Short profile: | Young Researchers of Serbia (Mladi Istrazivaci Srbije, hereinafter referred to as YRS) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1976, whose main aims are environmental protection, environmental education, youth exchange and work with young people, as well as the promotion of sustainable development, scientific creativity and voluntarism.\r\nAs an umbrella organization, it gathers 26 clubs and societies all over Serbia, such as Geographic Exploring Association, Students\' Biological Research Society, Ethno Club, and others. Their members take active part in the activities of YRS.\r\nThe range of activities is diverse:\r\n- Scientific research and projects: \r\nResearch camps- Enthusiastic University and High school students can conduct their own research. The students receive invaluable help from scientists and University professors of with a considerable number of which were once members of YRS themselves. \r\nEnvironmental projects- such as \"The return of the Ibis\" running since 1992 at a Ramsar site and the famous wetland Obedska bara. It includes research activities, annual workcamps and media campaigns.\r\n- Environmental education: \r\n\"Eco-schools\" are programs for young teenagers (12-16 years old). They are always set in the countryside in order for the teenagers to learn about and appreciate the environment.\r\n- Campaigns: \r\nThere are numerous local environmental campaigns: \"Beo Bi Bio Biciklisticki Beograd\", (\"Belgrade would be white if you\'d ride a bike\"); “Umrlice za Dobro drvo” (\"Obituaries for the Good tree\"), with the aims of saving coniferous forest trees around Christmas time since 2000; ”Reci ne plasticnim vrecama” (‘’ Say No to plastic bags’’); the celebration of Earth Day, World Environment Day, Volunteers’ Day. Campaigning for the \'International Year of Volunteers\' marked all activities of Voluntary Service of Serbia in 2001. In addition to celebrations in the country, a representative from YRS – VSS was elected to be a part of a Special Event on 5th of December 2001, at the UN General Assembly, New York, which is dedicated to volunteers and volunteering, along with another 3 volunteers from around the world. In 2004 we joined forty million people around the globe in campaign “Clean up the World”. We took part in the campaign “European Heritage Days”, and we initiated campaign for recycling in Serbia. More about this in the section about current activities of YRS – VSS related to the environmental protection, as this is one of the areas where the volunteer/intern will be included.\r\n- Volunteers exchange:\r\nVoluntary Service of Serbia (VSS) was initiated in 1990 and represents the part of YRS that conducts youth exchanges. In 2008 almost 700 youngsters applied for the workcamps around the globe and almost 300 volunteers from abroad joined 20 international workcamps in Serbia. Apart from that, 10 international volunteers worked in YRS office until now and 20 our volunteers of ours participated in our partners’ projects abroad.\r\n- International workcamps: \r\nEven before 1997 (the year when we started organizing workcamps) some of our research and study camps were of international character, i.e., the participants, mostly students with similar interests from Universities or NGOs were from abroad. Our camps are mostly environmental, but there are also organized art and music festival camps.\r\n- International cooperation: \r\nWe are members of CCIVS, Youth and Environment Europe (YEE), ANPED – Northern Alliance for Sustainability, CEEWEB (Central and East European Working Group for the Enhacement of Biodiversity), Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organizations and we are one of the partner organizations of YAP & SCI in Serbia. In December 2000 YRS became the national NGO secretariat for REReP (Regional Environmental Reconstruction Program) of the Stability Pact for SEE. In 2000 YRS became a national focal point; we are one of the full members of SEEYN (the SEE Youth Network) since its founding. Since then we have organized many campaigns to promote workcamps and regional cooperation within SEEYN including the Eco bus tour (\"Youth of SEE towards Johannesburg\"), \"It\'s nice to have good neighbours\" and other annual network activities. Currently, YRS has its representatives in the executive boards of both CEEWEB and SEEYN. The Unites Nations Environmental Program: after the Memorandum of understanding was signed between UNEP and YRS in 2005, UNEP National Committee for Serbia was created under the auspices of YRS.\r\n- Publishing activities:\r\nIn addition to our regular monthly publications, \"e-MI\" (an internal electronic bulletin), the results from the researches are usually published in monographs, in form of scientific papers. Some examples of these are: “Povratak ibisa” bulletins (\"The Return of the Ibis\"), “Povratak na Obedsku Baru” (“The Return to Obedska Bara”) - a book that contain all the information on the state of existing radio stations in the capital. In 2002 we published two issues of the SEEENN Bulletin, with editions in English and six languages of the Balkans (Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian and Serbian), and in 2007 a Guide to international voluntary service. Each spring we also publish a booklet containing all the Alliance, SCI and YAP workcamps.\r\n |