Report of Study visit in Norway, September 2018

YSPDB

Study visit "Youth worker training: Nordic approach" 17th to 21st of September, 2018, Norway

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The publication was produced in the frames of KA2 project “Youth worker training: Nordic approach� Project no. 2018-1-NO02-KA205-001233.

This report provides a summary of main inputs and theory part and also share handouts with participants of the training course, project partners and youth work community.

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Day 1 (17.09.2018) Arrivals Dinner and reception During non-formal meeting after dinner, participants were introduced to the program of the study visit. After a short round of getting to know each other, participants shared their expectations for the the study visit. Few of mentioned expectations: - obtaining knowledge about how youth work in Norway is organized in different levels from policy level to practical youth work, - learning more about the support system for youth work and analyzing best practices that could be implemented in partner countries, - learning about academic background during the visit to university - what topics and subjects are included in the Youth Knowledge study program, methods etc., - breaking stereotypes about youth work in Norway.

Day 2 (18.09.2018) University of South-East Norway

Session 1 Representatives of each national team presented the national youth work reality. Here are provided short summaries: Lithuania - Youth work is a part of social policy, therefore the main focus on governmental level is on solving social issues. Youth work practice is impacted by German, English, Irish, Norwegian and other practices.

Most visible progress in development during the last 15 years. Movement started in 1950ies with state movements and hobby education, in 1990ies youth organizations are developing, but not a lot of people joined because of mistrust since Soviet times, in 2006 first support from the government was given for youth centers, a lot of focus was put on promoting NGO’s. 20% of young people are involved in youth NGO’s and 20% in hobby education. State strategy aims for 50% involvement in hobby education and youth NGO’s. In 2018 60% of all 60 municipalities have a youth center/open space for young people. Most Youth Centers are funded by municipalities.

Most commonly used forms of youth work are: Open YW – open access for everyone, aim – involve young people who are not active in other free time activities; Informational YW – Youth centers which are providing information and counseling about opportunities. Detached YW – working on streets and inviting young people to open youth centers. Mobile YW – fixed schedule mobility through villages. ~10 municipalities have mobile YW.

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Bulgaria – youth work is under the guidance of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. In legal framework there is no description about what exactly youth work is and what are youth workers doing. National Youth strategy is taken from EU strategy.

Youth work is mainly developed by youth organizations although there is a gap between youth NGO’s and government – NGO’s are struggling to be recognized and are not financially supported.

Regarding youth spaces there are functioning youth houses although most of them have a not very attractive activities and infrastructure, there are 4 youth centers built with Norwegian grants, now working mostly with children. Youth NGO’s have created alternative youth spaces.

Latvia – Youth work is under the guidance of the Ministry of Education. Active Youth policy documents in Latvia: Youth law (2008); Youth policy implementation plan from 2016 to 2020; Youth policy state program (annual). Proportion of young people (13-25 years old as stated in legislation) is decreasing.

Implementation of youth work is a responsibility of local municipalities - each municipality develops youth policy (either included in the municipality strategy or as a separate document), youth work system and hire youth work affairs specialist and/or youth worker. These both professions have profession standards. Academic study programs on Master level for Youth Affairs’ specialist are active in 2 universities in Latvia as well every year Ministry of Education and Science organize special courses. There are no official programs and courses for youth workers.

National priorities in youth field: Youth education and training; Youth social inclusion; Youth participation; Youth employment and entrepreneurship; Youth health and welfare: Youth work practice consists of 4 basic elements: Youth initiatives – support for young people idea development; Leisure time - usually provided by youth centers; Non-formal learning through Erasmus+: Youth in Action projects and initiatives non formal learning activities are organized; Access to information - usually these functions are done by local youth centers and NGO’s. There is a network of Eurodesk coordinators and info points.

Funding for youth work comes from municipalities, from youth policy state program, Erasmus+:Youth in Action program and other funds and sponsors.

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Norway – Movements of youth work started in 1953 when first youth center was opened.

Around 1990ies 1200 youth centers were open all over Norway, but at 1997 state stopped funding youth centers. In 2002 Youth Knowledge study program in Bachelor level was started. In 2018 730 youth centers are open in around 400 municipalities.

Legislation on policy level is not very strong, youth work has “grown from underneath” – from the needs of young people to national policies. Therefore, practical youth work is developed, but the support system on national level not as much.

A debatable issue on national level is over the topic if youth work should be more cultural work or social work and if youth centers should be a place to learn or a place to be. During 1960ies and 1970ies high focus was on social work, in 1980ies focus on cultural work – providing space for young people to create their own culture on own premises and nowadays it is mostly combined, but different youth centers and youth workers understand the role differently.

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Session 2

Discussion in mixed groups together with Youth Knowledge study program students about 3 questions: - When I was young…

- Young people and reality in my country - Me and Youth Work Introduction to Youth work in Horten Municipality Participants were introduced to youth work reality concentrated in a municipality’s library.

Youth workers in Horten municipality are struggling to give opportunities to youngsters, because of lack of communication between municipality, NGO’s and youth workers. Since all these instances do not have a common vision and plan and youth workers couldn’t gather the youth, ask them what do they need because of lack of open youth space when culture house got closed, there is a delay for making a youth club and youth center.

Since young people in the municipality still needed a place to call theirs, the library took over as a natural meeting place for youngsters, but workers of library are lacking knowledge and skills for working with youth.

Some thoughts that were raised in the discussion: Young people are pushed to achieve – there is pressure from school, parents, hobby clubs – and they are looking for a place to be.

Being integrated in the “perfection society” is cool now, it makes it harder for the ones who fall out.

Day 3 (19.09.2018) Tønsberg Youth Office Session 1 Participants were introduced to system how youth work is managed in city of Tonsberg.

There are 3 open youth clubs in the city who work with youngsters 13-18 years old, each of the clubs are open 2 days a week and one Friday a month. Average of 30-40 youngsters are visiting the clubs daily. Each youth club has 3 employees – one leader and two assistants. Youth workers spend 50% of working time in the club and 50% in youth office working with projects.

There are also 4 outreach/detached youth workers who work with youngsters aged 13-23.

Youth work in the city is organized in 3 levels based on the social needs of young people – for youngsters with no social problems free time activities are organized, youth clubs are an open space, more problematic youth – detached youth workers outreach this youth on the streets, works with them there and invites to youth clubs while working with youth with severe social problems cooperation with other systems is a must. Very important in all levels is cooperation with schools, NGO’s, parents etc. institutions which are directly connected to the youth.

Some thoughts raised in discussion: “Youngsters now are hard to satisfy. They are waiting for employees to entertain them, lacking initiative”; “Youngsters feel they are social when talking to peers on social media.”

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Session 2 Discussion with detached youth workers In Tonsberg outreach youth work placement is since 1971 and it’s the longest in Norway. It started when in 1970ies young people from other towns went to Oslo and gathered in groups using drugs. Social workers, youth workers and scientists went out to the parks to understand what is going on. Support system was established for those who stayed in Oslo and Youth Office was created in Tonsberg to work with young people who came back to their hometown.

Outreach youth workers are using different methods, one of which is motivational interview.

They are trying not to interfere with young people’s doings, trying to get to know them, talk to them, and build a connection. Main focus is to prevent things from going wrong.

Asked about differences in youth behavior during the years, youth workers admit that mental health and sexual identity struggles are visible in larger scale nowadays.

Haugarock

Visit in a space created for young musicians For 20 years in a doomsday bunker which is located in a mountain cave in the middle of the city is a youth space which provides rehearsal and performing space for young musicians aged 13-18 years old. To use the opportunities, young people have to become members of the club paying a small fee – 100eur/year. At the moment the club has 70 active members from 20 different musical bands. The space is open Monday – Friday from 4pm to 10pm and 1 employee is working during the day and 2 employees at evenings.

It is an infrastructure of municipality’s culture and health department. The space has 3 rehearsal rooms, a concert hall and a recording studio which can be used by bands who have been members of the club for a longer time. In the concert hall per month is organized 1 show for which the entrance fee is very small -15 kr. The space is rented also for professional bands, but the price is much more expensive - +/-120kr/h.

The club has a strong cooperation with child welfare – if social services/ other institutions contact them that young person who cannot afford the yearly fee wants to come, they try to find a place for him.

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Medieval festival

Main organizer of a major municipality festival introduced to the system how young people are involved in the process as volunteers.

The Medieval festival is a municipality organized journey back in time (year 1000-1500) First and foremost goal of the festival is to be a different festival and include as many people as possible that need a social arena to develop. Therefore, generating a good environment for volunteers is of a crucial importance.

Every year for 3 days the festival gathers about 270 volunteers and 6000 visitors. Festival has about 200k euro budget, 70k from income and 80k is funded by municipality. 2 main incomes are ticket & food, alcohol sales The system how volunteering is managed is – there are partly paid volunteers (leaders, volunteer coordinators) who work for the festival all year long and coordinate not paid volunteers who join 5-6 days before the festival. Volunteers are working with technical department, artists, decorations, food service, market, marketing – PR and social media. Majority of volunteers work in the food service and ticket sales.

About 1/3 of all volunteers are aged 15-22 years old. Youngsters aged 15-25 years old prefer to volunteer than come as a solo unit visitor. Mostly these young volunteers are not very active throughout their life, their social life is limited. 5-6 days the 300 volunteers live in the territory in tents. Detached youth workers are active in the volunteer camp and more professionals (psychologists, social workers etc.) are joining to help with social issues.

Some youngsters haven't had an experience where someone trusted them with a task, they did it and felt accomplishment. In order to provide an arena to grow, sometimes jobs have to be "made up" – giving the volunteer a task which doesn’t have a big practical gain for the festival, but gives a great feeling of achievement for the volunteer.

“Youth work is like pistachio nuts - some are already open, some need a little cracking to open up and create their own social connections, some need more individual help (drug abusers, sexual identity etc.)”

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Visit at Eik Youth Center Participants had a chance to see one of the 3 youth clubs in Tonsberg which was described as a typical Norwegian youth center.

Day 4 (20.09.2018) Fellesverket

Session 1&2 Helena Bisgaard (Red Cross) - How NGO fills the role of municipality Tone Helene Jørgensen (County) – How we listen to youth The youth house “Fellesverket” was established in January 2016 alongside 11 other houses in 9 cities. It was started by the Red Cross NGO because there was a need for a place with safe environment for vulnerable youth that municipalities could not/ did not provide. In the beginning the youth house was open 2 days a week, now it is open Monday – Friday from 3pm to 8pm.

In the youth house every day retired teachers and other volunteers are helping the kids with homework, warm meal is served for free by college students who are in practice, different activities are offered – board games, table tennis, table football, conversations, field trips, amusement park and escape room visits etc.

The heart of the youth house are volunteer group leaders who are managing the house when it’s open. In Red Cross NGO all over Norway are just 12 employees and about 9000 volunteers.

Requirements for the volunteers: to know first aid and psychological first aid (how to ask open questions, how to talk to youth); to stand for the values and principles of Red Cross and to finish a course for volunteers from all the houses.

They do not have a cooperation with municipality, only the detached youth workers. Often youth already have help from the system, but they need someone to listen to them.

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Session 3

Anja Boman (Artist) – How we involve youth in cultural productions

Anja is a theater teacher from municipality culture school who has started a Mentor project in the theater group. Within the Mentor project young people are introduced to other disciplines of theater production - script writing, lighting, sound and others. This project was started because older youngsters (18+ years old) needed more follow up in the transition period from high school to university and there was a feeling that youngsters were missing the whole picture - what it takes to make a performance.

This project grew as a stepping stone for those who want to go further with theater and for others brought understanding about their limits and necessity to cooperate with other professionals. The youngsters who were a part of starting this project are feeling ownership of it, which brings some benefits and some challenges. Because of this reason they were able to establish a pay-forward system where older youngsters have a chance to teach the younger. This system works very well because older youth need activities where they are involved in and can influence something bigger.

Session 4

Anders Nordanger (Labor Union) – How the union supports Youth Work

Trade Union in Norway has about 365000 members from ~100 different trades. They are working towards equal possibilities for all, influencing education according to the needs of society and recognition of youth work and preventive work. Raising importance of YW ans preventive work on governmental level is a struggle, because if the problems have been prevented, government does not see them and do not see the point of investing finance in this preventive work.Trade Union is working towards having youth clubs mandatory by law and quality education, defined profession for youth workers.

Trade Union started a project for cross-sector cooperation - bringing together professionals from different sectors responsible for working with youth (career guidance specialists, politicians, social workers, youth workers, employers, representatives from schools, Department of Public Health, children services, NGOs, youth centers, police, Culture Department and others) in order to understand the core values of different sectors, see what overlaps and develop a systematic and holistic approach and plan.

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Session 5

Department of Public Health – “Youth voices” project.

This project was started in 2013 and the overall goal is connecting people - mainly youth who are not usually listened to and decision makers. The project was started, because usually youth council, student council and other socially active young people are the ones whom politicians ask for youth opinion leaving those who are not already active in the social system voiceless.

In 2013 30 young people were involved in analyzing a large scale survey on social issues from the youngster’s perspective and presenting the results in a conference. This made a big impact and in result the decision makers said they wanted to hear more from the youngsters from “Youth voices”.

Within the project Department of Public Health is providing opportunities for international cooperation - training municipality youth workers and young voices on participation and cooperation, youth friendly services.

Participants were introduced to a couple of concepts used within this project:

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Evaluation of the study visit

During non-formal meeting after dinner, participants evaluated and shared their thoughts about the study visit. Few of mentioned thoughts and learning outcomes: - A lot of food for thought after the study visit, excited for future steps in the project, will go home full of energy to use the learning outcomes to bring change in the local reality; - Broken stereotypes about Norway - found out that youth workers in Norway are facing similar challenges, feeling relieved that we are not doing something wrong, that the challenges are normal processes; - All expectations were met. Even went over; - Was missing the personal and group reflections, - Smoothly organised and done programme. The preparation meeting in Latvia was so fruitful that there were no worries about the study visit, which resulted in a smooth process now; - A lot of new ideas, thinking how to apply, - Feeling inspired by the people who seem like they love what they do very much when talking about it; - Thankful that had the chance to participate.

Day 5 (21.09.2018) Meeting between project partners about next steps in the project Representatives from project partner organizations came together to talk over the timeline and next steps of the project in order to ensure that the process runs smoothly and communication and cooperation between all partners is working well.

Departures

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