Dear members, dear friends,
 
I am happy to share with you the latest news regarding the EC’s Youth on the Move (YOTM) initiative.

At the same time when Commissioner Vassiliou confirmed in her online web debate that a YOTM card will build on the existing European Youth Card, I was invited by  Gregory Paulger (DG Education and Culture) to have a first deeper discussion on a possible co-operation.
 
In Brussels, a few weeks later, Marcel Hagmann and myself met with Sergej Koperdak, Artur Payer and their colleagues from the Youth Policy unit (Directorate E, Youth and Sport) and had a brainstorming session around the possible features of the Youth on the Move card. In order to keep the process transparent, the EC organizied a stakeholder meeting in Brussels to inform other organisations and institutions concerned with Youth on the Move and youth mobility to increase the ‘consortium’ of stakeholders adding value to such a card.

As there are various target groups to be considered – from pupils through students to young researchers – there are also many potential features the card could include. At the moment, we are exploring the possibility of the YOTM card offering a discount on trains, including a travel/health insurance, accommodation, giving access to a European job portal or serving as a university ID.
 
Youth on the Move is part of Europe 2020 and aims to increase the mobility of young people. We at EYCA are confident to contribute to the initiative with our expertise and enthusiasm, as well as through the strong network of our member and partner organisations. I am looking forward to all your ideas and input on how we can make the Youth on the Move card a success.
 
Sincerely,
 
Wolfgang

P.S. For more information on Youth on the Move please visit http://europa.eu/youthonthemove

Lyon, September 30 – October 3, 2010

The objectives of this get-together was to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experience and good practice, in the context of the new European framework in the youth field as well as to discuss and prepare action plans on innovative and concrete common projects. Also, the seminar aimed at exploring ways for better marketing and more visibility for our common campaigns.

The 41 participants of the seminar discussed various fields of cooperation in workshops, for example how to transfer successful projects from European to local and national levels, which means to use for joint communication, what will be the content of the joint http://threee.eu/website, and other.

Regarding European youth policy, the networks talked about regular meetings of their presidents as well as common statements regarding mobility, employability and other issues. There will be three initial projects – Mind My Mind for ERYICA, Trafo by EYCA and Politcamp executed by Eurodesk that will be supported by the other two networks. All initiatives should be linked to the Structured Dialogue. Among future ideas, participants came up with a mobility campaign, a Twitter discussion among young people and MEPs, summer university and other.

We would like to thank our guests for joining us in Lyon: Frode-Dal Fjeldavli (European Commission), Alexis Ridde (Council of Europe), and Philipp Boetzelen (Knowledge Centre for Youth policy).

In July, Wolfgang Schick and Marcel Hagmann visited Azerbaijan reflecting an invitation of a candidate organisation. Together with the applicant, the Caspian Investment Center and in co-ordination with the Azeri youth ministry they visited three major youth organisations. One of them was the Azerbaijan Student Youth Organisations Union, who was the natural partner for EYCA in order to reach as many students in Azerabaijan as possible.
Similarly in July, a quality evaluation visit took place in the office of Carte Jeunes Wallonie-Bruxelles in Liege, which was conducted by Wolfgang Schick, Marcel Hagmann and Board member Xavier Castellana.

It is our pleasure to announce that from September 2010 Carte Jeunes Wallonie-Bruxelles has been accepted as a Full EYCA Member for the territory of French-speaking Belgium with one no vote. The joint application of the Caspian Investment Center and the Azerbaijan Student Youth Organizations Union to become an Associate EYCA Member for the territory of Azerbaijan has been accepted with one abstention and one no vote. Congratulations to both member organisations!
Please note that these decisions need to be formally adopted during the EYCA GA 2011 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

To promote European discounts, the Andorran youth card started a participative project called “Viatges” in the form of a blog http://carnetjoveviatges.com/. Three young people write articles and publish photos about a trip to a European city – first one up was Lisbon – in which they describe their experience and places worth to see. There is a contest to participate as a travel journalist who gets the travel and expenses covered for five days.

As of August 2010, the University of Liège (ULg) in cooperation with Carte Jeunes in French-speaking Belgium offers all its students a free European Youth Card, which they can order online. First-year students can apply for a so called “PLUS” card, which contains a full travel insurance and all other students can purchase this insurance at a discounted price. The card organisation in Wallonie has also further developed its website and graphic material to offer more information to cardholders.
 
The Finnish youth card has re-designed all its PR and communication material with the new logo and launched a new website. Also, Allianssi is continuing in distributing the Generation Europe Diary, which includes a European Youth Card discount guide – this year, it will go out to 50.000 young people in Finland.

A profile of the Slovak EURO<26 was established on facebook on 2.11.2010. First competition was activated at the end of November and lasted for two weeks.  The competition was promoted by banners on www.euro26.sk, by direct mails and short information in radio Europa2. The expectation was to reach 300 contacts who will compete for prizes. The result were 540 contacts in six days! Weekly sales increased by 52% (from 57 to 83) on the internet in comparison with previous weeks.We believe there will be many more cardholders who will become fans of our facebook profile.
 

The Spanish regional organisation in the Basque country has launched a new advertising campaign for their card Gazte-txartela. It will be available also as a bank co-brand and is going to be advertised on Facebook with a raffle for concert tickets. To watch the great new video, please click this link: www.youtube.com/
 
The Catalan Youth Card has recently finished the 2010 Promotional Activation Campaign. The main goal was getting new discount providers  that offer attractive discounts to Youth Card holders. The aim of the campaign was to provide discounts on all basic categories in all the 41 Catalan counties. This follows up the commitment of the Catalan Youth Card project to get closer to cardholders’ real life. The Catalan team would like to share with everyone the excellent results achieved, expanding the offer with 226 new discounts. You can get more information on our county discount distribution at www.carnetjove.cat
 
The first new EYCA cards in Moldova were handed to their owners by the Minister of Youth and Sports during the press conference organized in the beginning of the Youth days in Moldova (November 9, 2010). The cards are printed locally with all the cardholder's data, including photos. The negotiations regarding Moldova joining to Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card were launched this week. The Youth Card in Moldova received a lot of attention from local media, such as in the Radio Voice of Bessarabia ("Youth card fulfils your dreams this autumn"), Unimedia ("Free discount cards now for young people from Moldova"), Daily News ("Free Cards for young people with discounts on shopping, travel, entertainment") and other.

YOUNG PEOPLE INFLUENCING POLICY: A CRITICAL ROLE FOR EUROPEAN YOUTH CARDS
Young Scot, in partnership with Associazione Carta Giovani, Agencia Catalana De La Joventut and EYCA, has been successful in securing Youth in Action funding to host a European seminar in Edinburgh from the 9th to the 12th March 2011.
This seminar will aim to provide a platform to showcase good practice in Scotland and in wider Europe in relation to joining up youth cards, youth information and social technology and exploring how these services can be used to support youth participation and enable young people to influence policy and service delivery. It will also explore potential opportunities for future joint working across Europe and seek solutions to common challenges.

All members of the European Youth Card Association will be invited to apply for the seminar. The event will offer an opportunity for those with significant experience of joining up youth cards, youth information and policy to showcase their work as well as providing an opportunity for others to learn from experience in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe.

Places will be offered to the first 15 countries who can commit to bringing 3 delegates which will include:
   1. A senior representative of the youth card organisation
   2. A senior representative from local/national government
   3. A young person engaged in influencing policy through social technology / an young activist from a collaborative agency

More details about the event will be provider later in the month.