YUWG is a working group in SCI. Its members are from different European branches of SCI, who have in common the fact that they organise special activities for young people (from 16 years up). They try to reach people from disadvantaged backgrounds which, as you will see, means different things in different countries. In 1997, the active branches were IVS-Northern Ireland, SCI Germany, SCI Italy, VIA Netherlands , VSI Ireland, and SCI France ( Lille ).

The working group is seen as a platform for groups to meet, exchange information and ideas and set up activities together. One of the things we do, is to organise bilateral and multilateral exchanges, which are planned and evaluated at our meetings.

The name of the group may be a little confusing, because we do not just aim at unemployed participants. When the working group started, unemployment was the main concern of the members, and indeed of many organisations working with young people. At the moment, we use the term 'disadvantaged', to indicate that there are many ways in which some young people can be less well of or privileged than others. We also use the word 'teenagers' a lot, because it is short, and because in many camps the age of the participants would be between 16 and 18. But in many of our activities, the age could be between 18 and 25.