The international

exchange textbook

Project
Youth Volunteerism for European Legacy
of Culture and Nature
Hnutí Brontosaurus 2009

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The international exchange textbook came out from the international exchange, which took place
in the Czech Republic from 22. to 28. 9. 2009.

The main aim of the exchange was to innovate and inspire everyday work of the organizations
working with young volunteers in order to preserve nature and the cultural heritage.

Program of the exchange:

- Visiting locations connected with the preservation of the nature in the Czech Republic

- Presentations and practical workshops prepared by each partner organization

- Volunteers work for the medieval village (open-air museum in Modrá U Velehradu)

- Meeting, connecting, exchange of information, experiences and best practices during the
spectacular action organised at the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Brontosaurus
movement- “Dort pro Brontosaura 2009”. This was a traditional event, which takes place
every five years. About 400 members, ex-members and friends of the Brontosaurus met
here to celebrate.

The detail programme was following:

22nd Arrival Day

23rd Introduction Day – official welcome and introduction of personal introduction of all
participants (small games), preparation of posters introducing each organization (creative
workshop), excursion of the eco-centre Švýcárna, visit of nearby museum of steelworks, collective

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preparation of intercultural dinner, festal opening of posters display, introduction of organizations
and best practices.

24th Outdoor Experience – guided excursion to Protected Landscape Area - Moravian Karst.
Excursion to city Brno with native guides. Transfer to Archaeological open-air museum Modrá u
Velehradu.

25th Museum Modrá – excursion at the open-air museum Modrá, opening ceremony of “Dort pro
Brontosaura” event, introduction defile of all participating segments of Movement Brontosaurus.
Concert of Czech folk group “Nestíháme” as a part of the “Dort pro Brontosaura” event.

26th Volunteer Day – volunteer work for municipality Modrá, BAZAAR I. – experience exchange,
workshops, discussions, forums, presentations, games, introduction of international projects.
Expert seminar about energy savings, alternative sources of energy - lecturer RNDr. Jan Hollan;
Brontotalent – competition of amateur talents; Birch Awards – acknowledgement for
Brontosaurus volunteers; Campfires – singing with guitars at the fire.

27th Cake Day – BAZAAR II. – experience exchange, workshops, discussions, forums,
presentations, games, introduction of international projects. ArchaeOlympiad – extraordinary
competition for teams. Workshops – art, old crafts, games, juggling, singing, dancing, theatre and
drama. Fair of NGOs and Brontosaurus locations. Cimbalom music. Brontobiograf – projection of
movies made by Brontosaurus volunteers. Round table – panel discussion with politicians with the
theme “Nature protection and volunteerism as a value for Youth”. Final ceremony – proclamation
of Ekofór (Ecological cartoon competition) winners. Brotosaurus awards. Cutting the cake.
Concerts of bend “Žamboši” and Burana Orchestr. Night game.

28th Evaluation Day (20 participants, 4 organizers, 1 guide) Evaluation of the project. Discussion
about future co-operation. Signing of partnership in new project organized by Hungarians.

29th Departure Day

The partners of the exchange were:

• Czech Republic- Hnutí

Brontosaurus

• Poland - Europejskie forum

mlodziezy

• Slovakia - Preles, o.z.

• Hungary - Kristály alapítvány

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 Prezenten organizations and there programs.

1. Hnutí Brontosaurus

''Our goal is not only to take a lot of

pictures and make a lot of memories during the
events we organize, we also work to renovate
castles, help trees, and clean meadows and
springs in order to create good feelings and help
the world become a better place.''

What is Hnutí Brontosaurus?

Hnutí Brontosaurus is a non-

governmental, non-profit organization which
has been helping to protect the environment
and historical sites in the Czech Republic - as
well as helping people living there - for over 35
years. Several generations of Brontosaurus
participants have taken part in hundreds of weekend and summer holiday events focused on
taking care of the Czech countryside and the cultural heritage of the Czech Republic. However,
Hnutí Brontosaurus events consist of more than just rewarding voluntary work.

Hnutí Brontosaurus offers young people an alternative to consumerism, encourages their

creativity, shows them new and unconventional ways of spending free time and provides them
with a space for self-fulfillment. Brontosaurus courses and events also include outdoor education,
various games, workshops, discussions, informal education and more.

In past few years, Hnutí Brontosaurus has also been expanding its activities abroad; we
provide assistance to monasteries and schools in Ladakh, India, and help to protect Czech cultural
heritage in Banat, Romania.

This balanced combination of rewarding voluntary work, education, new experiences and
good fun is what has been attracting high school and college students (as well as working parents
with children) to our diverse array of programs for over 35 years.

Akce příroda (Project Nature) is a program focused on weekend trips where volunteers
landscape precious orchid meadows, maintain educational nature paths, help organic farmers with
their farms, plant native species of trees in local forests, clean springs, help in shelters for hurt
animals, renew alleys, etc.

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 Akce památky (Project Historical Sites) is a program offering help to conserve old castles,
renew and restore small, local sights in the country, and maintain chateaus and churches.

During the Summer break, the Prázdniny s Brontosaurem (Holiday with Brontosaurus)
project offers similar activities, spiced up with outdoor education.

The year-round activities of Brontosaurus children's groups are centered around

environmental education. Program Vzdělávání (Education Program) provides training for new
volunteer organizers of Brontosaurus events.

Akce příroda (Project Nature)

Akce příroda (Project Nature) is at the core of

Brontosaurus activities. It teaches young people (and,
indeed, everybody) that we can all plant a tree, beautify
a protected meadow and renew springs. Thanks to the
games and outdoor education activities that the
volunteers engage in, their playfulness, creativity and
team skills improve.

However, Project Nature is not only about

voluntary work and games, it is also about increasing
one's knowledge concerning interesting and attractive
places in the countryside, meeting experts and benefiting
from their experience, wisdom, and practical field
experience. For an event to be included in this project,
three basic conditions must be met: voluntary work,
environmental education and outdoor education.

Voluntary work must be meaningful and crucially

important. We want to help only where help is really
needed. The project cares for chosen locations over the long-term, follow-up events will continue
to take place at designated sites for several years into the future.

Project Nature offers active lifestyle choices and the inspiration needed to make the world
a better place to live. For many people, the organization becomes part of their way of life; for
many of us, taking part in weekend events is more than just a matter of spending time in a
pleasant and useful way. During our events, we do our best to adhere to optimum environmental
practices: we save energy, prefer public transport services, and we don't waste material and/or
food, etc.

The trips and events are organized by young people themselves; the head organizers take
part in courses and seminars to learn how to organize the trips.

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 Examples from long-term Brontosaurus work projects

Back to the Roots in Jeseník region

Before WW2, the majority of inhabitants of this region were German. They lived diffused
throughout the countryside. Most of the time, the German residents worked on and improved
their surroundings. Having been dislocated after the end of WW2, they left behind many sites in
the countryside. The unfortunate fate of these sites in later years demonstrates that the new
inhabitants did not quite feel at home there. But that is not the whole story.

The situation of these local sights started to change about 30 years ago and has been
changing significantly since 2002, when members of Brontosaurus under the guidance of
specialists renewed three local sights: two springs and one cross. These sights were reminders of
the famous past of this region, especially of the spa tradition closely tied with the name of
Vincenz Priessnitz (1799 – 1851). Every year during the
summer holiday more sites got renewed, especially
springs, with local people getting more and more
involved. In 2005, when Brontosaurus were opening the
new Vincenz Priessnitz natural path, next to a thousand
people visited the event, and the Path has been very
popular ever since.

In the course of the past few years, more

organizations and groups have joined the Back to the
Roots project, and even more sights have been renewed
thanks to this trend. Several inhabitants of the region,
from different age groups, have volunteered to regularly
take care of some of the sites. To this day, several dozen
sites have been reborn. The Back to the Roots project is
ongoing, continuing to gain popularity both at
Brontosaurus events and among local people.

Alleys of Pečín

In Pečín, Brontosaurus volunteers are helping with planting an alley, they plant trees that
are typical for indigenous forests and game refuges of the Orlické hory.

Originally, there was no alley in this area. There used to be a forest, but it was gradually cut
down and became a pasture.

However, open countryside with pastures presents a great risk of quality soil erosion. Also, it
doesn't offer enough hiding and nesting places and food for birds and other animals.

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 The planting of an alley in this area will help to solve these problems. It creates a natural
biocorridor for game and, in winter, it protects the road from getting snowed under.

The voluntary work itself does not only consist of planting the alley. We regularly return to the
area to help protect the saplings from wild animals, and we make sure that the saplings don't get
overgrown by grass or broken by wind.

We also look for other places in the area that would benefit
from planting trees, alleys and game refuges. Furthermore, we are
trying to negotiate better and wider protection of a forest in
Zdobnice pod Pečínem valley, which is a very distinct and important
natural site. Young people working here would like to, with help of
experts, negotiate a change in forest management, so that the local
country is preserved in its present state. We have also been planting
an orchard with indigenous fruit trees in this area.

Everything is going very well and we are glad that the range
of activities, which started with the planting of one alley, has been
continuing to grow.

Planting a live auditorium

It's been two years since Brontosaurus members started helping Centum ekologické
výchovy Dúbrava (Environmental Education Centre Dúbrava) to beautify their neglected gardens,
so that they can function as a live auditorium for children and a place to go and relax for both the
visitors to the Centre and the public.

Much work is yet to be done, but

we've already helped to plant more than
350 bushes and trees to form hedges, a
model riverine forest and a small
arboretum. We also helped to construct
model biotopes: wetland, savanna,
limestone rocks, etc. Volunteers have also
managed to plant herb beds and a tactual
path in 550 work hours. They plan to
maintain the garden and continue the
work well into the future.

''Our employees would not

possibly manage to do the job by
themselves,'' says the head of the Centre
about Brontosaurus work.

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2. PRELES
Preles is a non-governmental non-profit
organization whose aim is to educate and
connect young people of different life
conditions and social backgrounds by making
them working together to help and protect
nature or by spending free time in creative way
far away from civilisation. It is also aiming to
improoving life in cities generally. To achieve
that, Preles run different projects presented in
this text as an example of youth volunteer work
which has succes and makes important
contribution to society in general.

Preles was founded in March 2008 by 5 young people after they succeded in their first project
called „Park that connects“. This project was launched in automn 2006. The goal of this project
was to connect lighly mentally disabled people with young students by common work on
revitalization of a historical park in village Ladce. The project lasted four month and was supported
from a Youth grant program of EU.

Since Preles is founded, its annual activity is organizing an outdoor camp called Preles. It was
helded for the first time in 2007. This camp is targeted to
young people who come from foster families as well as to
young people living with their biological parents. It aims to
create space where they can get to know each others life
stories and life conditions which leads to their better
integration but also to showing them how to spend free
time in alternative ways, to learning them about nature
around them andits protection. Participants of the camp
were sleeping in tents, making trips to nature and doing lot
of creative activities. Thanks to small number of
participants these camps have chamber, almost familly
atmosphere which contributes to succession of this project.

Besides camps in Slovakia Preles also organizes

international youth exchanges, focused on personal
development, in cooperation with International Synergy
Group.

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These exchanges are organised for young people who want to improve their organisation and
communication skills in creative and nonviolent way. Each exxhange is focused on different topic.
So far there has been organized two exchanges by Preles – one has been connected to
volunteering and the way of sharing abilities between different communities, the second one has
focused on theater and art as a mean of communication. The exchange usually consits of activities
prepared by organisators as well as of empty space serving participants to prepairing up
workshops on their own. That’s how they can improove their skills. In addition there are 3
„outdoor days“ which give possibility to participants to get to know each other by disscussing
freely and simply being together in nature. The age of participants is usually between 15 to 30.
They come from different EU countries or their partner countries(i.e. Slovakia, Hungary, Czech
Republic, Greece, Turkey, Latvia, Bulgary and Romania). Altogether each exchange hosts about
60 young people and it is supported by grant programme Youth in action of EU.

Last example of Preles volunteer projects is a long-term project which is aiming to build a
high rope center in Žilina, the capital city of Žilinský region. Preles wants to create a playground
where young people could spend their free time, learn to overcome their fear and exceed their
limits.

Preles got the knowhow for this project thanks to four organisators who had already
experience with similar projects. Building of the high rope centre was enabled thanks to
cooperation with the City hall and financial support of TESCO grant programme. It was finnished
and opened for public in September 2009.

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3. European Youth Forum
(Europejskim Forum Młodzieży)

European Youth Forum is an independent

non-governmental organization. In our work
circle engage young people both very active, as
well as those less entrepreneurial, living in small
and rural areas, with difficult conditions for the
realization of their ambitions and plans.

It was found in 1994 by young people

from the region Kłodzko interested in European
integration, democracy and social work in local community. Since 1995, it operates as an
association. The forum organizes since several years actions, trainings, conferences, seminars, and
festivals for young people and residents of the region. It is now regarded as one of the most active
youth organizations in the country and region.

The main goals

Our first aim is to establish the European education, the transfer of accurate and timed
information about the process of integration in order to prepare local society for EU membership.

Secondly, we are encouraging young people to develop interests outside their society and
social inclusion.

We are also trying to equalize the

opportunities of young people living in small
towns and rural areas in access to knowledge
and information.

Last but not least, we are shaping the

image of a modern country and the region to
work for the development of local democracy
and encouraging residents to participate
actively in life of region.

Of course, all who are close to our

goals we invite you to cooperation.

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What are people in this association doing?

EFM works with many government bodies, local government, diplomatic, school clubs, and
European non-governmental organizations in the country and abroad.

Associates are working in regional media,

conducting their own businesses, working in
political organizations, creating new, non-
governmental organizations, travelling for foreign
scholarships.

We educate to this date, approximately

2,500 young people, and we organized mass
public events attended by several thousand
residents of the region.

Who are the key partners?

Among others are these the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland,
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Ministry of National Education , Embassy of Poland in the
European Union, Office of the Committee for European Integration, Rural Support Foundation,
The program of the European Union "Youth", County Kłodzki, Town Bystrzyca Kłodzko, and the
European School Clubs

International cooperation

We maintain and develop cooperation with several non-governmental youth organizations, both
including countries of the European Union, and with an area not belonging to the communities.

We especially cooperate with those

organizations: Casa de Juventud in Alcañiz (Spain),
Yap in Cluj (Romania), Info-NUORRA In Karasjohka
(Norway), GOLTZ de Carvalho (Portugal), Urdd
Dinbych (Wales United Kingdom), and Pensiero
Tascabile (Italy).

Projects

We work on those projects: EuroWeek

camps organized for talented youth,
International Exchanges and the European
Voluntary Service

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 4. Crystal foundation
Crystal Foundation a non-governmental non-
profit organization which focuses on representing and
protection of the interests of youth with material
disadvantages. These aims are fulfilled by organizing
free time activities and events, which help to develop
their personal qualities, education and skills. It also
provides free internet usage for disabled youth in the
region.

Crystal foundation was founded in

2004. It runs a youth centre in Nyírbogdány situated
in a 3 storey building which is able to accommodate
up to 40 people, so foundation can provide
accomodation for other civil organisations for a
discount price. The foundation is in connection with
the surrounding towns and villages such as Kék, Demecser, Kemecse, Nagyhalász, Székely, Sényő.

The foundation organizes some annual events,

such as Santa Claus celebration, christmas
workshops and easter egg painting for children
in kindergartens. Other regular project is
summer and spring cycling.

Since 2007, the foundation has been

running the project of international integration
of disabled people. The project bases on
international youth exchanges. These events
help young people to improve their language
and comunication skills.

The project consisted of two main parts. These were

meetings where young people with disadvantages met each
other and realized very useful programs. The first meeting was
in Rodowo 11- 14 April 2007. The disabled young people were
playing integration and know each other games. Each
organization gave a short presentation about his own
organization and role in this project. In the evening they had an
international evening where each country gave a performance

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about his country and prepared special national food. They visited two institutes. One of them was a
children care house in Mragowo, the other one was Children home „Keja” in Biskupiec.

In 2009 the crystal

foundation organized the Festival
for thevrecognition of
tradition.Thefestival was held on 1st
May 2009 in Nyírbogdány with 60
participants and more than hundreds
of visitors. The objective of the project
was to organize an international
cultural festival with Czech, Slovakian,
Polish and Hungarian participants. On
the festival the participants performed
folkdances, folksongs, gastronomic
show, handicraft traditions and
introduced the culture of V4 countries.

The most recent project is Ukrainian-Hungarian ecological project.The project’s topic is

Environment protection and effective usage of energy. Its aim is the realization of eko-counscious and
energy- effective lifestyle. The Rystal foundation establishes energy clubs where they teach the energy-
effective methods to the inhabitants. Both in Nyírbogdány and in Beregove they have trained trained
mentors who will keep the clubs.

Evaluation
The project created space for exchanging information between the organizations, which focus on
working with volunteers, and/or children from all countries of the Visegrad area (The Czech Repuplic,
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia,).

It enabled to identify situation in each country, and ensure exchange of information about activities
implemented by the participating groups. We could share examples of best practices and that especially
with reference to protecting natural and cultural heritage.

Due to the project activities, the motivation and competence of the participants rose, which lead to
the successful goal of the project.

The project enabled the creation and development of the cooperation between volunteer
organizations of the Visegrad countries as well as the environmental education during free-time activities.

We also signed partnership with Hungarians for new project 'Youth in Action' Programme, Action
4.4., the last day of our project.

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Description of the project of the future cooperation:

Kristály Foundation chose Media literacy of young people as the theme of the planned
programmes. The title of the project is W.E.A.R. – Watch, Evaluate, Ask and Read. The main objective of
the foundation is to educate youngsters about media and the massive information flow that characterizes
the every day life, where influencing is a key issue even in simple situations like shopping in a supermarket.
Youngsters have to learn to differentiate and select their sources of information carefully in order to be able
to fully trust them.

The programme will consist of several activities most of them will aim at challenging the
participants believes, ideas and opinions in order to make them consider and think about their choices, to
be able to explain the ideology behind it. The venue will be Nyírbogdány, Hungary the headquarters of
Kristály Foundation. The premises allow the participants to fully commit themselves to the programme and
various tasks during the implementation. The project will necessitate the use of computers, internet and
other media tools which are available. Accommodation and full catering will be supplied in the town of
Nyírbogdány as well.

The number of participants will be 30. Four countries will be represented besides the host country,
Hungary. From each country 5 students between the ages of 16-20 will be involved in the program
accompanied by 1 adult teacher to assist the coordination and implementation of Kristály.

The creative and innovative element of the project will be producing a documentary with cutting,
editing and finalizing it about a given topic. This will also be the major output of the project which will be
disseminated among the civil society organizations and schools related to them in order to multiply the
results.

The envisaged impact of the project is for the youngsters to be able to form and express their
opinion regarding key issues in world politics, to be able to define and rank information sources
evaluating their messages.

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Contact data
Czech republic
Poland
Hnutí Brontosaurus Europejskie Forum Młodzieży
Hvězdová 10 Plac Wolności 5/5
602 00, Brno 57-500 Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Poland
Tel. +420 544 215 585 NIP: 881-12-03-505 Tel. +48(74)8110223
e-mail: hnuti@brontosaurus.cz Tel./fax. +48(74)8111399
www.brontosaurus.cz e-mail: efm@efm.org.pl
www.efm.org.pl
Slovak republic
Preles Hungary
OZ PRELES Crystal foundation
Gaštanová 48 1. Sényői street Nyírbogdány 4511
010 07, Žilina Tel. Youth Centre: +36-42/232-074
Tel. +421 910 399 294 - Vlado Randa E-mail: kristalyalapitvany@vipmail.hu
e-mail: preles.oz@gmail.com Web: http://kristalyalap.uw.hu
www.preles.sk

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 Many thanks to the Visegrad fund,
which enabled all of this. It was a
valuable experience for all of the
participating organizations and
countries. We were able to share and
improve in our volunteer work and
we will continue in the cooperation.

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