Calendar - June 09

Dear Calendar readers,

Here we are coming with already the second issue of Calendar – a monthly Newsletter for Members, local groups and simply anybody who would like to stay up-dated on what is going on in Young Naturefriends across Europe. It is here to increase cooperation of all of us within the IYNF network. Maybe you recognised that this time Calendar is few days delayed. I would like to apologise for that, we decided to deliver a good product later instead of delivering anything on time. I am very thankful for all the received contributions and I would like to encourage even more of you to share something from your activities with other Calendar readers. You can expect the next issue again last Wednesday of the month, this time 24 June. The deadline for sending contributions is therefore 17 June.

Lucie Editor of Calendar

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NEWS:

Naturefriends Position Paper on Mobility and Tourism in Times of Climate Change


The European Conference “Getting There – Naturefriends Point the Way to Soft Mobility” in Salzburg on 22 May 2009, was organised by Naturefriends International, by Naturefriends Austria and the national Naturefriends Federations with the support of the EU Commission, Directorate General Environment, and of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Environment and Water Management.

Naturefriends International and Alpine Pearls sign a cooperation agreement to encourage Soft Mobility in the alpine region. And further more they pointed out the following five priority demands: 1) Focus on soft-mobility tourism formats (e.g. strengthen the marketing for environmentally sound mobility) 2) Broaden the appeal of public transport (e.g. introducing all-year passes) 3) Guarantee funding of public transport (e.g. guaranteed accessibility) 4) Encourage innovation of new transport technologies (e.g. testing of airships for possibilities in tourism) 5) Provide a regulatory framework designed to advance soft mobility (e.g. integrate criteria for soft mobility for all funding guidelines)

In case you are interested in this topic, please visit the websites of NFI and Alpine Pearls.


New Secretary General
There are questions rising up around the topic of IYNF new Secretary General. To make it clear to all of you we would like to inform you that the new Secretary General was selected. It is Joris Taanman from The Netherlands. Joris will join the Secretariat crew from 1 August in order to start a smooth hand over from Ondrej. However, he will only start in the new position from 1 February 2010. That practically means that until 1 February 2010 Ondrej Pohanka is fully responsible for running the Secretariat and stays in the position of Secretary General bearing all the related duties.



Reach the Rainbow 2009 - EVS in Duha
Duha CZ is one the few organisations within Young Naturefriends which has a long term and successful experience with both hosting and sending EVS volunteers, already since 2005. At PlaNet (link) meeting they shared some of their knowledge and experience about the European Voluntary Service, an endeavour carried out under the Youth in Action programme (link). For the second time they will host a group EVS project this summer, this time with eight volunteers at the same time. Duha was the first organisation in the Czech Republic who managed to host group EVS is 2007 and the results of the project brought a lot to whole organisation. Essential for success was the active participation of local groups in the project and strengthening their connection with the Duha headquarters. A group of motivated young foreigners can change a lot in an organisation such as Duha. In next issues we will be happy to inform you how we are Reaching Rainbow this summer. You are welcome to visit our websiteTrochu jinak/ A bit differently to learn more about EVS, get inspired or search an opportunity for yourselves to go for EVS.



IYNF meeting PlaNet, 7-10 May , Vienna (AT)
IYNF took a brand new approach to organising its statutory and planning meetings: we merged them. A result was a very productive meeting called PlaNet for all key people from IYNF and its member organisations. One particular result of the meeting was launching IYNF networking programmes, which will provide framework for cooperation of local groups in the Naturefriends movement. We already have a first pilot project being organised in 2010 in the Netherlands!


First part of Xperience, 16-24 May, Lustin (BE)
The first part of the long-term training course took place last week in Ardennes. Xperience is a long term training course on Experiential and Intercultural Education. Twenty-one participants and five team members spent together more than a week, deepening their own experience in the shoes of participants first, and later followed by reflecting this and building their own mini practise using the learning outcomes of this reflection. As the first part took place in the Belgium Outward Bound centre, their style and methodology was legible in between lines a lot – group went through hiking, caving, rappelling, exercises in the adventure park etc. So far participants evaluate it as a deep and strong experience and confrontation of their own leadership and trainers’ styles. Everybody is already thrilled about what will come in the second part of the training course that will take place in the Czech Republic in October 2009.

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ACTIVITIES and OFFERS:

Invitation for International Workcamp in Vienna
This summer, there will be an international workcamp in Vienna for the first time. If you think workcamps only can take place on the countryside, this one will show you it can also be done inside a city. There is a big park in the west part of Vienna called “Lainzer Tiergarten”. It used to be the hunting area for the Kaiser but nowadays itis open to everybody and free to enter. There is a 24 km long walking path going around the whole park, which is managed by the Naturfriends of Vienna. From 2 to 8 August we will be working on some parts of this walking path to make it new and nice again. People coming from outside Vienna will be able to sleep in a youth hostel the costs of which are covered by the Naturefriends and Young Naturefriends of Vienna. When: 2 – 8 August 2009
Where: Vienna, Austria
Age: 18 – 23
Working language: English and German
Costs: travelling costs only
Working time: 9am – 4pm
Registration: Naturefriends Vienna Erzherzog Karl Strasse 108 1220 Vienna, AUSTRIA
Tel.: 0043 1 893 61 41 www.naturfreunde.at
Further Information and contacts: Lea Riedl (q-ki[at]gmx.at), Max Kohaut (maximilian.kohaut[at]naturfreundejugend.at)



International Danube Tour- Call for participants
Come and Join the Best Canoe tour of the World! Please find our invitation to the oldest, longest and funniest International Danube Tour. The tour is starting in Ingolstadt-Germany and finishes at the Black Sea. The Hungarian section goes from Esztergon, the city of kings, till Mohacs. Everybody can join this water tour for a week or more, depending on their free time. Students get a 50% discount. You can see more details on TID website. Contact email: info[at]tid.hu For the Hungarian part of Danube tour you can as well contact Gabriella Fejevary (gabilugoj[at]yahoo.com).



ATB International Alpine Training for youngsters (16-25) in 2010
ATB - Belgium Naturefriends encourage you to already think one year ahead about…one whole week camping amidst towering mountains, sleeping in huts above vast glaciers, getting an through-out initiation in high-alpine techniques such as glacier-walking, orienteering, scrambling on high rocks and touch the clouds at almost 4000 m ! Go climb that mountain! Apply now!

Dates: 10-18 July 2010
Place: Les Ecrins (French Alps), Base-camp (tents): Ailefroide (F)
Conditions for participation: - be between 16 and 25 years old - be member of one of the IYNF MOs - love the outdoors and be in good physical condition - like international encounters and speak good English - lack of vertigo and have basic skills in rock-climbing (no alpine experience required) - pay participation fee (´full board´) according to IYNF standards (Belgians pay 500 Euro, others pay less - or more - according to IYNF scales)
For more information + application please contact directly Wilfried Meulenbergs (wilfried.meulenbergs[at]nfi.at)



You can Meet the freak in Hungary
As you could have read in the last Calendar, the Meet the freak project is successfully taking place for the fifth time, this year in Hungary; from 11 till 26 August 2009. Most of you already know this amateur art education based project so we would like to give you a little update. Recently, the call for participants has been opened on the IYNF website and the deadline for applications is 30 June. Besides the participants, the team is still looking for Slovakian, Austrian and Polish national group leaders (Freak leaders) and various Art group leaders. If you or someone you know are interested, you can find all the detailed information at the Meet the freak website.


InTouch returns!
A few months ago we had to decide to cancel the introductory seminar InTouch due to lack of participants. This seminar is meant for young European naturefriends who would like to get involved on the international level. During five days the participants get more information about the naturefriends movement in general and IYNF in specific. They get information and tools to start organising projects, contacts to other groups and can also present their own member organisation or local group. We just heard the great news that InTouch can be postponed till the end of the year. The new dates will be from 3 till 8 November 2009 in Germany. To make InTouch a success we need the cooperation of our members and partners to bring up participants that are interested in the international level, but dont know how and where to start. Soon we will start preparing the seminar and will give you more information. We stay InTouch!


Planning Weekend + Council of IYNF – Come to move IYNF forward!
The Planning weekend will be a meeting of IYNF core stakeholders – representatives of member organisations, Presidium, staff and volunteers. It will be a working and planning meeting on one hand and a statutory Council on the other , following the successful format of PlaNet meeting in Vienna, May 2009 Our main aim for the meeting is to prepare common plans for the year 2010 following IYNF long-term strategy. It will take place on 24 - 27September2009 in the Czech Republic. Deadline for registration is 1 September 2009. If you are interested, here you can find more information about Planning Weekend.

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