PRELUDES
In the early 90’s three youth organisations from Veszprém, Tatabánya and Sopron started a series of trainings for youth who lived in the Middle-Transdanubian Region. The Public Life Weekends for Students project was a determinative factor in the region for about fifteen years. The idea of an inter-regional youth organisation has born on one of these weekends in November, 2007. So the young people who participated these trainings could work together continuously, they could learn about the work of other organisations and could share their experiences with each other.
OUR HISTORY
The Youth of Northern-Transdanubia Association (Hungarian acronym: ÉDI) started its existence as an informal volunteer group. We have worked together with many other organisations, which way we could gain lot of experience and connections. As the time went by and ÉDI became a registered NGO, we felt that we should share the knowledge which gathered in the team by restarting the Public Life Weekends project which ended in 2008. Although this plan has not succeeded yet, we organised many other training projects.
OUR GOALS
Our main goals are to develop competencies and capacities of the young people aged between of 10 and 30 who live in Northern-Transdanubia by volunteer actions and non-formal methods in order to inspire them to take part in the life of their communities.
'MAGTÓL a FÁIG' Programme
Magtól a Fáig (From Core To Tree) is our programme to generate civic participation. To achieve this goal we organise projects to build and strengthen communities of young people. In two years we cooperated with five Students’ Governments in the region. We are planning to start a project this autumn to develop the social competencies of the individuals - which also is a way to generate civic participation. So we also strengthen the communities and the individuals.
SHIP Programme
Hajó (Ship) is our volunteer programme. While Magtól a Fáig gives tools and usable knowledge to the youth, Ship is supposed to concentrate on the feeling (what its English slogan ‘If you want FriendShip’ suggests). During volunteer actions the participants can experience the feeling of being active member of the community. We help them to realize the advantages of their work, so they will feel the desire for further activities.
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
CONTACTS
Although we concentrate on the local issues of Northern-Transdanubia we are very open to everyone even on international level. If you have any questions or ideas, please contact us!
Tom Schöngrundtner
Leader of Communications
e-mail: schongrundtner.tamas at ediegyesulet.eu