About JiVE
Background
Integrating young people with migrant background, helping them identify with and become involved in society, and opening the doors of German society and its institutions are important challenges for a viable society.
IJAB (International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany) and JUGEND für Europa (YOUTH for Europe) German Agency for the EU Programme YOUTH IN ACTION are responding to this challenge with the JiVE project. JiVE (Jugendarbeit international – Vielfalt erleben) is the German acronym for “Youth Work International – Experiencing Diversity”. This pilot project aims on the one hand to involve young people with a migrant background more strongly in the formats and areas of international youth work. On the other hand JiVE will use international youth work to promote the opening towards cultural and social diversity in German majority society.
International youth work makes a major contribution to achieving intercultural competencies. These competencies are becoming increasingly important – not only in working life, but also for everyday exchanges in a culturally diverse society. The positive and long-term effects on personality development resulting from young people’s participation in international youth exchanges have been validated by academic studies. International youth work allows young people to learn intercultural skills in authentic situations under positive learning conditions. Such exchanges address their competencies and resources. This specific methodology makes international youth work attractive for applications addressing young people with migrant background.
Experts can also benefit from international programmes on this theme. Sharing ideas and experience with colleagues from other countries expands personal and professional horizons and thus contributes to intercultural training, not just in work with young people with a migrant background, but in child and youth services altogether.
JiVE. Youth Work International – Experiencing Diversity aims at structurally linking international youth work to both migration-related youth work (e.g. youth migration services) and migrants’ grassroots organisations. Model sub-projects are being implemented in the three core areas of international youth work – youth exchanges, expert programmes and international voluntary services. This should exploit synergy effects through cross-sectoral cooperation.
Project structure
JiVE. Youth Work International – Experiencing Diversity consists of three sub-projects: International youth exchanges (the project "InterKulturell on Tour"), European Volunteer Service and Expert programmes. Click here to learn more about the different subprojects.
The overall project JiVE. Youth Work International – Experiencing Diversity is backed up by the Project Advisory Committee consisting of national and international youth work organisations, youth migration services, migrants’ grassroots organisations, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, local authorities, German states, academics and project executing organisations.
The flanking academic support and evaluation points up the possible contribution that international youth work can make to integration and intercultural opening. It will also provide indications concerning systemic synergy effects of international youth work and youth migration work in Germany.
Three cross-project international events will contribute to pooling experience and results gained from the three sub-projects:
- The International Forum on Equal Opportunities from 4 to 6 February 2009 is the first of the three cross-project conferences. Experts in international youth work, youth-related migration work and from migrants’ grassroots organisations from Germany and the rest of Europe will debate on the specific ways in which international youth work can boost integration of young people with migrant background. The findings will flow into the three sub-projects and lead to new, cooperative project ideas.
- The Partnership-Building Activity from 2 to 5 October 2009 will serve to create viable (international) partnerships in the thematic area of improving integration of young people with migrant background through international youth work.
- The Evaluation and Valorisation Conference scheduled at the end of the project in the second half of 2010 will then serve to assemble the final results of all the sub-projects. The evaluation of the results will help shape policies.
The project receives funding from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and from the EU programme YOUTH IN ACTION.
Project objectives
- Integration and intercultural opening up
- Increase in the number of young people with migrant background who participate in the measures of international youth work
- Intercultural opening up of international youth work organisations
- Cooperation between organisations in international youth work and youth migration work
- Creation of awareness regarding the positive effects of cooperation
- Developing cooperation structures
- Training experts
- Cross-sectoral cooperation
- Dovetailing the various areas of international youth work
- Building up international contacts in the field of integration/migration
- Academic findings
- Assembling the results of the sub-projects
- Overview – contribution of international youth work to integration and intercultural opening
- Stimulating the development of further strategies
To get an overview of the JiVE project, you may also download the following pdf documents:
Presentation EU Youth Work Convention (June 2010)
