Let's Include!
Start date: Mar 1, 2015,
End date: Feb 29, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
The seminar "Let's include" deals with the issue of inclusion in extracurricular youth work - innovative ideas and approaches. Both theoretical and practical aspects are imparted to the participants in the seminar. The different organizations from the network of Lions Clubs International yearly realise approximately 115 youth meetings, attended by a total of approximately 3,000 young people from different countries. In part, there are also offers for youth with special needs and disabilities. Especially in the area of volunteer youth work the opinion regarding the topic inclusion are ambivalent. While on one hand, people mostly advocate for the participation of young people with inclusion needs, they though underestimate their role and feel overawed by needs and wishes of youth with fewer opportunities. "Let's Include" is to allay the concerns and to reduce the prejudices as well as to support the proper assessing of the wants and needs of those young people, neither over- nor underestimating them. In the seminar the participating youth workers get the possibility to share their volunteer work and experience, to bring in new ideas and innovative approaches and to build networks for future transnational inclusive youth projects. Participants have the opportunity to exchange best practice and lessons learned and to mutually benefit from existing experience.
After that, the focus will be on the specific issue of inclusion. In the 3-day seminar, theory and practice are alternating, but practise is prioritised.
The aim of the seminar is to give volunteer youth workers assistance by providing them hand-outs, which may facilitate their work and promote quality. In addition to workshops for standardization and safety in youth exchanges, there will also be lectures and workshops on the topic of inclusion in international youth exchanges. Hereby not only an assessment of the current situation is drawn with respect to inclusion, but also developed concrete ideas to achieve improved inclusive offers of youth exchanges. Moreover, there will be a share of best practice, innovative aspects and approaches and a transfer of knowledge. In addition to the theoretical activities there is an exemplary visit planned onsite in Augsburg that lives inclusion at different levels and where this is well illustrated. "Let's Include" lays the foundation for a broad-based project in the field of voluntary youth work and inclusion. Based on the seminar European guidelines could arise. Through the publication of the project results in all participating countries other volunteering organizations in the field of youth work will also benefit from this, since it means improving the quality and lowering the risks to the organization and the volunteer staff can be achieved.