Membership list 2007-2011
Coordinator : Oystein Fylling (Norway)Board representative : Sigrun Bessadottir
Greece : Agatha Kara
Italy : Mario Mirabile
Romania : Mihai Dima
Slovakia : Stanislav Sokol
UK : Jennifer Bottoms
Back to contents
EBU Youth Coordinators
EBU National Youth Coordinators
List of Youth Coordinators
Youth Coordinators Form
EBU National Youth Coordinators
The European Blind Union wishes to strengthen the position of youth with visual
impairments both as a part of the community of the visually impaired, and as a
part of the general public.
That is why the EBU Youth Working Group would like to establish good contacts
with all EBU National Members, to include the views and opinions of young people
from every country and spread relevant information about youth exchanges and
other projects that directly concern youth.
List of Youth Coordinators
If your country is not on the list, please try to encourage your organisation to
provide us with the necessary information by filling the form below.
Please provide information on the national member and youth worker for your
organisation. Whether this is an employee, a volunteer or another institution is
not important. What is important is that every member organisation in the EBU
takes the time to appoint someone who has a special responsibility to spread
information on a national level, and convey information from the national
organisation to the European community of visually impaired youth. When this is
done, please fill in the form below and send it to the EBU main office at
ebuoffice@euroblind.org
BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
Amna Hrvat
amnahrvat@gmail.com
Copy: nerm@bih.net.ba
CZECH REPUBLIC
Monica Kruzliakova
internationaldep@sons.cz
mladez@sons.cz
ESTONIA
Priit Kutser
kutser@yahoo.com
Copy: pimedateliit@hot.ee
FINLAND
Jutta Kivimaki
jutta.kivimaki@nkl.fi
Copy: timo.kuoppala@nkl.fi
GERMANY
Reiner Delgado
r.delgado@dbsv.org
Copy: H.Kaltwasser@DBSV.org
GREECE
Markostamos Panagiotis
pab@otenet.gr
ITALY
Stefano Tortini
stefanotortini@virgilio.it
Copy: inter@uiciechi.it
LATVIA
Deniss Vatjkovich
denissv@ml.lv
Copy: LNBCV@e-apollo.lv
NETHERLANDS
Helga Bosch
helga.bosch@tiscali.nl
NORWAY
Ragnar Eggesvik
Ragnar.eggesvik@blindeforbundet.no
Oystein Fylling
oystein.fylling@netcom.no and
oysteinfylling@yahoo.co.uk
Copy: Arnt.holte@blindeforbundet.no
POLAND
Marta Cegowska
mceglowska@pzn.org.pl
Copy: international@pzn.org.pl
SLOVAKIA
Michal Tkacik
tkacik@regedit.sk
Copy: miseno@netopier.sk
Copy: mamojka@unss.sk
SLOVENIA
Igor Miljavec
Igor.Miljavec@guest.arnes.si
Alenka Bera alenka.bera@guest.arnes.si
Copy: zdsss@zveza-slepih.si
SPAIN
ChristinaArias Serna
crisariser@hotmail.com and
cristijerez@yahoo.es
Copy: otae@once.es
SWITZERLAND
Christoph Kaser
Christoph@kaeser-online.ch
Michael Wenger
michael_wenger@bluewin.ch
Copy: marja.kaempfer@sbv-fsa.ch
Youth Coordinators Form
We would like to cooperate with all, so good contacts are a very important starting point
Plan of Action 2003-2007
The European Blind Union’s (EBU) youth working group is a part of the EBU’s
commission on equality and diversity, and will work to incorporate the
perspective of life-long learning and diversity in all its efforts. However
the group’s main aim for this period of office will be to create a community
for visually impaired youth in Europe.
The group sees this as a fundamental criterion for youth to take active part
in the decision-making processes of both the national organizations and the
EBU. This follows by the simple argument that there cannot be democracy
without an informal community where ideas and experiences are shared.
To help achieve this, the group will work to:
-
Encourage youth exchange both within and besides the EU’s YOUTH program. The group aims to take active part in at least one youth exchange each year, to ensure that the EBU is sufficiently promoted, and to ensure that political awareness is raised on issues central to the EBU’s work.
-
Work to promote student exchange among visually impaired, and try to find resources on universities that are suited to accept visually impaired students. It would be natural to liaise with the EBU’s commission on education to achieve this.
-
The youth working group finds that the flow of information between visually impaired youth is crippled due to the lack of an efficient network to convey it. Hence the group will work to create a better network for spreading information concerning youth among the member countries. An e-mailing list with one person / institution appointed to this list by each country in the EBU seems the best course of action. This person’s / institution’s responsibility will be to make sure that information spread through the list is conveyed to the intended receiver, both on a national and an European level.
-
The youth working group should work to create an appropriate web service for youth - either on euroblind.org, or a separate site. The service should include a forum, chat, useful information about youth exchange and student exchange, a section to deal with the European Voluntary Service and information about the youth working group itself.
-
The working group will create an informal discussion group for visually impaired youth and others who might take a special interest in the situation of visually impaired youth. Creating an e-mail group is the most likely solution to achieve this. However, the possibility of setting up a pen-pal program should also be investigated.
-
The youth working group should create a document on the significance of diversity to ensure the dynamics of organizations.
The youth working group acknowledges that it is of great importance to have a
good knowledge about the use of a computer and adaptive technology to achieve
equal opportunities for visually impaired youth. However the knowledge as well
as the equipment is not always easy to find. Hence the group will investigate
ways to better this situation.
Terms of reference 2003-2007
1. This working group is one of three working groups acting under the EBU Commission on Equality and Diversity.Consistently with the EBU constitution, EBU policies as laid down by the general assembly, and the instructions of the Board, the primary duties for the Working Group to carry out are :
1.1 To promote participation of blind and partially sighted people aged between fifteen and thirty in the work of national, regional and local organisations of blind and partially sighted people.
1.2 To instil in blind and partially sighted young people the importance of identifying issues which only affect them, and ensuring that only blind and partially sighted young people have the right to take part in the resolution of such issues.
1.3 To undertake leadership and assertiveness training and other programmes to ensure that blind and partially sighted young people take their rightful place in organisations of blind and partially sighted people, if desired and if practicable in cooperation with other EBU commissions that also wish to undertake such training.
1.4 To promote exchange of information and experience between blind and partially sighted young people in Europe, using internet fora, networking, youth camps and any other suitable means.
1.5 To promote a culture of equality and diversity within EBU by making sure that youth issues are mainstreamed across all other commissions and working groups, and that the needs of particular groups of blind and partially sighted young people are addressed adequately.
2. As soon as possible after the beginning of the work period, the Board will provide the Coordinator of the Working Group with a copy of the Board's Strategic Plan and of the EBU Equality Policy Paper "Towards a Culture of Equality".
3. Having considered the ways in which it can assist in achieving the objectives set in the Board's Strategic Plan and the EBU Equality Policy Paper "Towards a Culture of Equality", the Working Group will immediately prepare, in consultation with the Commission on Equality and Diversity, its plan of action for the work period. Such plan of action must be consistent with the Board's Strategic Plan, and must be submitted to the Board for approval. The Working Group may, during the work period, refer further matters to the Board for consideration, advice and, if appropriate, action.
4. In its plan of action, the Working Group may propose the setting up of ad hoc subgroups to facilitate its work by carrying out specified tasks. Such proposal may not be acted upon until approved by the Board.
5.The Board may, during the work period, refer further matters to the Working Group for consideration, advice, and, if appropriate, action.
6. In no circumstances does the Working Group or any of its members have authority to make any commitment on behalf of EBU without the prior approval of the Board.
7. In carrying out its work, the Working Group will comply strictly with the rules set out in the Status and Guidelines for EBU Commissions and Working Groups (revised January 2004).
Back to contents
Plan of Action 1999 - 2003
This plan of action contains the most important goals identified by the EBU Youth Commission at its first meeting in this work period (Athens, 21 October 2000). It provides guidelines for the Commission's work, and it shows all interested parties where the Commission intends to put its resources in the nearest future.Education
Education is one of the most important issues for all youth. It seems to be the only safe path to success in our societies. Being educated gives opportunity to become integrated - based on the visually impaired person's own efforts, not on pity. Education is therefore an obvious and appropriate way to fight against segregation. Still, most European countries have education systems which seriously exclude the visually impaired. This inevitably leads to employers showing negative attitudes towards qualified disabled job-seekers, even though their disability is completely irrelevant to the jobs applied for. Based on these and several other facts, the Commission wishes to closely cooperate with the EBU Commission on Education (link person : Maria-Luisa Bonzo of Italy).Gender equality
The Youth Commission has cooperated with the EBU Women's Commission for quite some time already. This has proved most inspiring, because visually impaired people's fight to be recognised as equals is similar to the struggle women have fought over the last decades. EBU is committed to fighting against discrimination, and its Youth Commission is determined to contribute to this noble goal (link persons : two members of the EBU Women's Commission, namely Theodora Fardela of Greece and Maria-Jose Sanchez of Spain).Independence and mobility
It should be obvious for any civilized human being that only criminals can be kept imprisoned. However, it is a fact that disabled people are being "locked up" in their own homes only because they are deprived of the most essential, and often cheap, mobility aids they need. This is a situation no one should accept. Lack of will and support must not be allowed to suppress young visually impaired people's aspiration for new experiences.A true perspective can only be reached by seeing things from different points of view. This is why the Commission will endeavour to encourage exchange programmes, international youth camps, national efforts to increase visually impaired people's mobility. It will also try to create effective channels for exchange of information, ideas, friendship and all other kinds of creative cooperation.
Communication improvements
Communication is one of the greatest challenges faced by any international organization. This is also true for the Youth Commission, and therefore this will be one of the main issues it will address in this new work period. The Commission's special efforts to improve communication are also related to the emphasis it intends to place on independence and mobility.Good communication will broaden the perspectives and gather the strengths of all those involved in the struggle for full equality. Based on this, the Commission will thoroughly look into the possibilities open by today's technology. The Internet will obviously be the main focus because it is accessible and user-friendly for all those who have the necessary equipment.
EBU runs its own website, and the Commission will help to make it as attractive as possible to the youth. It will also help to publicize the EBU site as a discussion forum where young people can share and learn about each other's experiences and lives. Unfortunately not all youth have the knowledge or equipment to take part in electronic communication. It is therefore important for the Commission to find adequate alternatives such as exchange programmes, camps, bilateral initiatives, etc.
Follow up on the work of the previous youth commission
The previous Youth Commission identified some areas for follow up by this Commission (see details in Item 6 of the Commission's Report to the EBU 6th General Assembly, Prague, 1999). Most of these areas are already covered in other sections of this plan of action.Promotion of political initiatives amongst blind youth
It is of crucial importance to achieve the broadest possible support for the bold objectives contained in this plan of action. Offensive marketing of the Commission's intentions is needed, and this can be done by building up on all existing political initiatives amongst European youth. The more commonly young politicians can be found in the EBU and its member organizations, the sooner this plan of action will become a significant set of thoughts known to all blindness organizations in Europe.The Commission believes that the hopes and plans described here are just as important for other age groups. But, it might be easier to initiate these ideas amongst young people since they often prove to be more receptive to new initiatives, in particular when these are technology-oriented. It would of course be pointless to try and launch such initiatives if these were known only to the Commission. Hence encouraging young blind people to take part in as many political initiatives as possible - both to inspire and to learn - will be one of the Commission's main priorities.
Obviously this plan of action only sets out the major themes on which work will be focused and does not exclude the possibility for the Commission to consider other topics.
Back to contents
