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A few words from the EYCA President
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I’m happy to be elected President of EYCA for another three years. I’m excited and a bit nervous about the big challenges which confront us in the next three years. The number of young people using European Youth Cards has increased a lot over the past three years and we want to increase this even more in the next three years.
But the question we need to keep asking ourselves is what do young people want from European Youth Cards. How can we make sure young people get more from the card to help them become more mobile and active? How can we support all EYCA member organisations to create valuable services and opportunities connected to the card?
And how can we use the experience, knowledge and ideas from all EYCA member organisations to stimulate more young people to be mobile and active, and to make better policy related to mobility and citizenship for young people across Europe?
These are the questions I am already asking myself and these are the questions I look forward to tackling along with my colleagues in the newly elected EYCA Board. We have a combination of experience and new blood in the Board. We will get down to business in our first meeting in early September along with a new Director.
The progress achieved in the past three years will continue and will be speeded up I hope. At our recent conference, EYCA organisations identified specific initiatives they want to develop to make more impact with youth cards: sharing online discounts portal, developing apps and rewards systems and working to connect the youth card to employability and entrepreneurship. It has been great to observe the enthusiasm for working together since the conference.
I look forward to working with you all to deliver the EYCA vision and mission.
Jarkko Lehikoinen
EYCA President
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Taking EYCA to the next level: Meet the new Board members
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During the 30th EYCA Conference, the General Assembly re-elected the President and five Board members, as well as elected five new Board members. Meet the new Board members and find out more about their priorities and the road ahead!
Bruno del Mazo from Injuve, Spain was elected a non-group Board member. Bruno has been working for Injuve for 4 years and is the Spanish representative in the statutory bodies for youth in the Council of Europe. Bruno’s priority as Board member is to help reach 20 million cardholders by 2017.
Carlos Nunes from Movijovem, Portugal was elected the Group Board member for Group 1. Carlos has been the Director of the Commercial Department of Movijovem since 2010. A youth policy expert, Carlos aims to use his mandate to help improve the value of the card for young people.
Monica Sala from Carnet Jove Andorra is the new EYCA Treasurer and a Non-group Board member. Monica has been the director of Carnet Jove Andorra since 2002. Monica’s objective as a Board member is to improve the coherence of the Association on as many levels as possible.
Ivelina Peeva from Euro<26 Foundation Bulgaria is the new Group Board member representing Group 2. Iva has been the Chairperson of the Bulgarian EYCA member since 2002 and aims to use her expertise in international youth events, training, lobbying and political PR to help take the Association further.
Gazela Pudar Draško from Evropski omladinski centar, Serbia is the new Group Board member for Group 5. With extensive experience in connecting the card to youth mobility and active citizenship programmes, Gazela aims to raise EYCA’s international profile and identify new funding opportunities.
Some of the priorities of the new Board for the next three years are to continue working to achieve the target of 20 million cardholders by 2017; to contribute to youth policy development across Europe, and to revise the EYCA’s regulatory framework in order to ensure it reflects growth and change for EYCA members.
The new Board will meet for the first time in September 2014 to start working on the strategy for taking EYCA further in the next three years.
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SUSTAINABLE MEMBER ORGANISATIONS
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Evropski omladinski centar, Serbia wins the EYCA Excellence Award for Sustainable Member Organisation
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The Excellence Award for Sustainable Member Organisation recognised Evropski omladinski centar's efficient resource management and dedication to making their inspirational vision a reality.
On the final evening of the EYCA 30th Conference, the winners of the EYCA Excellence Awards 2014 were announced. Evropski omladinski centar (EOC) took home the Excellence Award in the category of Sustainable Member Organisation.
EOC is one of the three main youth structures in Serbia, successfully developing all aspects of European Youth Card operations. The organisation works closely with the Serbian Ministry of Youth and Sport and cooperates with many other organisations and institutions at the national level.
EOC is a strong supporter and promoter of Europe-wide projects such as the No Hate Speech Movement. On February 14, 2014 EOC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the No Hate Speech Movement National Coordination Committee and showed its support for the campaign by launching a special edition of the European Youth Card dedicated to the No Hate Speech Movement.
Congratulations and keep up the good work!
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Impressions from the first Associate Members Information Session
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At the request of member organisations, a first Associate Members Information Session took place in Zagreb, before the EYCA GA. The purpose of the session was to offer those who have recently joined EYCA (associate members or new employees of full EYCA members) a detailed presentation of how the Association works.
The session covered the Association’s structure and governance, regulatory framework, EYCA brand and communications, and various tools, such as the EYCAbase and Common Cardholder Database (CCDB). Representatives from five member organisations attended the information session. Other information sessions will follow.
 Natassa (Lifelong Learning Foundation, Greece): "We found the Associate Members Information Session extremely beneficial. The most useful part was the detailed description of how EYCA is structured and how the Office and the Board function. There were useful clarifications about the Graphic Chart, procedures and contact persons for specific subjects."
 Vanesa (Association Carte Jeunes Européenne, France): "The seminar was a great occasion for new members to share ideas and projects, and to get awareness of the added value of the European discount network. The brand and communications part was very enlightening as it showed the different communication channels used by EYCA and the way they can help new members."
 Thea (Children and Youth National Center, Georgia): "It was very useful to get detailed information regarding different regional groups, their distribution, discount database and branding. I very much recommend integrating the information session with the GA. It was very practical and useful for me."
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Maximising Impact (MI) programme continues to be central to supporting EYCA member organisations to exceed minimum Quality Standards and to have more impact on young people’s lives. Here’s a quick update on progress across each of the three objectives.
Objective 1 – Support full members to reach and exceed minimum EYCA Quality Standards
Four EYCA members worked with the EYCA office and Board during the first half of 2014: European Movement Estonia, Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation in Greece, Asociatia EURO<26 Romania, and the Russian Union of Youth. For each of these four members, a report and development update identifying objectives to be achieved by the end of 2014 has been produced.
Objective 2 – Support associate members during their first year of membership.
Currently six associate members are being supported: Association Carte Jeunes Européenne in France, LEPL Children and Youth National Center in Georgia, Mecenat in Norway, British Youth Council in England, UK, ZIP Travel in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Centre for Youth Affirmation in Montenegro. Five members participated in the Associate Member Session in Zagreb. Auctus NGO (Bosnia and Herzegovina) was supported as an associate member and has succeeded in becoming a full member during the last EYCA General Assembly.
Objective 3 - Develop “EYCA Standards of Excellence” to motivate members to aim for excellence in all areas relating to youth cards.
Six member organisations won EYCA Excellence Awards at the Annual Conference – one for each of the six EYCA Standards of Excellence. The EYCA Board has asked the MI working group to refine and develop the system for selecting EYCA Excellence Award winners for next year. A seminar for the MI working group is planned for the end of the year.
Big thanks go to Vlado Jedlicka for his work as the Board lead on MI programme for the past three years. The new Board will identify a new Board lead for this work in their meeting in September.
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QUALITY BENEFITS AND DISCOUNTS
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Agència Catalana de la Joventut, Catalunya, Spain - winner of the EYCA Excellence Award for Quality Benefits and Discounts
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Agència Catalana de la Joventut, Catalunya, Spain received the EYCA Excellence Award for Quality Benefits and Discounts in recognition of the outstanding opportunities their offer young people.
Every second Catalan aged 18 to 25 has the Carnet Jove. Young people in Catalunya now have access to over 8,000 discounts and benefits, 600 of which are online discounts. A mobile app was introduced at the beginning of the year with great results. Furthermore, Carnet Jove launched an advertising campaign entitled La Generacio Carnet Jove, which was released in all major media (TV, radio, press, online, outdoor).
‘Get Connected’ is an example of yet another great opportunity the card offers. This social project seeks to help cardholders make the first steps in their professional lives. After a tough competition, eleven winners get to work in leading companies for one year, gaining precious professional experience and are rewarded with € 5,000 each.
As a result of all these actions, Carnet Jove has reached a record number of cardholders in the past year – over 525,000 young people, which is 40% of the general youth population in the region.
Congratulations for a well-deserved award!
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Mecenat, the EYCA member organisation in Sweden, is working closely with other EYCA member organisations on developing an online discounts portal for the Association. A pilot is underway and legal, business and technological issues are being addressed.
The Online Discounts Pilot was the most popular workshop of the 30th EYCA Conference in Zagreb. Nineteen representatives of EYCA member organisations attended this workshop, discussed the opportunities the pilot offers and worked to identify the best way to extend Mecenat’s online discount infrastructure to different territories.
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Results of the first pan-European project using the EYCA
Common Cardholder Database
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"CityBreak is a such great project of EYCA and thanks a lot for it, as well for the European Youth Card itself :-) We really enjoyed it!" - Klára and Halina from the Czech Republic on their trip to Gdansk, Poland (pictured).
The EYCA City Break 2014, the first pan-European project using the Common Cardholder Database ended on 31 May, with 5 winners being announced on 5 June. 1142 cardholders entered the competition for their chance to win a summer city break in one of the six destinations: Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Gdansk, Prague, Lisbon or Porto.
The five EYCA member organsations that took part in the competition and offered weekend packages to European Youth Cardholders are CJP, the Netherlands; the Czech Council of Children and Youth; Movijovem, Portugal; the Polish Youth Projects Association, and Young Scot.
The competition made use of CCDB features and functions and provided valuable intelligence to participating member organisations. To find out more about CCDB development, contact Lara at lara.vegas@eyca.org!
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New strategic opportunities: Eurail and EYCA
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Carlo Boselli, Eurail General Manager, and his colleague Christina Maier joined EYCA members in Zagreb for the 30th EYCA Conference. Carlo and Christina presented their organisation, the re-positioning process it is going through and the opportunities for Eurail and EYCA to cooperate. Here is a follow-up interview with Carlo Boselli.
1. Your presentation at the recent EYCA conference told us you are in the process of reviewing and re-positioning Eurail's offers to young people. Where is the process at now and what are the next steps?
Carlo Boselli: The vision of being a tourism-oriented provider of a lifetime experience forms the basis of our repositioning and renewal process. This comprises on the one side, the optimisation of our pass portfolio, on the other side, the enhancement of the product by adding value through strategic partnerships. We are currently working on various optimisations of our passes in order to fully respond to the needs and requirements of young people. Furthermore, we are aiming for a quick implementation of a long-term collaboration with EYCA, so young people can benefit from all your attractive discounts when travelling with our passes.
2. What did you learn from EYCA members' responses to your questionnaire? How will they help shape the new offers from Eurail?
Carlo Boselli: In general, EYCA members gave high importance to the introduction of a Multi-Country-Pass and Mini-Group-Pass. In addition, we learnt that the common age limit among the EYCA members is 30. This information, of course, is valuable when considering product changes. However, most of all we were delighted by the enthusiastic feedback of your members and the warm welcome at the full assembly that makes us very much looking forward to a future collaboration. Once again, many thanks for that!
3. You learned more about EYCA and its new vision and mission statements. How do you think it is possible for EYCA and Eurail to cooperate to support mobility and active citizenship for young people in Europe?
Carlo Boselli: As the vision and mission of our organisations match very well, we are more than interested in establishing a long-term relationship with EYCA on a European level. This could be realised by offering a special discount on InterRail Passes to EYCA cardholders, but also grant the EYCA benefits to InterRail Youth Pass holders. On a national level, we gladly support projects and competitions encouraging mobility and active citizenship in Europe with free InterRail Passes. If interested, EYCA members are more than welcome to send us an email (c.maier@eurailgroup.org) explaining the aim and nature of the project.
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YOUTH MOBILITY AND ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP
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Allianssi, Finland receives the EYCA Excellence Award for Youth Mobility and Active Citizenship
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In the category of Youth Mobility and Active Citizenship, the EYCA Excellence Award went to Allianssi, Finland, for their great contribution to promoting youth mobility and participation through the European Youth Card.
The organisations has been a strong supporter of the EU Structured Dialogue process on youth. Allianssi has been involved in the national consultations phase of the process and collected over 2,500 responses which helped to inform youth policy-making at the European level.
Allianssi is also a member of the League of Young Voters, encouraging young people to become active citizens, be informed and vote in national and European elections.
Allianssi plans to continue with these projects and to find new opportunities for supporting youth mobility and active citizenship through the European Youth Card.
Congratulations!
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Rewards system in the spotlight
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One of the most successful projects for encouraging youth participation and active citizenship through the youth card is Young Scot’s Rewards programme. After the Rewards seminar hosted by Young Scot in January 2014, the feedback from EYCA member organisations has been overwhelmingly positive, with many members interested in implementing similar programmes in their own territories.
In response to extensive demand from member organisations, the Young Scot Rewards system was examined in detail during a workshop of the EYCA Zagreb Conference. Options were explored for building new systems and/or connecting to Young Scot’s existing systems.
Four EYCA member organisations are currently working directly with Young Scot to explore the technical aspects of the project and to identify specific funding opportunities.
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Institutional partners on delivering the EYCA vision
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One of the highlights of the 30th EYCA Conference in Zagreb was the panel discussion, which brought together EYCA member organisations and representatives of partner networks. Here are the highlights of the discussion.
Representing the European Commission, Graeme Robertson praised EYCA initiatives such as the online discount platform and Mobility in the Mind. Graeme restated the Commission’s support of and interest in the Mobility in the Mind project and stressed that youth mobility and its potential to increase employability are a major priority for the Commission. Graeme noted that EYCA’s strength is its direct connection to 5 million young people. While the close cooperation with the European Commission should continue, Graeme suggested the Association should also work to influence youth policy at the national level, where change can happen at a quicker pace.
Natalja Turenne from the Council of Europe welcomed the new EYCA vision and mission statements and the more focused approach they provide. The seminars organised by EYCA member organisations have successfully demonstrated the opportunities the youth cards offer and have revitalised the Partial Agreement (PA), with several new countries now interested in joining the Agreement. The new PA Work Programme 2014-15 was successfully launched in Vienna with a European seminar, which generated strong evidence of the role of youth cards in supporting inclusive youth mobility. Furthermore, EYCA has been granted observer status in the CDEJ and a young person is now representing the Association in the Advisory Council.
Reinhard Schwalbach, President of Eurodesk, expressed his support for the new EYCA vision statement and noted that there are many possible areas of cooperation between EYCA, Eurodesk and ERYICA.
Sanja Vuković Čović, President of ERYICA, welcomed the focus on inclusive youth mobility and noted that EYCA’s cooperation with the business sector puts the Association in a unique position to support youth employability, and to combine the card with the EU Youth Guarantee scheme.
Representing the European Union Federation of Youth Hostel Associations (EUFED), Dražen Gečević commented on the compatibility between the visions of EYCA, EUFED and Hosteling International, which creates huge potential for working together to achieve common goals. As part of EYCA, EUFED and Hostelling International, the Croatian Youth Hostel Association is in an ideal position to explore cooperation opportunities.
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European Youth Cardholders spreading the No Hate Speech message in Croatia
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The Croatian Youth Hostel Association (CYHA), the EYCA member organisation in Croatia, has launched a special edition of the European Youth Card to promote the No Hate Speech Movement in partnership with the Croatian Ministry of Social Policies and Youth. 5,000 special cards bearing the No Hate logo have been produced in order to increase youth participation in the campaign activities.
CYHA is an official partner of the No Hate Speech Movement in Croatia and works closely with the Croatian Government to promote the campaign. Dražen Gečević, CYHA Secretary General explains: “The No Hate Speech campaign values are closely related to the mission of CYHA, which is to help young people gain close-up experience and greater understanding of people, places and cultures. Therefore, besides issuing the special edition of the youth card, CYHA is promoting the campaign’s values of human rights, respect and tolerance to young guests from across Europe in all our youth hostels”.
Dražen encourages all EYCA member organisations to “get involved by setting up a range of awards for young people who demonstrate action that promotes the campaign and the values of the campaign in their local communities”.
Five EYCA member organisations now issue special No Hate Speech editions of the European Youth Card: Allianssi, Finland; Mobin, Slovenia; Evropski omladinski centar, Serbia; Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud, Aragon, Spain and CYHA in Croatia.
More is still to come!
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KNOWLEDGE OF YOUNG PEOPLE
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Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud, Aragon, Spain takes home the EYCA Excellence Award for Knowledge of Young People
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The EYCA Excellence Award for Knowledge of Young People went to Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud, Aragon, Spain, for their outstanding work in generating and sharing knowledge about young people and using it to constantly improve their services.
2014 marks 25 years of the European Youth Card in Aragon. To celebrate this landmark occasion, Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud has prepared a full year of activities, including the second edition of the Aragon Youth Congress in October. Entitled ‘Skilled, Active, Innovative and Inclusive Youth’, the event brings together young people, youth NGOs, teachers, and leading professionals who will discuss the current issues facing young people and will explore possible solutions.
The second Aragon Youth Congress is just the latest project through which Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud works to generate knowledge about young people and their needs in order to inform their future projects and programmes, including the European Youth Card.
Congratulations for the award and happy 25th anniversary!
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Inclusive Youth Mobility: Better mobility opportunities for young people with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds
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The European seminar held on 6-7 May 2014 in Vienna was the first event in the 2014-2015 Partial Agreement work programme “Inclusive Youth Mobility” with the Council of Europe. The event was co-hosted by Jugendkarte GmbH, the EYCA member organization in Austria.
The theme of the seminar was better mobility opportunities for young people with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds and included expert inputs from the Austrian Government, Austrian National Council of Disabled Persons, Lisbon University, International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany (IJAB), and Project La Trace from Luxembourg.
Two good practice case studies related to youth cards were presented: The Haggeye Youth Forum helping Young Scot to improve their youth card services to accommodate the needs of young people living with sight loss and the Catalan Youth Agency's programme to offer youth cards to young people who do not live with their parents or who come from difficult family backgrounds in order to support independent living and to connect them to opportunities available to all European Youth Cardholders.
The seminar discussion focused on six key themes related to inclusive mobility: accessibility, awareness, autonomy and empowerment, peer support, cooperation and networking, youth policy responses. A full report summarising the inputs, discussions and recommendations together with all the presentations from the seminar are available on the EYCA intranet. Videos used in the seminar are available on the EYCA YouTube Channel.
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EYCA Excellence Award for PR and Communications: Second win for the Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud, Aragon, Spain
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Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud received a second EYCA Excellence Award for their amazing work in communicating with young people and other stakeholders.
All through 2014, Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud is supporting its 25th anniversary activities with a large-scale communication campaign in traditional media (TV, press, outdoor advertising) and in new media.
For instance, the organisation’s Instagram account will be launched with a photo competition for young people. The themes of the competition are mobility, culture, sport, leisure and free time. The winning photographs will be shown in an exhibition entitled "25 years of European Youth Card in Aragón”.
The organisation is also supporting the Hunteet League, an award-winning social platform and competition connecting 25 companies with European Youth Cardholders.
Congratulations to Instituto Aragonés de la Juventud!
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Next steps for the EYCA Brand and Communications Group
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At the 30th GA in Zagreb, members unanimously adopted the new EYCA vision and mission statement and a new set of values to guide the network during the next years. This was the result of one year of work led by the Brand and Communications Group. The new EYCA vision and mission statement will shape the new Brand and Communications Strategy and can now be found in the EYCA internet.
The fresh mission has a clear focus on the social role of the European Youth Card brand in stimulating more young people to be socially, culturally, educationally and economically mobile.
EYCA Brand and Communications Group will continue its work to support member organisations to better define and communicate the impact they achieve through European Youth Card services. The first priority is to revise all EYCA communications tools and systems starting with the complete makeover of the EYCA website and all related online communications.
The group is committed to connecting all members in a proactive dialogue and to engaging members in developing the services and opportunities of European Youth Cards. The next meeting of the group will take place this autumn.
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Developing applications to increase youth mobility
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To support the development of app technology in the Association, EYCA member organisations came together for a dedicated workshop during the EYCA Conference in Zagreb. The workshop considered technological developments for increasing the use and impact of youth cards.
Participants shared their know-how and explored the various ways to connect app development across the network. Nine EYCA member organisations have already developed mobile apps connected to the European Youth Card with over 1 million app downloads across the network.
EYCA members present at the workshop agreed that the development of apps should make full use of existing technology, the CCDB in particular. In response to participants’ unanimous request, a seminar focusing on apps and card in the mobile will be organised in order to take the process forward.
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: YOUNG SCOT
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Young Scot wins the Excellence Award for Active Contribution to EYCA
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Young Scot was the big winner of 2014, taking home the Excellence Award for Active Contribution to EYCA. The award recognised their constant and valuable input and their role in improving EYCA’s impact on young people’s lives.
Over the past 18 months, Young Scot hosted three seminars, sharing their knowledge about measuring the impact of youth cards, the Rewards programme, and youth cards working with cities.
After the success of the Rewards programme in Scotland, Young Scot is now supporting other EYCA member organisations to adapt and implement similar projects in their own territories. Young Scot is also leading the development of mobile apps in the EYCA network.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that EYCA member organisations that nominated Young Scot for this Excellence Award stated that “Scots inspired us to engage” and that “many members look up to them to get the best practice”.
Congratulations and a big thank you on behalf of the entire Association!
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Chatting with Louise MacDonald, Young Scot Chief Executive
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After representing Young Scot at the 30th EYCA Conference and receiving the 2014 EYCA Excellence Award for Active Contribution to the Association, Louise kindly agreed to share her thoughts about the new vision and mission statements, Young Scot contributing to EYCA, and the way forward.
How do you feel EYCA's agreed vision and mission resonate with the vision for Young Scot and with the lives of young people in Scotland?
The purpose of Young Scot is to support young people aged 11-26 to make informed decisions and choices as they grow up, and to take advantage of the opportunities available to them. That is why being part of the EYCA family is so important to us – because we want the young people we support to experience all that is on offer in Europe and beyond to make the most of their lives.
Young Scot won the Award for overall contribution to EYCA this year - why is it important for Young Scot to make a contribution to EYCA?
We were thrilled and humbled to win the Award, not least because it is decided by our peers across the network. We are inspired every day by the work that is done by our EYCA partners, so to receive such recognition feels like such an honour. It also inspired us to work even harder for the network, and to see it thrive over the next five years.
What do you want EYCA to achieve in the next 5 years?
There has never been a more important time for us to work together, with a common vision and clear focus, to support the young people we are here to serve. We all know there is no shortage of thoughtful, talented and passionate young people who want to change our world for the better – so let’s do all we can to give them that chance.
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EYCA wishes everyone a wonderful summer!
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