IYOC visits Taiwan National Youth Commission

Lluc Marti, director of the IAVE Youth Office in Catalonia (IYOC), and Meghann Villanueva, vice director and networking officer at the IYOC, visited Wang Yuting, the minister of the National Youth Commission, at her office in Taipei on November 30, 2009.

The minister thanked the IYOC for hosting two interns from Taiwan at the office this summer, and discussed the possibility of organizing a similar program next year. In addition to the NYC’s internship program, Wang said the commission sent 1,500 young people overseas to volunteer this year.

Marti and Villanueva introduced the work of the youth office. IYOC was founded two years ago with a clear vision that every young person should have the chance to improve their communities through volunteering, and build their own future. Marti said the office concretized that vision through youth volunteering, active participation, and youth development.

The role of the IYOC is to exchange information and let young people know what is going on, give visibility to the experience of youth volunteering, and help the next generation know that they are all part of a volunteer movement.

On the subject of IYV+10, Marti said the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers will be very important moment for the volunteering community, and the IYOC was working to include youth volunteering on the agenda.

(Pictured (LR): Anthony Carlisle, Lluc Marti, Maghann Villanueva, Wang Yuting, Wang Yuqun)