Youth workers from 14 countries gathered in Český Těšín
Published:
19. 12. 2023Interdiac, together with Silesian Diakonia, hosted a conference where its partners gathered on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 December in Český Těšín to celebrate more than a year of mutual learning together. The project was called 'Make Change Yourself: Turning Challenges to Your Advantage!' (MACY) and was supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. It involved six partners from different Central and Eastern European countries as well as partners from Finland and Italy.
In total, more than 50 invited participants from 14 countries gathered to learn about the successes of the project directly through the performances of the programme participants. Participants included youth workers, young people and leaders of diaconal work. It was very interesting and beneficial to see the discussion across different countries and generations on how they perceive future challenges such as artificial intelligence, working with information, etc.
This final event of the MACY programme evaluated and celebrated this learning journey. The programme of workshops provided a space for young people to express their insights and opinions. The consultation also started the process of multiplying learning by sharing it with youth workers and social workers and youth organisations from other countries and developing concrete multiplication plans related to specific contexts - i.e. from the perspectives of not only the Czech Republic but also, for example, Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, etc.
The training programme invited youth workers to learn from each other and from young people to explore new ideas of empowering presence together. The aim was to support young people in developing their own 'voice and agency' to promote change in their context and in their lives. The learning journey lasted over a year and created many opportunities to reflect, explore and test new approaches and new methods in everyday practice towards affirming transformational change 'from below'.
The meeting ended with ideas for developing a vision for inclusive, transformative youth work and learning and developing proposals for future work of interdiac with its partners in this area.
