OWC Newsletter April 2017

We can’t succeed if half of the world is held back! We Grow Together, with no one left behind!

OWC Newsletter April 2017 4 months after the start of our Global OWC plan 2017-2030 Dear All, In January 2017 we started our activities for this year with the Global OWC Plan 2017-2030 with focus on 8 subprojects and daily action by the OWC concept, developed in 2013-2016. In this plan we described the 8 subproject that complete the OWC concept together. Since then a lot of development happened and that’s why we decided to write this Newsletter today instead of waiting until the end of June.

Before we share the outcome of the first 4 Months I would like to thank all OCW Participants and Partners for their wonderful contribution to what we achieved all together!

On behalf of the new OWC Board members, With passion & power, Monique van Dam Executive Director ONE WORLDcitizens Int.

ONE WORLDcitizens Int. Organisation & Management With grateful feelings for the friendship and work they did in the first period of OWC from September 2012 to April 2017 we said goodbye to the OW Board members Bob van Meerendonk (Chairman), Petra de Man (Secretary) and Tobias Stöcker (Treasurer) on April 11, 2017. With their help and management OWC could become what we are today! A strong and promising international network of young people who show: WITH entrepreneurial youth MORE future. We Grow Together!

On April 11 we also welcomed the three new OWC Board members. They all have the perfect experience, qualities and attitude we need as ONE WORLDcitizens to grow together and to improve/ scale up our Global network and movement in 2017-2020.

Roos Sohier, Yamit Gutman and Martin Borst, on behalf of all OWC participants and partners I heartily welcome you, being grateful in advance for the time, knowledge/wisdom and energy you will share with us!

About the 8 Sub-projects that form the OWC concept together: January-April 1. The Global Goals Rap Challenge: To learn about 17 Global Goals by rapping and inspiring each other.

Jermain Bridgewater started the Global Goals Rap Challenge 2017 with students from UniC, Utrecht. They made their raps & video’s in January-March. The winning team was chosen by the largest number of likes on Fb and views on Youtube for the rap-video’s they made. In the first week of April Jermain went to Srednje in BosniaHerzegovina to challenge the students of OS Srednje to make their rap video’s! Their winning team was announced on April 21. By doing this all friends and family of the rap-teams, who voted online became aware of the 17 Global Goals. A nice, fun & easy way to spread the news about the Goals, which everyone should hear, around the world! To see the video’s & winning teams visit the YOUth & Rights FB Page

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2. Schools in Connection: Youth from different countries start sharing knowledge, culture and customs with each other online and learn together about the Global Goals, sustainability issues and development.

During the visit to Srednje we prepared the laptops, contributed to better internet connection, confirmed partnership and cooperation with the Boris Divkovic Foundation and made a hands-on plan 2017-2018 with Izudin Karic (project owner from Sarajevo) and School director Refik Kortović. Common goal: quality education by ICT, online education and connecting with youth from other countries.

3. OWC Pop Up School: To learn about sustainable issues, circular economy and share ideas & good examples for sustainalbe change.

We received a grant from Municipality Den Bosch! Now Sander de Neef, Ludo Stanziani and Alice Korsch can work on their projects together, creating quality edication about circular economy, by informal, creative and entrepeneurial workshops, given by young professionals. Partly inside school, partly outside school with help of the OWC community. Education is the way to create awareness and change of behaviour towards the circular economy we need to have a good future all together, inculding the earth. We are happy we got this opportuniy!

To see more about their way of education, visit the OWC Jongerendenktank Fb-page

Free access to the OWC Pop Up School for all youth is one of the long term goals of OWC. This can only succeed when youth can to develop ICT-kills and knows how to use internet, social media etc. That’s why Pradeep Sapkota developed an ICT training for teachers, which he gave in March. In the same month he gave ICT course to youth in the rural area too. His example of ICT courses/trainings and ICT Center will be copied in other OWC counties to give as much as possible youngsters access to ICT and the OWC Pop Up School.

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4. YouthStart: Social entrepreneurship training by & for young people to work out ideas for change to a social project or startup, to make change locally and globally.

In the homework/study guidance project the first Youthstart training took place. Youth from district Boschveld got empowerment training, developed their entreprenuerial skills and designed the project they will undertake in June in return for the free homework guidance they received. Wonderful combination: homework guidance by young people themselves, combined with development of entrepreneurship to help you to finish your school, to become a strong, self-reliant youngster, ready to create your own job after school and study, very useful in times of youth unemployment!

5. We Grow Together: to share & undertake ideas for sustainable change with youngsters from different countries and to be trained in social entrepreneurship to be able to work out change-projects together!

We received an Erasmus+ grant again! Now we can follow-up the Youth Exchange program 2016, this time with the theme FUTURE ROOTS, a bettere life and future for young migrants. In this project we cooperate with partners and youngsters from Albania, Austria, Romania and the Netherlands. During the Exchange the team from Rwanda and Pradeep Sapkota from Nepal will be in the Nethrelands too.

They will join in this 10-day Exchange. A wonderful opportunity, because FUTURE ROOTS is meant to create good/hands-on ideas for a better life and future perspective in the current and in their home countries.

In Februay and April Egbert Dahl, our leading YouthStart trainer, went to Timosoara, Romania to support/strengthen the Youth Spirit team and trained them to be co-trainer in the FUTURE ROOTS 2017 program!

6. Friendwise Enterprise: to encourages and facilitates young people from Europe and Africa (2017-2020) to start joint social startups that contribute to social / sustainable change, employment and future prospects of young people in their own village / town and circular economic growth on both continents.

Because we believe they can make important change together!

In co-production with the City of Eindhoven, Africa in Motion and Change Nepalese Mission we organize the Eindhoven-Rwanda project to empower young people to share knowledge, to develop social entrepreneurship and to contribute to sustainable startups/job creation. Since January/February we

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cooperate with a wonderful team from Rwanda. Very special to experience again how we, as people from different countries, can inspire each other and achieve things so well together.

One of the results we made together in 3-4 months’ cooperation: Yesterday, on April 29, the Rwanda team did ICT survey in Kigali and Rusizi district, inspired and helped by Pradeep Sapkota, member of the project management team and founder of an ICT Center in Nepal himself. One of the most important needs of youngsters in Rwanda – as the project research showed - seemed to be ICT-development. This project activity is the result of online cooperation, mostly done by Skype, whatsapp and Fb-chat! This Summer the Rwanda team will visit us for 4 weeks in the Netherlands to meet and work together in real life.

7. OWC Youth Taskforce: to connect young people and policymakers to cooperate on future oriented development and policy.

The Youth Taskforce works on 2 project within the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment: 1. The Circular Economy (how to create awareness and change of behavior towards a more circular lifestyle and economy) and 2. The MIRT MOOA project, which is about a research on mobility, economy and landscape regarding a highway that should be broadened (or not?) the next years. About the activities of the first project you read already above, @ 3. OWC Pop Up School.

In de 2nd project, Alice Korsch and her team organized two Hack Challenges in Bussum and Amersfoort. During this Hack Challenges the youngsters, policymakers and project partners worked in co-creation on innovative / new ideas that contribute to solutions and measures the Ministry can make according the highway in future.

The inspiring outcome of these meetings showed the importance of cooperation of youth and policymakers on future oriented issues and policy.

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OWC Reporter: It’s important to share your vision, story, ideas/projects for change within the network and with the world.

Vlogging is one of the most popular ways to share online, nowadays. That’s why Tim Bertens gave Vlogworkshops during the Circular Innovation & Startup Hub in March and at Youth Center Number One in Rosmalen, where Alice Korsch worked with youth on het Circular Economy Project last week.

And there was more …    

Joep Hanssen succeeded in the first fundraising for solar Panels for the ICT Center of Pradeep Sapkota. The total amount is not yet achieved, but Joep and his team made a good start!

Roos Kessels started with her team developing activity plans to help OS Srednje to get cabinet materials for Biology, Physics and Chemistry in 2017-2018 The OWC Kurdistan team did a wonderful school project in Kirkuk, Kurdistan region of Iraq.

With Polycap O. Ogalo from Nairobi and Augustine Lenamoi from Masarbit in Northern Kenya we started preparation of the We Make WORK of Water Project to create long term solutions (combined with youth employment) to decrease the drought, happening in Kenya now.

If you want to follow the projects, please visit the ONE WORLDcitizens Facebook Page.

To be continued in June!

ONE WORLDcitizens - April 2017