“Internationalisation is fascinating”

At the closing event of Fachkräfteinitiative.International, IJAB Director Daniel Poli outlined the milestones of the last three years – and there were quite a few. As many as 26 projects had set out to give their organisations a sharper international profile– a response that neither the initiators at IJAB nor the Federal Youth Ministry had anticipated. Despite the pandemic, almost all projects succeeded in following through with their intentions. Their journey was marked by major milestones from which all stakeholders could benefit: a digital kick-off event, a mid-term conference, a youth future camp and an International Staff Laboratory. In addition, supporters from a number of child and youth services areas met up at an annual interaction forum, including many representatives of the offices and funding agencies of international and European youth work and of Internationale Gesellschaft für erzieherische Hilfen (IGfH).

Albert Klein-Reinhardt from the Federal Youth Ministry pointed out that the initiative has gained significance owing to international developments in Russia and Israel. Given ever increasing challenges in relation to racism and anti-Semitism, more international exchanges are required, along with an exchange of ideas and an international and European profile for child and youth services providers. Against this backdrop, international youth work is seen as relevant when it comes to building and strengthening a democratic society. Russia’s war of aggression and the terrorism perpetrated by Hamas against people in Israel have dealt a severe blow to international youth work activities. Germany’s federal budget has seen across-the-board cuts, which will also impact on the federal government’s Child and Youth Plan, although not international youth work, as Klein-Reinhardt pointed out.

Success despite difficult circumstances

“The circumstances were not easy,” stated facilitator Sandra Kleideiter, “so it’s all the more encouraging that the objectives of the Fachkräfteinitiative.International initiative have been reached.” During the closing event, she challenged the participants to list the milestones that were achieved. For instance, she wanted to know to what extent the participating organisations had become more international, how they had invited young people to participate and how the partner structures had influenced the projects’ implementation. In other words, it was indeed “Time to reflect!”, as the title of the event announced.

And the milestones were in fact remarkable. Due to the pandemic, new online formats were created which were mostly shorter and more easily accessible, helping to open up new target groups. “Compared to before Covid, we’re now working with very different groups of young people,” said one participant from Baden-Württemberg. “Inviting young people to participate is a form of appreciation, and they realise that,” said another. “It’s important not just to listen and nod; young people’s ideas actually need to be taken on board.” “Developing a more international profile is a fascinating process,” stated a third participant. “Today, we screen everything we do for its international potential and think about how much further we can go. We’ve finally become more diverse.” Many projects were in the process of building partner networks to implement their future objectives, some international, but also locally. These local networks are particularly likely to be maintained beyond the lifespan of the project. As one participant said, “If you have a range of different partners, you can work with a range of different audiences.”

Farewell, island mentality

Fachkräfteinitiative.International has doubtless benefited greatly from the support provided by a research team from the University of Hildesheim’s Institute of Social and Organisational Pedagogy. During the event, Dr Agnetha Bartels and Dr Senka Karic highlighted the key research insights and outlined the resulting challenges. The responses to their survey of child and youth services experts revealed an “island mentality” in international youth work. While the community as a whole tends to be open to international and European activities, the culture inside their organisations is not suited to them, they continued. It is only in the youth work field, where international youth work has a statutory role to play, that the structures are compatible. In addition, they stated, many organisations are not focused on diversity, resulting in a divide between their activities and the lifeworlds of their target groups. Asked why their organisations found it so difficult to adopt a more international outlook, all respondents repeatedly mentioned the same challenges: too little money, too little time, not enough personnel. In addition, there is often no broader understanding of what “being international” means; some experts think it’s only about enabling young people to spend time abroad. However, to prepare child and youth services for the challenges of the future, organisations and networks need to adopt more European and international structures, they concluded. The researchers called for a more in-depth discussion of what that exactly entails. Meanwhile, Prof Wolfgang Schröer urged to implement a “high-profile process across the entire child and youth services field.”

Scaling up the benefits

IJAB has been working in this field for quite some time, promoting internationalisation efforts in a variety of ways – including advisory services, coaching sessions, presentations, expert workshops, guidelines and other methodological resources. Now the initiative is over, its benefits need to be scaled up across the entire community. To this end, a short film is currently being produced to encourage interested organisations to get on board. So while the Fachkräfteinitiative.International project and its 26 individual sub-projects may have come to an end, the process of internationalisation is very much still on the youth policy agenda, as pointed out by Albert Klein-Reinhardt and Daniel Poli in their respective closing remarks – in fact, they would prefer not to speak of an “end“ at all.