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Since 1989, YCI has provided more than 3,000 youth with the opportunity to develop substantive leadership skills and effect positive change in their global and local communities.
To celebrate our 20th anniversary, YCI will award 20 volunteers with scholarships of $1500 CDN ($1300 US) to participate in one of our international volunteer programs in Guyana, Ghana or Costa Rica.
Each of the 20 scholarships will be awarded to individuals with a demonstrated commitment to their communities. The scholarships are intended to provide young leaders with the opportunity to turn positive civic involvement into global action.
How to Apply:
1. Eligibility criteria:
• Applicants must be between 18 and 30 years of age.
• Applicants must be applying for one of YCI’s five-week programs in Costa Rica or Guyana (departing January, 2010), or YCI’s four-week program in Ghana (departing February, 2010).
• Scholarships must be used towards one of the above projects.
2. Scholarship entries must be submitted alongside an online application:
• Submit an online application at www.yci.org
• Please indicate on your application (in the “program preference” area) that you’re interested in applying for the “20 Year Scholarship Program.”
3. Once you have received confirmation of your interview time with YCI, please submit your essay, photo essay or video entry via email. Tell us:
How would a volunteer opportunity with YCI contribute to your understanding of what it means to be a global citizen?
In order to apply, submit one of the following on the above topic to YCI:
• Personal Essays: Must be between 600 and 800 words in length and submitted in .doc format.
• Photo Essays: Must be less than 20 photos and include captions. This may be submitted through a PowerPoint presentation or PDF format.
• Video Entries: Must be no more than three minutes in length. To submit your video, please upload your submission onto YouTube and provide the link to YCI. Videos may also be submitted through email or mail. Use only original or royalty-free music and images in your video.
4. Applications and entries will be reviewed on a first-come, first-serve rolling basis. The final deadline for all submissions is Tuesday, December 1, 2009.
To learn more about YCI’s volunteer programs or the scholarship program, visit www.yci.org or contact us at generalinfo@yci.org.
Before I worked for YCI, I was an active member of my university’s campus, including volunteering for a local campus publication, McClung’s Magazine, a magazine for young, socially-active women.
To learn more about how I turned my campus volunteer work into a career, check out the McClung’s Blog.-Jessica Lockhart, Program Coordinator
Welcome to the recruitment season! Job fairs, career expos, information sessions. . .YCI has been working hard to get our name out to you. It’s been a busy Fall with recruitment for the first time ever in the States! I have been attending fairs and information sessions in New York State to talk about our overseas programming and the new opportunities available for American volunteers to get involved.
There has been a strong interest in YCI’s programs by potential American volunteers, particularly for our Americas programs. It’s been great for me to get the opportunity to talk to so many interesting individuals about youth development, international development and our overseas projects.
Yesterday, I went to Vassar College, a gorgeous small Liberal Arts College on the Hudson River in a little town called Poughkeepsie. The leaves are turning, the air is fresh and crisp and there was a football game going on in town. It was a beautiful vision!
Next week, I’ll be at NYU talking on a Seminar Panel about Civic Engagement at the Graduate School for Arts at Science and then to DC for the “Higher Education and International Volunteer Service Conference,” hosted by Partners of the Americas.
It’s been busy season and it’s been wonderful talking to you all! Potential volunteers, preparing volunteers or alumni, please continue to come chat with us, wherever we are. If you can’t make it in person, send us an email at generalinfo@yci.org. I speak for all of the YCI staff when I say that we love talking with you about our programs!
I hope to see you at our next outreach session.
Cheers,
Jane
-Jane Baldwin, Program Development Manager
Let me state an obvious fact: poverty is a huge problem, especially in the developing world. Although developed nations give foreign aid to countries in need, there are always strings attached. State actors don’t really donate aid–political, economic and geo-strategic interests are also motivators for delivering development assistance. Since the 1960s, the absolute wealth of developed countries has increased; however, the percentage of GNI allocated to foreign aid has substantially dropped. This is why it’s interesting to note that there are increasing number of non-profit organizations that work very hard to persuade our elected legislators and policymakers to implement change. Many NGOs recognize that eradicating poverty is in the best interest of western countries. One such organization is Make Poverty History.
This past weekend, Make Poverty History made strides again in making poverty a thing in the past. In hopes of achieving the Millennium Development Goals and eradicating poverty, millions of people around the world took part in Stand Up and Take Action. This campaign called upon all those who are interested in getting rid of poverty and achieving MDGs to organize events in a group to simply Stand Up.
In the midst of a global financial crisis, many leaders are too focused on appeasing domestic actors while the poor – the ones that did not contribute to the economic mess – feel the repercussions the most. In its fourth year, the campaign’s major focus was to emphasize the fact that time is limited, and decisive MDG-oriented policies and programmes must be implemented. The progress made in the last several years could simply unravel. A valid point that the campaigners made is that the financial crisis can’t be used as an excuse for overlooking MDG commitments. Moreover, Stand Up and Take Action understood that we all live in a global society and so, simply addressing domestic concerns during a time of insecurity is not the answer for a peaceful and prosperous world. To Stand Up and Take Action is one way to ask our leaders to stand with us to make poverty history. Is that really too much to ask for?
-Ahila Poologaindran is a student in her final year at McGill University, with a focus on International Development Studies. She has acted as a Community Connector for YCI, as well our 2008 summer intern.
This fall, we have a number of projects headed overseas, including one to Costa Rica in November. Want to read more about what a YCI project in Costa Rica looks like day-to-day? Check out today’s featured volunteer blog: Po-Yi’s Diary.
“Organizing events in an unfamiliar setting was difficult. We always had to keep in mind the ‘Tican’ time, meaning that locals can come whenever they wanted to even two or three hours after the start time. In spite of the challenges (that was why we were there!), our ’social projects’ were very successful since they opened our eyes to the difficulties that Juanilama have been facing. The knowledge we gained from the events and activities we planed will help the next YCI group to sustain whatever development we and the Juanilamans have left off with. . .“
Happy Thanksgiving! Want to hear more from our volunteers in Morogoro? Check out today’s featured volunteer blog, Michael Without Borders.
“The family I am staying with is very nice, though basic English is a bit of stretch. Still, I am learning a bit of Swahili and we understand each other mostly (my Swahili-English dictionary comes in handy often). The food they make me is edible and tastes good. I probably won’t be seeking it out often when I return, but I am pleased. There is a strong emphasis on white bread and white rice, but surprisingly I am feeling mostly healthy and energetic. . .”
While we currently have volunteers in the field in Ghana, Tanzania and Costa Rica (and a group headed out to Kenya next week), it seems that our volunteers in Tanzania are the most active bloggers. Today’s featured volunteer blog is My Tanzanian Adventure, coming from Stephanie, one of our volunteers in Zanzibar.
“Monday afternoon I facilitated my first Girls’ Health Club meeting. We talked about what the girls wanted to learn about and discuss. Most of the girls want to learn about puberty, health pregnancy, underage pregnancy, malaria, and family planning. At the end of class, I had the girls role play some scenarios that I had made up. It was funny because the girls were very shy when discussing topics but they jumped at the opportunity to act!. . .”
Today’s featured volunteer blog comes from another volunteer in Tanzania. To read more about our programming in Morogoro, check out Melissa’s in Tanzania!
“The work that YCI does is to provide various programming geared towards youth that helps give them the skills and knowledge they need to become empowered and create real change. All of the staff have great respect for the Tanzanian culture (4 of the 5 are native to Tanzania). The programming is contantly evolving thanks to feedback from the participants and partners and extensive monitoring, evaluating and reporting on our part to ensure our programs are effective. . .”
While YCI hasn’t exactly been active in our blogging pursuits over the last six months, our volunteers have been more than making up for it by writing about their own journeys with YCI across the globe. (And let’s face it–reading about our partner’s work in Tanzania is probably far more interesting than reading about our Toronto office’s favourite lunch spots.)
Check out Trip to Africa, today’s featured YCI blog, to learn more about our programming in Tanzania!
“The final time we met, he asked us “Is there anywhere around here to get tested for HIV/AIDS? I have not been tested for a very long time, and it is important that everyone get tested every few months.” We told him our partner organization conducted tests, so we went with him and his friend to the center to get tested; the results for both, thankfully, were negative. It goes to show that the message here is spreading, and that people are not only aware of HIV/AIDS, but that people know that there is somewhere for them to go for help. . .”
Hey folks! It’s been a while since YCI has updated our blog. Half a year, in fact. But, it’s not what you think. It’s not because we haven’t had tons to write about–but rather because we’ve been so busy that we haven’t had time to write about it!
Between May and August, we sent 87 volunteers to work on projects in Guyana, Vanuatu, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Costa Rica and Guatemala. (In other words, to all of our project countries except for Nicaragua.) The result of their work over the summer months was impressive; volunteers worked on the Earth Charter in Costa Rica, built water tanks in Vanuatu and facilitated gender and active citizenship workshops in Kenya. (And that’s just a brief summary of the activities they completed overseas.)
We were busy, too. While our volunteers were working with our partner organizations globally to meet development goals, learn new skills and make connections with youth overseas, we were active in our Toronto office preparing for our fall and winter programs and producing a number of new communications tools.
Now that September has rolled around and school is back in high gear, YCI is too, with one of those new tools—t-shirts! I got my first opportunity to rock the new YCI look at Volunteer Action Council (VAC) retreat in September. The VAC is the body that administers and managers the Volunteer Action Network. It’s composed of team leaders, a guiding council and YCI staff members. For two days, VAN team leaders, mentors, YCI staff and chair members gathered at the Centre for Social Innovation and the Youth Challenge International HQ to goal set, plan activities for the year and, for many of us, finally get the chance to meet one another face-to-face.
It was a great weekend and inspiring to see the work that our alumni and volunteers are doing across the country. It was also amazing to have conversations about different ways to make the local-global connection and how we can get the Canadian public involved. (Want to get involved with the VAN or learn more? Check out http://www.yci.org/html/inCanada/)
Next up, Nucci (YCI’s Program Development and Marketing Manager) and I both wore our new t-shirts at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Get Experience Fair. While it’s always refreshing to hear what our alumni are doing to put their global perspectives into action, it’s also a welcome change from my computer to get face time with prospective volunteers. (And of course, I always like the opportunity to talk about my own involvement with YCI from an alumnus perspective.)
So, where will you see the YCI t-shirts next? On the volunteers who are headed to Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya Costa Rica and Guyana in the next two months. Want to get your own YCI t-shirt? Consider volunteering. You can check out more information on our website at www.yci.org.
-Jessica Lockhart, Program Coordinator
