dear rainbow
my name's Guido, I'm the external relations responsible of AEGEE Ferrara, Italy.
As somebody of you already seen on a previous message posted by Davide Calenda, our netcom, about the report of the past regional meeting we did in Maribor one week ago, I have been appointed as new responsible of european projects, with special mention for the "Youth for Europe" program.
Of course we'll deal with this subject no just theoretically, but in every practical sense, and with this I mean   new possibilities for your local to get new funds from european institutions in order to organize exchanges with other antennas, or maybe something else.

I will start with a brief description and overwiew of the program itself, after that we'll deal with particular details, but as for procedure you should have clear in mind that you must call the european insititutions responsible of our  CD in Bruxelles to have a contact with the offices of the European Commission, which are in charge of the project :

Youth for Europe is a long term project establishd by the European commission for the period 2001 - 2006 
it wants to continue along the path created by Socrates and Leonardo programmes : while the first deals with high education, the second deals with professional education
Youth's  aim is to offer young people educational experiences in not formal contextes .

it contains 5 actions :
1 ) group exchanges
2 ) european voluntary service
3 ) young initiatives
4 ) complementary initiatives
5 ) accompaniyng measures


the actions which are our main interest are the number 1 and 3.
the action 2 is addressed to individuals.
the number 4 and 5 are linked to the achievement of one of the first 3.

In these messages I'm posting, and that I will post on the list, I will deal mainly with action 1, and a bit less with the 3, because they will concern everybody of you.
Of course I could give some explanations on the action 2, but only on demand, if you agree.

ACTION 1 
its spirit : to overcome differences and prejudices among young european people, thanks to the chances to meet and gather together to have discussions, to get new knowledges on foreign countries and their cultural contextes.

participants : groups of young people between 15 and 25 years of age, who have their legal residence in one of the eligible countries ; divided between a sending and hosting group ; groups may be composed by 16 up to 60 persons.
duration : between 6 and 21 days

themes and subjects : the exchange must be based on a particular subject that will be discussed : as general suggestion you can consider art, culture, music, environmental issues, information technology.

follow up : achievement  of a final report , because it is stated that the positive consequences of the exchange must affect also your community, introducing the idea of Europe.

not allowed : statutory meetings of organizations, language courses, travels for study , festivals, congresses with profit aim.

financial matters : fixed amount of money that will cover part of all costs : the attitude is the cofinancing, so that also the group should be active in searching for funds at local level, or sponsoring.

deadlines : there are sevral deadlines, depending on the period you want to do your exchange project :
1st  of april, for projects between 1st of july and 30th of november
1st of june : 1st of september - 31st of january
1st of september : 1st of december - 30th of april
1st of november : 1st of february - 30 of june

little hint : you realized there are some periods that are covered by 2 deadlines, for example 1st of july - 1st of september are covered by the first 2 deadlines : well, you should understand that projects issued according to the first deadline ( february ), if approved, will reap the 90% of money available for that period ; so that, if a group wants to organize something in the same period, but it sends the application only in march, acciording to the second deadline, it will be given only a little money,that amount left from previous projects, even if it is very well planned.

this is only the first hint of a long list that I will give you, because one thing is telling you the subject of the project, other thing is to understand how it works in concrete, and as for me, that I work in  the youth international exchanges office of my municipality since 3 months, I think I know how to deal practically with such things.

so, dear all, first thing, if interested, just go to the web page of the european commission to download the form to fill in, and also the guidelines, in word format or PDF , at : http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/youth.html 
all documents are available in each of the 15 official languages of the EU.

for italian locals only, potete andare a a vedere il sito : www.gioventu.it, creato dal dipartimento affari sociali della Presidenza del Consiglio, dove troverete in italiano tantissime informazioni sul programma, le attività a livello nazionale, seminari di presentazione, formulari, e tante altre belle robine ( le stesse che vi racconterò io nelle prossime puntate ).

next mail I will post, regarding youth programme, I will go in the deep especially in subjects like relations between member countries, countries which asked to become member and third countries.

I invite you all, if concerned, to write me at my personal address : [log in to unmask] for particular questions or at my office : [log in to unmask] but only for official and general questions, because it's a municipality office and we are 3 persons who work there ( you know, privacy matters... )

so, my dears, I hope I caught your concern, don't be shy to contact me, and see you next , ciao,

Guido Cagnoni
AEGEE Ferrara

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