Global Youth Service Day Matching Grant 2015 Application Is Available!

Eurasia FLEX Alumni Global Youth Service Day Matching Grants Program 2015

Annually American Councils for International Education holds the Global Youth Service Day FLEX Alumni Matching Grants Initiative, which is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State. 

Groups of alumni of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program are invited to apply for matching funds in the amount of up to $500 to implement local community service projects as part of the Global Youth Service Day Initiative weekend: April 17-19, 2015. 

Matching Grant - By offering a matching grant, ECA will leverage additional funds for GYSD.  In order to receive this grant, alumni must conduct local fundraising efforts to secure contributions from other donors.  Those funds must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis. For example if you have 298$ worth of cost share/in-kind contribution from other donor you can request maximum 298$ for your project from us, but if you get more than 500$ in cost share from other donors, you cannot request more than 500$ from us.

Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is an annual international event that:

·         Mobilizes youth and adults to identify and address the needs of their communities through service;

·         Recruits the next generation of volunteers;

·         Educates the public about the role of young people as community leaders by highlighting the contributions they make to their communities year-round.

To learn more about Global Youth Service Day, go to http://www.gysd.org.  or http://flexgysd.blogspot.com/

Eligibility: in order to participate in this program, alumni must

·         Be successful participants of the FLEX program;

·         Be in compliance with the two-year home residency requirement following the program;

·         Update their information in the alumni database, which may be done at any American Councils office or electronically;

GYSD Timeline:

·         Applications Available – November 1, 2014

·         Applications Due – February 15, 2015

·         Notification – March 15, 2015

·         Funds Transferred – Early April 2015

·         Reports Submitted May 31, 2015. 

The application deadline is Sunday February 15, 2015 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
For more information contact the FLEX Alumni Coordinator in your country/ region or email flexalumni@americancouncils.org. Proposals may be funded in part.  American Councils may request that applicants modify their budgets in order to accommodate partial funding.

Please note that these grants are not intended to fund purchases of computer equipment, Internet access, any salaries, and political activities working for or against any specific candidates.

Global Youth Service Day Matching Grant Application is available at: ais.americancouncils.org/flexalumni

Safe Roads

Natia Sharikadze ’08 (Borjomi, Georgia)

Event Location: Tbilisi, Georgia

$494 in FLEX Alumni GYSD Grant Funding

$691 cost share from partners

With pedestrian related traffic accidents on a rise throughout the world, FLEX alumna Natia Sharikadze ’08 teamed up with nearly 100 volunteers to spread the word about road safely for GYSD 2014.  The Safe Roads aimed to spread awareness about rights of pedestrians and drivers by reminding drivers of the need to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, known locally as “zebra crossings” and reiterate to pedestrians the need to cross the street only on appropriate and marked crossings.  

The two-day event began on April 12 with a training for 42 people about traffic laws and safety by representatives of three partner organizations.  The following day,  93 volunteers including 15 FLEX alumni split into teams to share their message with the community.  Volunteers visited over 60 crosswalks on 40 city streets, crossing in large groups at official regulated crossings holding a zebra-stripped banner saying “On the zebra, stop for pedestrians” and handing out information flyers to the drivers and pedestrians. On Rustaveli Avenue, central street in Tbilisi, volunteers promoted the anti-jaywalking campaign among children by creating chalk pictures on the sidewalks and handing out funny poems about jaywalking.  

American Councils for International Education, The International Spark Program, Children of Georgia, University of Georgia, and the Georgian Alliance for Safe Roads participated in making this event a success.  Pictures from the event can be found here.

"I've Got the Spirit" Project

GYSD's 25th Anniversary was a huge success! The number of countries participating went up to 135, and there were many more projects organized in Eurasia!

Let's take a look at the projects that celebrated Global Youth Service Day - 2013! We have already written about the preparations of Natia Sharikadze's project "I've Got the Spirit" that took place in Tbilisi, Georgia.

On April 27 there was a training/lecture about Georgian Cultural Heritage Preservations and its problems

for 50 participating students. Invited speaker from The Agency Ketevan Digmelashvili spoke to the audience. Later the students had discussion with Natia Sharikadze about the concept of volunteering and what it means to people.

Next day, students traveled to Armaztsikhe to help clean the historic place. 5 Representatives (one expert and 4 museum staff members) were at the place to help/guide the students. Volunteers had 2 tasks:

Taking out the grass (weeding) from the important monuments such as: the pedestal of the pagan god, the base of the unique pagan temple from II-III century, wine basement from 1st century and bathroom chambers from BC II Century, moving rocks

from the inside of the historic monument King’s bathroom with 5 chambers (from II-III Century) outside of the fence that was around it, cleaning area from trash.

The project raised awareness about the Cultural and Historic Heritage preservations among its beneficiaries, who now consider that volunteering is important and in personal talks they mentioned that they never thought that they could help sustain the history. Also, the project helped National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservations to improve the condition at one of the heritage sites. 

The project got a media coverage from from TV9 (08.10.12)

There is also an album of the event on International Spark Program’s Official Facebook Page.

In total, the project involved more than 100 people which is a very good result. Also, more events in partnership with the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservations are expected in the future.

Thank you so much Natia Sharikadze, Shorena Megrelishvili, Marika Kurdadze, Anjela Pakhlajian, Tamar Basilaia, Tornike Kuchava, and Anna Abesadze for your great contribution to GYSD and community service in general! We hope to hear from you more about your o