International

UNYA Germany’s International Cooperation

Until recently, UNYA Germany was a committed member of the worldwide umbrella organization of UN Youth Associations, WFUNA Youth. WFUNA Youth has promoted international cooperation and capacity building for UNYAs throughout the world. However, in 2010 WFUNA Youth was unfortunately dissoluted and there is no longer an international network platform for UNYAs.

The working group for international cooperation of UNYA Germany has thus decided to initiate bilateral projects and workshops together with other UNYAs around the world. We aim to continue supporting capacity building efforts and best practices exchanges with other UNYAs. In October 2010, we succesfully organized and facilitated a Project Management Workshop in Sofia together with UNYA Bulgaria & UNYA Switzerland (Have a look at the workshop Report for details about the agenda and outcomes).

In 2011, we will continue our efforts and aim at cooperating with an increasing number of UNYAs. Besides, in August 2011 there will be a conference with European UNYAs in Vienna to strengthen networking efforts.

Aims of International Cooperation

As a fairly young organisation UNYA Germany hopes to further develop its working processes, expand its working groups and projects and strenghten its partnerships in the next few years. In order to achieve this, the association considers the sharing of knowledge and best practices with other UNYAs and UNA Youth Sections very valuable.

Furthermore, UNYA Germany decided  to aim at conducting international projects in cooperation with other UNYAs and UNA Youth Sections. It was important to our UNYA that such projects move beyond networking as such. If a project were to be taken to the international level by the UNYA, this must be because it could actually be better realised on the international level than on the national level. The Association subsequently developed a project plan for such a project, entitled the Making Commitments Matter Initiative (MCM). The involvement of UNYA Germany both in MCM (and until 2010 in WFUNA Youth) are coordinated by the working group “International Cooperation”.

Best Practices/Materials for UNYAs

Recently, UNYA Germany has shot several short Project Management Videos and uploaded them on Youtube – please watch & share these videos with all interested UNYAs!

Besides, UNYA Germany has decided to provide the helpful handbooks developed by WFUNA Youth for the purpose of international exchange of best practices. From now on, you can find three detailed manuals for UNYAs around the world online:

Firstly, the Project Management Handbook provides UNYAs with information on how to improve their project planning, development and implementation. In this handbook, you will find many useful hints to increase your project work effectiveness!

Secondly, the Mini Classroom MUN Handbook sheds light on how to carry out Mini-MUNs for highschool classes.

Finally, the How-to-Set-up-an-UNYA-Handbook was developed for all those who want to get into UN youth work but who do not have a UNYA group aorund their town. This manual assisst in founding a local UNYA branch at your university/in your city.

Contact

If you have any remarks, questions about international cooperation or want to carry out a project together with us, do not hesitate to contact the UNYA Germany spokespersons for international cooperation! We are always looking for new contacts from other UNYAs in order to achieve our aims!

Get in touch with us: Ricarda Milstein & David Rinnert (ricardamilstein[at]googlemail.com, d.rinnert[at]googlemail.com)