Preparation
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Preparation
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PreparationAlready in September 1999 the preparations for this exchange started. Initially we examined what we wanted to do. It soon became clear that a cooperation with the sister town council of Laakdal, Jurbarkas, was possible and also very evident. We then began to examine the possibilities but it was only when in May 2000 a kind of youth council was founded in Jurbarkas that the real starting point was given. We immediately went into it with the youth council to possibly exchange experiences and to start a further development. In august 2000 we went with a delegation of the youth council and the ELE (the organization that supports the contacts between Jurbarkas and Laakdal) to Jurbarkas to take a look at how the situation was in Jurbarkas with regard to the organization of youngsters. This was a disillusionment for us. Allthough they talked about 30 organized youth associations, there was not 1 association that tried to occupy youngsters in teams in a meaningful way. Most of these 30 'youth associations' were organizations, which organized parties, info evenings, festivals. There was also a great number of sports associations that had a youth department and that presented themselves in this way as a youth association. Starting from this knowledge we began brainstorming at our arrival about how we could give the youngsters in Jurbarkas a possibility to organize themselves in a youth association or rather in an organization in which they could keep themselves busy in a meaningful way in a fixed and regular structure. With this idea in the back of our head, we started to build up contacts between youngsters from Laakdal and Lithuania to realize this exchange together in July. After August we returned twice to Jurbarkas to shape our project further and to come together to 1 unit. In between these visits the project was presented and shaped in Laakdal. In this way we could realize that we were creating a project in which both parties had their say. These visits could take place with a support of municipal funds through ELE. After New Year we then began to work out the exchange itself. By that time there already existed a study group for more than one year within the youth council. They focused themselves on working out the international project. In January we started to draw up the file and the programme. The programme has been drawn up initially by the Belgian guides. During the Easter holidays this proposal has been suggested to the Lithuanian participants and guide. They could discuss everything with the Belgian guidance. After the visit we gathered again in Belgium and we drew up a definitive proposal, which we sent to Lithuania by e-mail. This was returned to us without any remarks and then we started the practical preparation of this programme. This programme was then presented at Jint (non-profit association). During the last half year before the exchange there has been a lot of communication among the participants and the guides. The international meetings concerning the project are mentioned above. Of course there has also been assembled with the study group. The periodicity depended on the work that had to be done. During the drawing up of the file and the programme this was weekly. Apart from these busy periods the meetings mostly took place every 2 weeks. So far close on 30 meetings took place with the study group. Besides these meetings there are of course also the meetings on which the project has to be presented and the general meeting of the youth council where the state of affairs is followed. Regularly there has also been worked in smaller groups round specific themes. There have been 2 persons who worked very specifically on the file; this of course in consultation with the work group. Everyone had to be deployed for 100 percent. |
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wim.goos@skynet.be.
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Dit project is gefinancierd
met steun van de Europese Gemeenschap