Miriam from Malta

Session is about covid 19 as cross-border challenge

• What have you done in the last month and share good examples of your work?
• Uncertainty makes people anxious
• Look at pandemic from positive point of view – despite of being stuck on an Island
• Be creative and develop the field
• Youth work was ever face to face relationship – now digital?
• In reality now has become a virtual relationship with a face 
• Came up with new online space: think, be, feel positive, Chat in groups, online youth café (beat the boredom, fun activities) #youthworkonline
• Zoom as platform of choice

IJAB:
Good side of pandemic: Now have to implement digital youth work

Andrij from Ukraine:

• Insights in work during last months
• Tool to distribute online events
• Became complicates to create unique content
• Try to focus on already established networks 
• For Eurodesk important to keep up international cooperations – but borders were closed
• Hope that volunteering does come back
• IJAB: really hard, as they promote international exchange programs

IJAB:
really hard, as they promote international exchange programs

Siv, Norway:

• Comes from the far north, the top of the world, cover large area, were forced before Corona to do a lot online
• Focus on keeping young people active an positive
• Snapchat, Facebook, Zoom, Teams, but “discord” platform they further developed – well known from gaming world
• Used for livestream workshops and acitivities
• Important: discord rules have to be obliged
• Worked well for them
• Used it for international youth film festival  - 20 participants – making films together
• Need a reason to enter discord (regular activity)

Edgar, Estonia

• At national agency also responsible for implantation of smart youth work concept
• Pandemic positive push to complete some services (e.g. authorization)
• Run national youth information service – pandemic gave new level of usage  - youth sector was very much appreciated 
• Local level: also went online (discord, Facebook) and started to use places where young people are (gaming environment)
• Music teachers started online classes
• For the youth field it was a positive crises – but for vulnerable young people not
• Example of virtual youth center: RVK Roblox Virtual Center

What lasts, what have you learned? 

Miriam: Ideas can be challenged – you can also reach young people online – have reached young people we haven’t reached before – didn’t think that a couple of months before – it is good to challenge the ways we have worked before

Question: Has the feeling that using youth work in virtual space the differences between countries are disappearing. Is that right?

Andrij: Level of preparedness in schools is not clear – there are big differences - Need more equal access to tools and digital opportunities (infrastructure)

Edgar: differences mainly in process of organization and money and rhetoric of politicians concerning young people – big differences in accessibility to digital tools 

How was the process of inviting people to digital platforms?

Siv: was a lot of work to transport activities to digital platforms and promote them – time, imagination and money needed to promote content – reached people from all over Norway (not just their region) – learned that young people have very short attention spans in digital formats – difficult to be creative without personal contact in developing new ideas - did not have extra money, budget from cancelled activities transferred to digital formats