Application Process For World Festival Of Youth And Students
The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), a United Nations-recognized international youth non-governmental organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947. The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an event of global youth solidarity for democracy and against war and imperialism.
There are several ways to apply for the World festival of Youth and Students. It was such a splendid experience for me and I recommend this festival to anyone who meets the eligibility criteria to get the exposure and meet people from different countries and discuss on different issues you would like to participate in.
The festival invites applications from the governments of all the countries and also gives a call to individual participants. As far as the program events are concerned, there is no difference in the access to the events whether you are a delegate from government or an individual participant. Some special events such as inauguration ceremony passes are difficult to get if you are an individual participant. First let me share with you the procedure I have followed.
Government delegation:
Government delegation normally consists of youth leaders, students from IITs, NITs, NIFT, artists, dancers, legal advisors etc. They try to select people from diverse areas so that the representation in the discussion forums is easy.
Personal experience:
I received a call on Aug 31st 2017 around 2 pm to the land line and was informed that there is an Indian delegation being selected and they were given my mobile number to contact on. I got this information and tried contacting Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) if the call is from them. I called ICCR and they told me that they don’t have any clue on this. Later at around 5PM, I contacted the number from which I received a call. They mentioned themselves as Ministry of Youth Affairs and told me that the same day was the last date to apply. I was given an email giving the application form to give the details and write the statement of purpose for getting selected to the program. After Sept 15th the shortlisting process started and Indian government has shortlisted according to our applications and submitted to the World festival of youth and students (WFYS) organizing committee. There is another application form we had to fill for WFYS and the organizing committee finally selected the candidates depending on the statement of purpose and the overall application form. All the selected candidates had to sign an undertaking that we are going to represent our country at a global platform and will not behave or act in anyway that will bring bad name to our country. The same should be signed on a stamp paper and need to get it notarized. Also, the selected candidates were asked to get a medical fit certificate. There was a briefing session by the ministry officials on 10th of October wherein we had to give a presentation on our contribution to the festival. You can find my presentation here
For being part of government delegation, be prepared to be on alert mode and submit the required documents as and when required. The entire trip will be sponsored by the government.
Follow the following link to see the application form to the government:
Make sure, your statement of purpose details what your expectations are from the program. These application forms will be circulated to the respective universities or organizations and there will be interview process depending on the organization you are associated with.
Individual participants to the festival:
Even if you are not associated with any organization, you can apply as an individual participant. This process is fairly simple as you need to fill only one application with the organizing committee directly. Once the confirmation is given, you need to book your own tickets and participate in the festival. Following is the advertisement given by the official organizing committee for the individual participants. One advantage of applying in this way, you are in control of timelines and can prepare well in advance for the regional program they offered and other discussion programs/presentations.
Deadline: 15 May 2017 Open to: Participants between the ages of 18 and 35 years old Venue: 14-22 October 2017 in Sochi, Russia
Description
19th World Festival of Youth and Students / #WFYS2017 is to be held on October 14-22, 2017 in Sochi, Russia. This decision was made by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and international student organizations at the international consultation meeting on the 19th Festival on February 7, 2016.
Russia has previously hosted the World Festival of Youth and Students twice - in 1957 and in 1985. It is especially important to us that the year of 2017 is the anniversary year for the first Festival that took place in 1947 and for our history as well. It was 60 years ago that our country opened its doors to the youth of the whole globe for the first time. The scale of the Moscow Festival was truly impressive and the bar for the future capitals of the Festival was set high.
Keeping the best festival traditions alive while combining them with key current trends, Russia is once again to welcome with all its hospitality representatives of all continents!
The Festival aims to consolidate international youth community, strengthen international ties, as well as promote international and intercultural cooperation. One of the main goals of the upcoming Festival is shaping a common vision of the future by the young leaders from different countries, trying to articulate responses to the most pressing challenges of the generation. The main agenda of the discussion program is to encompass the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the United Nations.
Eligibility
The Festival will unite more than 20 000 young leaders from 150 countries. The platform is to bring together young leaders aged 18-35 from various fields: youth NPOs representatives, young journalists, creative and sports youth, young workers, young IT-specialists, and engineers, leaders of political parties’ youth organizations, young faculty members, young leaders of student governments, young scientists, young entrepreneurs, as well as compatriots and foreigners learning Russian language and interested in Russian culture.
Russia will host more than 8 000 foreign participants!
Participants: leaders of youth NPOs, young journalists, creative youth (musicians, writers, artists, directors, etc.), sports youth (leaders of student sports clubs, professional sportsmen), young leaders of student governments, leaders of political parties’ youth organizations, young faculty members, young scientists (social studies and humanities, natural and technical sciences), foreigners learning Russian language, interested in Russian culture, etc.
Costs
All costs (accommodation, meals, and participation in cultural and sports events) during the Festival shall be covered by the host party. The travel expenses to the Festival venue (city of Sochi) and back shall be covered by the participant / the sending party. At the same time, the organizers are currently working to arrange charter flights to Moscow from different countries and regions of the world to make it possible to provide low fare tickets. Moreover, the participants of the Festival will be provided with a special simplified visa regime (visa application for the participants of the Festival will be free) to enter the territory of the Russian Federation.
The next festival is expected to be after 4 years in Paris and hope you would be able to attend that event. All the best.
For more details, you can contact me on sahasrafinearts@gmail.com.
To know more about my overall experience of participating in the festival, please click here
