luni, 11 octombrie 2010

Starting from the end, ending with a begining :)

Dear friends,
27th of September...the end of Zapping Poverty... but a begining for ASIMST and for our team!...and this begining - thanks to you, our 30 friends, with whom we spent a wonderful week in Romania!!!
For us, it was a great experience - it was our first Youth in Action project and with ups and downs, we learnt a lot... and we learnt because you guided us through our learning... not just about youth unemployment and about the opportunities that you have or you don't have, in your countries...we learnt that this setting,an intercultural one, helped us to develop ourselves...and helped us to realize that we want to do more and to count on your help, whenever we'd need it!... and it's the same for you!...
The begining started in the NGO Fair and we just prepared its development - thus so happy to announce our next initiatives!...this is why we are really looking forward to see you back in Romania, in 2011...
Thank you for your feedback, for your patience waiting that we'd correct our mistakes while trying to be helpful... thank you for not being affraid of the homeless dogs till the end of the week..Thank you for everything that meant to be friendship, this week!....
ASIMST and Zapping Poverty Team

International youth exhanges are always a good experinence - Estonian group's article



International youth exchanges are always a good experience to practice our language skills, to improve our tolerance and to meet new friends from all over the Europe. So, taking part of this exchange has been a very good experience. We think that we all have learned something out of it, and possibly have some use from that also in the future.
As in Estonian team there are also two 17-year old girls, it was their first time taking part of this kind of project. The most important experience they got from “Zapping Poverty” was getting to know international diversity. Also, it was exciting to practice our skills in English while having discussions with different people and compare the general things with experiences of other countries. It was interesting to get to know, how the situation is in different states, and to hear what do people with different social and cultural background think about their life.

While attending to the project “Zapping Poverty” in Bucharest it was also important for all the Estonian participants to discover the city and to get to know a bit of Romanian culture. In our point of view, the project was well organized and motivating to take an action to improve the situation of unemployment and poverty around us. While having a lot of discussions, our understanding of unemployment problems in Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Turkey have became better.

In conclusion, we are really happy about the experience and relationships we gained during this week in Bucharest and we hope to meet all the participants again, to see how have the current situation changed. We really enjoyed our being here, and hope that everyone else did the same.

Breaking Stereotypes - Latvian group's article



People usually have some views about nations surrounding and such an exchange is breaking of prejudices. So we decided to list some of our stereotypes:
Romanians are different of Roma people, actually they are nice people. Not all of the youth want to go to live abroad.
Estonians – not so slow as in Latvian jokes
Italians have broken stereotype that they don’t speak English and they are never tall. Approved stereotypes about gestures, coffee and pasta
Bulgarians – approved view that Bulgarians even by stove have make-up and high heels
Polish – approved stereotype about drinking zubrovka 
Turkish – were supposed to feel cold, but seems like they are enough hot inside. Belly dance is not a stereotype
Latvians – we just got to know that we have six toughs in believe of Estonians

Maybe we made some new ones:
- Latvians mostly are blondes (almost true)
- Latvians mostly are vegetarians (not true)
- In Latvia live more women than men (true)
- Coming from the club in Romania you need a bodyguard (Thanks Tibi:)
- Bulgarians never split
- Italians sometimes come on time

And some facts
- Surprisingly it turned out that Estonians like singing as much as Latvians, despite that Romanians sang the most
- Bella ciao is a communist song
- Romanian student’s songs are perverse

Then we go home and start to tell all those things others and make new stereotypes…

FINISHED - Italian article :)



At the end of this amazing adventure all the youngsters, who has taken part to the Zapping Poverty project, will leave Bucharest with a new cultural and personal experience to talk about.
Nobody of them will easily forget the helpfulness of the hosting team, whose Romanian members have done their best in order to create a familiar, secure, open atmosphere.
And when everybody will be at home, he will surely happen to remember Cristina, the sweet Romanian girl, who has been stressed by a terrible toothache all over the week. Thanks god, she discovered Buscofen, helping her to be punctual and present for the all week long. Unluckilly, she also discovered that, in the lack of Buscofen, she could even cure the toothache with vodka. Actually, that didn't help to be punctual.
And what about Doru, the Big Boss of ASIMST, always going back and forth with his FIAT car to satisfy our needs, which were actually the most wide variety: when the wine is running out, when the dinner is ready and needs to be taken from the rectorat to the hostel, when the participants are arriving at the airpot or whenever someone is late for the club, Doru is there ready to give you a lift. We really appreciated the sacrifice, considering that due to this lack of phisical activity caused by this car issue, his belly was growing bigger day by day.
Hyperactivity almost costed a stress breackdown to the nervous Irina, a real perfectionist who could never find a moment to rest, even during the games meant to build up the team and to relax people.
And what about the circles under the eyes of the beautiful Livia, who had to spend half an hour of her precious sleeping time trying to cover them with make up since the second day.
Thanks to the two computer experts, than, we could really be quiet under any informatic aspect: Andrei and Tiberius, Syso and Tiby for the volk, were ready to solve any kind of issue related to technology; even if it was about picking up the technological camera that the Turkish boys forgot in the working class in the middle of the night. Well, fully excused then for falling asleep in the middle of some daily activity!
The last guy that no-one will forget is named Silviu, and he was particularly worried for the well being of a bulgarian participant, so worried that he couldn't avoid to stay with her for the whole evenings long.
But who was the cruel tyrant behind all of this troopers, the one who forced them to do energizers in the morning, the one who tried to harness the conflict between participants proposing trade union simulations, the one who always complaned about delays and whose only aim was to modify the program of the day, forcing everyone to unbearable working sessions? Someone is talking about an old lady named Adina, living in room 108 submerged with papers and documents, but noone really had a chance to meet this person who seems to come from the most scarying fairy tales ever.
When all the participants will get home, will they forget any of them? Not for sure!

Romania- where the magic lives (article Bulgarian group)



Robert Kennedy once said : “ This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease”. Here in Romania we met such young people- determined, full of ideas and electrifying desire to develop themselves, ready to fight for their views. We experienced what diversity really means- a diversity not only of cultures, but also of ideas, opinions, characters. We found out that youth unemployment and poverty are serious problems, which affect all of us and demand our united efforts, not our ignorance. Young and innovative people like the ones, taking part in the “ Zapping poverty” project , is what Europe really needs.
Last, but not least, we spent a wonderful time in Bucharest and really enjoyed the joy . We had the opportunity to cooperate with great people and work together in pleasant atmosphere. We also realized that Romanian history appears to be particularly interesting and challenging. That is what our Visit to the Parliament building, the old part of the city centre and The Peasants’ Museum prove. You find yourself speechless, totally amazed by the impressive parliamentary building that is a bridge between the Communistic period and Present Democracy. Looking at the old houses and cottages in the museum you can see how hope and despair, poverty and happiness used to live together. Past, present and future were always following us along the way.
On Monday we are going back to Bulgaria filled with good experience and unforgettable memories that would definitely bring us here again. See you soon, Romania 

Action Plan Zapping Poverty

Action Plan “Zapping Poverty”


Bucharest – 26th September 2010
Introduction
Today we are experiencing a complicated situation in Europe - the unemployment rates are extremely high everywhere and the expected economic growth at the same time very slow. During “Zappying Poverty” – Action 1.1. Youth in Action bringing together 35 youngsters from 7 countries, we have been debating over youth unemployment in participant countries and we came to the idea that the effects of the global financial crisis are increasing the vulnerability of the group we are representing. In the EU the youth unemployment rate is over 21%, even though the new Europe 2020, the Renewed Social Agenda and Lisbon strategy should definetly make the situation better. However, the new Youth European Strategy launched in 2009 was considering youth as a resource, but the practical measures have been inacted.
In this Action Plan we are analyzing the inefficiencies and problems connected to youth employment in Europe and accordingly giving solutions and proposals to make the situation better. While implementing this work, we take into account different stakeholders' interests: European Union, local and national authorities, employers' and employees', education institutions and also youngsters'.
General problems what we have to deal with when talking about youth unemployment:
• Inefficient qualifications and experience in the labor market.
• Instability of the labour market.
• Unawareness and uncertainty about future economic situation.
• Taking advantage of the employees.
• Inequality in salaries of public and private sector.
• Black economy.
• Lack of general enthusiasm and motivation.



European Union stakeholders
European Union has already undertaken a variety of measures to reduce unemployment among young people, however we are proposing new ideas to deal with the situation.
Proposals:
• Identical European scholarship for excellent marks in all EU countries. The scholarships nowadays granted only in certain European Countries for excellent academic performance should be equally distributed to all member-states’ students.
• Offering EU training in EU institutions. One of the best internships provided by the EU so far has been the training programme in its own institutions. – European Comission, EU Parliament, Council etc. Unfortunately, this practice is no more available. We insist on its restart.
• Organizing free language and practical courses for young people.
• Giving more support to NGOs – covering daily expenses to encourage more creativity. Members of NGO are those youngsters who profoundly involve themselves in the problematical issues of the society. Apart from the fact that they are doing volunteery job, we think that it would be good if EU supports their daily actions financially by covering the expenses that they face in their ordinary work.
• Support the states to create some social jobs for unqualified people or people from the minorities, such as subsidize “Clean Europe” long-term project. Our idea is to launch an eco-friendly long-term project that is called “Clean Europe”. It involves actions like cleaning the streets, gardening, rennovation of parks etc. that would both benefit the local society and provide people with jobs. The workforce has to be preferably recruited among discriminated people.
• Advertise more international offer database such as EURES.



Local and national stakeholders
Local and national authorities have a strong knowledge of current situation and can deeply manage both problems and solution. Also they can manage the interaction of other players and guide them to a good integration with the local background.
Proposals:
• Help for starting a company:
• lower taxes for start-up company makes easier to cope with initial expense,
• lower cost of money for start-up to be able to buy all the equipment they need,
• strong statistical data about local market and local trends,
• trainings to entrepreneurs to get knowledge about the start-up process,
• supervisors to guide the start-up company in a correct path,
• easy registration,
• networking between start-ups,
• promotion both locally and nationwide to allow a new company to reach enougth customers,
• a start-up company can get better taxes if later will teach to other younger how to start-up a company.
• Help for finding a job:
• courses to build up and improve skills,
• social jobs to cover some critical period or region,
• internship to allow a wise integration between the business world and the post-educational world,
• skills conversion to migrate unneeded skills towards similar skill that have a wider market,
• managing a global CV database between different region to best match local needing with external skills and facilitate skill exchange between regions.
• Creating economical zones (the zones have a very special economical treatment and are used to kick-start a virtuos cycle for fixing the economical situation of a region):
• agreement between government and company for factory building,
• starting governative activities in depressed zones.
• Fighting against black economy by making the tax systems more efficient – will provide more financial resources for government – more possibilities to support entrepreneurship and creation of new jobs.

Employers
This section will solve the problems from an employers' but also employees' perspective. It will be pointing out how to solve unemployment according to this particular stakeholders' environment.
Proposals:
• Training programs and promoting vocational training – important in order to retrain.
employees for the jobs that are needed to be done in the new economic situation.
• Agencies to protect employees’ rights – more efficient control to provide more confidence to employees life-expectations.
• Reforming public policies – more equality in salaries in public and private sector.
• State provided free informative conferences for employers about business environment and opportunities.
• National projects about practical placements during and after university studies – will provide more working experience and opportunities for young people to get a job in the future.

Education
When talking about youth unemployment, we can't forget that a central role is played by the educational system, which has to provide youngsters with the best background to face the challenges of tomorrow.
Proposals:
• The creation of Job Offices in the high schools helps the scholars to meet the demand of employers, who will be able to consult teachers. Orientators and psychologists will guarantee the best matching between the parts.
• Regular internships are made compulsory. The internship fields vary a lot, involving the most humble works. Beside all the educational aspects, with this measure we try to beat the lack of enthusiasm which transforms the most of the students into passive subjects.
• A diary of these internship experiences is created, and made compulsory for each student. The diary enumerates the skills learnt by the student, and helps him/her to create and update his complete CV.
• The creation of a subject named “Career debates” stimulates every student to discuss about the experiences made during the internships. The teacher acts as a facilitator, helping to point out common aspects and problems related to the work world.
• Intensification of the internships by the universities enables a better career cooperation Proposal.

Youngsters
Often young educated people do unqualified job because of the lack of interest or experience in their own profession. In this paragraph we are giving proposals from yourngsters’ point of view in order to make their situation better.
Proposals:
• Investing more money in creating new training courses and provide places for internship – in order to have the chance of practising skills.
• Promoting themselves better and making more contacts for the future.
• Providing young unemployed people a small amout of money.
• Orientation during high school - using the services of conciliation centres.
• “Shadow jobs” - following professionals in their working hours in order to understand the real nature of their work (a week or a month depending on the profession).
• Being a member of non-profit organisations - gaining work, social and cultural experience.
• Improving skills in every step - learning foreign languages and volunteering in international groups.

Conclusion
After considering all the proposals we are coming out with, it is our truth belief that when taking into account the measures described, the situation of youth employment could be improved.

Transparency International

joi, 23 septembrie 2010

Day 2 - Getting to know eachother and action plans...

hey hey,
don't forget that the zapping poverty floor will be available until the end of the project, thus don't forget to collect all the information available about your peers :) anyway, we're proud of us - everyone has a wall, we have a floor.
Also, we would like to thank Irina to introducing us to the topic of action plans and the stake holders' roles in producing action plans!
By the way, you can check Transparency International website's:
http://www.transparency.org/

luni, 20 septembrie 2010

First day's impressions

Good morning, good morning,
We hope you slept well the last night and now ready for the second day's activities. It seems that we started to get to know eachother and now we're ready to discover even more. We must confess that the red crocodile name game was a trick to offer you the chance to practice the names during the night ;) - Bugra, Sena, Ezgi and Radina (try to remember it correctly). Also, can we have the results of the fusball championship?...
See you at 10 in the working room and if you have questions, don't forget to ask your Romanian team leader or someone from the team.
Enjoy the joy!

Project's programme

Zapping Poverty
September 20-27 Bucharest, Romania
Day 1
Monday
Sept 20 Day 2
Tuesday
Sept 21 Day 3
Wednesday
Sept 22 Day 4
Thursday
Sept 23 Day 5
Friday
Sept 24 Day 6
Saturday
Sept 25 Day 7
Sunday
Sept 26 Day 8
Monday
Sept 27
Breakfast 9.00 – 9.30
10.00 – 12.30
Arrivals  10.00 – 12.30
Getting to know eachother games
Communication games
Programmes’ presentation
Expectations and fears 10.00 – 12.30
Youth in the Move
Youth Un/Employment in the Participant Countries 10.00 – 12.30
Trade Union Simulation
10.00 – 12.30
Youth Action Plan
Conference 10.00 – 12.30
A Mosque in the Sleepyville Simulation 10.00 – 12.30
‘Mission Impossible’
Follow up Session
Future projects 10.00 – 12.30
Evaluation session
Lunch 12.30 – 13.00
15.00 – 18.00
Arrivals  15.00 – 18.00
Youth in Action Presentation
Transparency International session 15.00 – 18.00
Youth Employment Action Plan (1) 15.00 – 18.00
Youth Action Plan (2) 15.00 – 18.00
City Game
‘Zap youth unemployment’ 15.00 – 18.00
Zapping Poverty Newsletter
(groups’ articles) 15.00 – 18.00
Dissemination Plan – newsletter, action plan, short movie 15.00 – 18.00
Dinner 18.30 – 19.00
Welcome evening Intercultural evening AS IMST
Students’ night Groups’ 1, 2
Night Groups’ 3,4
Night Groups’ 5
And RO team’s night Farwell party Departures 

Our Estonian's promoter's link :)

http://www.euro26.ee/www/index.php

Youth in Action official Clip

EU Youth Strategy - Employment Field

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-policies/doc1691_en.htm

Employment and Entrepreneurship
Having a professional occupation, in the form of a job, as self-employed or running one's own business is of great importance to many young people to achieve independence. Yet, since the start of the economic crisis mid-2008, more than 20% of young people are unemployed.
The urgency to tackle youth unemployment is recognised in the European cooperation framework. In the Council Resolution on the European Cooperation Framework of 27 November 2009, Member States agreed to make employment the overall thematic priority for the next 18 months (January 2010 - June 2011) .
Support to young people in the field of employment
This means that the tools under the European cooperation framework, including e.g. dedicated events, knowledge, common learning, will be geared towards finding solutions to unemployment. Youth employment is also the first topic for discussion in the context of the Structured Dialogue between public governments and agencies and youth organisations at EU level and within the Member States. Furthermore, efforts will be made to ensure a youth dimension in EU policy-making overall as regards employment issues, for example the EU 2020 strategy.

Whilst bringing the work forward, the EU Member States and the European Commission will take action to:

■Integrate concerns of young people in employment strategies
■Invest in theprovision of skills for those jobs in demand on the labour market.
■Develop career guidance and counselling services.
■Promote possibilities for young people to work and to follow training abroad, including by lowering barriers to free movement across the EU
■Promote quality traineeships to increase young people's chances on the labour market.
■Improve childcare and promote sharing of responsibilities between partners in reconciliation between professional and private life.
■Support young people’s entrepreneurship e.g. via targeted education, access to funds, mentoring and support networks and structures in favour of youth entrepreneurship

Youth in Action

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1807_en.htm


Youth in Action programmeYouth in Action
Mobilising the potential of young Europeans
On 15 November 2006, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Decision No 1719/2006 /EC, which establishes the Youth in Action programme for the period 2007 to 2013. This document is the legal basis of the Programme for its entire duration.

Youth in Action is the EU Programme for young people aged 15-28 (in some cases 13-30). It aims to inspire a sense of active citizenship, solidarity and tolerance among young Europeans and to involve them in shaping the Union's future.

Youth in Action is a programme for all! It promotes mobility within and beyond the EU borders, non-formal learning and intercultural dialogue, and encourages the inclusion of all young people, regardless of their educational, social and cultural background.

Youth in Action is the successor of the YOUTH Programme (2000-2006). Building on the experience of the previous programmes for youth, Youth in Action is the result of a large consultation with the different stakeholders in the youth field and aims to respond to the evolutions and needs of young people at European level.

With a total budget of 885 million euros for seven years (2007-2013), the Programme supports a large variety of activities for young people and youth workers through five Actions.



Youth in Action in figures

■Duration: 2007-2013
■Budget: 885 million euros for seven years
■Geographic reach: EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, the EU neighbours (Eastern Europe and Caucasus, the Mediterranean region, South-East Europe) and other partner countries in the world
■Age brackets: 15-28 (in some cases 13-30)

AS IMST - The Host Association

Check out our profile and we can also give more details about our projects ;)

http://www.asimst.ro/

duminică, 19 septembrie 2010

Youth in on the Move

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1807_en.htm

Youth on the Move - strengthening support to Europe's young people
Five million young Europeans are looking for a job. Many of them will miss opportunities because they lack the right qualifications or experience. Today, the European Commission launches Youth on the Move, a new flagship initiative aimed at helping these young people to gain the knowledge, skills and experience they need to make their first job a reality.
Part of the EU's new Europe 2020 strategy, Youth on the Move proposes 28 key actions aimed at making education and training more relevant to young people's needs and encouraging more of them to take advantage of EU grants to study or train in another country. This will increase young people's employability and access to the labour market.

Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: "The measures we are presenting today are aimed at raising the quality of education and training in Europe so that our young people are properly equipped for today's job market. We want to reduce the number of early school leavers and increase the share of young people in tertiary education so that they reach their full potential. The EU needs even more young people who are highly skilled, knowledgeable and innovative if it is to prosper in the future."

László Andor, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, said: "Finding a job is what millions of young Europeans are most concerned about. Youth on the Move will create new momentum at EU and national level to improve support for young people so that they can find a job, make a living and pursue their own plans."



It's time to act…
At present, too many young people leave school early and too few enter higher education, which jeopardises Europe's future skills base.

Youth on the Move will be instrumental in achieving the Europe 2020 headline targets of reducing the share of early school leavers from 15% to 10% and increasing the share of young people with tertiary education or equivalent from 31% to at least 40% by 2020. Youth on the Move actions will also help Member States reach the headline EU target for 75% employment over the next ten years by helping to ensure that young people have the right skills for the jobs of tomorrow. Commission studies show that 35% of new jobs will require high-level qualifications by 2020 and that 50% will require medium-level qualifications.

The economic and financial crisis has made it harder for young Europeans to enter the labour market. The number of young people looking for a job has increased from 4 to 5 million since the onset of the financial turmoil, with EU youth unemployment now at nearly 21%.

These challenges call for concerted action and robust policy coordination to identify action at EU level and in Member States. The Commission will support Member States in designing policies to support those most at risk of unemployment, to do more to encourage young entrepreneurs and to address legal and administrative obstacles to learning and working mobility.

Independent studies show that more than 40% of employers attach importance to the experience gained from study and work abroad, which not only enables young people to improve their language abilities but also to acquire other skills that are highly valued. The Commission already has a long tradition of supporting mobility through the grants it provides from Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig and Marie Curie.

Youth on the Move aims to extend opportunities for learning mobility to all young people in Europe by 2020. The Commission will today launch a public consultation on the future of its mobility programmes for post 2013.

Zapping Poverty September 20-27- 2010, Bucharest, Romania

Zapping Poverty is a youth exchange having as topic the youth unemployment and youth employability, producing direct effects on the youth’s poverty and social exclusion. For 8 days, 35 youngsters from 7 countries will work together, in an intercultural setting, producing the Youth Employment Action Plan, analyzing the actual situation with the youth unemployment and coming with proposals for the stakeholders, for the Universities, for the private sector and for their peers to tackle the unemployment situation. Through the experiential workshops, through the simulation and role playing games and through the group working on the Youth Action Plan, the youngsters’ mutual support, their solidarity and their understanding will be fully challenged. Also, we want to bring awareness on the youth’s group about the global movement against poverty and social exclusion, promoting the 2010’s priorities – as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. At the end of the 8 days, the 35 participants will come with a consistent and coherent document that will reflect their perspective on the youth unemployment and its actual status but also with practical solutions for different stakeholders to tackle this problem. The action plan will then be shared with their peers, through the dissemination and multiplication plan.
Integrating also YiA’s objectives and its permanent and annual priorities, Zapping Poverty has the following priority objectives:
1. Promoting the active youth participation and offering to 35 youngsters from 7 countries the opportunity to discuss about the youth unemployment
2. Empowering youth to come with their own practical proposals to for youth unemployment through the Youth Action Plan on Unemployment
3. Encouraging the cultural exchange and having a great impact on the participants’ intercultural learning and intercultural dialogue
4. Promoting the cooperation in the youth field and developing new cooperation plans and follow up projects
5. Promoting the 2010’s priorities and the 2011 priorities – promoting volunteering and the benefits that can be conducted through volunteering
6. Promoting Youth in Action and its opportunities
7. Promoting the non-formal education and its recognition – through the skills and competencies development and providing the participants with the Youthpass
8. Coming with a consistent and coherent document, at the end of the exchange, the Action Plan and disseminating it to the stakeholders to whom these proposals are addressed.
Creating a network of active youngsters and active promoters who will continue working on youth unemployment also disseminating the Youth Action plan in their networks and communities.