Within Europe the main actor human rights work in the field of youth is the Council of Europe (CoE). The CoE’s youth sector offer both financial support for Human Rights (Education) projects as well as educational support. Therefore our main work on Human Rights has been in cooperation with this international institution.
The international secretariat of Don Bosco Youth-Net is also financially supported by the Council of Europe, through its 'European Youth Foundation'. This foundation supports youth projects and youth organisations working on intercultural learning, anti-discrimination, Human Rights and the promotion of democracy.
We consider the Youth Sector of the Council of Europe a strategic partner in the development of our network's Human Rights-based work. We have received educational and financial support which strengthens our network's involvement in this field of youth work.
Exploring opportunities
Since 2003 DBYN is working together with the Council of Europe’s Youth Sector to develop publications and activities where we try to include Human Rights (Education) in our work. Up to 2009 we mainly developed publications which could support our educational work. We published:
After the work congress we decided that our projects should become more directly targeted at Human Rights itself. This resulted in a publication which was targeting a blank-spot in the international field of youth work:
These publications can be freely downloaded from the resource blog.
- I (am) like you: an informative on conflict management and conflict resolution
- Jabbertalk: a games and methods book for intercultural learning
- Hujambo: a game on values for intercultural learning
After the work congress we decided that our projects should become more directly targeted at Human Rights itself. This resulted in a publication which was targeting a blank-spot in the international field of youth work:
- Dignity: a manual on safeguarding of young people in an intercultural setting.
These publications can be freely downloaded from the resource blog.
The Preventive system and Human Rights Education
There is a clear distinction between Human Rights (HR) and Human Rights Education (HRE): the HR form the ethical framework to preserve human dignity. HRE is an educational methodology which aims to education people about HR. Again within HRE there are many different approaches linked to the field of work one is in: HRE within the field of justice is different than HRE in the field of youth work. The Council of Europe has developed the COMPASS manual, which offers an educational methodology on how to do HRE in the field of youth.
In a way this COMPASS manual plays a similar role as the “pedagogical plans”, which each Salesian province develops as a guideline for the implementation of the preventive system within the cultural context of the province. Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw has a similar policy document, titled: ‘Few words and a Lot of Action’. This describes educational methodology, and serves as a universal basis for cooperation between our member organisations.
In the period between the world congress and the publication of Dignity, it became clear that in order to integrate Human rights into our network, we needed to start up a process of merging both educational methodologies.
In a way this COMPASS manual plays a similar role as the “pedagogical plans”, which each Salesian province develops as a guideline for the implementation of the preventive system within the cultural context of the province. Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw has a similar policy document, titled: ‘Few words and a Lot of Action’. This describes educational methodology, and serves as a universal basis for cooperation between our member organisations.
In the period between the world congress and the publication of Dignity, it became clear that in order to integrate Human rights into our network, we needed to start up a process of merging both educational methodologies.
Master plan 2012-2014
In 2011 it became clear that we needed a strategic approach if we would want to merge both methodologies. Therefore we included several strategic actions in our Master plan 2012-2014 on Human rights education.
We decided to have a practical approach to preparing the merger. The motor of our network is our training structure. This is a series of 3 training courses which aims to build the competences of volunteers in order to run their own international projects within the framework of DBYN. The training structure consists of 3 steps:
We decided that we needed to change STEP 1 into a training course on human rights, using COMPASS as a resource for activities. After the evaluation of the ‘renewed’ STEP 1 in 2012 (Champions of Fairplay) it became clear that if we would like increase the quality of the training, we needed to organise alter the STEP 3 as well, introducing the methodology of Human Rights Education, side-by-side with our own methodology. The STEP 1 training course in 2013 (In Search for Just Judges) and 2014 (All Alien!) were run by trainers who took part in the 2013 STEP 3 training of trainers (COMPASSing DBYN towards HRE). The following table gives an overview of these activities. All have been organised with the financial support of the Council of Europe, either through their European Youth Foundation, or through their European Youth Centre.
We decided to have a practical approach to preparing the merger. The motor of our network is our training structure. This is a series of 3 training courses which aims to build the competences of volunteers in order to run their own international projects within the framework of DBYN. The training structure consists of 3 steps:
- STEP 1: youth exchange on intercultural learning, aiming to train basic competences required for intercultural cooperation
- STEP 2: a training course on project management, aiming to train volunteers to organise and fundraise for international activities
- STEP 3: a training of trainers, aiming to train volunteers to run international educational activities
We decided that we needed to change STEP 1 into a training course on human rights, using COMPASS as a resource for activities. After the evaluation of the ‘renewed’ STEP 1 in 2012 (Champions of Fairplay) it became clear that if we would like increase the quality of the training, we needed to organise alter the STEP 3 as well, introducing the methodology of Human Rights Education, side-by-side with our own methodology. The STEP 1 training course in 2013 (In Search for Just Judges) and 2014 (All Alien!) were run by trainers who took part in the 2013 STEP 3 training of trainers (COMPASSing DBYN towards HRE). The following table gives an overview of these activities. All have been organised with the financial support of the Council of Europe, either through their European Youth Foundation, or through their European Youth Centre.
Master plan 2015-2017
Our new master plan for the period 2015-2017 will be adopted by our member organisations in March. However, we have opted to implement a Human Rights-based approach in all our actions.
In 2015 we organised the "En route"-project, consisting of 4 activities supported by the support of the Council of Europe (both by the European Youth Centre as by the European Youth Foundation) , which are designed at reviewing our educational methodology, and testing it in practice with our 3 main target groups of volunteers. They are the ideal multipliers to mainstream our renewed educational policy throughout the network. After the review and the tests we will rewrite and publish the new edition of ‘A Few words and a lot of Action’. In 2016 we organised the "Don Bosco 4 Refugees"-project with EYF
support. This project aimed to be a capacity-building project for the network, where we explored in what way DBYN can become active in the field of advocacy. Through 3 activities we learned that "our way" of advocacy is "witnessing". In practice this means that we included refugees as participants in all our activities of 2016. As such we establish a peer-to-peer learning at the activities, and can focus on the theme of refugees in our outcomes and communication. In 2017 we are organising. In 2017 we put our focus in the "Beyond the SEA" work plan on our core business: youth work in oratorios and youth centres. The SEA stands for Summer Exchange of Animators. This is an annual programme where our member organisations exchange animators for a voluntary service on a summer oratorio, playground or camp in another country. We aim to bring Human Rights Education to the level of these activities, by developing what we call Human Rights Animation. The activity will result in a new APP to be release. We are also developing a website purely dedicated on our Human Rights work during this project: www.dbynbuildingcitizens.net.
In 2015 we organised the "En route"-project, consisting of 4 activities supported by the support of the Council of Europe (both by the European Youth Centre as by the European Youth Foundation) , which are designed at reviewing our educational methodology, and testing it in practice with our 3 main target groups of volunteers. They are the ideal multipliers to mainstream our renewed educational policy throughout the network. After the review and the tests we will rewrite and publish the new edition of ‘A Few words and a lot of Action’. In 2016 we organised the "Don Bosco 4 Refugees"-project with EYF
support. This project aimed to be a capacity-building project for the network, where we explored in what way DBYN can become active in the field of advocacy. Through 3 activities we learned that "our way" of advocacy is "witnessing". In practice this means that we included refugees as participants in all our activities of 2016. As such we establish a peer-to-peer learning at the activities, and can focus on the theme of refugees in our outcomes and communication. In 2017 we are organising. In 2017 we put our focus in the "Beyond the SEA" work plan on our core business: youth work in oratorios and youth centres. The SEA stands for Summer Exchange of Animators. This is an annual programme where our member organisations exchange animators for a voluntary service on a summer oratorio, playground or camp in another country. We aim to bring Human Rights Education to the level of these activities, by developing what we call Human Rights Animation. The activity will result in a new APP to be release. We are also developing a website purely dedicated on our Human Rights work during this project: www.dbynbuildingcitizens.net.
What can the preventive system contribute to the CoE ?
CoE’s HRE has a very strong curative approach; DBYN can bring a preventive approach to it. This preventive approach also can bring a new standard to governance. While the curative approach requires an activist-oriented advocacy in order to set new standards, the preventive approach requires as less political approach in advocacy. It influences the development of youth policies through sharing and promoting good practices in education.
