Fiona’s story of the Training Course on social inclusion!

Fiona took part as a German participant in the Training Course on social inclsuion organized by Associazione Joint in Monte Barro, Italy, in March 2023.

The Mountain Monte Barro, one hour north of Milan. A place that became a metaphor during the last days.

From the 7th till the 14th March, 26 people from all over Europe came here to step out of society. We were people from Italy, France, Portugal, Greece, Serbia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Poland, Spain, Ireland and Germany.

We had a goal, to learn how to become good youth leaders and how to include youngsters with fewer opportunities in the work we do framed by Erasmus+
First we had to define what youth mobility is and what makes a good youth leader. We projected these features back on ourselves to figure out how we can fulfill this role. After that we started discussing inclusion: guidelines defined by the EU, why we should aim for inclusion, and finally we became concrete: discussing real crisis situations during youth exchanges and trying to find inclusive solutions for them. I can tell it was a hard discussion that showed differences and similarities in our approaches and sensibilized for diversity.

On our free afternoon, we stepped down from the mountain for the first time. We came back to society, at least for one afternoon. After this short trip, we started preparing for the youth exchange that will take place from the 26th April till the 6th of May in Ligonchio. Its topic is “Intercultural dialogue and art”.

When we finished the session, the seven days of project were already over. It was time to evaluate what we learned and reflect our emotions.
And as we were about to leave, the weather up on the mountain changed. All week we had a clear view downhill. But now, as the time had come to leave, it started to rain and fog arose.

It’s been an interesting week at a special place. I brought many things back home. I got new inspiration, proof to get more involved in international youth work again, and especially I created new connections to people that will stay.

“I got new inspiration, proof to get more involved in international youth work again, and especially I created new connections to people that will stay.”

Fiona - Participant