Calendar - September 09

Dear reader,
on the very end of summer for most of the Naturefriends in Europe, we are bringing you an issue of Calendar which is itself full of summer memories. You can catch a bit of the mood from activities organised by German Young Naturefriends and Duha CZ, which do co-operate a lot. We are very happy to see the networking intentions within the Naturefriends movement turn into real actions!

We are definately interested in your personal opinion about the Countdown 2021 project of NFJD.

IYNF would like to invite some of you to come to Planning weekend, and many of you to come to InTouch seminar. NFJ Thuringia is offering a few places on an international youth exchange in September, so make your summer last longer! But if you wish to stay at home this time, warming up your sofa, you can still visit our fresh new e-store.

From the well heated Secretariat of IYNF,

Lucie, Calendar editor

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IYNF activities

InTouch – training workshop on youth exchange project management

3-8 November 2009, Germany
An excellent opportunity for all local groups!

• Do you want to learn more about international youth exchanges?
• Are you interested in knowing how to bring them to success and use them for development of your own group?
• Do you want to find potential partners for your project?
• Do you want to use the IYNF support framework for youth exchanges?
  

Then join InTouch 2009 - a training on youth exchanges organised by IYNF within its networking programme.
InTouch will offer a programme focused on:

• what exactly is a youth exchange – why is it more than just a youth camp
• grant application writing: what are the most important things you have to take care of if you want to write a successful application
• intercultural cooperation: how can the differences of participants coming from different countries be used as a great learning opportunity
  

During the workshop you can also meet and make friends with people from other countries, find new contacts, possible partners for future cooperation, and simply experience a nice intercultural activity. IYNF website is the place to read more and apply, if you do so before 7 September 2009, you will get an early-bird discount!

IYNF Planning weekend - an opportunity to get involved

Still two weeks until the registration deadline. Planning weekend is a meeting of people from member organisations and their local groups, Presidium, staff and volunteers. It is a working and planning meeting as well as a place of formal decisions (statutory Council). Our main aim for the meeting is to prepare common plans for the year 2010 and involve more people into international cooperation.
If you have organised something with IYNF in the past season or want to get involved in the next one, please come to Planning weekend! It will take place 24 – 27 September 2009 in the Czech Republic. Deadline for registration is 10 September 2009.
Registration and more information on Planning weekend is on IYNF website.

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Activities and offers of member organisations

Facets of Europe

You have a wonderful chance to prolong your summer holidays a little bit and join the international youth exchange hosted by Young Naturefriends of Thuringia (D). We are looking for seven people to join the project. Participants from Hungary, Latvia, Turkey and Germany have signed up by now.

• date: 07.09-20.09.2009
• place: Wustrow near Neustrelitz (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), 1,5 hours away from Berlin
• accommodation: in bungalows
• age: 16 - 25
  

More information about the exchange can be found here.
In case you are interested, contact the organisers directly at info[at]naturfreundejugend-thueringen.de

IV International Seminar on Mountain Tourism

Seminar will be held in Kudowa Zdrój (Poland) on 22-25 October.
The topic of the seminar is MOUNTAIN TOURISM IN NATURA 2000 AREAS - Conflict or Opportunity? Seminar is organised by International Friends of Nature, Polish Tourist Country Lovers’ Society (PTTK) – Cracow Academic Section, Institute of Tourism and Recreation, Academy of Physical Education in Cracow, in co-operation with Góry Stołowe National Park (The Sudetes). Participants will focus on the use of Natura 2000 areas for tourism and recreation and the role of NGOs and local communities in preparing management plans for them.
For more information please contact Piotr Dabrowski ( dabrowski[at]eko-tourist.krakow.pl)

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IYNF News

Visit the new IYNF e-store!

Offering numerous resourceful publications on youth work and outdoor activities, as well as limited edition t-shirts and handy gadgets, there sure is something you like. We deliver worldwide right to your doorstep, just have a look and make your choice. Even more items will be added in the coming weeks, so don’t forget to check back later!

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News from member organisations

COUNTDOWN 2021

COUNTDOWN 2021 is a new project by German Young Naturefriends. In 2021 the last German nuclear power plant is planned to be cut off. But in 2009 there are 17 nuclear power plants still working. Conservative and liberal parties even want to change the law so that old and dangerous power plants can run longer. With the new project German Young Naturefriends want to support the nuclear phaseout and inform about the risks of nuclear technology. One important event is the big manifestation of German environmental groups against the use of nuclear energy on September 5th, 2009, in Berlin. There will be a strong participation of young naturefriends from all over Germany on that day.Check the COUNTDOWN 2010

DoDuhy EVS volunteers are sharing their experiences

DoDuhy alias Reach the Rainbow is a group EVS project of Duha, which you could have read about in previous issues of Calendar (link na web). This time we are bringing an authentic sharing of experiences from that project by one of the volunteers, Felix from Germany. Here you can read about his experience.

A Czech-German prehistory in the land of neanderthalers

1 - 15 August, 2009
A prehistorical youth exchange shaped as a Czech - German youth camp organised by Duha Velka Medvedice (Czechia) andNaturfreundejugend Württemberg (Germany) took place in the first two weeks of August nearby the village of Stetten am kalten Markt in south-west Germany. Nearly 35 teenagers and other 15 animators and supporters from both countries took part in the program getting themselves closer to the way the prehistoric people lived and thought by using various games and creative activities accompanied by four trips. Thank the good ghosts' protections they were lucky about the weather and injuries.
The activities have been supported by Tandem co-ordination centre for Czech-German youth exchanges and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic.
An overview of photographs from the just finished camp Prehistoric can be found here.

NFJD Thuringia and Duha CZ cooperation here and there, everywhere!

More than 200 youngsters from Thuringia and from the Czech Republic spent their summer holidays together – they all were participants at the youth exchange activities the Young Naturefriends in Thuringia and Duha have been organising for years already.
Some of them visited Ahlbeck at the baltic sea and tested their skills in building sand castles. Others spent two weeks full of action in Liberec and learned much about the city. And in Tangersdorf two „media-weeks“ took place: youngsters made videos about the environment. There also was canoeing on the Unstrut and the Berounka – a special trip for water-loving sportsmen and –women.



At the moment plans are made for summer 2010: Of course there will be international youth exchanges during the summer holidays again. But the year will start with skiing: Probably during the first week of February a ski-holiday in Liberec (CZ) will take place. Be a part of it!