Included or not included… that’s the question ! Input on inclusion and the possibilities of the Youth programme for young people with fewer opportunities Dirk De Vilder Outward Bound ® Belgium

1. Story of Jos A young person with fewer opportunities

“It’s nice to hear that I am a young person with fewer opportunities. Before I was socially disadvantaged, vulnerable, delinquent, young person at the edge, … Good to know but does this gives me more possibilities???”

2. Mechanisms of social exclusion

“Young people with fewer opportunities” are defined by the obstacles they face in life Educational Social Economic Disability Health problems Cultural obstacles Georgraphical

“ the problems young people face, especially in their transitions to adulthood and employment, have intensified in the last two decades. Most young people have very ordinary ambitions to get a basic job, with a regular average income and a family which they can support. These relatively simple ambitions, however, are not within the reach of many, who end up living precarious lives on the edge of society due to a mixture of exclusionary processes.

But it is unhelpful to depict troubled – and sometimes troublesome – youth as a group with singular characteristics. Some are temporarily sidetracked, others essentially confused and only a small minority deeply alienated from mainstream society…” (Howard Williamson; keynote speech research seminar ‘social inclusion and young people’) It’s not because you are part of ‘a group that faces obstacles’ that you are excluded

Different social analyses on social exclusion Individual guilt model Individual victim model Collective victim model Collective guilt model

…Different strategies to build bridges towards inclusion

Social vulnerability (Walgrave, Vettenburg) “Some persons/groups become vulnerable by the social organization of a given society. In contact with social institutions they don’t take profit or profit less from the social services, education,…” (Walgrave) “A accumulation of negative experiences in contact with social institutions leads towards a negative social perspective” (Vettenburg) Structural component Relational component

Experience of being different (language, rules, requests, …) Difference between the home culture and school culture They have to learn more, less stimulation Difficulty to adapt leads to negative perspective, stigmatization, bad results, ineffective social ties, …. Negative stereotypes by teachers School as an institution that can lead towards negative social perspective “The school as a first experience of social vulnerability for young people”

Normal students develop a network of social ties throughout their schooling, but students who perform poorly or drop out fail to develop that rapport. According to the theory of social vulnerability, these latter students are more prone to juvenile delinquency because of the absence of significant social ties. School as a part of the dominant culture becomes a excluding mechanism

Vicious circle of social exclusion Born in a family with negative experiences with institutions Negative social perspective Bad social, economic situation Different social attitudes, skills Bad experiences at school Negative self image ‘alternative value system’ More risks to get in contact with justice bad employment

Structural problem Not only an individual problem Some groups are more vulnerable (stigmatisation) Differences in culture Te bigger the difference between the dominant culture and the culture of the group the bigger the risk of being excluded Don’t see the other group as a deficient, but as a ‘variation’ of the dominant culture. Only this change in mentality will lead to real inclusion. (Vettenburg)

3. From exclusion towards integration ‘If I would know the answer, I would not be here’ Different problems requires different approach, solutions, actions, Coaching attitude (ask, don’t tell) Helping to build op a positive perspective, relation, social ties Standard methods often don’t work

Understanding the box Williamson went on to propose an empirical strategy for determining effective action to combat social exclusion at local, regional, or national levels. He uses the striking image of a ‘box’ in which many young are caught as a metaphor for social exclusion. The ‘box’ has permeable boundaries that young people may cross back and forth, into and out of exclusion, depending on circumstances and opportunities. Understanding the ‘box’ and what to do about it does not require an a priori definition of ‘social exclusion’, but demands that those involved work to create their own definition, and explore the social condition of particular groups of young people facing exclusion.

This can be done by addressing key questions, the answers to which indicate the nature of the solutions required 1. Who do you want to include ? Who are these young people? What are there experiences? What combination of causes drove young people to enter the ‘box’? What barriers could prevent young people entering the ‘box’? (prevention?) 2. Do they want to be included ? (by you) What are there needs? How can solutions be calibrated to these different needs? Are different preventative measures needed for different young people at different times? 3. Included for what ?

4. Youth programme an opportunity for inclusion or another institution that creates social vulnerability food for thought

why a European programme? Maslow!! Do they want, do they need it? What do they need? Did you ask? Do you want to set up a European project with young people with fewer opportunities ?? Not an isolated event but embedded in a process How does the programme find these young people? How do these young people find the programme? Importance of multiplications, intermediates

participation, how to build up an international project together with young people with fewer opportunities… ‘nothing about us, without us’. How to Integrate the social context ? Parents, family, key persons, … Non-formal education, an answer to the hurting mechanisms of formal education Importance of ‘relation’ with, be in relation with, speak their language, know their ‘social context’,…

differences in programmes according to different groups of possible excluded young people ‘different answers for different questions’ Ex. Disabled young people together with non- disabled Ex. Lesbian, gay together to speak safely about specific issues How to assure a minimum of obstacles for youth workers and young people with fewer opportunities for setting up projects or participate in projects ? Timing, administration, prefinancing, coaches to help with administration, …..

Who has to do the job?? inclusion in regular youth organisations or organisations working with excluded young people consequences for training and support measures On what to train: specific topics, working with groups, process oriented youth training, personal development for youth workers working with these young people, basic training ??????

Good luck !!!