What is youthreporter.eu?

For curious Europeans
For everyone who’s really into Europe
For everyone who’s exploring Europe

youthreporter.eu is a website for everyone who’s participating in the European Solidarity Corps (ESC)! Blogging, reporting, writing poetry? Whatever it is, we’d love for you to share your experiences, emotions and activities with us.

You decide what’s on the website, because it’s your content. As the editorial team, we’re on hand to offer you support and assistance as you upload your texts. So how does it work? It’s actually very easy: Click here to set up an account – that’s all you need to start writing blogposts about your everyday activities. Not only can your friends and families read your posts, they can also leave your messages on your personal wall. If you enter their e-mail addresses, they’ll also benefit from the “tell-a-friend“ function, which notifies them whenever you upload a new post.

Worried that you might feel lonely while you’re abroad? Don’t be. With youthreporter.eu you’ll never be alone. Use the site to find people who are travelling the same country as you and turn them into new friends. You can find the editorial group and all of your fellow youthreporters on our Instagram, Twitter and on our Facebook page and group. Use these channels to read about your peers‘ positive and negative experiences and leave them a comment.

We also offer you the opportunity to try your hand at journalism by writing your own reports. You’ll be issued with a certificate and paid a small fee. Click here to learn about our correspondent project. Plus, every year we hold a writing competition with great prizes! Finally, we run regular campaigns where you can participate in a photography competition or take over our Instagram account for a week.

At youthreporter.eu no one tells you what to write – or what not to write, rather – because negative experiences are just as much a part of a stay abroad as the good stuff. That said, to avoid conflict and misunderstandings, remember to take a look at the important rules we’ve set up in our netiquette section.

Maybe you haven’t yet heard about the European Solidarity Corps. Maybe you have no idea – yet – about how to start exploring Europe. Visit this site for some helpful pointers.

For parents, friends and future citizens of Europe

youthreporter.eu is an online service run by JUGEND für Europa, Germany’s National Agency. On the site, young people report on their stays in European countries. They talk about everything they encounter during what is an exciting time in their lives. They write about everything that’s on their mind – usually in the form of a diary entry, but also as a journalistic report or even in poetry form, because there’s no limit to how these stories can be told. After all, the site itself is just a platform – the content is entirely up to the youthreporters themselves. The editorial team (that’s us) is on hand to offer advice and assistance. Our netiquette section has guidance on how to maintain a friendly, fair atmosphere on the site.

Specifically, the editorial team offers technical and workflow support, but as mentioned above, the texts themselves are produced entirely by the youthreporters, so they are authentic and credible. There are reports on everyday life in a Spanish flatshare, on what it’s like to attend school in Romania, and on expeditions to the Scottish Highlands. You’ll also find tales of adversity, homesickness and the pain of separation – but that, as always, is life.

youthreporter.eu is designed for all participants in the EU’s programme "European Solidarity Corps" (ESC). It doesn’t matter if youthreporters are abroad or in Germany, whether they’ve already left, still planning their stay, or have already returned home.

For the media

The great response that the site has had is ample proof that Europe is by no means an abstract concept in young people’s minds – rather, it’s an important part of their life that they are talking about to their friends and family. youthreporter.eu is not just a way to document that; it plays an active role in the debate, as evidenced by the more than 400,000 people who visit the website every month. For more information, go to the Press section of the JUGEND für Europa website.

For sending and host organisations

Sending and host organisations participating in the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) are welcome to request our “EuropaGeschichtenSammelRucksack” (EuropeanStoryCollectionBag) bags free of charge, packed with flyers, notepads, pens, Writing Prompts and postcards – in other words, everything that volunteers need! Be sure to let us know if you’re organising seminars for your volunteers, because we’ll be happy to show up in person to introduce them to youthreporter.eu and report on our own experiences. Please address any inquiries to the editorial team at redaktion@youthreporter.eu.

Online editing and support

The team behind youthreporter.eu is run by a PR agency in Bonn, Germany. Three permanent and four freelance staff read all the texts that are uploaded to youthreporter.eu, provide support to the authors wherever they can, manage the website and social media accounts and present the project at seminars. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Contact details:
Karoline Becker, Maren Harperscheidt, Jan-Mike Singer
E-mail: redaktion@youthreporter.eu
Phone: +49 228 207 27 29
Fax: +49 228 207 27 28
Am Hofgarten 10
53113 Bonn
Germany