Youth exchanges

Good practice

For the promotion of youth activities
In Views International network

The Views International board of administrators has set up a clear and fair procedure for its members, in order to apply at a youth activity (youth exchange, partnership building etc) in the framework of Views International network:

1. The hosting association/the applicant sends its proposal for a youth activity (in particular youth exchanges) a month and an half before the application deadline (right now, middle of December, March or August) via the VI website and mailing list to the full and subscribing members.
   The proposal should contain the following information:

– description of each national group (number of young participants, group leaders),
– type of activities (social, cultural, sportive activities) ,
– suggested themes for activities,
– clear timeline (deadlines) for the application procedure.
2. Full and subscribing members have 2 weeks to send their motivation letter (written by a responsible of the association) to the hosting association. In this letter, the candidate will explain:
why he is interested by this activity/theme, if his association has particular knowledge, experience or skills in relation with this theme, what kind of activities they can suggest for the implementation of the project.
3. At the end of the month (December, March or August), the hosting association chooses the partners with the help of an Administrator not implicated in the project (not compulsory).
4. At the beginning of January, April and September, promoter candidates are informed of the decision and about the reasons of the decision by the hosting association/applicant organisation.
5. Chosen promoters have 2 weeks to debate together about the activities, the theme, … : first with the young people interested in their country, if possible.
6. In the meantime, the hosting association/applicant sends the partner agreement to the project promoters. They will fill it in and sign it on time considering the deadline.
7. The hosting association/applicant has 2 weeks to complete and sends the application form to its respective National Agency and to collect the partner agreements.

The BoA of VI would appreciate a common event each October (e.g. partnership building activity). At this moment, the different partners, full members and subscribing members will meet together to debate about the projects and activities for the next year. These activities will be voted by the full members during the VI General Assembly. This activities proposal will be used in order to draft the running subsidies application form, to be sent for the deadline (1/11) to the Executive Agency.

For activities realised in the VI network the full members have the priority of participation. We also encourage the inclusion of at least one new partner for the multi-youth exchanges (minimum 4 partners) to assure the openness of the network. Of course, for other activities we also try to include other partners, in order to remain an opened network.

According to the values and spirit of Views International, a youth exchange (or other activity) accessible to visually impaired proposed in the VI network should:

• Encourage the autonomy and independence of the visually impaired participants (Braille or large print adaptation like Braille labels or large print labels, mobility sessions, …),
• adapting all the activities to the visual impairment (Braille or large print programme, Braille or large print material, screen reader or magnifying software for the computers, activities which can be done by blind or partially sighted without excluding them….);
• promote the solidarity (accessible participation fee for all countries involved, …), integration between visually impaired and sighted (participation of 1 sighted young person in all national group, not as accompanying person, but as participant).