Youth council of the municipality Borsele
This page is intended for international visitors interested in the youth council of the municipality Borsele. This page only contains the some basic information and links to pictures and movies that don't require knowledge of the Dutch language. should you have any questions about the youth council, please send an email written in English to johnny@jongerenraadborsele.nl.
The municipality of Borsele
The municipality of Borsele is located in the South West of The Netherlands in the province of Zeeland and has a population of 22355 people (1 January 2007) with approximately 6000 'young' people.
The municipality consists of 15 small towns with a population from several hundreds up to 5000 in Heinkenszand, which is largest town.
One of the smaller towns in the municipality is Borssele, which spelled with a double 's'. Although both names are pronounced exactly the same the name of the municipality is spelled with only a single 's'. For those familiar with this difference it is easy to distinguish between the town Borssele, and the municipality Borsele, for all others it is often a source of confusion and misunderstanding. Some people get so confused by this that they write Borselle, which is just wrong.
Located near the town of Borssele is the country's only functioning nuclear power plant. Since nuclear power is a matter of great controversy the name 'Borssele' is known for this in the rest of the country. When traveling outside the municipality residents often have to endure humorously intended, but unfounded and unoriginal comments regarding nuclear waste and radiation. Although the comments are not very funny they do provide a good way to break the ice for starting a more meaningful conversation.
The power plant is located near an industrial area which is part of Zealand Seaports with offshore industry, an oil refinery and storage. It is also used for storage and transshipment of fruit and vegetables, ore, metal and wood.
A large part of the municipality is farmland and used to be the main sector of employment, but due to advances in technology the number of people working in agriculture is much lower now than it used to be, but it is still an important part of the local culture.
Although many tourists, mainly from Germany, visit the province during summertime the touristic sector is not very developed in the municipality of Borsele which has only one small beach.
Most of the towns have an elementary school for children of the ages 4 to 12 years, there are no high schools (ages 12 to 18) in the municipality of Borsele. Most young people go to school to the nearby town Goes by bicycle or bus.
The only beach in the municpality is located near the nuclear powerplant which uses the nearby water for cooling.
Youth Council
In February 2003 the youth council was founded as an advisory organ to represent the interests of young people in the municipality and can give advise to the municipal executive (the mayor and the aldermen) on issues regarding youth policy.
The council consists out of 13 young people of mixed gender, age, education and background, the aim is to have a council that represents the diversity of the young people in the municipality.
The youth council meets every month to discuss various topics.
Members of the council have to live in the municipality of Borsele and be between the ages of 13 and 23 when applying and agree to stay for at least a year.
When a position becomes available within the council anybody can apply, but there is a strong preference for people who have already some knowledge about the workings of the council and build up a reputation by being active in a working group.
Apart from a youth council there also is a senior council and a cultural council in Borsele. Each town also has a town council, these are not a part of the government but organised groups of citizens.
Tasks
The following tasks have been defined for the youth council of Borsele. Most, but not all, projects are done to fulfill on or more of these tasks.
- Give advice about youth policy on a local level from from the perspective, and in the interest of young people.
- Subsidise youth activities and encourage and coordinate the organisation of activities for young people.
- Educate others about youth work.
- Stimulate cooperation of instances active in the field of youth work in the municipality.
- To make contact, and build relations with organisations active outside the borders of the municipality but are of interest for the implementation of local youth policy.
Working groups
The youth council consists out of several working groups that deal with various issues and have their own meetings. Each working group has an adult supervisor. Anybody willing to contribute can join a working group. For specific projects temporary project groups are often formed.
Working group Public Relations
This group is responsible for maintaining contacts with other organisations, writing press releases, designing posters and other promotional materials and activities. This working group also maintains the technical parts, and the content of the website.
Working group Events
This group is responsible for organising events for young people. The events are intended to attract young people and be fun, but often have some educational, cultural, or sportive goal. Some of the events are intended to raise money for a good cause or awareness for a relevant issue. When organizing an event the members of this group often work in smaller project groups.
Working group Security/Safety
This working group deals with issues like vandalism, safety on the roads, bullying in schools mostly through educational or awareness campaigns.
Topics
Youth housing
After finishing school a lot of young people from the municipality leave to study elsewhere and never return. In 2005 the Youth Council send a questionnaire to all the young people in the ages 17 to 27 to ask them if they want to stay in the municipality, and how much money they can spend on a house.
Out of the 2127 questionnaires that were sent out 521 were filled in and sent back. About 70% of the respondents indicated that they wanted to live inside the municipality because this is where they have built a social life with friends and family.
Based upon the results the the Youth Council wrote a report which suggested several things to create more housing and to make the process of assigning houses more transparent. The report was presented to the council which was very impressed by it. At this moment some of the suggestions have been implemented, others are still being worked on.
Sustainablility
The youth council believes in a sustainable future. In 2006 the youth council advised to equip the new youth center with facilities that will require less external energy for the operation of the building.
International projects
The idea of doing some sort of international project has been considered on several occasions. Individual members of the youth council have participated in international exchanges and European projects, but nothing has been done on an organisational level.
At this moment (May 2007) we are looking into the idea of a cultural exchange with a group of young people, and also the possibility of town twinning with another small municipality or town in Europe.
For the town twinning project we would like an area similar to that of Borsele, a rural area located near the sea with an active youth organisation. Communication would be most efficient in the English.
Events
The working group events is responsible for organising events. The past years a great number of events took place of which some were more successful than others.
Some of the longest running and most successful events are listed here.
2nd influenZ
Every month the youth council organizes 2nd influenZ, an evening where young musicians can show their talents to an audience of several hundreds of people. Because mobility is a big problem for young people in rural areas there are free buses during this evening from all the towns are in the municipality and some of the larger surrounding cities. During the evening there will be around 5 performances mostly from metal and rock bands, but other music styles are also welcome. Each evening a jury selects a winner and by the end of the season all the winning bands compete with each other during a big finale in which they can win a prize.
Movie Tour
The municipality of Borsele does not have a theater or a cinema. Since october 2005 the youth council arranges a bus to ride a route along a number of small towns each month to go to the cinema in the nearby city of Vlissingen. By making a deal with the cinema the youth council is able to offer the bus ride and movie ticket for a price of 10 euro. Most visitors of the Movie Tour are young adolescents between the ages of 12 to 16 year. Visitors can choose to see any movie that is playing at that time, usually there is a choice between 6 films or so.
The Battle
The Battle is a sportive event in which various teams compete in in various activities throughout the day. The Battle was first held in the summer of 2004, followed by an indoor version in the winter.
Friday Night Skate
Each year, since 2004, near the end of the summer the sports project of the municipality organises a skating event with which the Youth Council helps with volunteers. During the Friday Night Skate participants can follow a route through the area. People can borrow skates and protective gear, there are also skating lessons, skateboarding facilities and demonstrations being held.
Paint a wish
In April 2005 the youth council organised a huge painting session that lasted 100 hours, non-stop, day and night, during which different people would come in day and night to paint on a huge canvas, resulting in a painting of 816 meters long and 1 meter high. The paintings were photographed and are still available online. Afterwards the painting was exhibited, cut in pieces and auctioned. The money from the auction was donated to the Make a wish foundation.
May 4, memorial ceremony
In The Netherlands May 4 is the day on which we honor the victims of war. The day was instated after the Second World War, but is now the victims of all wars world wide are honored. In 2005 the Youth Council helped to create the program for the memorial ceremony. In 2006 the municipality decided that since the Second World War was so long ago they wanted to make give less attention to the ceremony. The youth council then took the initiative to organise the ceremony in 2007, together with the senior council and the municipality.
Youth Center
The Youth Council has its meetings in the municipality house, the working groups meet in the evenings the youth center called the 'CyberZolder', a place where young people can go after school, with computers and internet facilities. The CyberZolder is also used for computer-training for old people in the mornings.