Città di Torino

TURIN IN EUROPE

Youngsters meeting youngsters

The International Youth Exchanges Office of Turin gives to the youngsters in the age range 13-30 the opportunity to join an INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE - I e. a 10-15 day stay abroad with a group of people of your same age and under the guide of a group leader - during holiday periods and at a very limited cost.

Italian youngsters will meet groups of European youngsters there and will live with them 24 hours a day.
In fact, during the stay, Italian and foreign participants will share the same housing: that can be a Youth Centre, a Hostel, a Hotel etc. The programmes include a range of activities in common, but they can vary according to the type of exchange and the organisation of the Host Country involved.

They will have the opportunity to play SPORTS (e.g. canoeing, windsurfing, riding a mountain-bike), do CULTURAL ACTIVITIES dance, theatre, music courses), TRAINING COURSES (practical, creative or language workshops), RECREATIVE ACTIVITIES (entertainment, sightseeing, getting to know different cultural habits and traditions).

Every summer Turin City Council organises some international meetings at La Mandria Regional Park. Youngsters will then have the opportunity to spend 10 days in a real ''international oasis" and socialise with young people coming from some other European countries.

Each international exchange is different from the others, but all share the same objective: to open a window on Europe in order to look further ahead and widen one's own horizon.

INTERCULTURAL TRAINING

For those who have taken part in an international exchange and feel inclined to become group leaders, the International Youth Exchanges Office organises some training courses every spring.The training consists of four modules (basic, intermediate, specialisation, dinamic of the group), which provide the instruments needed for organising and running multicultural meetings.

BACK-UP TO YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS

The Office for International Exchanges offers its experience for:

• research into European partners (youth associations, public corporations), interested in exchanges with Italian associations;
• advice in filling in applications for funding to be sent to "Youth" (a European Union Programme promoting the movement of young people throughout Europe);
• technical-organisational back-up for the preparation and management of an exchange programme in Turin;
• information about training courses and workshops for group leaders in Italy and abroad, focusing on various aspects of intercultural learning;
• organisation of study visits in Turin for foreign workers who want to start inter-exchange project between their country and Italy;
• the allocation of funding as partial back-up to inter-exchange initiatives (only for those associations involved in socio-cultural projects on the territory of Turin);
• Reference to publications about the main European Institutions: European Union, Council of Europe, etc.

SCAMBI KIDS

This project is directed at all those who have participated in an international exchange organised by Turin Council. The objective is to consolidate the friendly relationships established during the exchange, and not to allow the young participants' energies and potentials to go to waste.

"Kids" exchanges work in three sectors:
- INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Discovery of Turin's multiethnic situation, co-operation towards development, fair and equal trade, international long distance adoptions,
- A TEAM FOR SPORT
Organisation of sports events (football, table football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis) favouring the reciprocal knowledge of local youngsters and youngsters belonging to different ethnic groups,
- VOLUNTARY WORK
Participation to ecological events, entertainment activities, awareness campaigns, marches for peace, etc.


For more information or to propose an eventual partnership contact us:

Ufficio Scambi Internazionali
Via delle orfane 22, 10122 Torino, Italy
Tel: +39/011/442.4975-41-47
Fax: +39/011/443.4831
E-mail: youth.exchanges@comune.torino.it, ufficio.scambi@comune.torino.it