The « Youth and Popular Education » label is delivered by the Direction départementale de la jeunesse et des sports for non profit organisations working in the field of youth and popular education. This quality label establishes a priviledged partnership between the Ministry for Youth and Sport and EUROCIRCLE!

During the 8th Festival for the commitment of young people in the city which took place on the 8th-9th July 2007 at the Friche Belle de Mai, Marseilles, the Euromobile and the Eurocircle team, in partnership with Unis-cité, the CRIJ and Leo Lagrange, co-animated a debate with young people about international mobility and volunteering.

Thanks to the dedication of our colleague Audrey Mattio's and the European Voluntary Service for young people participants, we were able to develop a new itinerant information stand: our Euromobil.

We would particularly like to thank Audrey's aunt and parents and the EVS participants: Hanane, Maijdi, Sonia, Johanna, Anthony, Mathieu, Fanny and the actors of "Générique Vapeur" the driving force behind which was essential to establish this project ...

Have a look at our Euromobil this weekend (6th - 8th July 2007) during the festival at Place Publique Junior at Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille. There you can visit our "Café Rencontre" and inform yourself about "Mobility in Europe".

Six young people from Marseilles participating in an European youth exchange program went to Turkey in order to visit Elazig, a city in the centre of Anatolia. Okan, responsible together with Gurkan for the program of the Elazig Country Association, welcomed us at half past seven in the morning in Elzig after we had spent the first night in Istanbul. From then on our intercultural adventure started! Czech, Azerbaijanian, Georgian and French people entered Turkish everyday life for one week, constantly accompanied by a group of local people. Several activities made our stay enjoyfull: We had the opportunity to attend a Candle Dance Workshop, to discover the area and to exchange our views on racism, xenophobia and European citizenship.
One evening every group had the chance to get to know the other partcipant countries' moral concepts, traditions and life styles. Through this exchange we were able to establish a relation network between all the participating countries and also to learn a lot about the cultures of Georgia, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Many thanks to Elazig Association, Okan und Gurkan, responsible for this exchange and the entire Turkish group. All of you have made our journey an unforgettable experience.

A JAMO seminar entitled, 'Regions and mobility: the current situation.'

The Regional Council of the Jaén region organised the second JAMO seminar in the beautiful city of Baeza. At this meeting we presented the new version of the website dedicated to this project.

The month of April started with a series of successes for Eurocircle. Firstly, the permanent commission of the Conseil Général in Marseille and the Conseil Régional of the region Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur accepted to fund all of our projects.

Eurocircle's position as an active European youth organisation has been confirmrd and it will be funded accordingly.

This week's event was undoubtedly the inauguration of EUROCIRCLE Germany on the 27th April in Berlin, in the context of the official opening of Kreuzberg's "House of Generations at the water-tower".

The Treaty of Rome, signed on 25th March 1957 gave birth to the European Economic Community (EEC): the Common Market with 6 member countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Italy). To mark the occasion, Eurocircle, in partnership with Unis-Cité, organised a fun, informative and festive event on Sunday 25th March 2007 in the Jean Jaurès Square (1st, 5th and 6th boroughs of Marseilles) between 12.00 and 22.00 o'clock.
The day’s programme was:
- 12.00 : Opening discussion (Ralf Makrutski, Director of Eurocircle) and tasting of European dishes made by the association Passoire et Mandoline.
- 14.00: Conference
Participants: Mrs Légier (Europe Direct Manager – CRIJ), Mr Merger (Maison de l’Europe de Provence), Monique Beltranne (Comité Européen Marseille), Imogen, Maya and Chiara (young European volunteers) and Audrey Mattio (Eurocircle).
- 15.30-18.00: Stands held by European associations and institutions: Eurocircle, DRDJS, Unis-Cité, CERIC, the European Commission, the European Parliament, Maison Europe Provence, CRIJ, Bouquinerie du Cours Julien.
- Sports and other fun workshops organised by la Cabane à jeux, as well as a games space and workshop for children.
- 16.00: Singing and dancing by young people from the Social Centre of Cours Julien.
- 18.00: Food tasting organised with the participation of Kuizin. Music and dance: Camino Andaluz, Les 2tet 2lart, Ema dei and Tziganistan.

Listen to Annie Viglielmo’s podcast.
See the day’s photographs.

"Arc Latin" is a Spanish law association uniting more than 60 Spanish, French and Italian territorial authorities from the north shore of the Mediterranean.  A collective body consisting of 4 French départements (Bouches du Rhone, Gard, Hérault and Var), 3 Spanish deputacions (Huelva, Jaen and Sevilla) and 3 Italian provinces (Mantova, Pisa and Salerno) and one Italian town (Spoleto) together with private organisations (approximately twenty associations), have won a tender of the European Commission with a project lasting 22 months to develop access to the European Youth Programme "Youth in Action" amongst young people with fewer opportunities in this geographical region.  This project's objectives are:
- to construct a network of operational partners where youth mobility is concerned
- to envisage a real reciprocity between the sending and the hosting of young people with fewer opportunities
- to allow for the conception of training modules and educational tools for youth workers involved in the project and the young people themselves
The "Arc Latin" seminar (at Sète, 11th-12th January 2007) brought together people from varying organisations in order to facilitate the running of this project.  A representative from the Executive Agency of the "Youth in Action" European Youth Program and the French Agency which greatly supports this interesting initiative, were also present together with the regional correspondants of the Languedoc Roussillon and PACA Agency that have been following this dymanic since the start.

Lamine N'Diaye, 21 from Marseilles, participated in a European Voluntary Service adventure for eight months.  He committed himself to work in a centre for mothers and children in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, and discovered his European identity and developped his taste for travelling and foreign languages. 
See 'Le portrait du mois' on the European Parlement representation in Marseilles website.

Mr Raffali, departmental delegate for la Vie Associative, invited Eurocircle to inform Corsican associations, local authorities and young people about the European Voluntary Service.
Two former volunteers from our association testified their experience to young Corsicans.  We also benefited from the general information about the new plan of action regarding the Voluntary Civil Service in which EVS can also be registered.
The objective of the Direction Départementale de la Jeunesse et des Sports Corse (Departmental Management for Youth and Sports in Corsica) is to develop and promote voluntary projects amongst young people and associations.  Contrary to EVS,  the Voluntary Civil Service is an initiative on a national level, but both follow  similar objectives regarding young people's social integration.
Several voluntary actions that already exist are regrouped in this action plan:
- volunteering for predisposition actions, security and civil defence (firefighting service)
- international volunteering in administration (technical cooperation)
- international solidarity volunteering (NGO)
- European Voluntary Service

On Saturday 18th November 2006, Eurocircle informed young people about European mobility during the international solitarity day with the CRIJ, which organised the young solidarity travellers forum.

Information stand on the intercultural exchanges and the European Voluntary Service (EVS).

Eurocircle, invited by the Conseil Général, presented the European actions encouraging youth mobility at the International Fair of Marseille, at the heart of the Italy Pavilion on the Conseil Général stand shared between several associations.  We informed young people about Europe and the mobility possibilities: the European Voluntary Service, intercultural exchanges, practical internships abroad...  Besides the attendance of the Eurocircle team, one or two young people who left on EVS will be present to testify their experiences in order to encourage other young people to commit themselves to this active solidarity step!

In the framework of action 1 of the European Youth Programme « Youth for Europe », the Greek association Kids in Action (partner of our JAMO network: Young People With Fewer Opportunities network) organised a youth exchange at Thessalonique in the north of the country.  This action is also registered in the vast YAP project (Youth).  This year a third edition of the project « Creativity III, Love and Unity » took place.  Eurocircle took part in it, sending a group of five people, two of whom are youngsters from ADDAP 13.. (see)