JiVE International Youth Work

The project JiVE. Youth Work International - Experiencing Diversity, which has both a practical and a research component, has shown that the concepts and methods of international youth work are capable of supporting young members of the immigrant community in participating in society. International youth work is a particularly effective instrument that contributes in its own specific way to help the young members of this community to integrate, and to raise greater awareness of intercultural issues among institutions and organisations. JiVE (2008-2010) consisted of three sub-projects, InterKulturell on Tour (IKT), the European Voluntary Service (EVS) and expert programmes with Spain and Turkey. This was the first time that three different international youth work formats - youth exchanges, European voluntary programmes and expert programmes - were brought together as one project that focused specifically on immigration and participation. A team of researchers from Cologne University of Applied Sciences accompanied the JiVE project. They succeeded in gaining detailed insights into the potential of international youth exchanges to facilitate the integration and participation of young immigrant community members and enhance intercultural awareness in the field of child and youth services. In the context of the European Voluntary Service, the team looked specifically at the role of young people’s citizenship activities. Finally, they also examined the capacity of the expert programmes to improve training for experts working in this field.