians is good but there should be more self-initiated projects which include the local youngsters
Bulgaria; In some schools youth councils exist and are actually supported by NGOs or youth centers. Young people there are active.
The Netherlands: It’s normal that we have school councils because it is forced by law. Youth councils should have the same priority as school councils. In our region we are lucky to take part in a well organized youth council that is organizing all kinds of projects and workshops.

Opinion Policy makers.

The Danish Government came to the conclusion that the task of gearing Denmark for the future can’t be carried out by the Government/Parliament alone. Everyone should take their share of responsibility to innovate. There is a big role for young people in this process.
The Netherlands; priority to youth councils given from Dutch politicians is different from region to region. It’s also dependent on the personal interest of policy makers. In general there is good cooperation and structure between youth councils and local politicians in Holland. So there are many roads to success.
Italians politicians are aware that this is a new phenomenon and they are willing to support it by giving a budget and by taking it into consideration. But they are against the idea of paying the youth council's members for their participation.
In Estonia the policy makers see youth councils as a link between town government and youngsters. The election system should be improved to decrease the fluency of membership and improve continuity in the process. A second option is not to consider fluency as a problem- it keeps the ideas fresh.
Bulgaria: There is a municipal youth development strategy but doesn’t work properly. Youth participation could influence decision making.

Overall outcome….

All the youth councils should be more organized on the initiative of policy makers. Ideally every town would have a youth council. The structure and opportunities should be the same throughout Europe. There should be better connection between youth councils and schools.
Youth counsels should work with their own budget and under independent organizations to avoid the conflict of interest of making decisions at a government level.

Slogan: The future needs You(th)

TOPIC 3 – Passive youth
Opinion Youth.

The Bulgarian youth think that activities for youth should be more attractive for them. To have safe activities with free entrance is important. Activities especially for young people in rural areas should be a priority as they are mostly forgotten.
Danish schools can be an important instrument to activate passive youth. It’s been proved that the right information is essential.
Estonian youngsters have a big workload in school. Not all of them can manage to be effective in school and be active out of the school.

According to the Italian youngsters, passive youth is a phenomenon that exists in Italy but they think this is starting to change positively.
Some Dutch youngsters are occupied with school, part time jobs, etc. Attempts to activate passive youth should start at schools and in local initiatives.

Opinion Policy makers.

The Bulgarian government wants to develop more programs for non-formal education and to recruit more youth workers and experts to avoid youth being passive. Parents also have to contribute. But the budget is often not available.
Politicians of Italy think passive youth is a problem; they found the origin of it in a negative approach to youngster from adults. They believe more opportunities should be given despite the low participation.
Estonia: If a person is happy in his/ her passivity, is there any need to influence him/ her? We should more focus on these young people who wants to be active but have a lack of resources.
Danish organization should match more with adventures. The Government is trying to encourage the traditionally passive population to become more innovative and active.
The Dutch local authorities try to get in contact with the youth to get them activated and interested in the local community. More structural youth work can be a solution but budget is not sufficient to make that happen.

Overall outcome….

In every country there are passive youngsters but the reasons to become passive are different in each country.
We have to improve the economic situation in some of the EU countries and give priorities to develop the lower class.
To give some opportunities to those who never tasted the cake, to let them eat the cake and to let them eat more if they like it. Preferably they start baking themselves after this.
There’s nothing wrong to be passive as long it’s your own choice, but also the government has to create possibilities where youngster can be active, like a youth council, structural youth work and to initiate different workshops/playgrounds, etc

Slogan: Passive or active, you choose

TOPIC 4 – Leisure time opportunities
Opinion Youth.

In the Netherlands we have opportunities for leisure time. Youth clubs and NGOs should be more aware what is trendy nowadays and appeal to them.
Italian youth claim that leisure time opportunities are enough, the main fields they are involved are sport and parish activities.
The existing opportunities don’t fascinate the Estonian youngsters any more. There’s a need for extreme sports opportunities and information should be more accessible.
In Denmark there are enough opportunities, but are they accessible and are they interesting enough?
In Bulgaria there are not so many opportunities and not always accessible for everybody. Youth clubs and NGOs should work together with the schools to attract young people.

Opinion Policy makers.

Italian politicians think that youth has lost the meaning of free time, they think that youth do not do something constructive and that they pass most of the time at pubs or clubs.
Estonian youngsters should show more self-initiative and write projects so the Municipal Authorities could help them. Because of the low amount of inhabitants it’s not reasonable to build a big extreme sport center.
Denmark has a long tradition for the freedom to establish associations. Many Danish in their leisure time engage in these partly because politicians might impose legal restrictions
Dutch authorities are willing to stimulate local youth initiatives and give budget for organizing activities. Unfortunately it will not come in structural funding.
The Bulgarian government has a leading role to inform teachers, youth organizations and parents about the leisure time activities that they provide. There are funds to develop such information campaigns.

Overall outcome….

There are many opportunities for leisure time but they don’t fascinate youngsters any more.
Old fashioned activities kill the fun, not trendy any more, boring.
There should be equal opportunities. Young people have the right to take part any kind activity and it shouldn’t depend on many.
A structural budget is a good method to activate young people and the budget should not based on what is left over in the total budget of a city or on priorities.

Recommendation. Youngsters should be motivated through good opportunities and financing.

TOPIC 5 – School system and dropouts
Opinion Youth.

The Estonia youngsters would like to have bigger amount of elective studies. Each student should be looked upon as an individual
Italian youth think that school drop-outs are not a problem because, especially in their region, there are enough work opportunities.
The Danish government should be aware that the schools need a study buddy in class to help students who want to learn but come from a lower social economical background.
Dutch youth that leave early school should have a whole social safety net before they become drop outs.
Youth in Bulgaria think that education is boring and old fashioned. The expectations to get good qualifications are not high. To avoid the amount of drop outs, the system has been changed.

Opinion Policy makers.

The Bulgarian Ministry of education changes the books, materials and trained teachers to use interactive methods of teaching. It’s a first step, but there is a long way to go.
Danish Politicians are aware of what happens in schools. Right now they are focus on the improvement of education.
Estonia: This subject should be closed because the lack of the students makes that the schools are competing for every student. It´s impossible to force everybody to get the basic education
In the Netherlands there are facilities for drop outs. And there is good cooperation between authorities, local NGO’s and schools.

Italian politicians think school drop-outs should be prevented by establishing a dialogue between institutions, schools and families. The school system should be improved and nearer to the local realities.

Overall outcome….

The school is too busy with producing youngsters for the labor market instead of focusing on individuality. The school is a learning factory which produces for the market.
The school is overloading the youngsters with information and this makes them stressed.
Most of the schools teach in an old fashioned and not interesting way.
A lot of pressure on the shoulders of young people, because of expectations of society and schools, makes some youngsters passive.

Slogan: Don’t stay off line Be connected!

TOPIC 6 – Career opportunities
Opinion Youth.

The Dutch youth from rural areas are sometimes forced to leave their region because of a lack of jobs.
Italian youth think that career opportunities should be connected with ambitions and talent. In Estonia there should be more possibilities to explore a variety of professions. Also the amount of jobs and study opportunities has to increase.
Danish youth think that career opportunities should be based on talent instead of age, sex or nationality. The government has to connect the different Danish schools to the educational systems of Europe.
In Bulgaria we have the problem that many young people escape from Bulgaria in order to find a better job. When they can’t find a job they live for a longer time with their parents.

Opinion Policy makers.

Policymakers of Italy think that career opportunities should be based on personal skills and abilities. They think that mobility is good, and that youngsters should not expect to find work near home.
Local Dutch authorities are trying to create more jobs in the local area. Policy makers are aware that investment in jobs can provide a good harvest, a spin off in the future.
The Bulgarian government tries to influence companies to create working places for young people in the regions and areas they live.
The Estonian municipal authorities can make the infrastructure for companies, which will bring jobs for people, but the city hall doesn’t engage in business.
Danish politicians have focused on giving training and career development and opportunities for employment, education and working conditions based on personal interest instead of nationality and social background.

Overall outcome….

Some of the countries don’t have enough career opportunities. Young people are forced to move into the big cities to have a career and the small cities are getting smaller and opportunities there are getting less.

Recommendation. Local authority should focus more on what the local environment can offer to develop jobs and career opportunities.

TOPIC 7 – Voluntary work
Opinion Youth.

In Estonia the information about volunteering is hardly available. Politicians should support volunteers more and should upgrade their position.
Not many youth from the Netherlands are aware whether or not they are involved in volunteering work. Volunteering has a very dusty image amongst young people. The ones that do volunteering work have to be rewarded more.
Bulgarian youth like the idea of volunteering work, but have no motivation. It’s not recognized and young people need money to live independently.
Italian youth think that voluntary work is positive because it unites society creating links with people that have different needs.
Danish volunteers often make a difference so it would be a great help when politicians could
help out to inform, to promote and to support volunteering work.

Opinion Policy makers.

Italian politicians consider voluntary work a resource. They are aware that this reality is widespread in our local area and they think that it should be better promoted but that voluntary workers should not get paid.
Estonia authorities think that volunteering work starts from home, and family and old people. The real problem is lack of motivation and information.
The Danish politicians are making promotions through campaigns for those who are related to the people who are in need. It is up to the public to choose to do volunteer work and to make the change.
In Bulgaria the authorities develop programs to promote volunteering. Economic difficulties are obstacles to motivate youngsters to be active volunteers. Parents should also set an example.
The Dutch government highly respects volunteering work. There are special organisations in the field to promote volunteering work. Despite this it’s difficult to find young volunteers because a lack of knowledge about volunteer work.

Overall outcome….

Some people do not realize that volunteering can give you an experience which is more valuable than money. In some countries the system for volunteering activities is underdeveloped.
Doing voluntary work in another country can be stimulating for youngsters to start volunteering at home. Experiences which were gained in other countries can be brought home.
Volunteering should be recognized as a vital part of a healthy society. Governments should promote, support and facilitate volunteers and voluntary work in their countries. Young people that are involved in volunteer work have to be rewarded (free library card)

Voluntary work is not voluntarily/for free
Voluntary work, no money but rich anyway!

TOPIC 8 – Environmental awareness
Opinion Youth.

There is in Bulgaria no environmental awareness. People throw garbage everywhere. There are lots of old cars on the streets. Schools don’t teach anything about the environment. Parents are a bad example for their kids.
Dutch youth are aware of the environment and there are several projects at schools to teach awareness from an early age.
Estonia: Acting environmentally friendly is a rising trend. There could be more discussion about it and practical notes for that in schools.
Italian youngsters see an increase in environmental awareness. They think government does not give enough means to preserve nature.
Danish youth are aware of the Earth that we are living on. We have to save nature and be responsible. A planet full of garbage isn’t worth living on.

Opinion Policy makers.

In Estonia the policy makers think that sorting the garbage is just the top of the iceberg. Industry sees saving the environment as a threat. It’s hard to find the balance between saving the environment and retaining economical improvement.
Policy makers in the Netherlands are aware of the rising environmental problems. They confirm that more information and cooperation with schools and eco NGOs can be a solution.
Italian politicians affirm that we are witnessing an increasing sense of respect for the environment from people, To foster this sense they are also cooperating with some Eco-organization and with schools.
The Danish Government is highly aware about the environment in Denmark. This is one of the main topics in Denmark. The government is running campaigns to reach the society to make people more aware of the environment.
In Bulgaria the government regard it as a serous global problem. In Bulgaria there is not a political structure for the environment. There’s no regular ecological information.

Overall outcome….

People should think more at a global scale when they want to solve environmental topics.
There should be more information spread to people about how to act ‘green’.
It’s not just about the garbage. You also have to think how to make less garbage.
Environment should have the full attention at home, at schools, in city halls, in the parliaments and always.

Slogan: Greenpeace: No Time To Waste! // Cool to be green (by Kermit)

TOPIC 9 – Alcohol and Drugs.
Opinion Youth.

In the Netherlands there is a general awareness amongst youth about the dangers of alcohol and drugs. The law gives a safe playground for experiment with alcohol and soft drugs. Alcohol is more accepted in our community than drugs. The amount of youth that is using drugs is decreasing.
Bulgaria youth drink, mainly because there is nothing else to do. Drugs are easy to find. Unfortunately there are no preventative projects running.
Italians youngster believe restrictive policies do not work, the also think that the network of information works well.

Alcohol and drugs is a big problem in Denmark. Youngsters should be taught to take more responsibility. Society should be made aware of the dangers through promotion and campaigns.
In Estonia the use of alcohol is widely spread amongst youngsters. The image of drinking youth however is not considered as normal. Drugs is not a big issue.

Opinion Policy makers.

The Bulgarian government should take a leading role to support schools and youth centers to create more prevention and health campaigns for parents, youth and children.
Danish politicians are very aware of the problem among youth in the society and they have created preventative campaigns. More information should teach youngsters to be more responsible with alcohol and drugs.
The Dutch government is active in campaigns about the danger of alcohol and drugs. They are aware of the problem and are at the moment more focussed on the problems that it gives than on the preventative side of this issue.
Italian politicians think that alcohol and drugs is a big problem for young people. This problem is not only a social problem but it is related with the local culture. They think repression is not a good policy.
In Estonia the awareness of the influence of drugs and alcohol is too low. There should be more discussion about it in schools

Overall outcome….

All the 5 countries, according to the interviews, consider drugs as a possible problem and they are worried about it.
Preventative activities should start from the family. There should be more preventative activities around alcohol and drugs in all countries.
The experience in all 5 countries is that the amount of drug users is not bigger than 10 years ago but they use more alcohol and drug per person now. There should be more preventative activities especially for parents and school. There should be an emphasis on the healthy use of drugs.

Slogan: Only fools kill their own life

TOPIC 10 – Xenophobia
Opinion Youth.

Youngsters in the Netherlands have a growing fear of the unknown. The intercultural dimension in our region should lead to a dialogue instead of an “us against them” feeling.
According to the Italian youth xenophobia is a phenomenon that exists, and social integration is difficult to establish.
Unfortunately there aren’t enough opportunities in Estonia to explore people from totally different cultures but there is a great interest of that.
It’s not only a main topic in Denmark: It’s a problem in every country. Although it’s different in every country, in a way, the main problem is the same. We all fear something different or new, therefore we must be open minded.
Discrimination in Bulgaria against minorities exists in our country. In general people have equal rights and should access for education and job.

Opinion Policy makers.

The Danish Government is aware of this topic. They try to make the society better through their foreign policies. It takes time to solve the problem, and society must help immigrants to integrate.
There are immigrants from many different countries in the Netherlands. Besides this we have a very diverse society. The government gives a lot of attention to build bridges between the different cultural groups to fight xenophobia.
Policymakers of Italy are aware of the presence of minorities; they disagree on the methods to use for fostering integration: some think its a government duty but others think it is an immigrant’s duty.
Racism isn’t that big an issue in Estonia. We should more focus on school bullying and problems which are based on differences of characters and statements
Each municipality in Bulgaria has their social integration programs and strategy to prevent discrimination. The government gives information about social inclusion projects

Overall outcome….

Some immigrants don’t want to be integrated and there are also not enough possibilities for that.
Make sure that people don’t have to emigrate, invest in the countries where immigrants come from .
There is also national xenophobia (Estonians- Russians, Bulgarians- Turkish , North and South Italy) and tension between social groups (city-country side, rich – poor, homosexuals-heterosexuals, educated – non educated, etc)
Not all people are xenophobes but it seems that it is a growing topic nowadays.
Xenophobia can be prevented with education. Kids that are brought up with an open mind will be prepared to live in a multicultural society.

Recommendation. To create a tolerant environment there should be debates and also more information spread out.

Quote: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though
passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely
they will be, by the better angels of our nature”.

TOPIC 11 – Health care
Opinion Youth.

Italian youngsters think that public health is well performed, especially in their region, and present some cases of excellence.
Danish youth is satisfied with the health care system. Maybe create better facilities for the handicapped and more focus on mental health care.
Youngsters from the Netherlands are satisfied with the health care system, although there is an increase of youngsters that doesn’t use the health care system because of financial reasons.
Bulgarian parents take care of their children’s health. Despite the fact that they pay health care insurance, the service in hospital is very bad and often you have to go again to the doctor.
Estonian youth think that the availability of health care is reasonable but not the quality. There is not enough attention to mental health.

Opinion Policy makers.

The health care service in Bulgaria has recently changed. The government uses measures to control the fees and taxes for health. They need extra funding for medical equipment
Health care in the Netherlands is well organised and hardly gives any problems. Government is encouraging people to start a better and healthy life style.
The health care in Estonia is a big problem because of the lack of financial resource. People should pay more attention to their health and lifestyle and take more care of themselves.
Italian politicians affirm that in our region public health is well organized, it works and it presents some centres of excellence. They also claim that there is a process oriented towards improving health services.
The Danish government supports a healthy lifestyle. The government has improved over the last 10 years the health care system through an increase of the budget for hospitals.

Overall outcome….

Upgrade the profession of doctors and nurses.
The quality of health care should not be related to the region but to personal interest and development.
Stimulate people to go for a healthy lifestyle.

Slogan: Take care of yourselves

TOPIC 12 – Improve infrastructure
Opinion Youth.

The youth of Italy think that public transport should be improved, they feel that there is no policy oriented to help them to be independent.
The Danish government has to improve public transport and provide access to everybody, under the condition that it’s affordable. Internet should be free and available for everyone.
In Bulgaria there is no such thing as improving infrastructure. Youth should have a discount on busses and trains to promote public transport.
Public transport in the Netherlands is good. There are special roads for bikes and youth feel safe to use them. Internet should be for free and available for everybody.
On the island of Saaremaa (Estonia) we do have a physical bridge to the mainland: we should develop the virtual one more: e-work centre.

Opinion Policy makers.

Main priority for the Government is to implement the necessary economic infrastructure. This is to ensure that Denmark will be capable of globalization and expanding welfare.
In Bulgaria there is simply a lack of money that will improve the infrastructure network in the country. More external funding and experience is required.
Italian policymakers are aware of the lack in the public transport system, they believe this is due to cultural reasons (massive use of private transport). They also are aware of the lack of policies for youth.
Estonian Infrastructure improvement is the way to make the well-being and living environment better. Roads should be good quality and safe to use. Internet should be for everyone and for free.
The Dutch government is responsible for infra structure and provides us with good roads and adequate public transport. The influence of commercial businesses will not make it easy to provide everybody with free internet.

Overall outcome….

Public transport should be available for everyone at a reasonable price.
There should me more opportunities to ride safely on a bike (special roads)
To provide young students with the possibility to become more independent from their family the school infrastructure should be more focused on the needs of young people.

Slogan: Don’t miss the last bus

we proudly present Mineralni Bani

2009-10-05T13:21:00.003+02:00

The Mineralni Bani Municipality, District of Haskovo will be your safe harbour for the coming days. To get more knowledge and background information about the location where you will be from 8 till 14 October we advice you to check the following website:
http://bulgaria.domino.bg/mineralnibani/eng/index.html

The hotel is called
Mineralni Bani
6343 Haskovo
Bulgaria
00359885 551462

daily program of the third CU meeting

2009-10-05T13:11:00.004+02:00

Thursday 08 October
Arrival in Bulgaria at Sofia airport. From there we take the bus to Haskovo

Friday 09 October
Morning:
- Ice-breaking and getting to know each other, different name games
- Deeper explanation of the meeting, making 2 groups on:
- How to promote CU in 10 years at school and target groups
- designing the brochure
After Lunch : Start of the workshops: promotion and designing
Evening : Going to the youth centre in Haskovo for a CU in 10 years party

Saturday 10 October
After breakfast
- energizers
- Travelling to Plovdiv, sightseeing tour
- Dinner will be served at the location.
Evening : Cultural evening, games, informal moments

Sunday 11 October
After breakfast : energizers and ongoing with the 2 workshops
After lunch : games and ongoing with the 2 workshops
Evening : presentations of the 2 workshops and group present first draft of brochure and try out of the presentations

Monday 12 October
After breakfast : travelling to Haskovo and visiting the schools in Haskovo to present CU in 10 years
After lunch : Ongoing with the 2 workshops
Evening : games in the theme of CU in 10 years

Tuesday 13 October
After breakfast : energizers and evaluation in several groups
After lunch : Making final arrangements of future projects
Evening : Farewell party

Wednesday 14 October
Travelling back to Sofia airport

written report of Texel meeting by Olga Poddubnaya

2009-08-17T22:38:00.003+02:00

This is a short report about the 2nd meeting within the CU in 10 years project, which was hold, to great fanfare of all, not far from the most beautiful city in the world on island of Texel.

19 June 2009. Twenty fresh participants landed at the most beautiful airport at the world and a fast Dutch bus took them all the way to the most beautiful island of the world called: Texel. First evening we were having rest after a long journey and starting to get to know each other in the relaxing atmosphere of the bar in our hostel.

20 June 2009 work was started. In the morning we did some games to learn each other names, dates of birth, favorite food and some more personal information like color underwear each of liked and the size of your penis. Then those who were participated in APV in Heemskerk, (6-10 March 2009) made a small overview for all participants on how the project was started, what was discussed there, what topics where selected and why. Participants had chance to give their own opinions on selected topics and add new ones after discussion in country group.
After lunch we all went to the most beautiful city in the world to take part in the opening of new exhibition in Richter gallery, called “Moving machines”, Remco poured out the wine, while all the others were tangent to contemporary art. Two hours later boat brought us back to Texel and to presentations of work which was done by participants in their countries before coming to 2d meeting. This day, like all the others, finished with reflection in country groups, meeting of leaders and having fun together while discovering the sorts of local beer.

21 June 2009 was started with the games, where we were normal rabbits, king-rabbits and oranges hunters. Later during the work participants experienced different group role, like chairperson, observer and timekeeper, their discussion were focused on main topics, they shared with each other their opinions as well as the opinions of policy makers in their country. As the result they created mottos and definitions, which expressed their point of view and general vision of the issue of people from 5 different European countries. In the evening we still had energy to show people in the local bar, what it means to party and have fun.

In the morning on 22d of June 2009 we were playing with Bulgarian girl’s pillows, killing each other with the counting till 11 and for the first time singing a song, which later stacked into our minds till the end (na, na ….na,na Everybody, Bonchance! Success! Powadzenia! Sekmes!). After games participants went back to the discussions around main topics, challenging themselves with taking new roles in the group.

23 June 2009 after final evaluation in the morning each participants got the most ecological mean of transport and we went to bicycle-tour around Texel, friendly people were greeting us with a smiles, black and white sheep with glad be-be-e-e and little seals were clapping with their flappers. Happy and tired after trip we were invited by Peter and Remco to visit nice refreshing place, which was Texel brewery.

24 June 2009, you can get impression about this day if you will imagine how it is to leave the most beautiful island and city in the world.

More about the results of group work during the second meeting you can found out following the link:http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgtn8cnw_11gnkr5mdg&invite=266373891

Texel report written by Marii Eliise Rüütli

2009-07-06T22:42:00.002+02:00

Hi everybody! My name is Marii Eliise Rüütli and I am from Estonia. I was on Texel island in Holland, at the 2nd meeting of CU in 10 years project with other participants from Bulgaria, Italy, Denmark, Holland and of course Estonia. Like the previous reporter (Andrea from Italy) this is for me also the first time for this kind on projects. CU in 10 years has many topics that I am interested in. The thought that we can influence politicians to make our life better and that with our, the youth, ideas is just amazing. It is a great opportunity to get experiences and contacts and good friends from all over the Europe. From this kind on projects we can see that European countries don’t have big differences and most of the problems are the same. It is much easier to solve these problems together and the last meeting proved it. It might seem like we just worked there- not at all- Peter and others made very funny games for us. Every game made us more and more friends and what was the most important for me, they kept us motivated and energized.

At the Schiphol Airport we had almost the same funny thing that Italians had last time. The only difference was that Estonians and Italians recognized each other from the last trip and like last time the Danish came to ask if we were there for the project, but there was some confusion and we thought we are from different projects. Finally, when Peter came we found that it was the same project after all.

At the Schiphol airport we met near the red & white colored meeting point. After talking a bit about the transport and other “important” things we went on a bus and started moving. On the way we picked up the Dutchmen and a Belarusian volunteer Olga who helped out Peter and Remco. Finally we all were on the bus moving towards Texel Island.

First days were for getting to know each other trough different games: energizes and ice-breakers. Also we visited The Most Beautiful City In The World, Den Helder, where Richter is situated. At the same time they opened a very interesting and unusual art exhibition where everyone could take part and discover the instruments that were shown. I would like to add that the instrument that a man was playing was called Tiramine (cool instrument). We also had a little bit time to explore the most beautiful city in the world and I have to say that it really was beautiful.

The working days were quite intense but interesting. Firstly we talked about all the 11 topics that came out at the APV meeting and this time there was 1 addition: health care. Also we practiced an interesting method of discussing the topics in smaller groups. There were 3 roles: timekeeper, monitor & chairman…oops…chairPERSON. Every international group had one of them. I think that everyone did a great job with the roles.
In the evenings and nights most of us were outside in front of the hotel smoking …... or just being passive smokers. The town was also full of life when our group invaded it, especially the cozy place Café De Slock, where we spent some great time together. All of us got along and there were no problems.

The leaving was very sad because we had so much fun and all became very good friends. And the island itself was too sweet to leave behind.

Many of us started to think that it would be a really good idea to make some new project and continue with the CU in 10 Years idea, because the projects each topic need a lot of discussing and we have the people who are interested in these kinds of issues. We also talked about the next meeting in Bulgaria, I’m very curious to find out how the next stage of the project will turn out to be.

For the conclusion I would like to say that the second meeting went well. For so few days we talked about 12 big topics that each would actually need at least 1 day of discussion, but we already got some constructive ideas and common conclusions. So congratulations for all of us and for these guys who made this project happen!

Thanks For Reading,
Marii ;)

coming up soon !!!!!

2009-07-02T08:50:00.002+02:00

Bulgarian group report

2009-07-02T08:41:00.001+02:00

Here you can read a short group report from the Bulgarian group. It’s been made before they came to Texel and just after they finished their first CU in 10 Years steps.

Bulgarian group report.

In the beginning of the project there was an information meeting, organized by the national group. We presented the project “CU in 10 years”. After that we invited all those youngsters who had interest to take part in the project. Those were young and active people who didn’t know each other before. We had a meeting for detailed introducing the project objectives and we divided our personal duties. Some of us were working on the street surveys; others were responsible for preparing the discussions with the local decision makers. Two girls made the street surveys and six more took part in the interviews.

Invitation letters were sent to representatives of the local authorities. They were asked to arrange dates and suitable time for the meetings with us. We didn’t receive an answer to most letters, probably because of the politicians’ duties and lack of free time for the local elections. But there were some who were ready and open to discuss with us the project topics.

We also organized a meeting for promotion of the project and the aim: to create a youth council. The meeting was held with students from the local youth parliament in Dimitrovgrad and volunteers from their local youth centre. We first presented the main activities of Haskovo youth centre and the opportunities for leisure time activities that are provided in Haskovo. Then we talked more about the project ideas and aims. The youngsters were very interested in the activities and we received support by them in sharing experience. We had meetings with youngsters from other smaller towns in Haskovo region. Our leader organized meetings with members from the Regional Youth Councils in Stara Zagora and Plovdiv. Lots of experience was shared between our group and those who have had more knowledge in the filed of youth policy development.

During the first stage of preparation a local journalist and a local expert of social science were consulting and helping the group to prepare the questions and themes for discussions with the politicians. We received a lot of useful information about the local strategy for youth development, about the structure of some institutions in the field of youth work and some legal regulations regarding the establishment of NGOs and a youth council. They also help us to develop materials that we used during our surveys and interviews.

We used Dictaphones and a video camera when interviewing the people. We all worked together for collecting all information, translation and preparing the subtitles, cutting and editing the final materials. An EVS volunteer – Koert from the Netherlands was filming all materials.

We took part in an information meeting about the project CU in 10 years and also learned a lot about other opportunities for young people in other countries like: participating in youth exchanges, EVS in Europe, youth initiatives and training courses… A lot of local young people, teachers and others from the community came and took part.

Now we are looking forward to meet the other groups from Denmark, Holland, Italy and Estonia..

IT WAS FUN TO DO EVERYTHING TOGETHER!!!!!

CU soon for the 2nd meeting

2009-06-04T20:46:00.011+02:00

In 2 weeks time you will be lucky (again) to land at the most beautiful airport in the world and have the luxury to be a real sailor that will cross over the wild oceans to find yourself on the island of Texel. However …. It’s not yet time to get on board. So before showing your boarding pass to the stewards, we want to inform you about a few things.

The traveling to TEXEL. A lot of you arrive early in Amsterdam and will spend free time in the most beautiful capitol of the world. We suggest that everybody comes back at the airport at 18:00. Around that time we will travel by coach to the island of Texel. Our planning is to get the ferry of 20:30. The crossing takes approximately 20 minutes. From the harbor of Texel we travel by coach to the youth hostel.

Free time in Amsterdam before Texel. We will be also at the airport to pick you up and suggest that we meet at 18:00 at the meeting point what is located in the central hall of the airport and is recognize as a big red block artwork called Coda. Every 15 minutes trains are running from the airport to Amsterdam central. A return ticket cost you € 6,20. You can leave your luggage behind in a locker at the airport.

General information of what is good to know before arriving to the most beautiful country in the world: We have booked rooms for 4 persons. Ear plugs will be a good options to bring along. No need to bring a sleeping bag or towels with you. The hostel provide bed linen, blankets and towels.

Food and drinks: the hostel served 3 meals a day as well the daily coffee/tea break. These are free of charge. Other drinks are for your own account.

We have plan a cultural evening, so bring some typical folklorist drinks and kitschy food from your country to the Netherlands and to share it with the others on the cultural evening.

On Wednesday morning we will get you back –on time-- to the most beautiful airport of the world.

What to do – in other words: (a short) daily program:

Friday will be a traveling day to Texel.

Saturday : getting to know each other games and making a structure for the rest of the week. After lunch : guest of honor at opening of a new Richter exhibition in the most beautiful city in the world. After diner ; continue with the program with a presentation of each partner countries and to give feedback over the diagnostic over the findings.

Sunday and Monday : designing the interviews, discussions in small work groups.

Tuesday : making plans and structure for the final meeting in Bulgaria, evaluation, fare well diner.

Wednesday : everything comes to an end, also this visit. It’s our duty to drive you back and to make sure that you leave the most beautiful country in the world.

Of course the program is in concept, any feedback is welcome.

For emergency, the address of the youth hostel is:

Stayokay Texel,
Haffelderweg 29,
1791 AS Den Burg,
Tel 0031 222 31 54 41

Important Texel information can be fund at :

http://www.stayokay.com/index.php?pageID=3207&hostelID=356058&language=en

http://www.texel.nl/index.php?mediumid=1&pagid=269

http://www.texelse-speciaalbier.nl/texels-bier.html

http://www.ecomare.nl/emc.asp?pageId=490

http://www.texel.net/en/

APV report in Heemskerk, 6-10 March 2009, by Andrea Canil

2009-04-26T16:24:00.001+02:00

Hi everybody, my name is Andrea Canil and I'm going to tell you what has happened during the APV of the CU in 10 years project, that took place this march in Heemskerk. First of all I want to tell you that this is the first time that I participate to this kind of projects, I did not know what it was going to happen, I was interested on the topics of the project so I decided to join, willing to work with other youngster like me, but it was for me a big surprise discovering that it was not only a boring workshop, but it gave me the chance to meet other youngsters like me from, lets say, all over Europe, it gave me also the chance to have an exchange of ideas with them and, with my big surprise I had a lot of fun.

The first funny thing happened at the Schipol airport, we were supposed to meet near a big white and red advertising structure, and me and my other Italian friend, Gianandrea were sitting there waiting for the others to come but we didn't realize that we were sitting just next to the Denmark participant Victoria and Mette this was very exhilarating half an hour later when we discovered that.

Anyway at the airport we met the other participants from Estonia, Bulgaria and Peter our Dutch crazy leader and we moved straight on to what we used to call our Castle. In fact we stayed in an hostel that once was a castle, and except for the first days we were the only living inhabitant of that, I underline living because the legend says that a ghost of a lady use to live there, scaring the host because she think that the castle is hers. In the hostel we met also with Remco, the other Netherlands leader and my enemy for what regards the food, in fact we both like eating and it was like if we challenge each other to who was going to eat more, and he beat me, eating all the spring rolls one night (I can't forgive him because I hadn't eat them) and with the other Dutch group members.

Saturday and Monday was working days our goal was to settle a final common framework of the project, defining the items we are going to investigated, the priorities and the following working methods that we are going to adopt. We had a brain storming for decide the themes, each group was suppose to name some topics that believed worth to analyse, and the interesting fact was that more or less each one of us had the same ideas. With the help of coffee, tea, sweeties and some times some laugh we came to define 11 items and ordered them by importance. During the second working day we had define better the topics, and for each one of them list a series of aspect that need to be investigate. This was the result of a division of small inter-European group in which each one of them was suppose to write some questions to ask the policy makers. This part of the work was actually very funny because each group was in a different room with Remco and Peter running from one room to another delivering the big piece of paper where the question had to be written, it was like being at a human assembly-line. At the end of the day the framework was finished, details discussed and CU in 10 years ready to became reality.

As I said this APV was not only working, but we had also some leisure time, for example in the evenings, after work we were used to chill out at the bar with some beers or wine. We also played a role-play game Mafia, in which each participant interprets a charter that could be the Mafia's gangster, the Policeman, or the Healer and the scope of it is to find out who is the gangster before he kills everyone else. Funny things Italians were pretty good at it but also Netherlands was not bad and Estonians have a vocation as Healer.

We also had the chance to have a short sight of the Netherlands; in particular we visit THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE WORLD, namely, DEN HELDER. There we saw the headquarters of the Richter association and we met the European Volunteers who where so kind to offer us a guide tour of the city. The interesting thing about this visit is that I had a glance of what it means to do an EVS, and it suggested me the idea that maybe one day I can also do it. Later the same day, it was Sunday; we went to Harenkarspel, where we met the members of the youth council of Nieuwe Niedorp and Harenkarspel. They presented themselves and gave us a short summary of their activities and the way they are organized. The surprising thing, for me, is that they have their own budget and they can dispose of it as they want, and also that they are accepted to participate at the town commissions, in other words they are several steps forward respect the Italian reality. Here we had also the possibility to discuss briefly the project together and also to have an exchange of ideas and opinions over other topics not strictly related to the project itself.

I want to conclude this tale by telling you what happened the last day of our staying in the Hostel. After played the Mafia game and had some drinks, everybody decided to go sleep, quite early because the following day we all were going to face the long journey to go back home, but there was a last thing to do, an unanswered question to solve: is there really a ghost in the castle? The bravest of the group decided to wear the imaginary Ghostbusters suits and go to hunt it. As I said everybody was sleeping, all the lights of the castle were turned-off, even the receptionist was gone home an you could hear the noise of the wood assessment, the group was composed by me, Claudia, Kristi and Victoria, we knew where the ghost could be, in fact on the third floor of the hostel there is a dungeon where the legend says the lady died, a very small room where you cannot enter but with a whole on the door so that you can look in it. So we decided to go there, but unfortunately the magnetic key for the third floor didn't work so we couldn't reach the dungeon. Disappointed, we came back to the bar, where with the only light of the moon we started to tell each other some scary episodes that actually happened to us, that was really creepy, and the girls get really scared when I faked to see the Phantom.

So this is it the following day everyone came back to their home, ready to work for the good ending of CU in 10 years, for what regard me, I am very happy for this experience, as I said it was good to have the possibility to know, and have an exchange with other people, to see how we are different and how we are similar, I believe that the framework that we have created worth, and that we are going to reach our goals, and spread the CU in 10 years spirit to other youngsters, helping them to being more active and aware that their voice count.

a short video impression of how the Richter EVS voluteers are living in the Eurohouse. It's not only funny but most of all it's ... educated.

2009-03-26T21:47:00.000+01:00

pictures from Heemskerk, 1ste meeting

2009-03-16T17:42:00.010+01:00

find here the written outcome of the APV

2009-03-16T17:42:00.006+01:00

After discussing the main idea of CU in 10 years we all decided that the following topics are the main points that the youngsters should discus with the local policy makers.

1. Active European citizen (awareness)
2. Structure of youth councils
3. Passive Youth
4. Leisure time opportunities
5. School system and dropouts
6. Career opportunities
7. Volunteers
8. Alcohol and drugs
9. Xenophobia
10. Environmental awareness
11. Infrastructure improvement

After determining the topics it is now possible to take the following steps:

Step 1: talk about (with your youngsters, colleagues,)
Step 2: what can be the solution, arranging meeting with policymakers, street interviews, spread out the CU in 10 years idea, motivate other youth, arrange promotional activities
Step 3: arrange meeting with policy makers, what youth council/policy maker can do with youngsters in rural areas

After selecting the main discussion points, the participant from the APV worked out by a plenary brainstorming session the discussion points. The notes that where written on flip charts are fragments, statements and thoughts about the different topics.

After that we created 3 small groups to go deeper into the topic and challenge the partners to make questions and have a deeper discussing about the topics

The result of that can be seen on the next pages. First we show from every topic the outcome of the plenary brainstorm session and the outcome of the small groups. The outcome will form the basis for our next step in CU in 10 Years.

Topic 1. European Awareness volunteer (active citizenship)

Outcome of the brainstorm session
make budget available (Sufficient amount to be flexible to anticipate to new ideas)
Support EU-projects; make the community part of the changes.
Explain value of EU-activities
Give examples to the policy makers about project and where they take place school, youth club

Outcome of the small working groups
What do you know about possibilities for youngsters in Europe?
Do you have a budget to set up European projects?
What is the influence of Europe in your village?
Do you feel like a European?
How to improve the civil skill/attitude of young people?
How do you foresee the support for European projects? (Besides, budget, equipment/knowledge)
What are the preventive measures against youngsters leaving the local community?
What is more important for you, as a policy maker, European Awareness or local Awareness?

Topic 2. Structure for youth councils

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Important to share different views
Paying members/youth councils = budget
Platform for learning -> budget to increase knowledge
Involvement of city council members and policy makers in the youth council

Outcome of the small working groups

Is there a structure for youth councils in your area?
What does the Youth Council mean to you?
How do you see the further development and the future of the youth council and active youngsters?
What tools do you offer to youth council?
Do you trust a youth council with a budget????
Should the youth council be more independent financially from the local government?
Is the youth council paid for doing their job?
Can the youth council influence your decisions?
Does the youth council represent all the youngsters? (Do you think all the structures of youngsters are represented in the council?)
How serious you take the youth council?
How many youth representatives will be allowed to take part in the regular commission sessions?
Is there a municipal STRATEGY, for youth development in our region?
How would you motivate youth to participate?

Topic 3. Passive youth

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Inform youngsters
Involve personally
Activities should match youth lifestyle
Local (=easy accessible)
FUN
Safe/welcoming environment
Use key persons

Outcome of the small working groups
Definition of passive youth according to the group: unmotivated, isolated, don’t care, unaware of preferences, uninformed, have no opinions in youth matters
Again, it’s important to work out a common definition!
How do make passive youth, active?
How do you inform them about activities?
Do you think youth activities are fun? (for youth) -- are there enough?
Do you have enough alternative to reach passive youth?
Can youth meet each other in a welcoming, safe environment?
According to your opinion, why youngsters are passive in our community?
Do you think that passive youth is a problem?
How do you support organizations that handle the passive youth issue?

Topic 4. Leisure time opportunity

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Coaching young people to set up activities
Access for all
Information about activities
Young people manage BUDGET
City council and youth council should be informed about the needs of their target group and/or stakeholders
Start activities from things youth already likes. (Example (L.A.R.P) life active role play – can be a handy tool

Outcome of the small working groups
In what activities you were involved when you were young?
How do you recognize the needs of leisure time opportunities for youth?
Do you know all the opportunities/activities etc. provide for youth in region?
How can the policy makers ensure that the activities are accessible for all?
Do you have enough budgets for leisure time activities? And for coaching young people to set up their own activities?
How do you inform youngsters about leisure time activities?
How do you think, how youngsters spend their free time in our community?
How many youngsters? (15-25)? Are in our municipality? And how many of them are active???

Topic 5. Drop-outs

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Cooperation with schools Link formal and non-formal education
Alternative for school -> activity
Prevention -> teachers aware of tutor system
Counseling in school
Cooperation with care-system
Use young “popular” people to change negative to positive

Outcome of the small working groups
How many dropouts we have in our municipality/ town/ village? (A definition for a drop-out)
Do (turn into an open question) you have any plan to prevent and decrease school drop-out?
If yes, what is the plan?
Did you achieve some results?
What other possibilities has a drop-out in our local area?
Do you think we have a working care-system? (Facts to support)
Do you have alternative for after school? Activities.
What kind of cooperation the schools provide?
What are the opportunities to link formal with non-formal education?

Topic 6. Career opportunities

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Try to tie people to the region because they have a good job there.
Information about possibilities
Contact with “ higher education and /or E-studies.
Structure internship

Outcome of the small working groups
What are the career opportunities for youth in our community?
Do you have preferences in hiring youngsters?
What are the consequences if youngsters don’t have a workplace? (Security network)
How do you ensure the employment of youngsters in private sector?
Are the youngsters informed about career opportunities?
Do you create working places for youngsters?
Do you think youngsters will leave the village if there aren’t enough career opportunities?
In what kind of working field are the main career/working opportunities for youngsters?
Is it a priority for government to decrease the local career opportunities?

Topic 7. Voluntary work

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Money for supportive measures
Connect with schools
Certificate
Training courses
Status
Moral support
Recognition
Self-realization
Upgrade own development

Outcome of the small working groups
Do you know what is voluntary work?
How many organizations in our regions
Do you think there should be a person/institution responsible for implanting Volunteering work
How should volunteering work be recognized in youth development?
Do you promote volunteering among youngsters?
What kind of volunteering work would you personally?
Do you have a budget to support volunteers? If not then why?
Do you have an award for volunteers?
Do volunteers get points in school?
How the volunteers being recognized in the school, by authorities and by city counsel?

Topic 8. Alcohol and drugs

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Information - preventive the dangers of drugs use
safe and positive use for parents + youth
Regulations
First AID by overdose

Outcome of the small working groups
How do you inform youngsters and parents about the influence of alcohol and drugs?
Do you know how many youngsters have problems with alcohol and drugs? Do you think it’s a problem?
What do you do about it?
Do you have training for youngsters and parent how to do first aid by alcohol and drugs?
Do the laws on alcohol and drugs work?
Do you cooperate with other organizations/ institutions in alcohol and drugs abuse prevention?
What should be the role of the youth councils in this matter?
What measures you use to control the implementation of the laws in this issue?
Through what structures you implement the measures?
Did you ever use drugs?
Do you have a policy about alcohol and drugs?

Topic 9. Xenophobia

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Create mixed (different cultural and social background) group with common interest
Brake stereotypes
Start with a successful group

Outcome of the small working groups
How many immigrants in the area?
How many minorities work in the city hall?
How do you ensure the social integration of minorities?
Do you have some preferences in hiring people?
What do you do to help minorities in your local communities?
Do you know how many different minorities do you have?
What do you do to break stereotypes?
Has the municipality provide measures to improve social integration?
Do you think it’s necessary to start a public discussion on this topic? (Is it an issue that should be talked about more?)

Topic 10. Environment Awareness

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Enough rubbish bins (regular cleaning)
Education to youngsters, parents and schools
Social (neighborhood) control
“Cool” information
Workshops: for example making art installation of rubbish

Outcome of the small working groups
What do you do to make young people aware of the environment?
Do you think there is a good social control in our village to keep it clean?
Do the people take care of the environment in our village?
Do you provide the right tools to keep the environment clean?
Do you cooperate with schools to make youth aware of environment problems?
Is environment a priority in your community?
How many eco-organization you know in your town dealing with pollution?
Have you ever taken part in ecological initiative?

Topic 11. Improve infrastructure

Outcome of the brainstorm session
Available for everyone
-> LOW PRICE
-> FREQUENCY
-> NON-PROFIT
Make internet available in public places

Outcome of the small working groups
How is your public transport organized?
Do you think there is enough transport for youngsters in our village? How do you know that?
Is the transportation available for everyone?
Are there enough payable houses where youngsters can live?
How much a youngster spends per year to go to school by bus or train?

Do you promote public transport?
Do you provide youngsters discounts for public transport?
Do youngsters have an influence on timetable of the local public transport?
Is a duty for a youth council or Y-center to provide free internet access/local transport?

Next step
After coming back from the APV each partner will make the following steps:

· organizing meetings to recruited youngsters
· to inform them
· to discus the outcome of the APV
· to give feedback over the joint vision
· to discuss the subjects
· to create a working plan.

Leaders and youngsters plan regular meetings in order to created a suitable working plan. The youngster will be stimulated to think how they want to communicate with the policy makers. We are aware that this can be intense and it requires discipline and structure from all the partners. It’s possible to invite local experts on specific subjects. The budget will provide this and can be use to invite local experts and to organize meetings. Experts can be fund in managers of NGO, teacher and/or professors, local politicians, journalist, local radio and/or television makers, etc.
All this is to guide and to help the youngsters in their preparation and to add more structure towards the subjects. This whole first preparation will take place in the first month after coming back form the APV.

After the preparation, youth will start up a dialogue with the policy makers. The outcome of the dialogue will firstly discuss with the youth on local level and gather in special forms that are developed during the APV and will be shared with the other European partners.

short CU in 10 years explanation

2009-02-06T17:26:00.000+01:00

CU in 10 years is anattemps to establish and stimulate a dialogue between youths and establishedpolicy makers and to give the youths the opportunity to enter into aconversation and to come to a democratic solution on a European level. CU in 10years want bridges the gap through dialogue of the here and now to the future.

Some objectives of CU in 10 years are: to encourageinvolvement of young people in daily democratic life; to mobilizing youngpeople; to develop Europeaninfluences in young people lives; to develop dialogue and stimulate democracy; to bring youngpeople closer to decision makers; to give input on and to develop youthdemocracy projects ; to experience to work within an European identity; todevelop personal skills and knowledge of young people; to create a base of contact/trust betweenyouth, youth workers and policy makers; to develop an “CU in 10 years” imagine.