Local organizations and global values and standards
It is not universality at any price that forms the first consideration. It is rather the acceptance of common values – keeping step with like-minded peoples – in order to attain a high objective for all humanity, that is of paramount importance.
Introduction
The world community, we live in is aware of the modern challenges and is reacting on them in numerous ways: on international, national and local levels, with the help of governments and institutions. Nevertheless, this is only one aspect of the work the community committed itself. The other – and I would say not less important – is to foresee the challenges of tomorrow's life. The 192 States, represented in the General Assembly of the United Nations, sent a strong signal to every single citizen on Earth by proclaiming 2010, the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual understanding. States, funds and youth organizations are invited to to build on the synergies among their activities. On all levels, actions should aim at disseminating among young people the ideals of peace, freedom, progress and solidarity.
Following the spirit of the United Nations this paper is focused on a local and an international level. Thus, it is divided into two parts. In the first part, an overview of the local youth work in the autonomous province of Bolzano/Bozen (or South Tyrol) is provided; the second part is devoted to global values, which can be deduced from the continuous work with adolescents.
The geopolitical situation in South Tyrol
At the very beginning of this paper, it seems to be necessary to say a few words about the autonomous province of Bolzano/Bozen, which is located in the very North of Italy. In 1919, right after World War I the province, which had been a part of the Austro-Hungarian Princely County of Tyrol, was annexed to Italy. The peace treaty of Saint Germain did not include any obligation for Italy to protect the German minority in this region. This lead, especially during the fascist government to huge efforts to italianize the South Tyrol. All tributes to Austria and the South Tyrolean population who managed to preserve the local traditions and the German and Ladin language. In 1948 the Statute of Autonomy was signed between the region Trentino-South Tyrol and the Italian government. Even though this statute had to be amended several times during the course of the following years, the base for an autonomous province was set.
Today, the current institutional framework guarantees an extensive self-government. About 90% of the decisions are made on the local level. The province has become a model for settling inter-ethnic disputes and for the successful protection of linguistic minorities. Three big ethnical groups are today sharing the relatively small province and living together in harmony: Germans, Italians and Ladins.
Local youth work
Youth work in the autonomous Province of Bozen consists of an educational and an upbringing sphere, which is coexisting with families, schools and other institutions and offering young people – in peer-groups – the possibility to influence current affairs. These fundamental aspects of the youth work will be analysed in this chapter.
Families, schools and other institutions are traditional places, where young people grow up and learn about life and society. Youth organizations do not want to eliminate these traditional structures but were founded in order to meet other requirements of their generations which cannot be easily – if at all – satisfied in the classical field.
An advantage of youth organizations is that they are build on a basis of mutual trust and open cooperation of people of the same age. This structure stimulates a constructive exchange of views, thoughts and ideas about society, culture and the other sex. It is indeed a fact that adolescents feel more comfortable being among people of the same age. In these peer-groups, interests and views can be shared in discussions and works.
Further, the possibility to influence current affairs makes it more attractive for adolescents to express their ideas. In this way, young people experience the process of decision-making and start to understand what it means to take over responsibilities, be tolerant and to balance interests. Having influence means that they decide upon projects and the direction of their local organization. They have the possibility to become project managers or decision-makers: this impacts on cliques, alternative society and local alignments.
Therefore, youth work can be seen as a very important aspect of modern society. It promotes development of individual personalities, social behaviour, opens minds for socio-political aspects and calls upon youth to take a responsible part in the democratic movements of the modern world. It is easy to deduce that this work is based on respect and tolerance and is open for everybody, regardless of political, religious or personal backgrounds.
Another advantage is that youth organizations impart basic values to young people. While families and schools often use a hierarchical approach, youth organizations prefer a peer to peer concept.
This means adolescents are encouraged to find their own place in the field of tension between integration and opposition. On the one hand young people should learn how to integrate into existing groups and accept rules, on the other hand they should be able to develop their own personality and have a clear and strong opinion about cultural, economical and political aspects. I believe this is a cornerstone in the personal development of every citizen as they have the chance to find out – in a friendly environment – their own balance.
In South Tyrol this means, that local organizations are creating protected crossing points for 75.000 young people between 12 and 25 years – the most complicated age between adolescence becoming adults – by supporting and facilitating the moulding of their characters.
I would like to emphasize that youth organizations are pioneers when they are offering these protected spheres because the majority of areas in life are already framed by adults and young people can only adapt themselves.
Local activities
As already pointed out, South Tyrol is a province where due to historical reasons (and not just because of modern migration) 75.000 young people of different cultural backgrounds are living together. This requires outbalanced long-term strategies and innovative short-term activities.
The every-day-meeting-points
Local youth organizations provide protected spheres for the full disposal of adolescents in every village or town, not only in theory but also in practice. Young people can escape from daily pressures there and are explicitly allowed to chill. In this stable and trusting environment, they are free to meet people of the same age, interested in framing their free time. Trained youth workers catch up their ideas, listen to their problems and guarantee a niche of mutual understanding. Different projects are brainstormed, planned and then implemented, peer to peer group meetings are supported, and discussions about values, consumerism or free time are encouraged. Examples of how these goals can be implemented are:
1. mutual defining of the working program,
2. designing the meeting rooms,
3. organizing games and snack-stands.
Analysis of youth cultures
Many new types of the so called youth (sub)cultures have been created recently. Teenagers are influenced by music, films or art and create their own movement, which can and sometimes is followed by others. This leads to the development of a full-scale trend or even a new culture. Young people do not only want to follow these new trends but also to experience them.
Thus, it is of utmost importance to keep an eye on these changes, provide spaces for experiments and discussions on the topic of mainstream and new cultures.
Youth workers ensure this continuous dialogue with and between people, who are living in the style of these new cultures and follow them in workshops, theatres or new sport arts. Desires, needs and urges are therefore not suppressed and hence don't lead to isolation, frustration or loneliness.
Participation
One crucial point is to include adolescents into the decision-making process. By offering programs and workshops for young people, youth organizations include them in their internal decision-making process. As a result, adolescents start taking over responsibilities and deciding on their own upon their activities.
This is a big contribution to sustain the conscious development of the maturity of young people. Mainly this is achieved because the requirements of the youth are taken into account. Consequently it is not only participation on the paper but real decision-making. Moreover, young people act as experts in their own field, because they know in which direction they would like move in future. Last but not least, they get to know their limits. When they – together with youth workers – prepare workshops learn to assess their ideas and how to distinguish between realizable and unrealizable ideas. Further, they are asked to spread their enthusiasm among their colleagues, who might be more interested in other topics to convince them to support their project.
Sex-specific youth work
The understanding of men and women is strongly influenced by different cultures and mentalities. Youth organizations provide a diversified approach to this topic to enable everyone to find out his or her own perception of gender roles. Sex-specific youth work guarantees men and women equally open spaces for finding their physical, psychological, mental and spiritual needs. The earlier this life-long-learning process starts – at least in my point of view – the better it is for an open-minded development of every single citizen.
Integration
The integration of immigrants is not only supported but also desired. Young immigrants are welcomed because different cultural backgrounds can enrich the thinking of other adolescents in a particular society. Youth workers encourage to improve relationship skills and social decision-making responsibilities. An open dialogue between like-minded people and those with different thoughts is sought. Tolerance and solidarity can be improved, conflicts solved and constructive approaches between cultures made. In this sense integration should be seen as a reciprocal process where possible prejudices can be eliminated.
Openness
South Tyrol is opening itself continuously towards Europe and other cultures. The multilingual society of the province is seen as a chance to facilitate the approach to other understandings. Nobody denies that, when people from different cultures meet conflicts can rise. But conflicts are totally in order because there are institutional mechanisms to deal with them. This is a crucial aspect of the local life: conflicts are not deteriorating to violent conflicts, but are brought to the light, openly discussed and then solved.
Global values and standards
In the given overview, there are – more or less obvious – values and standards which South Tyrolean youth organizations focus on. In this meaning the word “value” refers to qualities or grown elements defining the meaning and understanding of mankind in social relationships. In my opinion, these values have not only local character but can be extended to the work of most youth organizations all over the world. Some of them are to be emphasized.
Body and mind
Young people understand that they are accepted as human beings. They learn to perceive their body and their mind and to feel comfortable. Only if they accept themselves, people around them can accept them in the way they are. Further, there is enough space for everybody's emotions. Young people are encouraged to express their feelings and deal with the feelings of others.
Relationships and communities
Integration, conflict-culture, liberty and boundary. These are crucial aspects of relationships among people, which allow living in democratic communities.
Abilities
Every youth organization should encourage the development of process-oriented or result-oriented decision-making responsibilities in an non-formal and informal context.
Society
The youth is called to treat the aims and the visions of other people in a world of diversity in a respectful and appreciative manner.
Genesis and creation
The respect of nature and resources, and the open-minded meeting of other cultures and religions in an is another core value. People encourage tolerance, creativity and diversity and are asked to think about deeper meanings in life.
Conclusion
Local and global institutions take the work with youth seriously and in recent years there has been an increase in the mutual commitment towards it. There is an impressive amount of local youth organizations, which offer young people a unique platform to develop themselves as citizens of a modern society. In 2010, the Year of Youth, the emphasized globally common values can serve as a basis to create a broader exchange of ideas and views among youth organizations and lead to a more integrated world community.