Expert seminar: Journeys to a new life - understanding the role of youth work in integrating young refugees in Europe

On 23rd and 24th of November, Don Bosco Youth-Net participated in an expert seminar of ‘the EU-CoE Youth Partnership’. This is a cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Commission in the youth field. The Expert seminar “Journeys to a new life” was organised by this cooperation in order to gather knowledge concerning the role of youth work for the inclusion of young refugees and migrants in Europe. By opening space for researchers, policy makers, youth workers and refugees to discuss this topic the aim is to find possibilities to improve youth work and its role in social inclusion in the three dimensions research, policy and practice.

As a participant from a practitioner’s point of view, Don Bosco Youth Net could share expertise and experience in working together with and for refugees. Especially the focus on refugees and Human rights education and the participation of young refugees in the seminars of DBYN, as well as two initiatives from Vienna (Sale for Youth, Don Bosco für Flüchtlinge) contributed as examples on how youth organisations and initiatives are important actors in social inclusion of refugees.

Although the background and situation of European countries and their role of youth work is often different, the output of the seminar showed important messages for improvement. It contains experienced good practices from the case studies, identified fields where deeper research is missing and policy recommendations to support youth work. More information, including the analytical papers and case studies can be found on the website of the seminar:
http://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/refugees-seminar
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