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Internationales Bildungs- und Begegnungswerk in Dortmund

Let’s Go to Weimar: „Generation Europe“ gathers for the Method Workshop 2019

Let’s Go to Weimar: „Generation Europe“ gathers for the Method Workshop 2019

From the 27th of April to the 3rd of May, experts from 30 youth institutions from 15 European countries will meet in Weimar. Together they will develop new methods for international youth cooperation.
More democracy and participation, a positive understanding of diversity and equal rights for all, as well as working together towards concrete goals: The youth projects as part of “Generation Europe” should be organised just as we imagine our Europe of the future. This is the aim of the European network, as part of which the participating youth centres, associations, and federations organised the first ten international youth exchanges last autumn. Now, the next step follows: the youth groups not only organise further international meetings, but also develop local action plans in 30 European cities and municipalities to get involved in local civil society.

For this ambitious project those active need new methods of participatory youth work. In order to develop these together, they are now meeting for six days at the European Youth Education and Youth Exchange Centre Weimar (EJBW). Among other things, the meeting will be about the online platform “digital.D” developed as part of “Generation Europe”. Here, the young people involved can make democratic decisions across national borders and work on their action plans.

“But offline as well, we want to use the concentrated competence of our 30 partner organisations to further develop the methodological tools for European democracy education,” says project manager Katharina Teiting from the International Association for Education and Exchange (IBB e.V.). “We are focusing on what professionals call non-formal learning: These are experiences which, although systematic and planned, do not take place in classical situations of learning and examination, but instead in projects where young people participate voluntarily and where they can interact with their direct living environment. The methods we develop during the three-year project period may also be of interest for other areas of youth work. But right now I’m very curious to see what ideas and experiences the European specialists will bring to Weimar.”