Dansk ICYE’s promotion campaign aims to increase the number of families and projects that host international volunteers in Denmark. To achieve this, Dansk ICYE will provide all the necessary information on hosting possibilities in Denmark, raise awareness of the benefits of being a host family and host project linked to the values and work of ICYE, and strengthen the support given by host families and projects to volunteers through trainings and skills development. Dansk ICYE thus seeks to strengthen its network of host families and projects in the country.

The Dansk ICYE team will hold several Info-meetings to provide and share information on hosting and its benefits, a summer training camp for current host families and an event to reach more families (e.g. traditional families, couples and the elderly, and alternative families – communities, collectives, common houses, hosting projects, etc.). Dansk ICYE will also produce publicity material (presentations, brochures, posters…) for use in Info-meetings and events, and create videos portraying the relationship between the volunteers and their host families to share them on social media platforms and at the events it organises.

Dansk ICYE strives to have more host families, more host projects, families with skills to support volunteers, and to integrate host families and projects into the organisation.

Events/ Activities

Dansk ICYE at Scout Camp

Dansk ICYE and DUF (Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd – Danish Youth Council) participated in the biggest international scout camp in Denmark with around 40.000 participants from 22nd June to 30th July 2017. Dansk ICYE raised awareness of the United Nations Global Goals at its booth at the Global Goal camp together with the DUF’s international department. Together with the DUF’s  international department, Dansk ICYE spent an entire week running interactive games aimed at framing Global Goal No. 17 – international partnerships.

Young people between the ages of 12 – 16 years were the primary target group and those between the ages of 16 – 25 years formed the secondary target group. At the booth, Dansk ICYE presented material describing volunteering and civic participation possibilities for young people. It also made itself visible by way of its T-shirts, hoodies, information material, roll-up poster, and through the sessions run by its coworkers. It’s participation at the Scout Camp will serve to strengthen its cooperation with DUF and create greater visibility among potential volunteers.

The Danish scout society of Denmark bought an island outside of Copenhagen and named it “The Youth Island”. The island will officially open in 2019 and will be used as a development platform for Denmark’s youth and also as a facilitator for the cooperation process between NGOs. The scout camp was arranged there so that the participants could participate in activities, and try out the methods and concepts which could be run on the island in the future.

For more information on the Scout Camp: https://spejderneslejr.dk/da

   
Photo credit: Margrethe Grønvold Friis

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Info-meetings for host-families

One of the key goals of Dansk ICYE’s campaign is to increase the number of their host families and host projects in Denmark. To reach out to new people and create an interest, ICYE Denmark held an info meeting on about the benefits of being a host family with ICYE Denmark. The topic of the meeting was “What to expect and how to be a host family in Danish ICYE” and took place during their winter camp on the 6th of February. Dansk ICYE handed out brochures and showed videos from volunteers to the 5 families who attended. The next info-meeting for host families will take place on the 13th of August.

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New posters for the host family search

A local ICYE branch “midtjylland” arranged a poster-event called project EMPOWER cultural exchange. A fun new poster with a simple look was created and four Dansk ICYE coworkers bicycled around Aarhus to get on board more host families for the many young EVS volunteers coming to Aarhus.

  

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New projects

Dansk ICYE has been visiting possible projects to host future volunteers coming to Denmark. So far they have found four new host projects. Some of the projects offer the volunteers both a place to work and to stay. Others only offer a place to work, in which case Dansk ICYE will find suitable host families for the volunteers.

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New cooperation with the Municipality of Aarhus

This spring Dansk ICYE has established a new cooperation with the municipality of Aarhus, which will receive 9 EVS-volunteers this year, taking on the responsibility of finding work placements and host families for the volunteers. The cooperation will be monitored by Dansk ICYE youth worker who also works at the municipality. Both Dansk ICYE and the municipality of Aarhus are very exited about the new partnership and hope that it will be fruitful and enduring.

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Info-meetings at high schools and school fairs

To create visibility and increase the numbers of outgoing volunteers, Dansk ICYE has made 4 visits to schools and school fairs around Denmark. At three high schools the topic of the info meeting was “What to do after High School”, and 3 co-workers from Dansk ICYE introduced the attending pupils to the ICYE Programme. Dansk ICYE also attended part of a “School takeover programme” at the public school Rosenvangskolen. The event was organised by Aarhus Youth Union. Here two co-workers from Dansk ICYE were facilitating a session, which had included the topics of learning process on digital awareness, health by voluntary work, travelling and cultural exchange.
  

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The political festival of Denmark from 15th – 18th June

Dansk ICYE was at “Folkemødet Bornholm” (Democratic People’s Gathering), a 4-day long political festival, where politicians, NGOs, companies and the citizens of Denmark come together to engage in political debate. The event was attended by 100.000 people from the government, political parties, NGOs and the general public. A team of 5 youth workers represented Dansk ICYE with posters, stickers, t-shirts and hoodies, and together with the organisations: YFU, CISV, IMCC and AFS arranged a debate on youth affairs on Friday 17^th June 2017, in which politicians and people representing different organisations discussed – “Youth in 2017: Global or lost?” The focus of the debate was on understanding how internationalisation and globalisation impacts on society and how intercultural understanding and the ability to empathise with others’ life situations can be fostered. The event, attended by 50 – 60 people, was organised by Dansk ICYE in collaboration with SAFU- Samrådet for udvekslingsorganisation i Danmark.

For more information, visit Dansk ICYE’s Facebook event: Facebook Event

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News / Journalist team

A team from Dansk ICYE conducted 11 interviews with famous personalities and the general public asking them “Why is cultural exchange important? They wished to create awareness of the implication on youth mobility as a result of the closing of Danish embassies around the world.

 

In an interview, Rufus Gifford, former American ambassador in Denmark, talks about the closing of embassies and the value of cultural exchange:

In the video below (in Danish), Dansk ICYE interviews young people about their experiences working and living abroad and what they took with them from the experience.

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A New Book: Small Visions

Dansk ICYE forms part of a new book called “Små visioner” (Small Visions). The book presents about 100 value based NGOs of which Dansk ICYE one. The book, comprising photographs alongside descriptions of how NGOs work , raises awareness of civil society in Denmark and the role played by NGOs. The author talked to over 1.000 school children from grades 1 to 5, who were introduced to the work done by the NGOs and invited to discuss their impressions. Many of the comments from the little children have been included in the book, which also explains the book’s title: “Small Visions”.

The book was presented at “Folkemødet Bornholm” (Democratic People’s Gathering). Read more about (in Danish): http://www.smaa-visioner.dk/sm%C3%A5-visioner–bogen.html. The book will be distributed to schools and high schools in Denmark.