Messzelátó Egyesület

The youth exchange programmes create opportunities for 13-25 (Sometimes in minimal number 26-30 years old, as well) year-old youngsters to meet each other, to learn from each other and to get to know each other's culture inside the frame of a given topic. The duration of the exchange must be minimum 6, maximum 21 days (without traveling time) and the numbers of the youth participants must be minimum 16 and maximum 60 people. The place of the program must be a program country in the case of 15-month-long projects, including the preparation, realization, validation and the valorization. The exchange can be bilateral trilateral or multilateral. In the program the multilateral exchanges have priorities. The bi- and trilateral projects can have better prospects if they are organized by association, which have not made any exchanges yet, or they apply for projects including youngsters with fewer opportunities. In the case of multilateral projects the participants have to be from at least two program countries, among which one is an EU country too. The participants of of the realized projects can get a Youthpass certification. Like in the programs of The Youth in Action 2000-2006, the travel costs, the insurance, the catering and the program costs are funded by the EU. The general rules regarding the youth exchanges can be found on the following website: www.eurodesk.hu

We have participated in the following projects so far:

Turkey, Gaziantep: Millenium Development Goals Are Not Dreams

In 20-29 April, 2007 we participated in the „Millennium Development Goals are not Dreams” named youth exchange in Gaziantep, Turkey. Apart from Hungary groups arrived from Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova and Turkey. During the program we got the opportunity to represent how these aims were being carried out in Hungary and in the other countries. Besides the professional section we had the chance to get an insight into Gaziantep and the Turkish culture and people.

Spain, Viladrau: Global Warning

We spent a week in Viladrau, a small mountain village in the Montseny National Park, Catalonia. In this exchange, which main topic was recycling, the youngsters of Spain, Poland, Hungary and Turkey participated. During the program we visited the workshop of Guixot master, who tinkers skillful games out of recycled metal waste. Here we also experienced the fun of creating games besides the importance of recycling. Additionally because we were in the richest province in Spain, we had the opportunity to get to know the diverse natural and cultural treasures of the area.

Turkey, Kilis: Kilis From View of Youth

The last week of June six members of our association took part in a youth exchange in an ancient town called Kilis in South East Turkey. Besides Hungary four other countries’ – Moldova, Estonia, Azerbaijan and Turkey - youngsters attended. The subject of the project was heritage protection and photography. The cultural values are less and less known among the youngsters. Due to lack of knowledge these treasures will slowly fade away. For this very reason the main goal of the project was to build a bridge between past and present. With a camera. On the last days we arranged an exhibition from the taken pictures.

Turkey, Olympos: Global Warning

This youth exchange in October took place among the picturesque limestone peaks in Olympos 100 km far from Antalya, South Turkey. Our topic was about those animal species, which are on the threshold of extinction. During our stay there all the Turkish, Polish and Hungarian groups had a presentation about their protected animals. Relating to this theme we also had numerous creative quests to do together. For instance we prepared posters and made a theater play showing the importance of these animals and the environmental protection. Furtherhmore we did miss neither paying visits to the neighbouring sights, nor the meeting with the Turkish culture.