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

Education for Orphans

Nazerke Zarlykhanova ’12( Alatau, Kazakhstan)

Event Location: Almaty, Kazakhstan

$ 500 in FLEX Alumni GYSD Grant Funding

$ 550 cost share from partners

As part of GYSD celebration FLEX alumna Nazerke Zarilkhanova '12 partnered with 7 volunteers from Youth Parliament of Kazakhstan to create a training program for orphans in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Volunteers recruited 20 orphans from 8 state orphanages, who are planning to pass the national exams. Organizers conducted trainings and inspired students to study better for their careers. Students from the orphanages were trained in following subjects: Mathematics, Russian Language, Kazakh Language, English Language, History of Kazakhstan, Geography, Biology and Physics. Students were provided with special preparatory books and tests. The team is planning to continue the project until June.

We would like to thank administration of the orphanage #2, and all the volunteers for their contribution.

"No Smoking" Campaign in Astana, Kazakhstan

We have already written about a number of projects, but it seems like we haven't written anything about projects against smoking. Well, here is one!

On May 1 (Day of Unity of all nationalities in Kazakhstan) 5 FLEX alumni including the project leader Gulnozai Mansur conducted «No smoking» campaign in the streets of Astana. Nowadays smoking is a mainstream especially among young people. Hence, the volunteers lead that creative campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking. Specifically, they asked about 50 people (50% of them were teenagers) to exchange their cigarette for a candy, or a pack of cigarettes for a fruit. The volunteers also handed them brochures that reminded them about the hazards of smoking and how badly it affects not only themselves, but also the surroundings. People enthusiastically participated in the campaign, and found it useful and beneficial for their community. Hopefully, that project lead the youth for more healty life, and also taught them to be responsible citizens of the country and take care of the environment.

We hope that such creative ways of fighting against smoking will really help people give up this habbit and become healthier as well as make the World ariund better! Thank you alumni! :)