Youth For Understanding

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Youth For Understanding
(YFU)
logo
founding 1951 in Ann Arbor , Michigan
founder Rachel Andresen
Seat Washington, DC
motto Make the World Your Home
Website yfu.org
yfu.de (Germany)
yfu.at (Austria)
yfu.ch (Switzerland)

Youth For Understanding (YFU) is a network of more than 50 non-profit exchange organizations worldwide, whose programs are based on the work of volunteers . The various national organizations organize education-oriented exchange programs for young people among themselves. One focus of her work is on one and six-month stays in host families and school for students aged 15 to 18 years.

Worldwide

There are currently over 50 national YFU organizations worldwide. You work legally and organizationally independently. Their cooperation is based on agreed objectives in the implementation of the exchange programs, as well as on common quality standards that have been adopted within the network and are regularly evaluated.

The guidelines for the work of the national organizations are decided by the International Advisory Council . This advisory board, which meets twice a year, consists of 15 representatives from national organizations. The USA, Germany and Japan as the largest members are permanently represented, the remaining places are alternately filled by other partners.

The cooperation of the YFU organizations is supported by the International Secretariat with headquarters in Washington DC and a branch in Vienna. It functions as a communication and coordination point, so it takes care of, for example, the organization of the international conference that takes place on a regular basis. In addition, the International Secretariat supports the work of the International Advisory Council, the further development of existing national organizations and the establishment of new country programs.

North America

The USA is the largest and oldest organization in the international network. It accepts a large number of students and sends relatively few students. Therefore it is dependent on the recording program. Finding host families has been difficult for a number of years. In contrast, the organization in Canada is much smaller.

Latin America

history

The organization has been conducting exchanges in Latin America since the 1970s. The Jewish doctor Eric Simon fled Germany from the Nazi regime in 1933. He later founded YFU Uruguay and supported the establishment of other YFU organizations in the region. The Eric Simon Scholarship was later named after him, which has enabled financially disadvantaged students from Latin America to go to Germany since the end of the 1980s.

today

The number of program participants has increased to a few hundred students. Today there are nine independent organizations in this region: Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. There is also an umbrella organization. The Asociación Latinoamericana (ALA) has no employees, but is an internal platform of the individual member organizations. In Costa Rica, the German Association works with the Costa Rica Exchange Service.

Africa and Middle East

In Africa there are a total of three partner organizations in Ghana, Liberia and South Africa.

At the 2017 International Conference in Cape Town, the international network decided to set up African YFU organizations in the next few years.

YFU Germany works with various actors in civil society in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Therefore, a few exchange students from these countries spend an exchange year in Germany.

Asia

There are 13 independent YFU organizations in Asia. These are located in Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

Oceania

YFU New Zealand was founded by volunteers in 1985, the Australian partner organization as early as 1977.

Europe

European Educational Exchanges - Youth For Understanding (EEE YFU) is an umbrella organization of European YFU organizations based in Brussels. In addition, the Asian organizations from Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey are part of EEE YFU. The European organization from Italy is not yet a member. The organization is a member of the European Youth Forum, where volunteers (pool of representatives) from the individual European YFU countries of the organization lobby at European level. YFU EEE is responsible for the exchange of knowledge between the individual organizations at the country level. The European trainer network is used for this. YFU EEE is a permanent co-organizer (main organizer since 2015) with two country organizations of the Young European Seminar (YES). The YES is an annual multi-day meeting of European exchange students at the end of their exchange year at the Werbellinsee . It takes place in the European youth recreation and meeting place Werbellinsee . Youth in Action and the European Youth Foundation are the main financial supporters of YFU EEE.

Austria

The YFU Austria association based in Vienna was founded in 2005. Info meetings take place regularly in Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Graz and Innsbruck.

Germany

German Youth For Understanding Committee
(YFU)
logo
legal form non-profit registered association
founding 1957
Seat Hamburg
Chair Rita Stegen
Managing directors Knut Möller
sales 13,290,994 euros (2017)
Employees 70 (2019)
Members 6500 (2019)
Website www.yfu.de

The German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (YFU Germany) is part of the international YFU network and in Germany a founding member of the working group of non-profit youth exchange organizations (AJA). Since YFU was founded in 1957, around 60,000 young people have taken part in the exchange programs. YFU Germany is a non-profit organization and recognized as a carrier of free youth welfare. The office is located in the former police station at Oberaltenallee 6 in Hamburg.

Former police station in Oberaltenallee. Today the seat of Youth For Understanding.
Office of the German Youth for Understanding Komitees e. V. in the Oberaltenallee. Board for the history of the building.

history

YFU Germany was founded on July 28, 1957 in Barsbüttel near Hamburg by 36 students who had spent a school year in the US state of Michigan with a program of the US government. The “Urban and Rural Teenage Exchange” program was organized by the American High Commission in Germany (HICOG). It was part of the “re-education programs” that the US federal government initiated after the end of World War II as part of the reconstruction and democratization of Germany. During their exchange year in the USA, these young people were cared for by the Michigan Council of Churches (with no religious affiliation) and by Kiwanis International.

When the funds for the program were cut in 1956, the former participants decided to continue the student exchange on their own. They founded the “Youth for Understanding Committee” with the then 20-year-old chairman Ulrich Payten. Within a few months, the German Youth for Understanding Committee evolved, which as early as 1958/59 selected eighty young people from Germany and prepared them for their exchange year in the USA. YFU USA emerged as a partner organization from the Michigan Council of Churches. Over the years, the YFU network has grown continuously and numerous other exchange programs with other countries have been developed.

structure

All over Germany, over 4,000 volunteers support the YFU programs. Most of them have been abroad with YFU themselves or have taken in a student as host families. The volunteers are involved, for example, in the areas of selection, preparation and support for exchange students and host families.

They are organized in 12 national groups. Each regional group is headed by an elected, voluntary regional group executive. YFU is managed by a five-person board of directors.

The members of the Executive Board are: Rita Stegen (Chair), Lisa Küchenhoff (Deputy Chair), Simon Born (Treasurer), Nora Schackopp and Ricarda Bauch.

Around 50 full-time employees coordinate the work of the volunteers from the Hamburg office and create the professional framework for the YFU exchange programs.

aims

With its exchange programs, YFU Germany is committed to intercultural education and tolerance. These goals are also reflected in the mission statement of the association:

“We are committed to a world in which people across cultural borders gain understanding and appreciation for other cultures as well as for their own. [...] The lasting peaceful coexistence of the peoples of this world can only be achieved and secured through a peaceful resolution of conflicts. We firmly believe that understanding other cultures is an important prerequisite for this. "

“We are committed to the basic values ​​of an open and democratic society. [...] "

“We see our programs as a contribution to international understanding in order to sharpen their awareness of their own culture through the experience of otherness. [...] The conscious processing of these special experiences gives rise to a deep understanding of the foreign culture and a fundamental ability for intercultural communication . "

The posting program

Information stand of Youth For Understanding in Hanover

Every year around 1,200 young people from Germany spend half a year or a full school year abroad with YFU. You live with a host family, attend a local school and thus have the opportunity to get to know everyday life in the exchange country intensively. You will be looked after on site by volunteers from the respective YFU partner organization. Full-time employees are also available by phone, in emergencies around the clock.

YFU Germany is currently sending young people to the following target countries:

A special feature of the sending program is the focus on Eastern European and Asian target countries, which are funded with their own scholarship programs and particularly advertised in many association publications. Managing Director Knut Möller explains the commitment as follows: “All members of the YFU network are convinced that intercultural understanding can not only consist of bringing students from Germany and other Western European countries to the USA or Australia, New Zealand or Canada. It is one of the great challenges of our time to organize globalization in such a way that all cultures and all religions communicate with one another and learn from one another. [...] We would like to make a small contribution to this, and are therefore striving to build a network for student exchanges that spans as many regions of the world as possible. "

The recording program

Every year YFU accepts around 600 students from around 50 countries worldwide in Germany. Just like the students in the secondment program, these young people are also housed in host families and attend school on site with their peers. The exchange students are also looked after by both voluntary and full-time employees from YFU Germany.

YFU Germany is currently accepting young people from the following countries:

Other programs

In addition to the annual and semi-annual programs, there are numerous other programs for schoolchildren, high school graduates, trainees, teachers and host families.

Educational work

YFU Germany attaches particular importance to the preparation, accompaniment and follow-up of the exchange experience. In the sending program, all prospective exchange students therefore take part in a one-week mandatory preparatory conference. Former program participants prepare them for possible intercultural areas of conflict and develop solution strategies with the young people. During the exchange, the students in the host country attend different seminars organized by the respective YFU partner organization. After their return, YFU Germany offers follow-up conferences at which the participants can reflect on what they have experienced and discuss possible problems with reintegration into their home country.

The students who come to Germany with the YFU admission program have also attended preparatory seminars in their home countries. After arriving in Germany, they first take part in a three-week orientation and language course or a one-week orientation week, depending on their language skills. Halfway through the year, YFU organizes the so-called "intermediate seminars", at which the process of intercultural learning is made aware and deepened and at which the students can share their experiences of the past months. They are then prepared for reintegration in their home countries at the “re-entry seminars” shortly before their return.

Young Europeans who have spent their exchange year in another European country can take part in the “Young Europeans' Seminar” (YES) at the end of their exchange year, where they work together on current European topics.

Aside from the actual exchange programs, YFU Germany also offers other seminars and workshops on intercultural education. Since 2001, the association has been supporting the subsidiary project “Colored Glasses” financially and organisationally, in which voluntary employees hold tolerance workshops for young people. The aim of the workshop is the “conscious and active examination of the fundamental values ​​of our society” and the promotion of respect and tolerance. "Colored Glasses" workshops are now also being held in other countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Flanders, Finland, Canada and Bulgaria.

Scholarship programs

The exchange year in the 2016/2017 school year at YFU Germany costs between 4,900 and 16,300 euros. Those who cannot afford this contribution can apply to YFU for a full or partial scholarship. From its own scholarship fund as well as third-party funds from private donors, foundations, companies and public sponsors, YFU Germany annually awards scholarships with a total value of around one million euros and can thus financially support around a quarter of its participants.

YFU Germany finances partial scholarships for all program countries as well as full scholarships for an exchange year in Eastern Europe from its own scholarship fund, into which part of the program contributions also flow . In addition, there are various scholarship programs of the cooperation partners. B. are tailored to different target countries or certain regions of origin of the students.

In order to enable more young people with a migration background to spend an exchange year, YFU Germany regularly awards partial scholarships to non-German students from the “Diversity Fund” established in 2008.

YFU Germany is also involved in the “ Parliamentary Sponsorship Program” (PPP) . The PPP is a scholarship program that was launched in 1983 by the German Bundestag and the US Congress.

Quality criteria

To ensure the quality of its exchange programs, the association has set quality goals and published them on its website.

At the same time, YFU Germany is subject to the international quality criteria that all partners of the global YFU network have agreed on to ensure the same standards, as well as the quality criteria of the working group of non-profit youth exchange organizations (AJA) . With articles on quality in student exchange programs in several publications, YFU Germany has also publicly promoted the discussion on this topic.

See also

Web links

Commons : Youth For Understanding  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee (2005–2009): The worldwide YFU network. Cooperation with over 50 independent partner organizations. URL: http://www.yfu.de/ueber-uns/vereinsstruktur/yfu-international (as of April 25, 2014)
  2. ↑ YFU USA
  3. ↑ a b issuu.com
  4. ^ YFU, Member organizations
  5. ↑ a b About YFU - YFU Member Organizations. In: about.yfu.org. Retrieved March 24, 2017 .
  6. ↑ iidebate.org URL: http://iidebate.org/tag/african-yfu-initiative/
  7. ↑ Overview of the members at EEE YFU: http://www.eee-yfu.org/members/index.html
  8. ↑ YFU EEE website URL: http://www.eee-yfu.org/
  9. ↑ Homepage YFU Austria. Retrieved February 11, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Information events of the YFU Austria. Retrieved February 11, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Working group of non-profit youth exchange organizations: About us. URL: http://www.aja-org.de Official website (as of March 24, 2018)
  12. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): This is YFU! The club presents itself. URL: http://www.yfu.de/ueber-uns (as of April 24, 2014)
  13. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): Ursprung & Geschichte. The development of the club. URL: http://www.yfu.de/ueber-uns/geschichte/ursprung-und-geschichte (as of April 24, 2014)
  14. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2009): Seeing the world with different eyes. International youth exchange with YFU, p. 16.
  15. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): The structure of the association. Association organs and association organization. URL: http://www.yfu.de/ueber-uns/vereinsstruktur (as of April 25, 2014)
  16. ^ German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005): The YFU model. 2nd Edition.
  17. ^ German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): School exchanges all over the world. Spend an exchange year in one of over 40 countries. URL: http://www.yfu.de/auschjahr/gastlaender
  18. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2009): Go East !. Program year 2010/2011. Youth exchange programs with Eastern Europe
  19. ↑ Student exchange.de forum: Interview Knut Möller, YFU: Charitable vs. Commercial URL: www.schueleraustausch.de/forum/showthread.php?t=2242 (as of January 6, 2010)
  20. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): Die Welt zu Gast. Exchange students from over 50 countries. URL: http://www.yfu.de/gastfamilie-haben/die-auschschueler/herkunftslaender (as of April 25, 2014)
  21. ↑ other programs. In: www.yfu.de. Retrieved June 1, 2016 .
  22. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): Well prepared for the exchange year. Preparatory conference and organizational matters. URL: http://www.yfu.de/auschjahr/dein- Austauschjahr/ vornahm (status April 25, 2014)
  23. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): Seminars during the exchange year. Share experiences with others. URL: http://www.yfu.de/lausjahr/dein- Austauschjahr/ seminare (as of April 25, 2014)
  24. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): After the exchange year. Stay in contact with YFU and other exchange students. URL: http://www.yfu.de/lausjahr/dein- Austauschjahr/ rueckkehr (as of April 25, 2014)
  25. ↑ Colored Glasses (2010): Goals. URL: http://www.coloredglasses.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=124 (as of February 4, 2010)
  26. ↑ Colored Glasses (2012): The World's Colored Glasses. URL: http://www.eee-yfu.org/projects/coloured-glasses.html (as of March 18, 2012)
  27. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): Contribution to costs. For a school year abroad. URL: http://www.yfu.de/lausjahr/kosten-und-leistungen/kostenbeitrag (as of April 25, 2014)
  28. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2009): Seeing the world with different eyes. International youth exchange with YFU, p. 12.
  29. ↑ Student exchange grants: Parliamentary sponsorship program. In: www.yfu.de. Retrieved June 1, 2016 .
  30. ↑ See German Youth For Understanding Committee eV (2005–2009): This is what distinguishes YFU. Our quality standards. URL: http://www.yfu.de/ueber-uns/qualitaet/unsere-qualitaetsstandards (as of April 25, 2014)
  31. ↑ See e.g. B. Skaletz, Mara: chaff and wheat. How can the quality of one-year exchange programs be recognized? In: itchy feet. The magazine for education and careers abroad. Edition 2010, p. 17f.