A strategy for digital international youth work
When it became clear in spring 2020 that the Coronavirus pandemic and its consequences would have a lasting impact, the paralysis did not last long. Organisations moved their conferences and seminars online, and online advisory services were made accessible to new target groups. Young colleagues had an opportunity to contribute their digital skills and experiment with online work camps, for example, while youth exchanges were implemented using a diverse range of media. Funding bodies registered a sharp increase in the number of applications for digital exchanges, with most of them enabling the flexible use of funds so that partnerships could continue online.
These changes come in response to issues that existed long before the pandemic began – and will continue to evolve after the pandemic ends. How can we make international partnerships and exchanges more sustainable? How can we reach out to young people in their familiar spaces of interaction in a way they will understand and appreciate? How can our activities measure up in a world where artificial intelligence and virtual reality play an increasing role? How can we make the new technical possibilities work for us without allowing them to dominate us?
We still do not know enough
The political preconditions for moving ahead in this field are certainly favourable. According to the conclusions on smart youth work of the Council of the European Union (2017/C 418/02), “smart youth work means making use of and addressing digital media and technologies in order to enrich the opportunities of all young people for information, for access to youth work, for participation, for non-formal and informal learning, by exploiting new spaces and formats for youth work in meaningful ways”. The German Federal Government, too, rightly pays ample attention to digitalisation in its legislative programme. What is lacking, however, is a strategy for digitalising international youth work “in meaningful ways”.
During the Coronavirus crisis, IJAB has remained in touch with its German and international partners, for instance discussing what digital tools they can use in this unusual situation to continue their international youth work activities. The video livestream “At Home Around The World” and the interview series on ijab.de provided what we hope are inspiring responses to this issue. IJAB also published a brochure with digital tools for international exchanges and other activities, including a number of practical examples. And yet we have to admit that we still do not know enough. We do not know to what extent international youth work organisations have already switched to digital formats; neither do we have reliable information on the range of methods that are already in use. In particular, we are unaware of which digital methods work well and where their limitations lie. This is where the research community comes in. Their work needs to focus on the specific needs of our field of work, too. Simply transferring the “smart youth work” blueprint to digital international youth work will not serve the purpose. We need to know what digital formats are particularly suitable for encouraging intercultural learning, empowering young people to navigate a globalised world, and promoting a peaceful coexistence. To this end, IJAB and JFF – Institute for Media Research and Media Education launched a research project, inviting experts to a specialist symposium on 10 December 2020 so they could start discussing the development of a set of digital methods for use in international youth work.
Involving international partners and young people
This debate also needs to take place with the involvement of our international partners; after all, they are who we want to work with. What positive experiences can we benefit from and what good practices can we adopt? What partnerships are suitable because they are digital? At the same time we have to remain mindful of international partners that have fewer resources in this area, such as limited bandwidth, lack of hardware or little experience with digital tools. Digitalisation should not divide us; rather, it needs to bring people together.
Above all we need to involve young people. They are best placed to tell us what tools they enjoy using, what communication methods they prefer and what issues interest them. We need to work with them as we explore new, interesting approaches to international exchanges. We need to develop a varied range of projects that will help us to draw the right conclusions. Another major aspect in this regard is media skills education. Data privacy, fake news and state surveillance play an important role especially in international contexts. After all, digital youth education centres around helping young people to become informed digital citizens and develop digital skills in non-formal settings. Existing media skills education needs to be put to the test to verify whether it meets the current requirements and where necessary, developed further. Appropriate curricula need to be developed specifically for use in international youth work contexts.
Quality criteria and funding
All of this will help us develop quality criteria against which we can measure good digital international youth work. One thing is clear already: publishing the customary set of good practices will not be enough. Experts need training so they can rise to new challenges. IJAB’s engagement in media projects so far – ranging from the federal initiative “Schulen ans Netz” to the participation project jugend.partizipieren.jetzt – has shown that the more support is given to each individual worker, the more effective and sustainable it is. This includes support provided at the local level, too. After all, once experts have acquired technical skills, they need assistance in applying them to their day-to-day work, too – and often enough there may be some insecurities to address, too.
Those who call for more digitalisation in international youth work also need to provide sufficient funding. The current funding guidelines make no explicit mention of digital methods. The indicators that count are number of participants and kilometres travelled, rather than hardware, software, support, and preparation and debriefing by qualified personnel. While various funding bodies have demonstrated flexibility during the pandemic, the available funding is mostly limited to small-scale projects. The amount of funding earmarked for digital projects needs to equal that which is available for offline formats.
This text was first published in the 2/2020 edition of IJAB journal. IJAB journal can be downloaded in PDF format or a printed copy ordered or a subscription taken out free of charge. Should you wish to take out an IJAB journal subscription, please e-mail your full address and the name of your organisation to ijabjournal(at)ijab.de. For privacy reasons, you will receive an automated response asking you to confirm your subscription. IJAB journal is published twice a year. Subscriptions are free.
