(ANS – Strasbourg) – From 15 to 20 February 2015, Don Bosco Youth-Net organised a study session in the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg. The topic was A Preventive Approach in Human Rights Education. Since the Salesian congregation organised the world congress on the Preventive System and Human Rights in 2009, Don Bosco Youth-Net has been working on integrating Human rights education in its activities.

by Rein Meus

General Secretary Don Bosco Youth-Net

After a series of training courses and seminars on the topic, the network decided to integrate the Council of Europe’s methodology of Human Rights Education into our own Preventive System. This study session aimed to consult with volunteers for their recommendations. Twenty-eight volunteers, trainers, project officers and Salesian Chaplains from twelve Council of Europe’s member states took part in this study session.

On Monday the participants focussed on creating a common framework of reference for the participants. They also worked on creating a clear understanding of how the member organisations of DBYN work in this area and how the Council of Europe’s youth sector can offer support.

Tuesday was dedicated to exploring the educational methodologies that have to merge. Activities started with a presentation by the educational staff of the Council of Europe on how to implement their educational methodology in their activities, and continued exploring the overlap and complementarity between the two systems.

On Wednesday the group explored other practices of Human Rights Education. In the morning they met representatives from the international youth organisation ‘IFM-SEI’ and the Turkish voluntary organisation ‘TOG’ to see how Human rights education is implemented in a non-faith based organisation.  In the afternoon VIDES International and the Lviv Academy of Don Bosco for Human Rights show how they already link the Preventive System with Human Rights education. And the process continued looking at how the Salesian congregation is working towards a paradigm shift in its activities. Ash Wednesday ended with a bi-centenary celebration of Don Bosco.

On Thursday the participants worked together in smaller groups, developing policy recommendations for Don Bosco Youth-Net to renew their educational methodology summed up as Few Words and a Lot of Action. The recommendations will be presented to the statutory bodies of the network and will put to the test in three training courses DBYN is organising in 2015 on Human Rights education. This process will end by publishing the renewed educational methodology in the second part of the year.

Published 27/02/2015