Launch Of Global Youth Service Days Lebanon 2012

The Global Youth Service Days Coordinating Committee and The Learning to CARE Institute Together invite Universities, Schools, School Networks, and Youth Organizations as well as NGOs and Service Institutions to send representatives to The Launching of Global Youth Service Days Lebanon 2012 At UNESCO Palace in Beirut On Saturday, March 10   Schedule March 10: 3:00 pm           Registration 3:30 pm           Launching event and distribution of participation packets 4:00 pm           Training Session on GYSD and How to Plan and Implement a Project We encourage you to have at least one member of your administration and two youth leaders attend this event.   Languages: The program will be in Arabic, but we would be willing to hold a parallel session for this event in English, if needed. Participation packets will be available in both Arabic and English. Note: Global Youth Service Days will be April 20-21-22, 2012, so you should already save at least one of these days for your youth group to do a service project or your NGO to welcome youth groups to do a service project for you.   NGOs are welcome to bring information about your organization to distribute at the event along with an information sheet about opportunities for possible volunteer projects that youth can do for your organization during Global Youth Service Days. We can also list these opportunities online.   "Global Youth Service Days" is an annual program held for three days every April to: Celebrate the role of youth in community building and social change Mobilize millions of youth worldwide to serve their community through service Recognize the year-round contributions of young people to build their communities and their world through voluntary service   In Lebanon, the Association for Volunteer Services was the National Lead Agency for GYSD from 2001-2011. The former director of AVS, Dr. Patricia Nabti, has recently founded a social venture, the Learning to CARE Institute S.A.R.L., to provide professional consulting and training in all aspects of volunteering. The Institute is continuing this AVS tradition in collaboration with a group of volunteers who have formed The Global Youth Service Days Coordinating Committee. Each year since 2001, thousands of youth in Lebanon (ages 5-25) have participated in small group service projects that they themselves have planned or organized, with the support of responsible adults.  We hope your youth will participate this year. Objectives of Global Youth Service Days Lebanon: 1)      To develop an understanding of volunteering and to encourage it in our youth. 2)      To encourage youth to identify and target social problems and to collaborate to solve them 3)      To develop our youth into capable, empowered, socially responsible citizens. 4)      To provide them with opportunities to actually contribute in meaningful ways. 5)       To provide youth with volunteer opportunities that cross social barriers of age, religion, abilities/disabilities, and geography. 6)      To improve the quality of youth service projects. 7)      To encourage and help NGOs to recruit youth to volunteer for them   8)      To acknowledge the capacity of youth to contribute to their society