Emmeline Charenton

OFAJ/DFJW

The Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO) is an organisation which serves to foster Franco-German cooperation. The FGYO is a centre of expertise for both countries' governments. It acts as an adviser and intermediary for local and regional authorities, as well as in civil society in France and Germany. The FGYO addresses all young people from the age of three to thirty: kindergartners, apprentices, young unemployed persons, employees, students or pupils. Furthermore, it takes up current issues which concern young people in both countries, and adapts its offers to the everyday life and needs of young people. It is a unique "laboratory" for transnational projects and European cooperation. Some of the projects of the FGYO are open to third countries. The FGYO wants to pass on the experiences of French-German youth exchange to third countries as reconciliation work. International meetings are the focus of attention of the FGYO-funded programmes. Important criteria are language and reciprocity, i.e. a return meeting takes place. Priority is given to the intercultural learning, which is supposed to be as intensely as possible and accordingly accompanied.