From 8 March until 11 March 2018 the Strategic Network Meeting of DBYN took again place at the Salesianum in Munich. Member organisations from all over Europe came together to discuss the topics on the agenda and to get to know each other’s organisations better.
 
We kicked off the first day with a session where the representatives got the opportunity to talk about disadvantaged youth. It was important that they could decide what this meant for them and their organisation. It became an interesting brainstorm session where everyone could share their thoughts and ideas. Not only about disadvantaged youth but also about the target groups of every organisation. The representatives were divided in different groups who had the same target audience. The main idea of this exercise was that they could exchange information and learn from each other’s experiences.
 
The Master Plan 2018-2020 was one of the main topics of the General Executive Body on saturday. It’s defined for the next 3 years and the member organisations got the chance to give their input where necessary. The General Executive Body also voted that Mouvement Salésien des Jeunes France & Belgique-Sud is from now on part of Don Bosco Youth-Net. DBYN is now active in 16 European countries and counts 18 organisations.
 
‘10 March 2018 will stay in our minds and marks a very big step in the Salesian world for us,’ says Anne-Florence who represented France & Belgium-South in Munich.

​My name is Sien. I’m a Belgian student at University College PXL, Hasselt (BE) and I’m studying communication management. I’m graduating in June 2018.
I’m doing my internship at Don Bosco Youth-net from the beginning of March until the beginning of June.
In the beginning of this academic year I went on Erasmus to Lisbon. I’ve been there for three months and it was the most interesting experience I’ve ever accomplished.

Thanks to Erasmus, I figured out that I wanted to do an internship where I still have that international contact and where I can improve my communication skills, in Dutch but also in English.
Doing my internship at DBYN is definitely very challenging for me because it’s my first experience in a real working environment. Everything they do is in the context of young people and I strongly believe that they need our help as much as we need theirs. I’m sure that I will gain a lot of knowledge in terms of how to communicate in a good and effective way with people in Belgium but also in other countries around the world.
I’m convinced that this internship will help me grow in a professional way but also in a personal way.
​The organisation has a lot to offer, and so do I!