Where is Youth Work in Working with Young People from Vulnerable Groups

In Belgrade, in the ceremonial hall of the City Municipality of Vracar, a panel discussion was held entitled "Professional Principles in Working with Young People from Vulnerable Groups: the perspective of youth work", which brought together over 60 representatives of civil society, social protection and education.

The panel consisted of two parts. In the first part, the panel presented the results of the international Erasmus+ project aimed at improving the quality of youth work practice with young people from vulnerable groups. The panelists presented aspirations to improve the quality of youth work, professional principles that distinguish youth work as a separate profession, and an innovative training model for youth workers developed within the project, which helps them improve their competencies to work with young people from vulnerable groups through interactive learning and applied drama. The focus of the discussion was cross-sectoral cooperation, and participants were willing to involve youth workers as collaborators in providing support to young people. Innitiatives were launched to better connect the sectors.

In the second part of the event, experts participated in a demonstration of applied drama training for youth workers. The workshop was attended by over 30 participants. Experts from social protection, education and youth work worked on various challenging situations and, through various techniques, tried to solve them on the spot.

The panel was held within the project "ACT AS PROFESSIONALS: Improvement of youth work practice with young people with fewer opportunities", in cooperation with the National Association of Youth Workers and Gadeplan Børn og Unge from Denmark, co-financed by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ program. The event was organized in cooperation with the City Municipality of Vracar.