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.

Are you active in the spirit Don Bosco as an animator or trainer? Do you have experience as a trainer on a local level but want to expand your horizon? You are interested in learning about working with international groups? You want to develop your own trainings in an international environment?
 
‘Rise Up!’ is a 5-day European training course for (international) trainers, where you can meet people from over 10 European countries. The TC will focus on training basic and advanced competences of trainers. You will get input on intercultural learning processes, general training skills, DBYN’s educational style, safeguarding and conflict management. Additionally you get the chance to actively work in international groups and try new methods and approaches in a safe environment.
Next to this you will be sharing your own experiences, work on leadership skills, reflect on intercultural learning processes and much more.
 
The TC takes at the Burg Wildegg near Vienna (AT). The training course will take place from the 27th of October until the 2nd of November 2017.
 
Are you interested in taking part?  Contact your local DBYN organisation for more information and the registration procedure, or visit ​http://www.dbynbuildingcitizens.net/rise-up.html 

“Will you join me?” is an Erasmus+ KA1 seminar focusing on how to lift barriers for young people facing fewer opportunities to take part in European projects.  We will in particular focus on how “assistance” is a good practice in encouraging youth workers and young volunteers in the youth field to do so.
 
The seminar is taking place from the 10th till the 13th of March in Assel (Netherlands). Over 26 participants, 2 facilitators and 1 staff member from the hosting organisation are joining. The participants are staff members or volunteers involved in the organisation of international projects, in particular of youth exchanges.

Click here for more information on this seminar.

After almost 8 years, DBYN is soon to release its new website. The previous website was developed in a time when social networking and other web 2.0 applications were in full development. In this time we worked together with a Belgian youth work organisation, specialised in web development for the youth work sector. We were ambitious, integrating many web 2.0 applications allowing us to make simple mash-ups and personalized mailing lists. However, we were surpassed by the rapid development of the internet itself. Many of the functionalities of our website, were soon taken over by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Google apps.

Since 2012 DBYN started to develop dedicated project websites.  First with web-application EDICY, but when this European platform changed their business plan, we moved to the WEEBLY platform. After a few years of experience with project websites, we decided to transfer also our homepage to this platform.