to whom it may concern from rainbow region, 
here I'm going to present you and analyse in detail what it deals with youth exchanges and possibilities of funding them thanks to YOUTH european program.
I received various requests, so here we go with a general presentation :

I will explain you each step ,so here we start :

What is a youth exchange?
A youth exchange brings together groups of young people from different
backgrounds from two, or several countries, providing them with an
opportunity to meet, discuss and confront various themes, whilst learning
about each other's countries and cultures.
explanation : this is in fact a general statement that could be addressed to
an AEGEE event too, so it's not completely new for us.

Who can participate?
Groups of young people who are legally resident in a country eligible to
participate in the programme and are, in principle, aged between 15 and 25
years.
expl : so it means the group of AEGEE members that will participate must be
aged under 25

Who are the partners in a youth exchange?
Each youth exchange has a host group and one or a number of sending groups.
The exchange can involve two countries (one-to-one), or more than two
countries (multilateral) as explained below. At least one of the groups must
come from a European Union Member State.
expl. : this refers to Italy and Slovenia too, because they are placed in the same group as new entry in the UE 

The first step is to form a group, which will discuss the project idea and
agree on how to go about it. The second step is to identify a partner(s) for
the future exchange. The National Agencies can assist in the partner finding
process. Please contact the relevant National Agency well in advance for
assistance.
expl : general procedure, I mean you must have an idea to achieve, and when
you will have made up your plans, you have to contact your national agency
for further steps .

European youth organisations, which have a seat in one of the programme
countries and member branches in at least 8 programme countries, can
participate in the YOUTH programme through multilateral youth exchanges. The
participation of the national branches is encouraged.
expl : this refers directly to AEGEE, and here states that it would be
better to have a multilateral, i.e. more than 2 groups involved

The YOUTH programme specially encourages the involvement of young people
from less privileged cultural, geographical or socio-economic backgrounds
and young people with disabilities.
expl : if you city or region belongs to a poor recognized area, and your
subject will deal with various drawbacks related to your condition, it will
make a positive impression to examiners.

In principle, the recommended eligible size for an exchange is a minimum of
16 and not more than 60participants). National groups must be balanced in
terms of numbers of participants.
expl : of course it depends on how big is your antenna, and how many people
want to join it, anyway these are the fixed limits

Duration
In principle, the duration of the exchange activity itself is from 6 to 21
days, excluding travel. Exchanges shorter than 6 days are not recommended,
as these may not guarantee that the inter-cultural learning experience will
have the desired impact; neither are they likely to be cost effective.
expl : in average exchanges may last for about 10 or 12 days : this is usual
so far.

European youth organisations
Multilateral youth exchanges presented by European youth organisations
should be of an innovative or, experimental character and have a clearly
defined European added value.
expl : this refers directly to AEGEE, so do your best trying to find an
innovative idea related to europe

Take note - what an exchange is not!
Statutory meetings of organisations, holiday travel, language courses,
school class exchanges, study tours, performance tours, festivals and
exchange activities which aim to make financial profit, are not eligible for
grants under the YOUTH programme.
expl . this is clear enough, so pay attention on how you describe your
subject, and how you will work on it during the exchange.

Community funding available ( money you will get )
Sending group
? 70% of actual travel costs. Justifications of tickets required.
? Contribution to an advance planning visit. Actual travel cost and a lump
sum
? A lump sum for preparation of participants and activities
? Exceptional actual costs related to young people with special needs or to
nature of activities
 Host group
? A lump sum for preparation of participants and activities
? A lump sum per project to cover general activity costs such as
preparation, administration, documentation etc.
? A lump sum per participant per day for activity costs
? Exceptional actual costs related to young people with special needs or to
the nature of activities

When to apply?
Projects presented by groups/organisations at local, regional or national
level:

 Project start date  Deadline for applications
 1 May to 30 September  1 February
 1 July to 30 November  1 April
 1 September to 31 January  1 June
 1 December to 30 April  1 September
 1 February to 30 June   1 November

these are the deadlines, so don't despere, if you miss the 1st the next one
will be whithin 2 months, and so on.
my advice is not to concentrate in summer but better in autumn or winter :
there are many more possibilities to be accepted and to get more money

as for the righ amount of money you will get, it depends on the single
national agency, for example in Italy they pay a forfait amount for each
person for each day.
in France they split the payment among the various services, so contact
your agency in your capital, and you'll know more in detail what to do with
money ( not throwing them down the drain, of course ! ) .

I finished.
I hope I have been clear enough and that I gave you the right help to
achieve something related to youth program.
of course I'm still available to give you some more hints or practical help
on doing things, but the first thing to do, as I said before, is to contact
your national agency, because you must be filled in a list of eligible
associations at national level that can participate in the program, so they
will ask you to provide further information and material on your antenna :
do it seriously, it is a crucial step !

this is our national agencies :
ITALIA

  a.. Dipartimento per gli Affari Sociali
  b.. Ufficio III
  c.. Via Vittorio Veneto 56
  d.. I - 00187 Roma
  e.. tel. (39) 06.48.16.13.68 
  f.. fax. (39) 06.48.16.13.44
  g.. e-mail: [log in to unmask]
SLOVENIJa

  a.. Na Mladina Movit
  b.. Gregorciceva, 3
  c.. SI-1000 Ljubljana
  d.. tel: (386.1) 426.52.68
  e.. fax: (386.1) 426.52.73
  f.. e-mail: [log in to unmask]
step by step : 
  a.. go to the european website of youth program : http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/youth.html
  b.. download the form action 1 - youth exchanges ( it is available in one of the official languages of UE, but slavonian is not included : just download it in the most suitable language for you
  c.. have a look on it very attentively, and start thinking about the subject and how it will be developed 
  d.. contact your national agency for further bureaucratic procedures 
  e.. contact me again, in case, in order to receive some more advices and devices too ( you can write me also in french or spanish, and why not, Italian... )

this time I really finished, forgive me for having written so long, then have a good day and good work with the european program and with your AEGEE activities too.
 
 
ciao,
Guido










> Hi,
>
> My name is Laura Vrabie and I am PR responsible of
> AEGEE Sibiu (Romania). The reason I bother you with
> this e-mail is that our antenna is really interested
> in youth exchange program! I received your mail from
> AEGEE event list, I checked the two web-sites that you
> talked about, but everything is so new for me, so that
> I don't know where to start, who should I contact,
> what to do first, if we want to make such an exchange!
> I don't know which foreign AEGEE antennas could be
> interested in such an exchange with us! I know that
> there are some dead-lines for starting this kind of
> project! Is too late now for an excange that we want
> to make in september? I don't know either which are
> the conditions for being financed for such an
> exchange...
>
> So, if you have time, maybe you can help us with some
> information! I would really appreciate!!!
> I hope that my questions don't sound too childish for
> you:) If it is so, sorry!
>
> Laura Vrabie
> AEGEE Sibiu (Romania)
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
> http://auctions.yahoo.com/
>

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