Overseas Study Visits
Management Principles
The following principles will govern the administration of the Youth Wing’s “Overseas Study Visits Program."
1. Selection of Delegates:
Each Divisional Executive will nominate one representative every calendar year to be a delegate of the Youth Wing in the organisation’s “Overseas Study Visits Program”. Selection of delegates must be in accordance with the following criteria.
a) Selection Criteria:
i. The delegate must be between the ages of 20 to 30 inclusive, at the time of travel.
ii. The delegate must hold an elected or appointed position within the Youth Wing or senior party, at the time of travel.
iii. The delegate must have served at least two years as an officebearer at some level within the Youth Wing, as at the time of travel.
iv. The delegate must demonstrate leadership skills.
v. The delegate must demonstrate a capacity to contest and attain high public office.
vi. The delegate must have competent interpersonal skills. Foreign language skills will be desirable, but not necessary.
vii. Attachment A. The delegate must submit a resume including details of their career history, their education and qualifications, and their voluntary involvement in the party.
viii. Attachment B. The delegate must have proven analytical and writing skills, attested to by a submitted sample of their writing.
b) Nomination of Delegates:
A nomination by a Divisional Executive to the Youth Wing Executive must include the following:
i. A statement explaining how the nominated delegate meets each selection criteria.
ii. Applications, resumes and writing samples for the top three shortlisted candidates for that Division.
c) Shortlisted Candidates:
If a nominated delegate withdraws from a study visit at the last minute for reasons of health, family, work, or otherwise, then the replacement delegate shall be chosen by the relevant Division from among the other two top shortlisted candidates.
Details of shortlisted candidates will be forwarded to the National Secretariat of the Party for their consideration in the awarding of other study visits or exchanges which arise throughout the calendar year.
2. Mutual Obligation Agreement:
Each Delegate on a Youth Wing Overseas Study Visit will be required to enter into an undertaking with the Youth Wing, whereby the organisation agrees to arrange and finance key details of the visit in advance, and in return the delegate agrees to undertake certain activities of benefit to the Youth Wing.
a) Standard Template Agreement:
The standard template agreement will require each delegate to provide the following:
i. A written report on their visit of between 4 to 10 pages for internal dissemination among the Executive;
ii. A shorter report appropriate for publication in the National Magazine of the Youth Wing;
iii. Copies or photocopies of political documents gathered during their visit, relating to election campaigns, public policy or party organisation;
iv. Suggested revisions to the relevant country profile on the Asia Pacific Democrat Youth website and write at least one news article for the APDY website on an event within the country which has been visited;
v. At least two addresses to Youth Wing forums about the study visit, including one address to their own Division and one address to a forum of the national organisation (for instance, either National Convention, National Executive, or National Policy Committee).
b) Limited Template Agreement
Where a party member undertakes a completely self-financed visit to a related foreign political party, and the Youth Wing has arranged for meetings with related party officials, then the template Mutual Obligation agreement will only require the following from the delegate:
i. A written report on the delegate’s visit of between 2 to 10 pages for internal dissemination among the Executive.
c) Variation to Agreements
Where the level of support provided by the Youth Wing is less than the full cost of the relevant airfare, terms of each agreement may be varied by the National Executive, to require fewer obligations from the delegate
d) Honouring Agreements
If several delegates participate in the same study visit, all the standard mutual obligations will still apply to each member of the study visit, and compliance by one delegate with a particular obligation cannot absolve another delegate who has done nothing regarding that obligation.
A period of one year will be taken as a reasonable time-frame for the delegate to comply with the Mutual Obligation agreement but it is recommended that reports should be written as soon as practical after the conclusion of the study visit.
Serious failure to meet mutual obligations will be taken to constitute an agreement by the delegate to refund financial support provided by the Youth Wing.
3. Cost Apportionment
Each calendar year, the Youth Wing National Executive will review the level of financial support it is able to provide for Overseas Study Visits.
Where financially viable, the organisation will endeavour to provide fully fund an economy return airfare to the city of destination for a delegate from each Division. Where the organisations finances cannot support this level of commitment, the Youth Wing will endeavour to partially fund an economy return airfare to the city of destination for a delegate from each Division.
Delegates will arrange accommodation and meals appropriate to their individual tastes and budget. Prior to payment of a delegate’s airfare by the Youth Wing, the delegate must report to the executive on their planning to finance their accommodation, meals and miscellaneous expenses for the duration of their visit.
In years where the Youth Wing National Executive determines that the organisation is able to provide further support, the Executive may consider an appropriate daily living allowance.
4. Briefing and Debriefing
Where possible, the Youth Wing will endeavour to provide each delegate with:
a) A briefing on the destination country by an appropriate expert (such as an academic, a diplomatic representative of the destination country, or a Department official)
b) Recommended reading on the destination country.
c) An advance program including either:
i) meetings with officials from related parties, and/or;
ii) an arrangement to attend as an observer at a convention of a related party, and/or;
iii) an arrangement to participate in a public election campaign of a related political party, and/or;
iv) an arrangement for an internship in a think tank affiliated to a related political party.
Each delegate will arrange their own speech circuit to report back to the Youth Wing, sufficient to comply with the Mutual Obligation Agreement.
5. Destinations and Priority Issues
Each calendar year, the International Officer will compile a list of Study Visit proposals and submit the list to the Youth Wing National Executive for its approval.
The International Officer will canvass among the Divisions to see if they have interests in particular campaign techniques, organisational matters or policy matters in each destination country. The "wish list" of issues which interest the Divisions will be forwarded to the relevant delegates.
Each delegate will endeavour to gather interesting political material, including documents which suit the specific “wish list” provided to them.