In the UK there is an increasing recognition that the economic prospects of our young people are closely linked to the economic status of their family and the communities they grow up in. In addition disadvantaged communities experience low self-esteem and confidence which can make poverty and lack of achievement an endemic problem. We are now acknowledging what the UN said in its World Youth Report 2003 - that child poverty can only be dealt with effectively if it is done from an intergenerational approach that creates a climate of self belief and achievement. The African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child can properly be paraphrased as it takes a community that believes in itself to enable its children to succeed.
Comments
Iris Marreel, Projektebüro
Sunday 12th June 2011
In Germany also poverty has a young face like exposed in the position paper of the German Red Cross in 2010 which was related to discussions of the European Year 2010 Against Poverty. Material poverty in Germany is due to unemployment and precarious employment contracts (like permanent spare-time working), increasing single-parenthood, debt overload, migration and refugee background. According to the German Children’s Fund the number of children dependant on social welfare counting 2.5 million has doubled since 2005. In the German society raises the awareness that families and the state need more societal actors in growing up children and youth. This is the reason why in Germany intergenerational mentoring and befriending initiatives are flourishing and gain an increasing public attention. The mentoring database Aktiv-Patenschaften counts around 1000 initiatives in 4 categories: befriending initiatives for families, befriending initiatives for children, mentoring initiatives to assist learning in schools and mentoring initiatives which support young people’s transitions from school to job. They are organised in a European Network of Children and Youth Mentoring Organisations (ENCYMO). Another important campaign is the Aktion Zusammenwachsen (Growing Together) implemented by Commissioner for Migration of the Federal Ministry and the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs in cooperation with several foundations promoting Bildungspatenschaften (education mentoring) with a focus on children and young people with an migration background. The think-tank JugendMentoring has a focus on school-to-work transitions. The article “Intergenerational Mentoring in Germany: experienced older people support young people’s transitions from school to work” (2010) written by Tabea Schlimbach from German Youth Institute in Halle gives an excellent state of the art of the mentoring field in Germany.
Mariano Sanchez
Sunday 12th June 2011
The Spanish rate of youth unemployment in Spain probably is the highest in Europe. Actually, unemployment is the number one concern of Spanish citizens at the moment. However, intergenerational practices tackling this issue are not typical yet. We do have a few examples of intergenerational mentoring projects in which older people support youth in their search for job. That said, this is a domain in which we still have a lot to do; one in two Spanish citizens think that the fact that older people may work until a later age shall make that fewer jobs are available for younger people.
Dusana Findeisen
Monday 31st October 2011
Dear all,
Older people occupying jobs and thus not leaving them to younger people is one of the stereotypes (simple and primitive cognitive schemes and therefore easily accepted on the individual level and on the collective level). A number of studies I have come across- unfortunately, I do not recall the references- have shown that jobs left behind by older people are not taken over by younger workers. They either disappear or get transformed into a completely new type of job .So, generations are not in competition. Our objective should be to encourage both older generations and younger generations to create new jobs. Dušana.
Dusana Findeisen
Thursday 12th January 2012
Hello to all of you,
In my view, helping younger people to be in employment means primarily understanding them, identifying their individual character traits, their competencies and more importantly their emotional competencies and social skills- as well as their position in society and on the labour market. Moreover, some of them are dyslectics with very specific talents but also difficulties that have to be understood and be taken into account by employers. Helping young people enter the labour market means also- as I view it- being educated and trained for offering them help. It means supporting young people emotionally and socially by using knowledge, skills and social network. Would anyone know of an educational and training programme for such older helpers that would be taking into account what I have mentioned above?
Dušana
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