Mobile Youth Work in Europe 2014 – Reaching the Unreachable

1. Mobile Youth Work in Europe 2014 – Reaching the Unreachable Aims, principlesandmethods Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

2. Global Situation:In nearly all countries of the worldexistyouthandsocialworkapproachesdealingwith formal and informal educationproblems, the problemofsubculturalgroups, juvenile delinquency, gangviolenceanddrugaddiction. Youth andsocialworkersthereforepractise Street Work, outreachyouthwork, detachedyouthwork, travail du rue, Gassenarbeit or Mobile Youth Work. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

3. What are the target groups of Mobile Youth Work? Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

4. Why do weneedMobile Youth Work? Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

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6. Difficult circumstances for street children and edangered youth Poverty School drop out Unemployment Broken home Homelessness Imprisonment Hunger Drug addiction, internet addiction Health problems (HIV, veneral desease) Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

7. Definition of Street Children • Street Childrenarechildrenunder 18 who, forshorterorlongerperiods, live in a streetmilieu. • Theyhavetheirpeergroupsandcontacts in the street. Officiallytheymayhaveastheiraddresstheirparents‘ homeor an institutionofsocialwelfare. • Most significantlytheyhaveveryfewornocontactswiththoseadults, parents, school, childwelfareinstitutions, socialservices, with a dutytowardsthem. (Council of Europe 1994) Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

8. DominatingReactionsof the Society • Control, surveillance • Exclusion, Discrimination • Punishment, incarceration • Exclusionfrom formal Education Systems (schools) • Ignorance, don‘tcare, it‘s not mybusiness; • Rejectionofresponsibility Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

9. Thatiswhy do weneedMobile Youth Work!!! Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

10. The Historyof Mobile Youth Work • Street Work and Mobile Youth Work in Europe goes back tostreetworkapproaches in the USA of the 20ies of the last century. • Target groupsforsocialworkerwere delinquent andviolentactingstreetgangs (streetchildren) in large citiesof the US. • Today Mobile Youth Work is a highlydeveloped professional conceptofSocial Work and Love forstreetchildren. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

11. Whatis Mobile Youth Work?1. Itis a professional answerofyouthandsocialworkers in Europe towardssocialproblemschildrenandyouthatriskhave in oursociety.2. Mobile Youth Work is professional peacework on the street, in the family, in the clique, in the gang, in the community. Itis a processofincreasingjusticeandsolidaritywith the disenfranchised. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

12. 2014 wehavetwoapproachesof Mobile Youth Work First approach of Mobile Youth Work is: • Social area oriented or • Community-based or • Takes place in living quarters. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

13. Second approachofMobile Youth Work is: • Focused on certain areas or places of several quarters like city centers, downtown areas, parks, railway stations, sports stadions, underground transportation, drug scences and others; • concentrated on action places of youngsters and gangs; • target group oriented, like towards punks, skinheads, hooligans, drug consumers, violent gangs, excluded ethnic youth groups. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

14. 5 Basics for Mobile Youth Work • Socialareaanalysis • Street Work, outreachwork • Case Work • Group Work • Community Work Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

15. Socialareaanalysis Goals: 1. Gettinghardand soft dataabout the livingsituationofstreetchildrenandviolentactingyouths. 2. Development of an empowermentsocialworkstrategy on the basisofthesedata. 3. Taking in considerationthe different culturalbackgrounds. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

16. Street Work • Street cornerwork • Street gangwork • Area youthwork • Outreachyouthwork • Detachedyouthwork • Field work. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

17. Case Work Basic principles: • Trust between the girlorboyand the socialworker • Voluntariness • Advocacy • Gender. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

18. Group Work • Main goal: Peer grouplearningbyusing the positive powerswithin the groupfor the individual endangeredchildoryoungster (positive peerculture). • Whatelseistobeseen? The functionofcliquesandgangsascompensationfor the weakormissingfamily (brokenhome); • advocatingforgroupworkagainst the global anddominatingtendencytoindividuatecounselandtherapeuticconcepts; • turningagainst the denunciationof juvenile cliquesandgroups. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

19. Community Work Community workis a professional andlocalpolicy form ofsocialwork. Itshouldbeseenas a holisticapproachofInclusion. Itcreates: • socialcapital • empowerment • supportsintegration • peace • preventsexclusion. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

20. International Society for Mobile Youth Work (ISMO) Goals of ISMO: • Fostering of local, regional, national and global networks, discussions und developments in context of the concept of Mobile Youth Work. • Strengthening the European Network for Mobile Youth Work. • Offer of training and qualification in the concept • of Mobile Youth Work in European countries. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht

21. Vision Each neglected child, each youngster living in a precarious situation anywhere in the whole world should be able to relay on a social liable reaction of its society. A female or a male Mobile Youth Worker will step up to give him or her support in the process of (re-)integration into the surrounding community. This reaction must be based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prof. Dr. Walther Specht Walther Specht 21