The situation of young refugees in European societies is an important topic for human rights, democracy, living together in diversity and social cohesion. Among different sectors working for and with young refugees, youth work offers a diversity of spaces and initiatives for young refugees to become a full part of their communities and to have a voice in all matters that concern them.

This publication offers practical tools for youth work on the inclusion and participation of young refugees at local level. It focuses on youth participation and inclusion as key dimensions to build inclusive societies and, at the same time, to create an enabling environment for young refugees to be fully fledged actors of their personal and community development. It tackles the following themes: intercultural learning; access to social rights; young women refugees; youth participation and mental health and trauma.

About STEP-by-STEP

The Guide encompasses a variety of experiences and practices of youth work, including from the so-called transit and host countries, as well as working with unaccompanied minors, young asylum seekers and refugees. Step-by-Step will not tackle in an exhaustive way the different realities of young refugees across Europe. Instead it gives a general overview of the main challenges and possible practices in the youth work field with these young people who are refugees. In addition, it chooses to focus on the young person rather than the profile of the country, meaning that it is important to consider the context, needs and aspirations of that young person and, if we are working with young people “on the move”, it is also important to be able to define the best way to work with them. The authors are aware that realities change depending on whether young people are in transition, on the move or if they have reached their final destination.

The publication is addressed to:
► youth workers and other professionals and volunteers working directly with young refugees;
► policy makers who co-operate with the youth sector at the local level, so they can develop programmes to support youth work further or types of funding for youth organisations working with young refugees.

This publication has two chapters.
■The first chapter, “Youth work and young refugees”, puts the emphasis on the role of youth work in the inclusion and participation of young refugees in Europe, highlighting its added value and, at the same time, underlining the main challenges and needs of the youth sector.
■ The second chapter, “Support, tips, examples and possibilities for youth work with young refugees”, offers tips and good practices on the specified themes, while reflecting on the specific challenges and contributions of the youth field in each one of them.
■ At the end of the publication, suggestions for further learning on youth work and young refugees are included.

This publication was developed by the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth, on the basis of three seminars and workshops held in 2016 and 2017 and a collection of good practices of youth work with young refugees. The practices were collected between May and July 2017, through the online survey “Youth Work and Young Refugees in Europe: Speak about Your Initiative!”, and we have included in this publication those practices that provided sufficient information about their youth work with young refugees.

Read it here.

L'articolo Step-by-step together – a guide for NGOs working with young refugees proviene da Youth Networks.