By 2030 60% of the world’s population or 4.9 billion people are expected to live in urban areas. It is argued that urbanism is fundamentally changing the condition of humanity and our relationship to the earth.  The environmental impact of urban areas is putting a huge strain on our Earth’s resources and creating additional issues for the inhabitants of these areas such as loss of biodiversity and urban heat island effect. At this time young people across the globe are creating urban spaces where creativity, environmental and social action join together, inspiring local inhabitants, encouraging municipalities and empowering businesses to adapt greener practices.

Do you want to spend one year living abroad, volunteering, learning, travelling and having fun while going through a life-changing experience? International Young Naturefriends (IYNF), one of the major European youth organizations is looking for two EVS volunteers to perform their voluntary service in organization’s office in Prague, Czech Republic. The service will last for one year, starting in March 2014.

Marco Negretto from Italy has taken part in a 3 months internship programme in IYNF. See below what are his impressions from this time:

I would like to thank IYNF and all the people there for providing me with such a fantastic opportunity. I spent a great time during the 3-months internship for my Leonardo project at the IYNF office in Prague.

It was my first experience of working for an NGO and partially led me to understand how it is. I am glad that I could carry out my traineeship within an association that operates in my field of studies but in a way that I never tried before.

Even if my internship did not last a long of time, I really appreciated the opportunity I have been given of working on my own project which was beyond usual IYNF activities. In fact, I showed my interest in doing something practical for the environmental activities and proposed to develop and teach a didactic workshop. Finally, I realized my project by developing two workshops for children about waste recycling. Then, I proposed them to some of the international primary schools in Prague receiving, then, some positive answers. At the end, I could teach both of the two workshops to two different schools. I succeeded even if it was the first time I have developed and taught just by myself a didactic workshop in English; though I did not do it just by myself but all the people, more or less, at IYNF helped me and, of course, I could not do it without the IYNF support.

The annual Networking Conference is an event where representatives of member and partner organizations, IYNF volunteers, trainers and enthusiastic newcomers meet to exchange ideas, network and brainstorm on new projects within IYNF network.

We are absolutely delighted to announce that “Green Toolbox” is now available online on IYNF website and can be requested in printed version from IYNF office.

Green Toolbox encourages and inspires various sector organizations to apply sustainable working practices in their daily work and within their project and office management. It responds to the questions ranging from how we can choose the most environmentally friendly merchandise and gadgets to most socially responsible banking for our organization; what office and project management practices can do most good and least harm for people, natural environment and animals.  

Sustainability is a combination and synergy of social justice, ecological health, and economic vitality. This publication responds to a growing interest in sustainable consumption, addresses urgent global matters, and conveys the necessity for action. It aims to provide NGOs with the tools, information, and inspiration needed to introduce a wide variety of sustainable practices.

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Green Toolbox

2013 is IYNF’s Year of Action for Change. This training course will let you discover ways of effective change work and inspired action in youth organisations and structures. It will bring together young enthusiasts, changemakers, volunteers and activists, providing them with an opportunity to learn, share and reflect upon their experiences, struggles and victories of activism and youth work.

By this course we want to:

• provide young people with tools, knowledge and skills for participation in creating change;
• inspire and empower young people to pursue their talents and competences and connect them with the cause that they feel most passionate about;
• give space to explore historical examples of youth organizations and analyse current trends of participation;
• explore the place of self-development in youth organizations;
• discover the educational and empowering role of youth organizations;
• give space to discuss personal and professional dilemmas when working as a social change agents.

As you may know, IYNF has been working on the topics of sustainability throughout tge year 2012 and as a result produced a publication on sustainability in youth projects and organizations- Green Toolbox. The publication will be out at the end of this month and will cover a wide variety of topics related to environmental, social and economic sustainability. You can read more about the publication here: http://goo.gl/hOq0x

Our memeber organization from Austria - Naturfreundejugend Österreich is sharing their experiences organizing last year's International Environmental Workcamps 2012. They took place throughout Austria and were focusing on various aspects of nature preservation and protection. Such workcamps are organized every year. Everyone between the age 16-30, loving nature, willing to volunteer, wishing to make new friends is welcome. By the end of the article you can also find freshly issued calls for International Environmental Workamps in Tyrol and Upper Austria for the year 2013! Check them out and take part!