International Exchange Success

Young People taking part in Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s, Youth Service International Youth Exchange project have just returned from a successful 2-week trip filled with activities and debates in Europe.

The town of Cachan, situated in the suburbs of Paris, hosted the International Youth Exchange for 2009. This year the Project was funded through the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The young people were divided into four commissions, Transport, Sustainable Development, Communication and Community Life. Their brief was to design a town of the future that incorporated the best of all of these features and was sustainable.

The Depute-Maire of Cachan, Jean-Yves Le Bouillonnec, was very excited by the project and invited local government delegates from the participating countries to take part.

Councillor Eudine Hanagan, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, joined the young people from Rhondda Cynon Taf and participated in a debate held in the City Hall. Young people from the participating countries were able to question politicians about future possibilities for young people. The Depute-Maire also invited the group to visit the French National Assembly in Paris and watch him in action discussing Internet access issues.

Councillor Hanagan, said: “This exchange gave the young people taking part the opportunity to learn about other countries’ cultures, customs and languages, both past and present. It also allowed them to take part in a unique opportunity to learn more about each other, have fun and make new friends.

“I was very pleased to accompany the young people and very much enjoyed the debate and answering the questions from the students in the other countries represented.”

All the students welcomed the opportunity to be part of this International Exchange, which they seized as a fantastic opportunity, and to be able to make new friends from people all over Europe

In October 2009, one young person and one member of staff from each of the participating countries will be visiting the Strasbourg European Parliament to present the outcomes of this International Project.

All of the young people’s ideas have been collated into a computer and fed into a programme to design a 3D virtual city called ‘Futureville’.

For further information about the International Exchange project with RCT Youth Services, contact Kerry Rees on 01443 424400.