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Youth in Action Projects

How long: Mostly two weeks
When: Spring or Summer
Destinations: Across Wales
Activities: Social, Environmental, Youth Work, Arts/Cultural. Usually these     projects include a theme such as Sustainability
Cost: None

The European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme exists to provide support for a range of activities which enable young people from the European Union to participate in informal educational and community activities with those from other countries. UNA Exchange works through the Youth in Action Programme in different ways to support some specific projects. We are actively involved in the European Voluntary Service (EVS) Programme as a hosting, sending and training organisation.

Another strand of the Youth in Action Programme supports Youth Exchanges. These activities are made up of small groups from a select number of countries; you may find 20 volunteers from four countries as compared to the wider international make-up of an International Volunteer Project. UNA Exchange also works on these projects. In co-operation with youth workers in Wales we send small groups of young people to themed Youth Exchanges in other European countries; these are also volunteering projects, but they have an additional programme which follows the theme (eg. environmental awareness, sports and international development).

UNA Exchange also organises Youth Exchanges in Wales. These are run along the same lines as our International Volunteers Projects, but we collaborate more closely with local youth projects to ensure the involvement of local young people. As part of our 2007 programme we are running a European-Latin American Youth Exchange in the Amman Valley, Carmarthenshire, which will bring together more than 20 volunteers from Argentina, Mexico, Italy and Wales to build a community garden in Glanaman.

If you are a youth worker in Wales and would like to find out more about our work on Youth Exchanges, or the Youth in Action Programme in general, please click here .