piccolingo

http://piccolingo.europa.eu/

PICCOLINGO is a campaign of the European Commission, Directorate General for Education and Culture. It is advantageous for children to learn a foreign language at an early age, and it is primarily parents who have the ability to develop it. The European Commission wants to raise awareness amongst parents about the importance of this effort through its PICCOLINGO campaign for early foreign-language acquisition, because the multilingual European community benefits from what every individual learns as a child.

Piccolingo in action toured through Europe and included local events promoting early language learning. Piccolingo in action aimed to promote early language learning and convince parents that children who start learning foreign languages from an early age will have much easier and more successful contacts with foreign cultures in the future.

ICWE was in charge of the media work around the campaign’s launch in 2009 and the campaign itself in 2010. In 2011 ICWE was responsible for the implementation of the media campaign, which focused on the Piccolingo in action events. The media campaign aimed to provide journalists with information on the facts, figures and background of early language learning in the EU. In order to reach the target group of the campaign, parents, grandparents, teachers, experts and institutions and the respective regional and national media that cater to those groups were targeted.

For more information about Piccolingo visit the official EU webpage piccolingo.eu.

EU project: Youth on the Move

http://europa.eu/youthonthemove/

'Youth on the Move' – one of the flagship initiatives in the Europe 2020 growth strategy, was launched on September 15th, 2010. It proposes a package of measures aimed at: improving the job prospects of young people; making education and training more relevant to their needs; raising awareness of EU mobility grants to study or train in another country.

ICWE was in charge of the media work around the two launch events of this initiative in Budapest, 8 - 9 October and in Bordeaux 14 - 16 October. The media campaign aimed to provide journalists with information on facts and figures of EU mobility programmes as well as the “what’s behind the initiative” in the form of interviews with the Commissioners in charge of Youth on the Move. In order to reach the target group of the initiative, young people from 16 - 30, teachers and parents, the respective media that cater to those groups were targeted for the campaign.

EU project: European Year of Volunteering 2011

www.eyvolunteering.eu

The European Year of Volunteering 2011 is a celebration of the commitment of millions of people in Europe who work in their communities during their free time without being paid. The year is also a challenge to those Europeans who do not volunteer, by informing them about how they can also make a difference.

The goals of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 are among others as follows: To help create a more volunteer-friendly environment, with more people participating in civic activities throughout Europe and to enable volunteer organisations to be a more effective force – to make it easier for people to volunteer and to foster greater cooperation among volunteer organisations and other sectors throughout the EU.

ICWE is in charge of the media campaign around the European Year of Volunteering 2011 in 27 member states, as well as the organisation of four accompanying conferences.

The website for EYV 2011 can be found here: www.eyvolunteering.eu/
(Coming soon: www.europa.eu/volunteering)