On 1 October 2022, Marie-Luise Dreber will hand over the directorship of IJAB – the International Youth Office of the Federal Republic of Germany – to her successor after serving the international youth work community for 22 years. It all began with a bang. IJAB was established in 1967 as the then International Youth Exchange and Visitors’ Service, but Marie-Luise Dreber was the first woman to be appointed Director of the organisation. With a degree in education plus a wealth of experience in national and international youth work, she was exceptionally well suited to the job. She was called upon to apply that expertise very soon, given that IJAB’s profile began to undergo considerable change in the years that followed as it transformed from a visitors’ service to specialised youth office. Her leadership skills stood her in very good stead during this time, as did her strong communication capabilities and unwaveringly positive attitude.
From 2010 onwards, in the wake of the key issues paper of the Federal Youth Ministry on international youth policy and the European Youth Strategy, IJAB had to find a response to new youth policy issues and become well-versed in learning from its international partners in a variety of ways. Marie-Luise Dreber was instrumental in driving this process forward.
Initiatives and advisory services such as JiVE -Jugendarbeit international – Vielfalt erleben, Kommune goes international and Vision:Inclusion were developed to reach out to new target groups. A large number of digital information and advisory services were developed to encourage greater participation.
IJAB became a key platform for quality development and professional dialogue, with its core objective to internationalise the child and youth services field.
Time and again, Marie-Luise Dreber directed the spotlight back on the political dimension of international youth work and drove ahead cooperation between the other specialist and funding agencies for international youth work in Germany and abroad in a move to give the field an audible voice vis-à-vis external audiences, too. When it comes to large-scale projects such as the G7 and G20 youth summits and new youth policy partnerships with, e.g., the People’s Republic of China, IJAB was and is a reliable partner for the Ministry. Marie-Luise Dreber was a fully committed representative of the international youth work community, making valuable contributions towards developing the field. For this, I would like to offer her my thanks and wish her all the best.
