“Winter Networking Youth Camp”

Dear all,

We - Organization for Scientific and Practical Development of the Students (ONPRS), Bulgaria – would like to present you our new project:

“Winter Networking Youth Camp”

This project proposal aims to bring together representatives of youth NGOs from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria to generate а discussion about the actions and funding opportunities for youth organizations in each country and build a partnership network between them. The event will be held as a Winter Camp, where in an informal environment is going to be set the basis for future cooperation between the participating organizations and raise a discussion about the problems facing the effective operation of youth NGOs. Such problems are low organizational capacity, lack of vision and development strategy, insufficient effective coordination and communication within and outside the organization, lack of qualified human resources because of the financial instability, lack of continuity because of the high turnover of people. Youth organizations and their representative platforms are important channels for participation of the youth, support intergenerational dialogue and communication between young people and decision-makers in the field of youth. Therefore, topics, such as, increasing capacity and mobilization, effective management and planning, promotion of their activities and the creation of productive partnerships are on the agenda for the successful work of youth organizations and fulfill their mission and goals.

The main project objective is building a network of youth organizations. The specific objectives are:
 Researching and identifying the needs, problems and prospects of youth organizations;
 Review and discussion of the ways of financing projects and activities of youth NGOs by the countries in which the participating organizations are registered;
 Analysis of best practices related to the effective work of youth organizations;
 Setting foundations of team collaboration and future useful partnership.

Participants from 5 different European countries will meet together and take part in Youth Exchange - Winter Camp. More specific, the Youth Exchange is including:
 First day: Presentation of each participant and ice-breaking games.
 Second day:
- Presentation of each of the participating organizations about their activities and funding of NGOs at national level;
- Discussion on the following topic: "The role of youth organizations in society";
- Sharing of best practices as a source of inspiration and example and finding new approaches to solve the existing problems;
- Setting the basis of useful partnership through outdoor activities – solidifying games, ice-breaking games, sports activities
 Third day:
- Discussing the ideas for future partnerships and opportunities of creating a network of the youth organizations participating in the exchange;
- Encouraging teamwork through culinary culture;
- Closing of the exchange.

The exchange will take place between February 23 and 26, 2015 in Borovets.

The project is funded by the International Visegrad Fund / Small Grants. The deadline for project submission is September 1.