The Finnish summer is hard to adapt to. For most of the ca. 40 people coming together in Jakobstad in the framework of the “YES Academy” project between 8-10 June, this adaption was eased by the team of Musikcafé After Eight.
Being a member of the YES Forum and host of the study visit, they showed social and youth workers from all around Europe what their approach to youth work looks like. Under the theme ‘Rock the Playground’ the participants heard speeches about the finish educational system, the specific problems of the youths in this area and the different projects After Eight carries out.
After group working sessions on ‘How to improve the ERASMUS+ programme?’ it was time to engage in hands-on workshops led by the social workers from After Eight. One of their key approaches to include young people is ‘Less talking, more doing’ and letting the young people be a crucial part of every project by including them from start until the end.
Besides the manual activities, the participants used the time for networking, spinning ideas about new collaborations and projects and shared best practices from the field of youth and social work. These best practices will be published by the YES Forum this year to inspire other practitioners. Look out for its release.