Building community capacity [611728]

Building community capacity
Bringing the young and old together:
how to connect international youth workwith intergenerational practice
Michael Teffel
Abstract
Purpose – This case study aims to describe the efforts of the Kreisau-Initiative (KI) Berlin to connect the
field of international youth work with intergenerational approaches.
Design/methodology/approach – The study describes three projects of the KI, illustrating the general
background of the intergenerational projects, dissussing opportunities and challenges, and highlightingsome of the implications for practitioners.
Findings – When offering international exchange projects for people of all ages, the paper has made
one interesting finding. Generally speaking, it is more difficult to find younger people (aged 50 andyounger) to take part in such activities than seniors. From this case study, the author learned that everyproject which aims to foster intergenerational dialogue needs a topic in which every participant (bothyoung and old) is interested; it should be connected to them and to their daily lives. For organisationswhich would like to work both intergenerationally and internationally, it is difficult to obtain funding asthere are only a few funds supporting international meetings for people of all ages.
Originality/value – The case study addresses intergenerational issues in international exchange
projects.
Keywords Youth, Elderly people, Intergenerational work, Best practice, Project management, Germany
Paper type Case study
A short introduction of the ‘‘project Krzyz ˙owa’’
The Kreisau-Initiative (KI) was set up by East and West Berliners in the summer of 1989, before
the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Its aim was to develop the concept and sponsor financially
the setting up and maintenance of an international youth meeting centre and memorial
in what had been German Kreisau until 1945 and then became Polish Krzyz ˙owa. As a
non-governmental, non-profit organisation we organise and deliver international meetings for
various target groups in close cooperation with the Krzyz ˙owa Foundation for Mutual
Understanding in Europe, bringing together young people and adults from Germany, Poland,
Western and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Israel and Palestine. The aim of each exchange is to
trigger the sustainable participation of young people and to provide them with the
competences they need to become active citizens. Moral courage, social and political
engagement, tolerance, understanding between nations and commitment to democracy and
human rights, all of which form the basis for action in resisting the dictatorships of the twentieth
century, are considered and explored.
DOI 10.1108/13663661111144754 VOL. 15 NO. 2 2011, pp. 53-57, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1366-3666 jWORKING WITH OLDER PEOPLE jPAGE 53Michael Teffel,
Kreisau-Initiative Berlin e.V .,
Berlin, Germany.

Preface
Dialogue between people from different generations has had a very important influence on
the development of the ‘‘Project Krzyz ˙owa’’ since 1989. Youngsters and Elders experience a
productive intergenerational exchange on both history and the present. However,international exchange projects which include people of all ages are much less common.To address this the KI has since 2008 had the specific aim to bring people of all generations
together in international exchange projects.
By doing this we are dealing with an issue, which will become more and more important for
Germany, Poland and other European societies. Through participation in several pilot projectsduring recent years younger and older people have had the oppportunity to gain internationalexperience in Krzyz ˙owa working together in multi-generational groups. The experience we
have gained through these projects has helped us to understand the great potential of such
dialogue between the young and old. Young people profit from the life experience of olderpeople, who benefit from hearing the modern views and insights on different topics of the
younger ones. It also became clear to us that a generation is no homogenous collective entity.
This presents an additional challenge for these projects, in which we have to handle severalaspects – e.g. culture, social origin and age. We believe, that there is still a long way to go,
before we can include intergenerational approaches permanently in international youth work.
But the beginning which we have made is presented in this paper to provide an insight into thebackground of our work, our aims and the projects we have undertaken.
The demographic situation in Germany, Poland and Europe
Demographic change and ageing societies present a huge challenge for all Europeansocieties. Average life expectancy increased by eight years in the period since 1960.Experts foresee a further increase of five more years by 2050. In addition the ‘‘Baby-boomers’’
from the 1960 s will retire soon and this contributes towards a society which is aging rapidly.
The balance between young and old will undergo an immense change. This will have animpact on social security systems. There will be proportionately less younger people to carry
the financial responsibility for a growing population of older people.
In such a situation dialogue between different generations becomes more and more
important to maintain social cohesion. Looking into modern individual biographies it can be
observed that due to increasing individual mobility and other factors, intergenerationaldialogue less often takes place in a ‘‘natural way’’, for example in families which contain
members of three or more generations.
In this situation it is very important to see demographic change not only as a threat but also
as an opportunity. The knowledge, which can be passed between generations in an
intergenerational dialogue, is essential to help solve some of the future problems ofEuropean societies. In Germany there are many local and national initiatives aimed at
connecting people of different ages to participate in development of our future society.
Examining a number of comments of the European Commission and the Council of Europeone can draw the conclusion, that the issue is increasingly being discussed as an Europe
wide phenomenon at the policy level[1]. What is still missing, is a consistent European view
on intergenerative projects within civil society projects.
Five reasons for an international dialogue between generations
Against the background of these factors, one of the main aims of the KI is to bring together
people of all ages to give them the possibility to exchange opinions and reduce prejudice
based on different nationalities, social class and age. In doing this, we are trying to integratetwo sectors, which seem to be rather alien to each other. But we are convinced that many
positive effects can be reached by a cooperation between the ‘‘international youth work’’
and the ‘‘senior citizens work’’ sectors.
First, international multigenerational meetings are an appropriate means to challenge
and reduce prejudice and stereotypes between nations, which are passed down through
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the generations particularly in families. This mechanism can be critically discussed,
when three generations come together to get to know people from other countries.
Second, the dialogue of generations can be handled in a very intense way because of the
exceptional setting of non-formal learning which exists in an international meeting. During a week
of common learning and working, which is far removed from daily life, people of all ages gain
common experiences, which also help to dismantle the prejudices between the generations.
Third, the participation of people of all ages in international meetings offers equal
opportunities for everyone. Why should only youngsters enjoy the positive aspects of
international meetings, such as language competencies, social competencies, intercultural
learning or relations with people from other countries?[2].
Fourth, a reason for providing international meetings for people of all ages is to enable
questions of sustainability that are fundamental in all European societies to be discussed.
What we decide today has an influence on the world of tomorrow. In times of rapid change
and international interconnectedness this simple truth becomes even more important.
Fifth, the possibility to challenge and reduce a very common and widespread form of
discrimination, that is to say ‘‘adultism’’. Young people very often lack a lobby, which cares
about their particular needs. They are not allowed to participate fully in social decisions, as
they still have ‘‘so much to learn’’. This very common view is described with the word‘‘adultism’’, which means discrimination against young people because of their age. Within
international meetings for young and old, young people learn to communicate as equals with
older people and to have their opinions equally valued.
Experiencing the dialogue of generations – three international projects in Krzyz ˙owa
The project ‘‘Dwarfs meeting giants’’ is dedicated to fathers and their children from Germany
and Poland. The focus within this project is on familial relations, which are per se
intergenerational. The aim is to strengthen the role of fathers in the education of their childrenby enabling them to spend a concentrated period with their children, meeting other fathers from
the neighbouring country and exchanging personal views on educational questions. Within the
project different methods are used togive fathers and children important suggestions and ideas
to reflect on for their daily familial life. With the help of outdoor education or puppet theatre
mutual dependencies and hierarchies in families can be discussed and better understood.
The project ‘‘Songs of generations’’ brings people from Germany and Poland, aged between
19 and 99 years old, together. They all have an interest in music, and are eager to discuss the
meaning of music in their personal biographies and home societies. The intergenerational
setting of participants also offers the possibility to think about intergenerational prejudices
and ways for the generations to live together in future. This project revealed the importance of
a ‘‘common theme’’ for intergenerational projects which is relevant to everybody – young orold. The dialogue of generations can easily be triggered, if there is a tangible issue to talk
about and to consider together.
The project ‘‘InterGenerationes – intergenerational meets international’’ is aimed to open up
the sector of international youth work to intergenerational learning and to enable anexchange between the two fields of international youth work and senior citizen work.
An international conference is planned to build up this network, which is essential to offer
international exchanges for people of all ages. Representatives from the international youth
work, adult education and senior citizen work sectors from all over Europe will meet in
Krzyz ˙owa, listen to keynote speeches on the topic and country reports. They will participate
in discussions on methods for international multigenerational exchange and receive an
introduction regarding the European Networks concerned with intergenerational dialogue.They will also examine the findings of a survey of EU-fundraising for intergenerational
exchange, and attend presentations of good practice projects and workshops on different
aspects of the issue. As a follow- up an Europe wide PR-campaign and a pilot project in the
form of a German-Polish-French international meeting are planned. Within this project we
are trying to internationalize intergenerational learning.
VOL. 15 NO. 2 2011 jWORKING WITH OLDER PEOPLE jPAGE 55

Chances and challenges – conclusions for intergenerational practice
In the following I would like to highlight some of my conclusions for practitioners who are
interested in implementing intergenerational learning in international exchanges or viceversa.
Making the dialogue of generations explicit
The issue of intergenerational dialogue has become quite popular in the last years. Many
organisations are discovering their intergenerational potential, and pursuing the argument,
that within their regular work there has been always ‘‘something intergenerational’’. In thiscontext, it has to be said clearly, that young and old people ‘‘side by side’’ taking part in aninternational meeting or in a volunteer programme are not automatically engaged in anintergenerational dialogue. To reveal similarities and differences, conflicts and commontopics is hard work, which needs much empathy from both side, time, a common space tolearn and concrete methods for discussion and reflection, which must be adapted tointergenerational groups.
Building networks
When we present our projects or discuss the issue of intergenerational learning in
international meetings with practitioners from the field of international youth work, weregularly encounter doubt concerning the benefit of those activities. Another importantargument which is often raised is the ‘‘exclusive responsibility’’ of the youth work sector foryoung people. To overcome those reservations networks have to be built and a lobbycreated which brings together people who are convinced that it is worthwhile to connectintergenerational learning and international exchange. This means that organisations from
the international youth work sector will need to look for new alliances within the field of senior
citizen work. This might be a local senior’s club or a national lobby group for the needs ofolder people. This means that people must be ready to open their own organisation to otherviewpoints, organisational cultures and ways of thinking. The European Year 2012 of ‘‘activeaging and intergenerational solidarity’’ will hopefully play a crucial role in this process.
Differentiated search for participants
When offering international exchange projects for people of all ages, we have made one
interesting finding. Generally speaking it is more difficult to find younger people (aged below
50 and younger), taking part in such activity than seniors. This seems to be quite logical,as those people are in the process of starting a career, finding a family or pretty muchinvolved in their work, which contributes to a rather high work load. Generally, seniors have alarger time budget at their disposal. Both groups are also reading applications from differentview points, as younger people are much more used to international exchange than olderones. These factors have an important implication for searching participants. It might be thebest to have two calls for application in order to reach both target groups. As everyparticipant who attends our intergenerational projects is enthusiastic afterwards, telling us
that we are doing the right thing, we are sure that the offer is interesting for young and old
people likewise and that we just have to reach them.
The importance of a ‘‘common topic’’
From our experiences we learned that every project which aims to foster intergenerational
dialogue needs a topic which every participant (both young and old) is interested in. It shouldbe connected to them and to their daily lives. Having said this, I would like to underline thatdoing a seminar ‘‘just for the sake of intergenerational dialogue’’ will not work, as the
expectations will be too high and the atmosphere might be easily spoiled. In my opinion it is a
better way to encourage the dialogue of generations tangentially, that is to say first discuss,for example, music and its meaning to the participants and then consider the question as towhat extent this differs between the generations and what this might mean for us.
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Finding funds
For organisations which would like to work both intergenerationally and internationally it is
difficult to get funding as there are only a few funds supporting international meetings for
people of all ages. As these are mostly from the EU a degree of organisational capacity is
required to manage such an international project for multigenerational groups, which creates
difficulties for smaller organisations. For example, the German-Polish Youth Office, which
funds youth meetings only gives money for people up to 26. From this it follows that older
participants would have to pay for themselves to be able to take part in an intergenerationalmeeting. We have to seek alternative funding to make sure that participation in an international
dialogue of generations is not a question of financial well-being excluding the less well off.
The declared aim of our pedagogical and organisational efforts is to address intergenerational
issues in international exchange projects. Owing to the reasons described above we are
convinced that this is worthwhile. We hope that our case study inspires other organisations from
the field of international youth work to ‘‘intergeneralize’’ their projects or some organisations
form the field of senior citizens work to ‘‘internationalize’’ them and that our reflections and
findings will help them be successful. For further questions, any acknowledgements,
pedagogical discussions or new projects, please contact us.
Notes
1. One example is the Green Paper ‘‘Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the
generations’’, which is available under the following link: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/employment_and_social_policy/situation_in_europe/c10128_en.htm
2. A scientific study, which reveals the benefits of international exchange is available in German
language (Thomas et al. , 2007).
Reference
Thomas, A. et al. (2007), Erlebnisse, die vera ¨ndern. Langzeitwirkungen der Teilnahme an internationalen
Jugendbegegnungen , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Go ¨ttingen.
Corresponding author
Michael Teffel can be contacted at: teffel@kreisau.deImplications for practice
BIntergenerational learning in an international context has a high potential due to the exceptional
setting of non-formal learning which exists in an international meeting.
BIntergenerational learning in international meeting is not done ‘‘by the way’’ – there is a need for
developing concrete methods intergenerational groups in an international context.
BCreating a network between organisations from the international youth work and senior citizenwork sectors in order to offer international meetings for people of all ages.
BInternational projects for people of all ages need a common topic which is tangible for young and
old in order to trigger a intense dialogue between generations.
BIn order to find strategies for motivating younger people to take part in multigenerational
international meetings the international youth work sector has to go new ways.
BCommunicate best practise to national funding organisations in order to enlarge their fundingspectrum for intergenerational groups (example: German-Polish Youth-Office).
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