2009.


In the middle of January we participated at the Trainers’ Forum of the Mobilitas Hungarian National Agency in Nagykovácsi. The aim of the meeting was to inform the trainers on the newest information on the Youth in Action Programme and to jointly evaluate the experiences of the programme. As we are not really “Budapest goers”, we could meet organisations that we have never met before and maybe without this meeting we could not ever meet. This month we started a new project entitled Messzelátó. In the framework of this project leaders and helpers of youth organisations and young people of the North-Great Plain region jointly practiced the open speech and the public performance. As part of the project two times we had photography exercises in order to help the participants to prepare good presentations. In February we trained the members of the student union of Debrecen to rhetoric and PR. In March we were shooting the actual conference of the “Ezek a fiatalok/ These youngsters” conference series. We had two trainings in Kisújszállás as well, one on group building and one on organisation promotion. Even this month we participated at a cooperation meeting in Hajdúnánás under the umbrella of the Regional Youth Forum. We undertook to prepare the image of the Regional Youth Forum, in order to do the best, we had a logo-making competition amongst our volunteers. The winner was selected at the next forum in the Rock-school of Debrecen. The winner logo was designed by Attila Fórizs, who could not finish the whole booklet of images, but a new volunteer from Csíkszereda, Alpár Dávid was willing to finish this work. In April we did a communication training in Pécs for young journalists In April also we organised a training entitled Önindító for organisations who are beginners in the European Voluntary Service (EVS). We were asked by the Diszinfo (Mezon) to record the professional youth conference of Hajdú-Bihar county. Right after it we had another training in Hortobágy entitled Generátor for youngsters who are interested in making youth initiatives in the framework of the Youth in Action Programme.
In May the HAHA Association of Debrecen and the TOP 25 of the Netherlands started a series of action to prevent accidents and to promote road safety. We were asked by the HAHA to prepare a movie in the action that took place in Debrecen. We promoted the action by this. Our French volunteer Pierre Baudchon has been working on an exchange of painters from Lille, France and Debrecen, Hungary. He managed to involve the cultural management of both cities to support the project and involved several institutions also, like the MedgyessyFerencHigh School, the Alliance France and the Új Inkognitó Bar. We prepared a short movie on this.
It was during the project “Messzelátó” when the participating youngsters had an argument on why their peers sre so negative on youth participation and why they are so inactive in community life. The result of the discussion was that something has to be done. This is how the Youth Info Action youth initiative was born. The basic idea is that we do not have to wait for the youngsters to knock on the door of the youth information centre, but we have to go to places where they often go and to inform them there. The youngsters of two university cities Debrecen and Oradea got together and started the project in order to inform the youngsters of both cities about different youth programs. First in May we went to the StudFest in Székelyhíd (Romania) and then in July to the Campus Festival. Our Estonian volunteer, Maili Tannenberg prepared a slide-show on the action.
On 20^th August we went to Szajol, where the local youth club invited us in order to promote the European Voluntary Service. As a result of this the local association (Harmónia) registered in the EVS database as sending and hosting organisation.
In September we joined the Pool of Trainers of the Mobilitas Hungarian National Agency responsible for youth affairs. Just after the training of trainers we organised a pre-departure training for EVS volunteers in Hajdúszoboszló together with the On the Way Association.
In October we spent a lot of time with the DiszInfo organisation, first at an EVS teahouse then at a youth exchange, where Italian, Serbian and Hungarian young people jointly prepared a theatrical performance. In November we went to Túristvándi, where we made a video on the first part of the Trin Pasura training, where roma and non-roma youth leaders exchanged experience. The training was organised by the Fekete Sereg Youth Association.
We closed the year with an introduction at the annual conference of the Mobilitas and then we had a bit of rest. It was a tuff year but it was worth doing it.


2008.



We started the Consonant (Összhangzattan) youth initiative in December 2007, so from February till August 30 young underground artists from Oradea and Debrecen worked together on different artistic issues. Besides the joint music performances the youngsters exchanged experience on the connection between the media and the music, on the mother tongue of music and on the possibilities of forming amateur underground artistic places. We worked together with the Rock-school of Debrecen and the Fekete Sereg Youth Association on this project. From March till the end of summer we organised open-speech trainings for young people, youth workers and volunteers in cooperation with the reformed collage. In May we closed our Communication without Borders project.
In the EVS project Attila Forizs (Romania) and Pierre Baudchon (France) joined the team. They both worked on films and animations. In the summer time we hosted Csoki from Oradea for a 3-month period. He was working in the Bird Park of Hortobagy, where he made different communication activities.
In May and October we organised two EVS clubs for the EVS volunteers staying in Hungary. The venue of the training was Hortobágy. The basic idea of the clubs was “Back to Nature”. We prepared short films on both clubs in order to have some promotion for this region as well.
With the support of the North-Great Plain Regional Council we started to shoot the Mobilitárs youth magazine that were broadcasted every second week in 12 TV channel of the region. We introduced the youth activities and youth organisations of the territory.
From the beginning of the summer we were asked to record youth activities and we edited several short films. These were youth conferences, the best projects in the Youth In Action program in Hungary, Youth Week activities and the Youth Festival of Debrecen. We also participated at the Metszéspont seminar, organised by the Diszinfo. The Haha Association organised a youth exchange in October for the youngsters of 5 countries, where we led the team-building and communication activities. This way we had the chance to work with very active high school students and university students of Debrecen as well.
The year could not pass without a bit of rest, with our partners, the Terepszemle Stúdió Association and the Csemete Association we spent a week in Bugac where we could do nature photography and made some films of the natural park as well. Inspired by this week, we took several weekend excursions all around Hungary and in Slovakia and in Romania for exploring and recording the nature around us. These gave great inspiration for the team to carry on the joint work.



2007.


Our volunteer program had a positive response at Oradea. More and more young people were interested in the “Communication skills and training” project, so we decided host two other volunteers who are into graphic design. The two newcomers also wished to live in the clubhouse, like the volunteers who made radio programs, but because of the lack of room, there was no opportunity to do so. Than the guys had a brain-wave to purchase a trailer with all modern conveniences. They wanted to live there, experience the adventure of it rather than living in a distant apartment. After a long search, in February we find our dream trailer that was specially designed for standing apartment. The trailer with its 18 m² size and with all the modern conveniences is an ideal summer accommodation in the yard of our clubhouse. In April within the organization of the North-Great Plain Regional Youth Service we introduced our voluntary program to a group of youngsters from Transcarpathia. During the barbeque party – made by the „chef” Zoltan Nechita, our volunteer – we met Krisztina Temeto the worker of the Agora Office in Beregovo. We decided together to have a volunteer, Abigel Magochi from Ukraine, who will continue the weekly radio program and broadcast it in Transcarpathia, just like the volunteers do in Oradea. In 2007 we have been working with 7 international and 1 local volunteer. Three of them were preparing radio programs that were broadcasted in the Szóla Rádió, Debrecen, in the Partium Radio, Oradea and in the Radio of Ungvár (Ukraine). From December the Mustár FM, Nyíregyháza started to broadcast our programs as well. 5 other volunteers were working on TV and film project for 1 year.
As a response to the great interest and warm welcome of our programs in Oradea, we started a project with our partner the Hungarian Students’ Union of Oradea. The 73km project was a network building program, which aimed at helping Hungarians from Hajdú-Bihar County and Romanians from Bihor County to communicate, to get to know each other’s culture and customs, to accept the differences through non-formal intercultural learning. In the framework of the project with the help of communication trainings and team building activities a webpage and weekly radio programs were prepared. During the meetings in Debrecen and Oradea 36 young “media workers” were present. We prepared the content together with the youngsters. In the past 12 months 12 animations were prepared by them which introduce the cooperation between Hungary and Romania in a playful way, emphasizing the idea of „all different, all equal”. Besides these we started the shooting and editing of films and we prepared short videos on the life of young people.
In the framework of the Communication Without Borders project we focused on the adult, professional media workers as to enable Hungarian and Romanian journalist to cooperate and to produce common media products. During the program Hungarian and Romanian journalists, radio reporters, TV experts and media marketing managers met several times and exchanged ideas on the possible ways of cooperation in order to inform the local more effectively. We prepared a stat of the art as well and worked out an action plan. During the program we organised several games in media at both sides of the border to involve more and more locals.
With our partners we have organised trainings several times in Hungary and Romania for young people, for youth workers and for NGO representatives to help them develop and implement good projects.
The HAHA Association asked us to have communication training sessions and team building trainings as well in Debrecen, Hajdúbagos, Nagybánya, Szamosújvár and Kolozsvár. Together with the Mezon Youth Centre we carried out a environmental communication training for young people on the „Metszéspont” project.
With the partnership of the TerepSzemle Stúdió we prepared an information film about the county library and we prepared a fund-raising campaign for the Bird Hospital of Hortobágy.



2006.


The reconstruction of the building came to a stage when we were able to plan the future. At a conference, held by the North-Great Plain Regional Youth Service, we heard about an EU program, the European Voluntary Service for the first time. It was a fortunate moment, because the reconstruction of the clubhouse was at that stage when an apartment for the foreign youngsters could be planned. We applied for becoming a host organization so we could start a cross-border program. The aim of the “Communication skills and training” project is to enable young people with different cultural and social background to create weekly radio programs together. The volunteers with the help of their linguistic abilities introduce the life, culture, customs and everyday events of Debrecen to Oradea. By the summer, the clubhouse was ready and the youngsters - Reka Szabo and Zoltan Nechita from Oradea – arrived. The volunteers and other members of the association spent the first two weeks at Balaton and Budapest and get acquainted with each other. In August with the Terepszemle Studio and our volunteers we worked in the opening of the Birdpark of Hortobágy.
The communication training started in September, which took the School Radio training as its basis, but due to the experiences and the unrestricted use of the clubhouse, it was done in a more empirical and practical way. The volunteers made many sound recordings, trial interviews, sound editing and mixing. We enjoyed having our own place where we have plenty of time to practice. This was a very intensive period for everybody, and by November – the volunteers, who formerly had no experience of making radio programs – began to prepare and broadcast a weekly radio program in Oradea.



2005.


The association found a partner the Terepszemle Studio, which works on the field of natural protection and whom we helped with the Hortobágy Bird Hospital’s 1% communication campaign. The social communication activity lasted until the summer of 2005, when the person in charge of the project for the first time became unwell. It was a sign to the members that it is time to think over our human resource management. The solution was obvious: one person cannot be overloaded that much. For the association to work in appropriate conditions and to be able to hire new workers we had to renovate the clubhouse. With collective work we started the renovation, which lasted with smaller-longer brakes until the summer of 2006. All of us helped this process with money and work. The renovation included the swapping of doors and windows, the exchange of covers, and the restructuring the yard and the paining as well. In addition to all this Floppy, the dog got a “position” as watchdog (owned by the association). With the help of the financial support of the National Civil Found we employed a person who organized the programs, did the administration and organized the work at the reconstruction. The financial support ensured part of the overhead and communication costs, thus the members could make plans for the future.
The most exciting result of the year is that after several years and attempts we could find a reliable partner from Oradea – the Hungarian Students’ Union of Oradea – with whom we could start common programs. Our association’s dream was to build a communication bridge between Debrecen and Oradea, and the realisation of this dream got closer.



2004.


Early in 2004, the Hajdú-Bihar County Government asked the association to do social communication activities that reveals the county’s natural, cultural and economic values and targeted an internal and external publication. Despite of the honorific offer this brought the members of the associations to crossroads. Rarely has an independent organization such a challenge, but there is the risk of operating like a firm, which would result in the diminishing of creativity. Besides the professional challenge the solid income was also in the favour of the request. Till this point we had no chance to renovate the clubhouse that we used free of charge but was in a state that enabled us to do high standard work. The members made a decision: one person would do the work as long as he can.
The social communication meant a diverse task: value research, preparing a monthly than later a weekly paper, making and broadcasting a weekly radio magazine program, as well as making and broadcasting a weekly radio news programme on EU topics. Furthermore, writing of applications, project-management, organizing exhibitions and editing issues were part of this job as well. The activities of the association became very diverse; we had to think it over how the association could assign so many members to so many tasks. To this question, the year 2005 gave the solution.



2003.


We were about to finish the last semester in our School Radio project, but we could not solve the lack of space. The association had no hope for having an own in the near future. Although our project manager placed a partly ruined building at our disposal, we had no financial means for renovating it. We started a public communication training with our old-new partner the Gipsy People's Equal Chances for Joining the European Union, which helped the socially disadvantaged youngsters’ communication skills. Thanks to the trainings that were organised in the Roma House in Csapó Street the young adults did well in the job interviews, and adapted themselves well to unfamiliar situations. The Labour Centre of Hajdú-Bihar County supported the program by giving 75% support for the salary of a full-time employed cultural animator. Despite of the failure of the Soundbits of Debrecen demo CD, made in 2002, we carried out the Soundbits of Hajdú-Bihar CD, which had been supported by the Hajdú-Bihar County Government. Both CDs would have functioned as “loud flyers”, by which we wanted to promote the non-profit music bands and groups of Hajdú-Bihar County around Europe. Even though the participating artists were really enthusiastic about the CDs, the project was a failure because we could not find financial means for the reproduction and spreading of the CD. We consider this failure as the weakness of the association’s lobby techniques.



2002.


Our school radio project was on the right track with more delicate techniques and undiminished pace. We should mention two of our results: the Gábor Dénes Vocational School started its own training on the basis of our project and one of our apprentices Krisztina Szabó became the editor in chief at the Szóla Rádió. To meet the increased demands we started a summer media camp. At the same time it became more difficult to harmonise the use of the studio among the participants. At that time we were using the studio of    Radio 1.
The day of 11th September 2001 did not vanish without a trace; masses of refugees from Afghanistan appeared in the Refugee Camp of Debrecen. At an interview we got to know the Menedék Hungarian Association for Migrants, and decided to launch an educational radio campaign in order to provide the locals with authentic information about the refugees’ culture. With this project we wanted to lower the risk of an evolving tension between the locals and refugees. The Friss Rádió from Debrecen, and the EstFM Rádió from Budapest, which already ceased being, broadcasted the 52 part series with the support of the UN Refugee Directorate General Budapest Office and Word Bank Small Grants program.
It is difficult to measure the results of the prevention program, but one thing is sure: during the time when the radio series were broadcasted and in the following years no atrocity happened between the local people and the refugees.



2001.


We have been talking for a long time about what is going to be with the professional supply. We perceived– particularly because of existential reasons – that our colleagues quitted in a short time and left for Budapest most of the times. Of course, young people came instead of them, but we realized that most of them would like to become TV or radio starts at once at a national commercial media or within a year they wanted to become local stars. We decided to start with the “unspoiled”, that is why we launched and operated for three years a School Radio project. We contacted those secondary schools of Debrecen, where there was a school radio. The youngsters formed radio teams of three people. The news editors learnt news editing and reading, the presenters learnt articulation and information gathering and the technicians got familiar with the sound recording, editing and mixing skills. We emphasized the importance of teamwork as well so, as the time went on, during the long brakes in the schools the students and teachers could listen to pieces of information as well not just to music. During the whole program, the North-Great Plain Regional Youth Council, the Radio 1 from Debrecen, and the Soros Foundation supported us.



2000.


That year the National Radio and Television Board Broadcasting Base - in honour of the Millennium – launched a call for preparing and broadcasting radio dramas. We persuaded the owners of City Radio to apply with “Let Your Kingdom come!” chronicle radio play, a piece of Sándor Tar. We were working with the actors of Csokonai Theatre on a daily level as some of us were preparing the radio ads with them. Even this year we made a portrait series of the outstanding cultural persons of Hajdú-Bihar County, entitled “The Grey Eminences of Culture”. The editor in chief was Miklós Nagy. We were in the midst of the recordings for the programs, when the president of the Regional Youth Council advised us to found an association. We did it. For some of us there was no way back, definitively we became life-long volunteers of the NGO sector.