During the Annual General Meeting which was held on Thursday, 18th May, 2011, a new committee was formed.

Birgit Oidram was elected as the new Secretary General for MUYA whilst Daniel Mifsud was elected as the new treasurer. Birgit has been active in MUYA for the past two years managing and helping out in several projects after she moved to Malta from Estonia where she was involved in youth work including work with our partners the Estonian UNESCO Youth Association. Daniel has also been involved in MUYA for a number of years whereby for the past year he has been holding the position of Project Manager within the committee. 

Dorianne Formosa was re-elected as a committee member following her co-option through the past year and Audrey Spiteri was elected for the first time within the Committee. Both Dorianne and Audrey have been very active in MUYA for a number of years and have contributed to several projects. 

Sarah Suda, Joanna Bonnici and CJ Saliba hold their respective positions as, President, International Officer and Events Coordinator respectively as their posts where not up for election this year. 

Meanwhile, outgoing treasurer Philip Caruana and outgoing Secretary General Christianne Caruana were elected on the Board of Vigilance. 

Malta UNESCO Youth Association would like to thank Philip and Christianne for their hard work during their term as treasurer and secretary general.  

Malta UNESCO Youth Association is looking for young people to participate in youth exchange from the 18 - 25 June, 2011, entitled Better Skills for Better Chances of Employment.

The youth exchange will take place in Karlovo, Bulgaria and aims to give useful skills to young people for their successful realisation in the labour market. The youth exchange is aimed at youth aged 18 to 25 years of age.

During this project, participants will be trained in good CV and motivation letter writing and will be presented with the best job interview strategy. On the other hand, the project also aims to foster youth creativity and entrepreneurship so that young people can develop and implement their own ideas. To achieve this, young people will be trained in lobbying and championship as well as project management.

The working methods used throughout this youth exchange will be non-formal and thus will include role games, case studies and also practical project development group sessions.

The project will include the participation of other young people from Italy, Spain, Estonia, Poland and Greece and thus this youth exchange will give the Maltese participants the opportunity to make new friends and allow the development of intercultural dialogue, tolerance and European citizenship among the participants.

The participants will also be recognised for their participation through the publishing of ‘My Youth Passport’.

The Maltese group will be made up of four young people and a leader. The flight and any transport costs will be 70% refunded while the accommodation and food will be fully covered by the host organisation. Interested participants should send an email to info@muya.info by Friday 20th May, 2011.

We have the pleasure to inform you that UNESCO has launched a new campaign “Kizuna” to send messages of solidarity for the Tsunami affected schools’, children and teachers of Japan who need moral support from the world.

There are numerous international organizations that are engaged in campaigns for fund-raising for the victims. However, the 'Kizuna Campaign', spearheaded by the National Federation of UNESCO Association in Japan (NFUAJ) is unique in the sense that it addresses the need for addition psychological care for children who lost their parents, houses and schools.

For the details, please refer to the site below, which is available in all the UN languages.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/kizuna_a_message_of_hope_for_japans_school_children/  

Although any child or teacher can send a postcard by him/herself, we would appreciate it if you could encourage schools to collect and send the messages in a package or box as it would facilitate our ‘out-end collaborator’ the Sendai UNESCO Association distributing to the destination. Should any school need help for shipment, please send the cards to their nearest UNESCO field office (contacts details: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/bfc/all-offices/), and they would forward them to the Sendai UNESCO Association.

　　　

           Attached please also find the press release on the Kizuna Campaign in six languages, which we would appreciate it if you could relay to the media in your country.

Section of National Commissions and Related Networks

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The Japanese word ‘Kizuna’ means solidarity or tie. UNESCO has adopted the word for a new campaign.
School children from around the world are being asked to write a message of hope on a postcard. The aim is for
each of the thousands of school children who were affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit
northeast Japan on 11 March, to receive a postcard as an act of solidarity.

On that fateful day over 7000 schools were destroyed or damaged by the Tsunami, mostly in the coastline area of
Tohoku region. In one tragic case among many, more than 70 percent of pupils were swept away by the tsunami. The
remaining 30 percent of children in that particular school are understandably traumatized as are thousands of other
school children in the region. Many children lost everything - their parents, friends, houses and schools. Many more
continue to live in shelters. Sending some words of hope or drawing a picture symbolizing friendship on a postcard,
shows these children that they have not been forgotten.

“The word Kizuna conveys a powerful message of unity. It also embodies the strength of our cooperation with Japan
over the past 60 years,” says Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO. “Our conviction is that reconstruction, both
physically and psychologically, must start with education, with schools, students and teachers.”

The Sendai branch of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ) will collect the postcards
and then distribute them to school children and teachers in the affected region of Japan. Three educational institutions
in the Sendai Region will also help logistically with the Kizuna Campaign - Tohoku University, Miyagi University of
Education and Sendai Shirayuri Women's College.

The first NFUAJ club was created in Sendai in 1947. This grassroots movement led to the creation of the National
Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ) the following year, and it paved the way for Japan’s full
membership of UNESCO in May 1951.

Today there are 300 UNESCO Associations and Clubs in Japan and a further 5,000 throughout the world that carry out
volunteer activities in the regions where they have taken root.

*****

Postcards should be sent before 31 July, 2011 and addressed to:

Sendai UNESCO Association
1-2-2 Oomachi, Aoba-ku,
Sendai City, 980-0804 JAPAN

Messages should include:

The sender’s name, sex, age and address

Indicate whether the sender is a student or teacher

A written message or a picture

Be written in an official UN language or Japanese

If participating as a school or class, we encourage schools to collect and send the postcards in one big
envelope or box to facilitate the coordination in Japan.

Postcards can also be sent via the closest UNESCO regional office. These can be located at http://
www.unesco.org/new/en/bfc/all-offices/

Further information on Kizuna campaign and UNESCO Associated Schools Network
Contact : Julie Saito, + 33 1 45 68 12 25 - j.saito@unesco.org