| ALLIANSSI YOUTH EXCHANGES | |
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Allianssi Youth Exchanges works for intercultural learning and global understanding. We are a youth exchange agency providing young Finns opportunities to work abroad. We believe in "learning by doing". Our range of programs varies from work experience programs such as camp counselor programs, au pair and hotel work placements to voluntary work programs and other worldwide work opportunities. Some programs are a combination of a language course and a work placement. Annually we recruit about 1000 young Finns in our programmes abroad. We place about 100 international volunteers in our work camps in Finland every year. Those volunteers are recruited from the member and partner organisations of the Alliance of the European Voluntary Service Organisations. We do not have other inbound programs. We have been operating since 1993; first as a part of Finnish Youth Co-operation Allianssi which is an umbrella organisation for 103 Finnish youth and educational organisations. Since 1995 Allianssi Youth Exchanges has existed as an agency concentrating on offering Finnish young people a wide variety of youth exchange programs. Finland joined the European Union in 1995 which increased the mobility of Finnish youth in many ways. Allianssi is a well-known and reliable organisation offering a secure opportunity to temporarily live and work in another culture. We work in close co-operation with our foreign partner organisations in order to secure a successful stay for our participants. We offer summer jobs and longer stays abroad whose length of stay can vary from some weeks up to twelve months. The purpose of our work is to promote intercultural learning and global understanding. Allianssi Youth Exchanges works as a non-profit agency charging the applicants a small fee for the services and materials. We try to keep our fees as low as possible in order to provide an intercultural learning opportunity to as many young people as possible. All the applicants receive various preparatory materials including country specified information and a program handbook. The "Euro<26" youth card, discounts from insurances and other benefits are offered as a part of the program package. Training events are arranged several times a year. These events enable the applicants to learn from the experiences of those who have returned from working abroad. The participants are encouraged to keep in touch with us during their stay abroad, and after their return to Finland they are asked to evaluate their experiences. The programs and preparatory materials are developed based on the participants` evaluations. Most of our applicants are recent high school graduates or university/polytechnic students who want to improve their language skills and gain work experience abroad. Most young Finns communicate well in English, many people also study German, French or Spanish at school. We are constantly developing our program variety and looking for new programs/partners in order to offer an even wider variety of job opportunities for young Finns. More information: Email: vaihto@alli.fi Allianssi Youth Exchanges, addr. Asemapäällikönkatu 1, FIN-00520 Helsinki, tel.+358-20 755 2603, fax +358-20-755 2627 | |
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