The Unity Express

(English) The state of the Project (May 2012)

Coen — Sat, 26 May 2012 22:54:24 +0000

Read what has been done in the past months for the project and what our plans are for the near future. This edition: back on track & developing a contingency plan…

(English) How we are doing (January 2012)

Coen — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:18 +0000

Read what has been done in the past months for the project and what our plans are for the near future. This edition: several funding pitches and the homecoming of the team members that have been working from Brussels this summer/fall.

(English) A New Chapter For All of Us

Coen — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:17:25 +0000

(English) This past Wednesday, 2 November, we took the decision together with Generation Europe Foundation (our partner since June) to postpone the first edition of the Unity Express. Read more about the why and what this means for the project and you.

(English) Next station: Unity Express 2.0

Coen — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:38:50 +0000

(English) Today is an important and special day and we would like to announce a great next step: the release of our new website! We’ve come a long way together with the help of you guys and now we have something to celebrate with you.

(English) An unforgettable journey

Daniel — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:33:28 +0000

Disculpa, pero esta entrada está disponible sólo en Nederlands, Bosanski y English.

(English) All hands on board

Daniel — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:32:45 +0000

Disculpa, pero esta entrada está disponible sólo en Nederlands y English.

(English) Ties that bind

Daniel — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:31:38 +0000

Disculpa, pero esta entrada está disponible sólo en Nederlands, Türk y English.

(English) Celebrate diversity

Daniel — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:30:26 +0000

Disculpa, pero esta entrada está disponible sólo en Nederlands, Türk y English.

Get ready to Volunteer!

Coen — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:00:06 +0000

(English) We've been creating some new possibilities over the past weeks for people to start volunteering for The Unity Express Project. This blog post explains the new Volunteers Network, the Challenges section on this website and how it works.

Stronger with Generation Europe

Coen — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:53:22 +0000

We are happy to announce that serious talks are going on between us and Generation Europe Foundation (a non-profit organisation in Brussels), to combine and organize The Unity Express together. But before we go celebrating, we want you, as follower and contributor, to get to know them a bit and have a say in all of this. Because that is what we are: a transparent organization. Let us tell you what is going on.

The start of The Unity Express project was in February 2010. Back then, we started on a project of which we had no idea how big it could become. Now, almost 1,5 years and countless experiences later, we came to the conclusion that we can’t do it alone. And by that we don’t mean voluntary help; we knew that from the start. And boy do we appreciate all the help we have gotten so far. No, we need a strong, very experienced and credible partner that wants to organize The Unity Express together with us, on all levels. Because even though we are certain that we have the capabilities and the passion to make a journey like this, other (financial) partners might think otherwise: we have no track record, no financial capabilities and the team is fairly young. In other words: for them we are just a bunch of hippies wanting to change the world.

Who is Generation Europe Foundation?

Generation Europe Foundation’s creation in 1995 was based on a simple observation: that the young represent tomorrow’s decision-makers who will live, work, consume and contribute to the economic and political fibre of the world in the years to come.

Its goal is to engage tomorrow’s decision-makers, today, by engaging in two-way communication with young people on all issues that will have an impact on their future.

They have more than 15 years of experience in Europe-wide projects, volunteers in 36 countries (some of which are extremely active) and a staff of about 10 people in their own office in the middle of Brussels. Each year they release a diary in all 27 EU member states for high school students and teachers. They have also conducted extensive research on youth unemployment in Europe.

The bottom line is that GEF is very into Europe, has close connections with the European Commission and its values are very close to ours.

A win-win situation

We think the interests of us and GEF are complimentary to each other. We have the worked out concept, the experience to deal with train partners and put a lot of effort in creating a community of followers already. This is extremely valuable for GEF. In turn GEF can provide us the credibility and experience of running and maintaining a big project like this. GEF is like that uncle with all the knowledge and connections ‘in the business’ that we need. In other words: we have the idea GEF was looking for, GEF has the experience, structure and network we need.

The catch

But of course it’s not all just as simple as that. In order for us to work together and have that credibility, GEF needs to be the financially responsible partner. Because they have the means. We don’t. That also means that GEF will ultimately have a veto for decisions taken during the organization of the project.

Of course we will guard the concept and the overall vision of the project and GEF (and we) understand that this can only work if we both respect each other and work together on mutual trust. Only in extreme situations GEF needs to be able to say no. In the end it’s their wallet.

What this means for you and the whole community

In short: nothing will change for you. GEF understands that this project is one built on the help and support of the whole community and it’s open source vision. It will stay that way. Everybody can still contribute to the project in any way they want, wherever you live and whatever your qualities are. No changes are planned for the way you can get on board and all other parts of the concept developed so far will not be changed by this collaboration. Of course, when something is practical to change in the future, we will. But never without losing the project values out of sight.

The only visual change you might see is that, if it all goes through, in our communication it will become more visible that this project is done by Generation Europe in association with The WE Travel Foundation (that’s us).

We would like to hear your opinion!

Of course you don’t have to have an opinion, and we understand that this whole explanation of the situation barely touches the surface, but we would like to include you in this important decision for us. Do we get your support for “merging” with Generation Europe Foundation? What problems do you see ahead? Have a reason why we shouldn’t do it at all? Please comment here or give your opinion on our poll on Facebook. You could also just say how excited you are to see what this will bring ;).