Dear colleagues and friends,

hereby we, the new European Team of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC, would like to send you our greetings for the new year 2012.

May the start into this year be as promising and advantageous as possible for all your aims at personal level as well as at the level of your organization(s). May God bless the work and efforts you all undertake to strengthen the Catholic students’ world in Europe!

For our European Coordination the beginning of the year 2012 bears a lot of chances and challenges to face. Among other recent developments in our daily work from the 1^st of January 2012 onwards the European Team (= board) of our Coordination will be in office. That is why we hereby would like to briefly introduce us as European Team for the year 2012:

-          J. Maximilian Nießen (maximilian@jeci-miec.eu). European Coordinator since 1^st October 2011 from KSJ Germany. In the third year of the Bachelor degree with the subjects Latin, Philosophy and Hebrew. Residing in Münster (Westf.).

-          Laura-Ioana Sopon (laura@jeci-miec.eu). European Team member from ASTRU-Cluj Romania. In the third year of Bachelor degree in Sociology. Residing in Cluj-Napoca.

-          Romana Mysula (roma@jeci-miec.eu). European Team member from AUCS “Obnova” Ukraine. Head of the International relations office at “Ternopil V. Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University”. Residing in Ternopil.

-          Nuno Wemans (nuno@jeci-miec.eu). European Team member from MCE Portugal. In the first year of the Master degree in Medieval History. Residing in Lisbon.

-          Ryan Mercieca (ryan@jeci-miec.eu). European Team member from MKSU Malta. M.A. in Diplomatic Studies; B.A. h.c. in Geography. Residing in Gozo.

All European Team members are coming from our national member organizations and have been elected during our European Committee 2011 in Corfu, Greece.

At this point we as new Team would also like to thank

-          Mihai Paul Floran. European Coordinator 2007-2011 from ASTRU-Cluj Romania.

and

-          Fani Freri. European Team member 2011 from EKNE Greece.

for their efforts and commitment as it regards our Coordination. Thank you!

Yours sincerely,

JECI-MIEC European Team 2012

(in this picture from left to right: Nuno Wemans, Laura-Ioana Sopon, Romana Mysula, J. Maximilian Nießen, Mihai Paul Floran, Fani Freri; Ryan Mercieca is missing on this picture.)

Yesterday, 23^rd November 2011, the European Commission presented its Communication “Erasmus for all: the EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport” that detailed its vision for the EU budget in the field of youth and education.

The European Youth Forum (YFJ), a platform representing 98 National Youth Councils as well as International Youth NGOs from all over Europe including JECI-MIEC, strongly believes that Europe needs to make youth policy a financial as well as a political priority. Today, in times of crisis, as well as in the long-term, investing in youth will reinforce the values of European cooperation.

During the Council of Members an extraordinary General Assembly of the European Youth Forum in Braga, Portugal, from the 17^th-20^th November 2011, the delegates present adopted an urgent resolution on the future of the Youth in Action (YiA) programme.

As stated in the resolution, the European Youth Forum reaffirms “the success and impact of the European Union’s current Youth in Action programme in Europe, which supports youth-led activities with the aim to improve the situation of young people. From 2007-2013, it will have provided around 1,000,000 young Europeans with valuable non-formal education (NFE) experience and mobility possibilities.”

Currently, out of 100 euro paid in taxes by a European citizen, only 2.80 flow to the EU. Out of these 2.80 only 0.1% are used to provide funding to youth programmes. In average, the current ‘Youth in Action’ Programme just costs less than 28 cents per year to each European citizen. Investing in youth and in youth organizations is an extremely cost-efficient way to comprehensively reach the objectives of job creation and innovation, social inclusion and sustainable growth.

Taking into account this progress experienced the Forum decided to demand the further maintenance of Youth in Action as an independent programme and brand for the non-formal education provided in youth organizations.

“Youth in Action is the only EU programme that provides support to youth work, non-formal education and youth organizations in Europe,” affirms Peter Matjaši?, President of the European Youth Forum. “As such, Youth in Action ensures and represents a visible EU youth policy initiative and the continuation of diversity, quality and the unique character of youth work in the long-term”.

In 2009, with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU gave itself the objective and competence to encourage the participation of young people in the democratic life in Europe. The European Youth Forum is concerned that this increased competence is not reflected in the Commission’s proposal and that it misses a strong link between the article 165§4 TFEU and the focus of the EU budget efforts in the field of youth, training and education.

Acknowledging planned increases in the EU budget in terms of finances as well as the pan-European approach, the inclusiveness and the reflection of the Youth Forum’s key strands in the programme itself, the urgent resolution comes along with six concrete demands:

-          to foster – in line with the Lisbon Treaty (TFEU) article 165(4) – the active citizenship and participation of young people;

-          to support non-formal education and volunteering in youth organizations;

-          to strengthen young people’s autonomy in terms of youth-led, volunteer based and democratic organizations as bodies;

-          to understand the need of implementation of the programme’s actions to be done by the youth organizations;

-          to assure co-management with young people as far as it regards the programme

-          to improve the user and youthfriendliness of the programme’s management.

Finally right at the moment the European Youth Forum is launching the campaign “Where are you going?”. You can find more information about this campaign on www.whereareyouthgoing.eu.

Dear friends from the national organizations,

the European Coordination JECI-MIEC has the great pleasure to invite all the national member organizations to nominate candidates for the Study Session “Creating Empowered Students in Human Rights through Integral Education”, which will be taking place in the European Youth Centre, Strasbourg, France from 19^th – 26^th February 2012.

The Study Session is targeted to both: Secondary and University Students.

These Study Sessions are organized in collaboration with the Council of Europe and take place in the European Youth Centres in Budapest or Strasbourg regularly alternating with other typical activities of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC.

The Study Session “Creating Empowered Students in Human Rights through Integral Education” aims to empower the Students to take an active role as Human Rights educators in their own milieu by using the Integral Education.

The objectives are the following:

• to deepen the different approaches to Human Rights and the mechanisms for their protection;
• to analyze the different realities in the societies where participants are coming from and identify different forms of violation of Human Rights;
• to raise awareness of the Intercultural Dialogue and to promote Intercultural Learning among the participants;
• to understand the concept of Integral Education and its use and practice it;
• to facilitate participants to find their individual approach to the Human Rights;
• to reflect and identify the responsibilities and the key roles students have as important agents in promoting and protecting Human Rights.

Deadline for sending the participants application form: 30th December 2011. Please find enclosed the call for participants with detailed information on the Study Session as well as the application form for the participants.

Maximilian Niessen

European Coordinator

StudySession2012-ParticipantsCall

StudySession2012-ParticipantsForm

Dear friends from “Obnova” Ukraine, dear guests,

I would like to start with a quotation:

“European culture gives the impression of  “silent apostasy” on the part of people who have all that they need and who live as if God does not exist. This is the context for those attempts, including the most recent ones, to present European culture with no reference to the contribution of the Christian religion which marked its historical development and its universal diffusion. We are witnessing the emergence of a new culture, largely influenced by the mass media, whose content and character are often in conflict with the Gospel and the dignity of the human person. This culture is also marked by an widespread and growing religious agnosticism, connected to a more profound moral and legal relativism rooted in confusion regarding the truth about man as the basis of the inalienable rights of all human beings. At times the signs of a weakening of hope are evident in disturbing forms of what might be called a ‘culture of death’.” (9)

Although this rather unambiguous statement seems to be rooted in Benedict the XVI.’s teaching which hints at the permanent menace of what the Holy Father calls “dictatorship of relativism”, it is in fact taken from an Apostolic Exhortation of his predecessor John Paul II.

I discovered this document on the Vatican website when searching for an inspiring text which could serve the following multiple purposes:

1)      to transmit the central values and to be an authentic background of what a European Catholic student organization such as JECI-MIEC realizes in its everyday work and concrete actions while

2)      taking into account and paying a tribute to the topic chosen by Obnova: “Human dignity in John Paul II. teaching” although the presenter is not an expert at all on John Paul II. teachings and

3)      to offer a thematic basis on which also the other students as invited guests – even if they are non-believers – can reflect and discuss on.

What can better serve all this purposes, than a text named “Ecclesia in Europa” – “Church in Europe”?

The impact Church’s existence in fact had for the historical development of Europe is shortly, but pointedly described as follows:

“The Church’s concern for Europe is born of her very nature and mission. Down the centuries the Church has been closely linked to our continent, so that Europe’s spiritual face gradually took shape thanks to the efforts of great missionaries, the witness of saints and martyrs, and the tireless efforts of monks and nuns, men and women religious and pastors. From the biblical conception of man Europe drew the best of its humanistic culture, found inspiration for its artistic and intellectual creations, created systems of law and, not least, advanced the dignity of the person as a subject of inalienable rights. The Church, as the bearer of the Gospel, thus helped to spread and consolidate those values which have made European culture universal.” (25)

Among the values fostered by the Church John Paul II. also names the “dignity of the person”, which is the core focus of this conference. Of course the literary source wherefrom Christianity argues in favor of a dignity of human beings can be found in Genesis 1,27 and therefore in the cultural context of ancient Israel. But the concept of human dignity neither ends there nor is this passage sufficient in itself. For Christians the value-added is so to speak what John Henry Newman says, when he is requested to reduce Christian doctrine to one central idea: “God became human in Jesus Christ”. The further development of the dignity-concept, among others, became as “imago-Dei-doctrine” one of the milestones in Christian medieval theology and philosophy which helped to offer clarifications and precise interpretations. The development of the Church, the formation of European thinking and the concept of human dignity are in fact closely interrelated. John Paul II. therefore demands:

“To give new impetus to its own history, Europe must ‘recognize and reclaim with creative fidelity those fundamental values, acquired through a decisive contribution of Christianity, which can be summarized in the affirmation of the transcendent dignity of the human person, the value of reason, freedom, democracy, the constitutional state and the distinction between political life and religion’” (109)

That this statement has certain raison d’être is witnessed by the fact that among the thinkers of the age of enlightenment the dignity concept was further elaborated. For example Immanuel Kant came to a similar strong position in favor of the human dignity, although his argumentation leaves out any theological implications. To shortly reconstruct Kant’s argument, every human being has a dignity, because every human being is an aim in itself as a bearer of reason. What Church’s doctrine renders additionally, is the concept of the human being as a person, considering not only his or her cognitive dimension such as reason, but also its emotions and weaknesses. In fact this approach does not exclude reason and offers Christians the possibility to discover overlaps between their own and different worldviews. The exhortation itself states:

“Because of its intrinsic connection with the dignity of the human person, the Church’s social doctrine is also capable of being appreciated by those who are not members of the community of believers.” (99)

Of course our European history does neither end in the age of enlightenment nor now. In today’s discussion we can basically find two competing theories on human dignity:

1)      Human dignity in the classical sense described above as the intrinsic and never losable value of human beings.

2)      Hinting at the fact, that human dignity – although not being losable as such – can be violated nonetheless, critics of the first position understand human dignity as an imperative to be realized again and again.

Both positions have their strengths. That is why John Paul II. figures out the relevance of an ongoing promotion of the value of human dignity:

“Given this state of affairs, it is necessary to serve the Gospel of life through ‘a general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life. All together, we must build a new culture of life’. This is the great challenge which we must accept as our responsibility, in the certainty that ‘the future of European civilization greatly depends on the resolute defence [sic.] and promotion of the life-giving values which are the core of its cultural patrimony’. This means restoring to Europe her true dignity as a place where every person is affirmed in his or her incomparable dignity.” (96)

How and with which means can this restoring function properly? The document goes on:

“By the body of principles which it sets forth, the Church’s social doctrine helps [to] lay solid foundations for a humane coexistence in justice, peace, freedom and solidarity. Because it is aimed at defending and promoting the dignity of the human person, which is the basis not only of economic and political life, but also of social justice and peace, this doctrine proves capable of upholding the supporting structures of Europe’s future. It contains points of reference which make it possible to defend the moral structure of freedom, so as to protect European culture and society both from the totalitarian utopia of ‘justice without freedom’ and from the utopia of ‘freedom without truth’ which goes hand in hand with a false concept of ‘tolerance’. Both utopias portend errors and horrors for humanity, as the recent history of Europe sadly attests.” (98)

After this short presentation of the highlights on human dignity which can be found in the Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa”, I would now like to contextualize this text in the concrete work and projects of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC to figure out, that the Christian concept of human dignity can indeed be action guiding in our everyday lives as student leaders.

What are our concepts and values in concrete and which activities do we use to implement them? I could refer to our website one more time, but I will leave this reference up to you and illustrate however some highlights from the recent past and those which are planned for the near future:

During our Colloquium in March we reconsidered a topic discussed already in 2004: Integral Education. We found out, that this more or less ambiguous term must not necessarily be associated with Hindu or New Age doctrine, but can also be based on Catholic views on the human being. Integral Education understood from this perspective aims at the whole person as image of God being learner and multiplier of skills, values and spirituality. Concerning the interrelatedness of individuals and society, Integral Education also aims at the person’s actions to make up communities. We established a plan of actions starting from this general concept as the general methodological framework to clarify HOW to work on different topics in future. Fortunately the European Youth Foundation awarded a Study Session in the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg for 19th-26th February 2012 on the theme ‘Creating Empowered Students in Human Rights through Integral Education’. This can be regarded as an exemplary activity which focuses at the value of human dignity from both a methodological and thematic point of view: Human Rights as an instance of applied human dignity conveyed by the means Integral Education. In the context of society the concept of Integral Education certainly promotes Active Citizenship. This was a core element of all JECI-MIEC activities throughout 2011. Active Citizenship is a long term objective, which has to be always viewed, evaluated and contextualized from different perspectives and with different focuses. It provides the indisputable precondition for tolerance, peace-building and conflict resolution. These generally in both religious and secular contexts decisive social aims were covered in our Study Session in July. This Study Session was an activity of JECI-MIEC Europe in cooperation with the international Level of IMCS Pax Romana. Using such an approach, we provided the opportunity to realise intercultural learning by experiencing the realities of different organizations all over the world and offered a platform for fruitful dialogue. The sessions covering these ideals went far beyond mere definition and theoretical reflection of tolerance, peace-building and conflict resolution, but tried to contextualize them within our students’ realities and aimed to make them practicably recognizable among the single National Organizations. As the Study Session shows, these values can be elementary achieved through Intercultural Learning. This was also addressed during our Colloquium in Kaunas in March. The way JECI-MIEC promotes Intercultural Learning is mostly informal: A lot of learning experience flows from the participants’ diversity itself; further activities such as intercultural evenings appear to be pleasant and informative. Among all participants the general willingness for intercultural exchange was recognizable throughout all activities.

All of the named concepts can again be found theoretically reflected in one more passage of John Paul II. Apostolic document:

“While restating the ethical criteria which must guide the marketplace and the economy in scrupulous respect for the centrality of the human person, the Church will not fail to engage in dialogue with persons involved in political life, unions and business. This dialogue should aim at building a Europe seen as a community of peoples and individuals, a community joined together in hope, not exclusively subject to the law of the marketplace but resolutely determined to safeguard the dignity of the human person also in social and economic relations.” (87)

The everyday work and administration of the European Coordination is done by the European Team, which is annually elected during our European Committee. At the moment the position of the European Coordinator is occupied by me, whereas the newly elected Executive Board will start its work from the 1^st of January 2012 on. Namely the members are Laura Sopon from ASTRU-Cluj Romania, Ryan Merceica from MKSU Malta, Nuno Wemans from MCE Portugal and coming from Obnova fortunately – Romana Mysula. Till then Fani Freri form EKNE Greece works closely together with me.

The Coordination sees one of its essential roles as a sort of link between National Organizations and external partners throughout Europe:

As it regards the member organizations, JECI-MIEC Europe strives for maintaining internal contacts and stability by doing visitations, helping with concrete problems and offering programs for students as well as young student leaders. Moreover the Coordination keeps contact and strives for collaboration with the international levels of IYCS/JECI and IMCS/MIEC Pax Romana as well as with the academics’ organization ICMICA/MIIC Pax Romana. The communication with the movements is regularly done via e-mail, Google groups of movements and through the participants in the Committees.

As it regards other partners on European level, the work is mostly about external representation: We for example represent our Coordination towards the “European Youth Forum” (YFJ) during the annual Councils of Members and General Assemblies.

Also these representational and contact tasks undertaken by the Coordination can be led by suggestions we can find in the words of John Paul II.:

“At the same time, it is a matter of becoming involved in the processes of social communications, in order to make them more respectful of the truth of information and of the dignity of the human person. In this regard, I invite Catholics to contribute to the establishment of a code of ethics for those who work in the field of social communications, letting themselves be guided by the criteria […] listed as follows: ‘respect for the dignity of the human person, for his or her rights, including the right of privacy; service to truth, to justice and to human, cultural and spiritual values; respect for diverse cultures to avoid their disappearance within the majority, protection of minority groups and of the weak; pursuit of the common good, over and above particular interests and the predominance of economic criteria alone’.” (63)

Apart from the Study Session in February, which I mentioned already, the European Coordination JECI-MIEC will finally hold a European Congress in September 2012, where the working guidelines for the next four years will be elaborated jointly and afterwards adopted in the following European Committee as the highest decision-making body.

At this point I would kindly invite you to our Study Session in February 2012 and especially to the European Congress in September 2012 to bring in your ideas on how the future work of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC should look like, to take part in discussions and decisions and finally to meet students from all over Europe who share similar values, tasks and challenges and come together in the unity of Catholic faith.

Summarisingly I would again like to quote one more statement from the Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa”, which joins the concept of human dignity as conveyed by John Paul II. and the youth work to be done on European level. It illustrates in my eyes best what our Coordination – which again consists of its member organizations – should strive for. I do not claim to have achieved these ideals already, since it would sound vain:

“[…] we need to rediscover the authentic meaning of Christian volunteerism. Born of and continually nourished by faith, Christian volunteer work should combine professional skills and genuine love, impelling those engaged in it ‘to lift their feelings of good will towards others to the heights of Christ’s charity; to renew every day, amid hard work and weariness, their awareness of the dignity of every person; to search out people’s needs and, where necessary, to set out on new paths where needs are greater but care and support weaker’.” (85)

The Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa” can be found in English on:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_20030628_ecclesia-in-europa_en.html

„I have a motion!“ – This was the sentence probably most familiar to the 18 delegates of the JECI-MIEC member organizations who gathered for their annual European Committee 2011. This meeting was held in the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Corfu from the 12th-19th of September and hosted by EKNE Greece.
The highlights of the agenda to be decided on were the adoption of the updated statutes of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC and the election of the new leadership Board, named European Team. This Team will consist of Maximilian Niessen (KSJ Germany) as European Coordinator starting his mandate from 1st of October 2011, Laura Sopon (ASTRU Romania), Romana Mysula (Obnova Ukraine), Nuno Wemans (MCE Portugal) and Ryan Mercieca (MKSU Malta) all starting from 1st of January 2012.
In order to take into account the wishes of the national organizations, the preparatory team furthermore dedicated an entire day to focus on the current projects and aims, but also challenges and needs of the Coordination’s members. Starting from the members’ presentations another day enabled all delegates to work together in Commissions such as “activities”, “finances”, “maintenance, reactivation and expansion of members” and “statutes” to bring in their ideas into a fruitful future development of the European Coordination.
Moreover, members of the outgoing International Teams of IYCS and IMCS, as well as the vice-president of ICMICA and the contact board member of the European Youth Forum were invited to bring in their thoughts. One evening was dedicated to a meeting with his Excellency Archbishop Joannis Spiteris.
Based on the magnificent results of this inspiring week, one of our observers, who knows the Coordination’s ups and downs quite well from personal experience, came to the conclusion “I see, that the Coordination is alive again!” What we can hope for is that the members as well as the newly elected European Team will keep the spirit of this European Committee and make it action-guiding in order to lead JECI-MIEC into a positive future.

The European Committee 2011 will take place during 13-18 September 2011 in Corfu, Greece. The participants are scheduled to arrive: Monday, 12 September in the afternoon or Tuesday, 13 September in the morning and to return: Monday, 19 September. The venue of the meeting is the Pastoral Center of Archdiocese of Corfu, Messonghi, Corfu.

The European Committee is the highest decision-making body of JECI-MIEC European Coordination. That is why it is going to be the Coordination’s most important assembly this year

This year the main focus of the Committee will be on the role and needs as National Movements, member of JECI-MIEC European Corodination.  We will also elect new leadership of the Coordination and finalise the Statutes (as decided in the last Committee).

The following full members confirmed their participation AKH Germany, JEC France, MKSU Malta, MCE Portugal, EKNE Greece, EKFE Greece and KSJ Germany while MUEC Catalunya, FUCI Italy, MSAC Italy and JEC Spain will be represented through delegation of vote. Also from the collaborating/correspondent members we will have present: ASTRU Romania, ATEITIS Lithuiania, OBNOVA Ukraine and KIK-Drum Bun Poland.

Among the confirmed participants we have International Team representatives of IMCS-Pax Romana, Mr. Mehul Dabhi, outgoing International President; IYCS, Ms. Loucille Alcala, outgoing Program Coordinator and Fr. Paul Tiga Zangre, International Chaplain 2007-2015; ICMICA-Pax Romana, Mr. Philipe Ledouble, vicepresident for Europe; YFJ-European Youth Forum, Mr. Falko Mohrs, Board Member; and Mr. Johan Vanhove, former President of JECI-MIEC European Coordination.

The candidate for European Coordinator 2012 (starting 1 October 2011 until 31 Decembre 2012) is Mr. Maximilian Niessen, nominated by KSJ Germany.

The candidates for Administration Board 2012 (starting 1 January 2012 until 31 January 2012) are (in the order of application): Ms. Laura Sopon, nominated by ASTRU Romania; Mr. Ryan Mercieca, nominated by MKSU Malta; Mr. Nuno Wemans, nominated by MCE Portugal and Ms. Romana Mysula, nominated by OBNOVA Ukraine.

Thanks to the administrative grant of the European Youth Foundation, the accommodation and food will be provided for by JECI-MIEC. However, the travelling costs will have to be covered by the national movements.

+EC2011 – Proposed Timetable

“We have to be the change that we want to see in the world.”

This statement has been found in one of the participants’ evaluations and confirms in a simple but stunning way, what the JECI-MIEC Study Session held in Cologne, Germany from the 17^th to 22th of July was aiming at.

Under the heading “Bridging our World: Going beyond Borders” this great event addressed 40 young student trainers of our JECI-MIEC member movements from all over Europe to encounter a forum where issues of globalization, coexistence and forms of social conflict rising from cultural diversity were discussed.

At this Study Session students from 11 European countries were present, namely Malta, France, UK, Germany, Moldova, Romania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Spain and Italy. Although our call for participants addressed members of our member movements in the first place, participation also open for non-member movements. Moreover participants and facilitators from outside of Europe were accepted to provide the opportunity to realise intercultural learning by experiencing the realities of different movements all over the world and to offer a platform for fruitful dialogue.

Therefore, intercultural learning was the Study Session’s main topic. Starting from the students’ need for intercultural experiences and competences, the Study Session first of all offered informal possibilities of intercultural learning: Everyone had the chance to experience cultural diversity simply by personal exchange among each other. This resulted in the estimation of the overall atmosphere as “amazing” and “like a family”.

To implement the topics addressed our Study Session was divided into 15 thematic sessions. Its overall concept was a participant-based approach: This enabled our student trainers to take responsibility of single sessions, groups or activities. Taking this concept into account, concrete methodologies were chosen by the different facilitators in alliance with the topics and participants’ needs. The entire activity was process-oriented, so that the program was not fixed, but the participants’ learning process decisively influenced its development. A diversity of methodologies and means of visualization reflected their diversity.

The highlights of the Study Session were without doubt an Intercultural evening and a Creative Art Workshop with overwhelming results. During the entire Study Session also two participant-commissions worked on the documentation of the results and on drafting a final statement to be published.

Everyone regarded our Study Session to be relevant for the individual students and for the society and estimated the objectives to be reached throughout the activity. It was regarded as a means to lose stereotypes and prejudices hand in hand with the acceptance of different backgrounds, perspectives and individuals, which makes dialogue and communication fruitful. As a consequence, most of the participants expressed their will to have such kind of activity again in future, because it is an extraordinary opportunity to have exchange and to share experience with so many student trainers from different backgrounds. The participants furthermore expressed their will to have closer exchange with each other and each other’s national movements in future. This would be the best means to strengthen the collaboration among our member movements and to develop strong networks outside such joint activities.

The Study Session “Bridging Our World: Going Beyond Borders” is taking place from 17-22 July 2011 in Cologne, Germany.

The Study Session is designed for members of the movements. This means that participants in the meeting should be actively involved in projects at national/local level or to be members of the national/local board of the movement.

Meeting is aiming:

The aim of this project is to provide a forum for young people to share experiences about intercultural dialogue, to minimize unnecessary conflicts and discover creative ways of living in a multicultural environment.

while its objectives are:

1. To affirm the individual participants in their identity as young people and as agents of peace-building through dialogue.
2.  To understand the difference between living alongside someone and constructive coexistence.
3.  To design strategies for the prevention of social conflicts arising from cultural differences.
4.  To mobilise our student youth networks for social cohesion and empower students to act as multipliers in their own milieu.
5.  To get in touch with the reality of the hosting country, concerning the issue of the multicultural environment (nations living together).
6.  To empower students to develop different actions and projects that once they have returned to their organisation they could put into practice (either in partnership with other JECI-MIEC movements or any other organisations).

We have a pleasure to invite you to the Study Session “Bridging Our World: Going Beyond Borders”, which is taking place from 17-22 July 2011 in Cologne, Germany.

The Study Session is designed for members of the movements. This means that participants in the meeting should be actively involved in projects at national/local level or to be members of the national/local board of the movement.

In order to apply for this activity, you have to fill-in the application form (you can find it together with this document or download from our website at www.jeci-miec.eu or attached to this e-mail) and sent it by e-mail office@jeci-miec.eu. The deadline for receiving the applications is the 12^th June 2011 The extended deadline to receive the applications is the 26^th June 2011. In any case we already now are asking you to reserve the travel tickets and to buy then ONLY as your participation will be confirmed.

We would like to invite potential participants to take into account that immediately after the Study Session, IMCS-Pax Romana is organising it’s 90th anniversary also in Cologne, Germany and this would be a good opportunity to join also for the celebration during 22-24 July 2011.

After receiving the applications we will inform your movement of the participants confirmed and we will send them the “Participants File”.

This meeting is possible thanks to the financial aid from the European Youth Foundation.

For any further information, please contact the European Secretariat by e-mail: office@jeci-miec.eu

We hope to have a lot of participants – especially from movements that are not so often present in the activities.

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