Exploring the potential of young volunteers in HIV / AIDS Education and Prevention in EU and SEE Countries

EU – SEE Multilateral EVS project in EU (Spain, UK, Estonia, Lithuania) and SEE countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro)

11 long-term volunteer placements from March 2007 to  December 2007

The general objective of this EU – SEE multilateral EVS project was to add an intercultural dimension to HIV/AIDS prevention, education and care work and to promote a more widespread responsibility of civil society in the fight against AIDS across all borders. The volunteers provided an added value to the local communities and gained valuable experiences in dealing with HIV/AIDS prevention in a new and diverse environment.

XXV ICYE General Assembly 2007

The XXV General Assembly (GA) of the ICYE Federation was held from 5 thru 10 November 2007 in Taipei, Taiwan, and was attended by 70 participants.

Highlights: new Associate Members in Ecuador, Moldova, India and USA; representatives from the Volunteer Centre in South Africa and Vietnam Volunteers for Peace in Vietnam also attended; adoption of guidelines for new ICYE programs for older volunteers and for short-term volunteering; and adoption of long-term development strategies for training and quality assurance.

For more information about the XXV ICYE General Assembly please contact the ICYE International Office at icye@icye.org.

Youth Dialogue and Local Development

Multilateral EVS project in EU (Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania) and SEE (Albania, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia)       

14 long-term volunteer placements from August 2006 to May 2007

The main project aims were to enhance young people’s participation, leadership skills and their engagement in civil society in European Union and South Eastern European countries as well as to facilitate dialogue and exchange between young volunteers and youth from minority groups. Volunteers were placed both in youth NGO’s and public institutions running awareness-raising and civic education programmes with young people from multicultural, multiethnic and multi-faith backgrounds to empower their participation in local campaigns and local development.

Youth United Against Violence

Training Course for Youth Workers from EU and LA countries/Antigua, Guatemala /09-15 February 2007

Final Activity Report

ICYE International Office, the Central American Alliance for prevention of youth violence – CCPVJ and APREDE – Asociacion para la prevention del delito, jointly ran this  training course aiming at building up the capacity of youth organisations and of agencies/networks specialized on youth violence prevention and to enable them to cooperate with each others in providing volunteering and non-formal learning opportunities to young people, with particular focus on the European Voluntary Service programme. The programme included inputs by experts, transfer of know-how, discussion groups and workshops as well as a project visit to a youth centre involved in violence prevention campaigns in Guatemala City and an official reception at the Ministry of Culture in the National Palace followed by a field excursion to “La Linea” a neighborhood badly affected by youth gang violence. Participants from both continents expressed their concern regarding the increase of violence particularly in Central America and their motivation to cooperate with each others in providing challenging and meaningful non-formal learning opportunities to socially excluded young people by implementing EVS projects related to this field of work.