Will you join me ?

From 10th till 13th of March Don Bosco Youth-Net organised it’s network meeting in Rijswijk, the Netherlands.  The network meeting combined 2 activities: a Erasmus+ seminar on social inclusion through youth work and DBYN’s annual meeting of the General Executive Body. By combining these 2 activities DBYN ensures that the policy makers of our network can directly interact with our volunteers. This also guarantees that the subject of the seminar (social inclusion) is mainstreamed towards all DBYN member organisations.

The seminar “Will you join me?” brought together volunteers of several DBYN member organisation.  The focus of the seminar was to explore how we can develop European projects with support of Erasmus+ for young people which are facing fewer opportunities, or are “NEETs”. In 2016 the Erasmus+ programme seems to go 100% for inclusion projects.  This is a great opportunity for our Don Bosco Movement, which has always worked for youth at the margins of society.  The seminar started with a study visit to the Don Bosco house in Amsterdam.  This house brings together several Don Bosco projects targeting young people facing fewer opportunities. The study visit aimed to create a common denominator for all participants.  It showed a real practice in the Netherlands, to which the participants could test their local concepts of social inclusion.  During the seminar the participants explored the EU policy framework on social inclusion of youth, as an incentive to develop concepts for social inclusion projects in Erasmus+. One of the project ideas which was developed is a youth exchange for (young) single parents, where there is assistance in daycare for children and non-formal learning programme for the single parents.  Especially touching in the seminar was the participation of 2 Syrian volunteers which arrived in Europe after fleeing from Aleppo.  Both of them have been involved in the Don Bosco Centre in Aleppo, and now brought their experience to the rest of the participants.  The seminar was lead by members of DBYN’s pool of trainers, and organised by our Dutch member organisation Don Bosco Youthnet Nederland. Our Dutch hosting team was created from a combination of staff, volunteers and EVS-volunteers currently on long-term voluntary service in the Netherlands.
 
Next to this DBYN also organised it’s annual meeting of the General Executive Body.  Apart from adopting reports and developing the budget for 2016, we could welcome a new member organisation ‘Don Bosco centre Odessa’. With this new member we hope to expand our network for the first time outside of the European Union, creating opportunities for youth connected to the Don Bosco works in Ukraine. We also signed for the first time a youth partnership contract with a local Don Bosco youth centre. Don Bosco Centre Podgorica is the only Don Bosco youth centre in Montenegro.  In order to allow them to take part in our activities, the membership unanimously voted them to start-up cooperation through signing a youth partnership contract. The participants of the G.E.B. interacted with the participants of the seminar during the exchange market, which brought in the concept of social inclusion in the projects developed by the network, and during the informal moments (intercultural evening, visit to The Hague, ...).
Our next network meeting is scheduled to take place in October in Turin, bringing together a seminar on social tourism and youth work and an extraordinary meeting of the General Executive Body.