YCS/YSM INDIA

A training was conducted by YCS/YSM INDIA at Pastrol Centre, Nadiad,Gujarat. 73 young boys and girls got together from 4 states to cultivate the church values to make the world a better place for tomorrow. Appreciative work do read and spread the word. Please not that BBN is under maintenance, and therefore not able to provide the videos and photos. Inconvenience is regretted

YCS/YSM INDIA

Introduction and Basic Information:

What is YCS/YSM:

-       It is not a leadership training movement

-       It is not a talent/skills finding movement

-       It is not a movement of activities at all

-       It is not taking up popular social work

-       It is not a group of cleanliness and maintenance

It is a student movement where students come together in small groups of 8-10 to share their interests, problems, experiences, anxieties etc and find a solution of their own through the YCS methodology of See, Judge and Act i.e. Awareness, Reflection Action and Evaluation. Hence,

-       It is a growth oriented movement

-       It is a gathering of experiences of evaluation

-       It is a life oriented movement

-       It is purely cell based movement.

History: It was started in 1929 as the offshoot of YCS which was founded by Cardinal Joseph Cardijn of Belgium in 1920. Though its roots were found in India in 1950 through the visit of volunteers from Germany, Sri Lanka and Miss Betty King from Australia, it was officially organized by Sr. Jeanne Devos on 16th January 1966 at Chennai.  It was officially recognized by the CBCI in 1969 and Sr. Jeanne Devos became its first National Animator. YSM was affiliated to it for the sake of the students of other faith in 1970 and in the same year YCS/YSM was affiliated to the IYCS international.

Present Scenario: At present, the Movement has around 202865 students and 3088 dedicated Animators, youth workers spread out in 12 regions. The Movement has formed active and dynamic church leaders, social workers and liberators who are involved in the process of socio-economic-political-religious welfare of the people all over the country.

VISION : To evolve a new society, where people live in harmony, where there is total freedom for the complete growth of the individual, where each and every person is respected in dignity hence valuing peace, love, truth, justice and equality.

Aim :  “A just Society” - God’s Kingdom.

Objectives : Change self – Change others

Personality development

Leadership through Talent exposure

Faith formation

Building up a better future

Fighting for social justice and peace

Methodology: See, Judge and Act

(Awareness, Reflection, Action and Evaluation)

Characteristics: It is a movement of gathering and sharing of experiences of the members and evaluating the life situations to form an attitude towards value based pro life actions. Hence,

It is a Student movement

It is an awareness movement

It is a religiously inspired movement

It is an action oriented movement

It is a cell based movement

Spirituality: All accept one another as brothers and sisters; hence a family atmosphere is created to treat each other as real human beings.

Relationship with self – Knowing oneself

Relation ship with the Other - Process of becoming 

Relationship with God – Presence in the Reality

Cells are the basic units of the movement.

Student members become a well knit group in sustaining the fraternal relationship in sharing the life experiences to accept each other as their own.

Animators are the backbone of the movement.

Animator is a friend, guide, the one who accompanies the members always in their growth process. The Animator needs to have a deep faith in God and Prayer, Commitment to Word of God, commitment to Student members and colleagues and commitment to God’s Kingdom. He/She needs to be a visionary and learner, accepting and listening to students as they are in their spiritual and growth process.

STRUCTURE OF THE MOVEMENT:

Cell : Group of 8 – 12 having a Leader and Secretary for the Cell

Unit : Cells together form unit having President, Secretary, Treasurer, Reporter

Diocese : Units together form Diocesan team (DTA/DTS)

Region : Dioceses together form Regional team (RTA/RTS)

Nation : National team (NTA/Exco) - National Chaplain, National coordinator,    

  Convener, secretary, treasurer – Office in Chennai, India

Asia : Asian team – Office in Manila, Philippines

International IYCS : International team – Office in Paris, France

The Search:

The search magazine is a quarterly news letter of YCS/YSM National movement. 
It has been published regularly since 1985. It helps to pen our feelings and experiences.

Why YCS/YSM for the teenagers?

1.    This is the time of disintegration

2.   Time of seeking attention

3.   Time of seeking recognition

4.   Time of seeking identity

5.    Time of faith formation

6.   Time of decision making

7.   Time of attitude formation

8.   Time to understand the childhood, elders, environment, reality and to get affirmed in the reality

They need to be organized to face the pressures of peer groups, mass media, wrong attitude of the society and make them understand the world of true relationships and sex. They need to be animated properly. They need role models and examples to be imitated, identified and to belong to. They need to be integrated to build up their identity. It is the time of social exposure and enjoyment. It is the time of psycho-physical change taking place, hence needs to be guided properly.

Cell meeting: YCS/YSM is a cell based movement. Once a week groups 
of 8-12 students sit in cells for 45-60 minutes avoiding class room atmosphere 
to share their feelings on the given situation. Topics should be student related issues
 which happen frequently, that needs immediate attention and that leads to possible action
 plan.

How to conduct cell meeting:

-       Start with a group technique,

-       short prayer,

-       cell meeting as mentioned in the Review of life (Incident - See, Judge, Act)

-       minutes of the previous meeting,

-       agenda of the meeting should be announced

-       prepare for an action plan

-       agenda for the next meeting

-       short prayer and close the meeting with YCS/YSM anthem.

Review of Life (Methodology to conduct cell meeting): Choose an incident 
which is student related, occurring often and having effect on the lives of students
 which needs immediate attention. After narration let the cell leader conduct 
the cell meeting using the questions given below as the YCS/YSM methodology.

Awareness:

-       What happened during the incident? Where, When, Why and How?

-       Who were the persons actively involved in the incident?

-       Have similar incidents taken place elsewhere? Your experience.

Reflection:

-       Who benefits from this situation and who loses? 

-       What are the values you find in this incident and what values would have helped the incident for better?

-       What were the attitudes of the persons actively involved in the incident?

-       What does Jesus/God/Word of God (Bible/Gita/Koran) teaches us in such situations?

-       If you were involved in this incident what is your decision for personal change?

Action:

-       What is my personal decision for self transformation? What change do I bring about in my attitude to build new society (God’s kingdom)?

-       How would I influence my cell members for a change in their attitudes?

-       What will we do as a cell to bring about change in the society? Our Action plan.

Evaluation:

-       What are the positive & negative results of our action?

-       What have we learnt from this action? How have we changed our attitude?

-       Have we succeeded in bringing about a change in us and society?

     (If yes – good, If no - Why? What change should we adapt?) 

Cell Life: It is a setting where educational/religious proposals become personalized; 
it is a place for expression and responsibility; it is a place to prepare an action plan; 
it is a place of commitment and an opportunity for interpersonal communications.

What happens after cell meeting? : Besides achieving the objectives, parent – student relationship increases, student relationship gets stronger, and their belongingness to the society (Church, institution etc) becomes meaningful.

Attitudinal change takes place, positive attitude increases, they study better, they face the reality better, they find meaning in helping others, their decisions gets affirmed and they take up leadership roles.

Remember they are coming from different backgrounds. All cannot be weighed equally; they need to be recognized as they are and to be guided.

How to start YCS groups:

-       Brainstorming – Suggestions in a non critical situation

-       Buzz Sessions – Consultation and discussion before a general sharing

-       Group Dynamic “Games” – Learning through doing

-       Provoked Incidents – To observe group response in real life situation

-       Role Play – To present problem realistically to initiate discussion

-       Miming – To present a problem realistically with imagination and variety

-       Photo Language – Helps express ones views and discover oneself  in the photo

-       Film – To present a problem, life situation for reflection and action

-       Songs, poems, quotations, Advertisements, etc. – To inspire life situations

-       Symbols and objects – To express ideas, feelings, relationships etc

-       Speeches – To present ones ideas for elaborate discussion, reflection and action

-       Panel – To let different opinions expressed for reflection

-       Debate – To argue a point of view in concise and logical way.

-       Fishbowl – To increase participation

-       Interviews – To become conscious of opinions and enter into dialogue

-       Survey – To find out the precise objective of the situation

-       Awareness walk – To obtain first hand information and reflect upon it

-       Case Study – To develop problem solving attitudes and skills

-       Stepping into another’s shoes – To become aware of life and problems of others

-       Dreaming Dreams –Formulate vision for the future to give purpose to present life.

National office activities:

-                NTA/Exco meetings    

-                National Animators and Chaplains Training

-                NTA/Exco live in

-                Inter-regional Leadership and Animation programs

-                National Students Leaders Training Program

-                Visitation to Regions and Dioceses

-                National Council

Asian and International  programmes:

-                South Asian Session (SAS)

-                Asian Session (ASC)

-                International Coordination (IC)

-                World Council (WC)

Some more information:

ò     Student Movement: The YCS/YSM is a student Movement. Students at various l
evels (Cell, Unit, Diocese, Region, and Nation) undertake and hold responsibility 
in terms of leadership and decision making in consultation with their animators.

ò     National Council (NC): NC is highest legislative body, which consists of student
 leaders from all the dioceses. It meets once in three years to evaluate the Movement and
 to evolve a theme for the coming three years. So far we have had fifteen such councils.

ò     National Exco: The National Exco consists of two student leaders (a boy and a girl) 
from each region. They for a link between the National, regional and diocesan bodies and
 help in the execution of the National plans and programmes.

ò     National Team of Animators (NTA): The NTA consists of the regional 
chaplains, the National Coordinator and the National Chaplain.  The NTA & EXCO 
meets once in six months to evaluate, to plan and to implement the programmes at the National level.

ò     National Team (NT): The NT comprises of National Convenor, Secretary, 
Treasurer along with National Chaplain and Coordinator. These leaders are elected 
democratically, from the national body of Exco. This is the administrative body of the
 Movement.

ò     Regions:  There are 12 regions in India. The Regional Team (RT) comprises of the 
Regional Chaplain, Coordinator, Convenor, Secretary and Treasurer. There are the Regional
 Team of Animators (RTA) and Regional Team of Students (RTS)

ò     Diocese: In the Dioceses we have Diocesan Team of Animators (DTA) and Diocesan 
Team of Students (DTS) to discuss, to evaluate and to strengthen the Movement. Like 
NT and RT, here we have DT (Diocesan Team) as the administrative body.

ò     Unit/Cell: The number of cells in a particular institution/parish forms a unit. 
A cell having 8-12 students meets regularly under the guidance of Animator.

Basic information of the movement and Addresses:

IYCS International Secretariat

7 Impasse Reille,75014 Paris, FRANCE

Tel:+33.1.45.48.14.72 Fax:+33.1.42.84.04.53; E-mail: mail@iycs-jeci.org

IYCS ASIAN SECRETARIAT

20 Avocado Rd., Pilar Village, Las Pińas City, Metro Manila, 1750 PHILIPPINES

Telefax: +63.2.806.8457  Residence: +63.2.801.4969; Email: office@iycsasia.org

YCS/YSM NATIONAL OFFICE

66(151) Luz church Road, Mylapore, Chennai – 600 004

Tel: 044 24988693, 24895737, Email: ycsysmindia@gmail.com

Website: www.ycsysmindia.com

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