Author: Ruzica Despotovska

The development of the latest technology in addition to the social media development gives opportunities for presenting certain event at the exact time and from the exact place where the journalist is located. Moreover, it gives opportunities to the ordinary people to share true and first-hand information (mostly video recording or photo-taking). In that manner, the investigation of information has become more impartial (having the opportunity to go through several sources) and, when it comes to reporting, there is also a possibility to break geography borders.

From 27-30 October, 2011, the first conference for young European reporters Young Press.eu took place in Antwerp, Belgium. Organised by Stamp Media, a Belgian youth press agency, for the period of three days, as it lasted, the young people had a chance to investigate the current situation in the fields of journalism and reporting, as well as their perspective in future, through discussions, workshops and other interactive methods. There were 84 participants at the conference, all young reporters from Europe, working in various spheres of reporting (from classical reporting to completely alternative journalism). The event was launched the night of October 27th and the opening night was located at Arendbergschouwburg in Antwerp. The ceremony was original, not being overburdened by glamour and spectacles, but rather filled with fresh and young energy. The opening night finished with the inspirational speech of Paul Lewis, investigative editor of The Guardian, who presented a quite positive outlook for the future of journalism. The two following days were the core of the conference. The Friday (October 28) was a rather busy day, when all the discussions and workshops were held. There were four major questions, divided into four workshops:

· The omnipresence of the media

· The spread of biased information

· New models and experimentation

· The future of high-quality investigative journalism

However these workshops and questions raised many others, consequently, provoking various answers, predictions and expectations, seen through the prism of the young people coming from completely different backgrounds, from all over Europe, united in the idea to create high quality stories.

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Author: Angela Velkova

I often dreamt of reaching new horizons, stretching myself to the limit, throwing myself into new challenges, of some organized society with innumerable opportunities for every young person calling upon me…hence, when the opportunity came, I couldn’t resist it. For one academic year I was diligently studying in the USA. The new world I saw and experienced did not let me enter into an emotional crisis. I avow that I did not have time to feel homesick. However, deep down, I harbored a desire to return home, back in my Macedonia. A Country most commonly seen by its citizens as a temporary place of residence where they were “doomed” to be born and witness the harsh implications of a transition era. Country where young people are triggered by the same drive to pursue their happiness abroad; however, the drive to return back in their country of origin never overrides their motives to stay in a foreign land.

Yes, I find the perpetual drain of young brains, or the so-called brain drain process, as the main cause for the poor economic and social progress of my country. Attesting the 20th independence anniversary of Macedonia, I contemplate about the brief but turbulent history of a country close to my age, country that was maturing along with entire generation of young enthusiasts who are now on the threshold of undertaking their future roles in society. In reality though, what this generation has withstood during its development years are massive job layoffs, high unemployment rate, large-scale corruption, stagnation in the economic growth, low standards of living, ubiquitous poverty, and ethnic conflicts. So I ask myself a question: Should I or anyone else, be surprised about the current situation with lack of competent and motivated young people to stay and create in Macedonia? Should we only blame it on the “relentlessly” ambitious young people who use every single opportunity to “wander around”, or maybe we should first look closely at the myriad of reasons underlying their decisions to depart and never return back?

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Author: Vasko Talevski

My first thought when I started writing this article was how to combine a simple and useful guide to accompany travellers in their exploration of the biggest state in America- Texas. The Lone Star State, as many people call it, is the American proudest and friendliest state. This giant desert is home to 25 million people: a diversity of communities living under the same blistering sun by the motto “friendship”. Travellers going to Texas need to know few things about the state’s weather, transportation, the beautiful national parks and nature, the manner of conduct, and the tasteful cuisine.

The weather in Texas varies a lot due to the state’s large size, but it is mostly hot, and when I say hot, I mean REALLY hot! The Texas desert is so hot and dry that there are many fires throughout the year. In fact, it is so hot that there are not many trees to offer shade. Texas also has the highest number of tornados in America. People that want to travel across Texas need to take necessary precautions, avoid direct sunlight, wear a hat, and use sunscreen. Furthermore, if you decide to walk and explore the countryside make sure you have lots of liquids with you.

Due to the extreme weather in Texas many people use transportation. The most used vehicles in Texas are the trucks. Texans use trucks for all sorts of stuff but mostly because they are good work vehicles, and go hand in hand with cowboy hats and rough terrain. If you want to explore the countryside, to save some time, and to avoid the scorching sun you better take your car with you or have some other type of transportation.

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Author: Jasna Veljanovska

Ah, Barcelona! – Words that are often heard from people who had the opportunity to visit this city. Barcelona will literally take your breath away. You will want to go there again and again. As soon as you arrive in Barcelona, you will be pleasantly impressed by the beauty of the city, especially if you decide to have a walk during the day. The sun gives the city a special charm and portrays the spirit of the typical Catalonian buildings and monuments. What is more interesting is the fact that the sun in Barcelona usually sets at 9 o’clock or even at 10 o’clock in the evening. However, I must point out that even during the night, street lights give one-of-a-kind charm to the city, something that cannot be noticed during daylight.

Let’s start with the city transport. Barcelona’s transport is very well organized. Traffic lights are placed in appropriate places and they ease jams. Of course, sometimes there is a traffic jam due to the great number of tourists who come to Barcelona either with their own vehicle or with sightseeing busses that offer a panoramic view of the city. You will notice that local people frequently use a bicycle to get to desired destinations.

Besides, Barcelona has a huge harbor. It is one of the biggest harbors in Europe which has been increasing the number of tourists throughout the years. Near the harbor, there is a vast monument of Christopher Columbus who points to the sea. The harbor is divided in three zones, the Port Vell zone being the most popular one where only small ships, yachts and boats anchor. Port Vell is well-known for having the biggest aquarium in Europe with about 9.000 different fish species.

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Author: Greet Jans

Due to the global economical crisis the youth unemployment rate in Europe over the last years peeks historically high. Special care is taken of the youth unemployment rate, which is generally higher. In 2010, with the rate for the EU at 20.9 %, more than one on five young Europeans was not employed, but looking and available for a job.

Investing in youth is investing in the future and Europe has understood that since long. Inside the European Union a lot of efforts are made to increase the youth employment and the topic is listed as one of the priorities of the past year. But how is the situation in the neighboring and candidate countries? Are they at a similar level as the EU? We’ll try to briefly describe the current situation in one of the former Yugoslavian republics and current candidate for EU-membership, namely the Republic of Serbia.

The problem of unemployment

According to data of Youth, Employment and Migration (YEM), a United nations joint programme that has as goal increasing youth employment in Serbia whilst reducing the negative impact of return and irregular migration, the youth unemployment rate in April 2010 was as high as 46.4 %. This rate is incredibly high and exceeds more than double the EU-rate. Only a small 15 % of the population aged between 15 and 24 was listed as employed (in comparison with 47.2 % for the whole working age population). (Source: Eurostat 2010)

“Unity, clear vision, and strong determination are needed to tackle youth unemployment in Serbia” was the opening statement of Miljenko Dereta, the Director of Civic Initiatives in November 2010 at the roundtable under the theme “From education towards the labour market”. This event was just a small part of the awareness campaign about youth (un)employment, considered one of the vital challenges to the Serbian economy and society.

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On the 4th of November Mladiinfo celebrated its 3rd birthday in Skopje with a party at the MKC club. Ivan Radenov from Macedonian idol was in charge of the music together with his band Aquarius and thanks to them the dance floor was never empty. The peak moment was when the b-day cake was brought and we have never seen such a huge cake been eaten that fast.

Our thanks go out to all the people that celebrated with us, to the whole team and supporters of Mladiinfo, to the participants and speakers on our training and conference, to the band for playing such a good danceable music, to Kanela for the great cake, to MKC for the good service and of course to all our friends that were there to party with us. Thanks!

PS: Check out more photos here!

Author: Greet Jans

2011 was declared as the European Year of the volunteer and therefore among others lately a lot of attention is given to the European Voluntary Service-program (EVS) from the European Commission. EVS is getting more and more known and strives to give youngsters the chance to develop themselves personally and professionally by volunteering abroad. Mostly participants in voluntary projects are well-educated and have a good socio-economical situation. What about those who are not?

EVS is part of the Youth in Action program (YiA) of the European Commission which aims on creating a sense of active citizenship, solidarity and tolerance among European youngsters. YiA claims to be in favor of all young people regardless of their educational, social and cultural background. In this framework, social inclusion is also mentioned as one of the main objectives. Nevertheless situations where EVS is used by vulnerable target groups are not that well known or widespread. Luckily there are some who try to change this and let everyone benefit of this easy accessible framework for volunteering. One of them is Henk Persyn.

Finding self-confidence

Henk Persyn, Belgian 41 years old, calls since 7 years Ljubljana his home and is one of the leading forces behind Zavod Manipura. Next to this, he also works as a part-time trainer regularly for “Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities within the European YOUTH program“ (SALTO-Youth) and Salto-Inclusion resource center. He explains that the chakra Manipura, which is considered as the centre of dynamism, energy, willpower and achievement, stands for the force inside you. And that is exactly what Zavod Manipura is basing its functioning on. This institute for advice and creative work with young people and families is a Slovenian organization which strongly believes in the good inside every one of us and therefore wants to give a chance to youngsters to help to find their self again through voluntary work. The organization works closely together with Wingerdbloei, a Belgian counseling center for youngsters who ended up in special youth care. One of the methodologies they use is so-called “displacement”. The youngster is taken out of his usual surrounding and placed in a new environment, which can help him to regain self-confidence and reintegrate into society. For several years now, Wingerdbloei cooperates with Zavod Manipura to send their youngsters on short-term EVS on ecological farms in Slovenia and thereby giving them a chance not only to do community work but in the same time to learn about themselves and gain new skills.

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Editor : David Thomas
Translator : Pierre Thomas

As set up by the French government in 2006, the volunteer civil service might well become compulsory. But many people speak up denouncing a political takeover of this scheme and a massive way of precariousness for young people. This is where things stand in a debate opened about fifteen years ago and which is likely to start again.

Ten years after the military service was repealed in 1997 during Jacques Chirac’s tenure, the volunteer civil service was enforced in France. This scheme was prepared by Martin Hirsh who was to become president of the agency of civil service set up to drive the measure during Nicolas Sarkozy’s tenure. As Luc Ferry, minister for education from 2001 to 2004, sees it, “there is no more republican melting-pot, no more social blending, no more authority in the better sense of the word. The young have a feeling that there are only rights and no more duties.”1. In order to address this lack, the government wanted to encourage young citizens to commit themselves into projects stimulating for themselves and useful for common interest. But many saw there above all a political diversion, enabling to extinguish the crisis in the suburbs while reassuring public opinion.

Join the service?

The enactment of compulsory volunteering has been contemplated since the early 2000’s. Members of parliament – government and opposition alike – have repeatedly laid bills, to not avail so far. The project was part of the platforms of the main parties in the presidential election of 2007, and that should be so again in 2012. As early as in 2005, Max Armamet, editor in weekly La Vie, published a “call for a compulsory civil service” endorsed by many personalities like Edgar Morin, Jacques Attali, Bernard Kouchner, l’Abbé Pierre as well as 470 m.p.s and a score of thousand anonymous people.

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The 24-year-old Natasa Stojanoska from Skopje, an English language and literature graduate, tells her experience regarding EVS, after she has spent three months in Estonia, Tallinn. This is her personal view on EVS and her host country…

…I never really felt alone. At the time there was a fellow Macedonian volunteer who introduced me into the volunteers’ community. I met a hoard of experienced (and less experienced) volunteers who were going through the same I was. I had plenty of people I felt I could talk to whenever I needed advice.

People are curious, contradictory beings that avoid definitions. I have always found definitions rather dull… and finite. We are all aware that to live is to change. I might have been obsessing over the idea of enrolling in art school in my early teenage years, but my first lesson of Italian in the senior year of high school brought a sudden change of heart. My fascination with languages has been growing (and altering) ever since. If I had to list my major fields of interest, language would be one of them. It carries limitless power. Words glorify and sacralize. Often, however, they corrupt and destruct. The Great Goe is famous for saying that having no knowledge in foreign languages is having no knowledge of your own, statement I strongly uphold. Language is fascinating in its power of binding us all, or, likewise, separating us.

Previous knowledge about EVS

Tidbits about the European voluntary service first reached me at a Portuguese language and culture workshop held at a Skopje youth organization. The idea enraptured me. Having just graduated from university and having dedicated most of my time to job hunting, I had some amount of time to spare so I did a brief research. Soon after, I got distracted having gotten immersed into translation.

My short-term EVS project was sort of a happy accident. A volunteer-to-be had given up their short-term project so I contacted my sending organization online and applied. The next day they told me I am flying to the Estonian metropolis in three weeks.

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