“All Alien” was a 6-day training course organised by Don Bosco Youth-Net on the topics of migration and intercultural learning.  The training course took place in Benediktbeuern (Germany) 20-27/07/2014, bringing together 37 young people from 11 European countries.
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Migration is common throughout European: boat refugees arriving in Italy, young graduates from Spain moving abroad in order to find work, 3rd generation of immigrants still struggling to be fully integrated in their local communities, Roma travelling from Slovakia to Belgium, ... but also young people temporary migrating for education or voluntary work.  All participants were volunteers in youth organisations working with one or more of these target groups.  During this training course the participants were able to share their experience with migration and develop new insights in its challenges and opportunities.
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There is a strong intercultural dimension to migration.  Migrants have to go through an intercultural learning process adapting to the new context which is often alien to them.  At the same time it is important that the receiving community is open to accepting new people.  Even though Art. 13 of the UDHR recognise rights of migration; it is this aspect which makes migrants vulnerable to intrusions in their rights.  On the other hand the development of intercultural competences is beneficial for the educational development of young people, increasing their employability and developing a stronger sense social responsibility.  This is a second learning process the participants have been experiencing during the training course.

On the programme the training sessions focussed on subjects which interlink migration and intercultural learning.  For the sessions we used a variety of non-formal methods: experiential learning, simulation games, methods from COMPASS, outdoor activities, visit to Dachau, creativity workshops.  We started with an induction game on the arrival day based on the concept of ‘Ellis Island’.  The next 3 days we explored different including ‘general human rights’, ‘prejudices & stereotypes’, ‘intercultural communication’, ‘conflicts’, ‘value-systems’ and ‘Europe and migration’.  On Thursday we went on a study visit to the Dachau concentration camp.  Deportation is a form of forced migration which has had a severe impact on European history.  All participating countries have lost people. Witnessing the common history in an intercultural group had a strong impact on the individual learning process of the participants.  On Friday we gave the participants the opportunity of reworking their learning experience through creative methods developing a campaign to multiply the outcomes of the training course within their local organisations.  During the last day the participants needed to plan how they will transfer the outcomes of the week to their sending organisation. 

​Apart from this we had an informal programme for the evenings and free time, so the participants can also get to know each other on a more personal basis.  A special feature in this informal programme, which reflects our background as faith-based organisation, was the spiritual programme.  Each morning was started and each evening was ended with a Salesian goodmorning/goodnight.  There was optional masses for participants who asked for this and we finished the week with a common Mass celebration.  In order to facilitate the spiritual programme, we had a Salesian chaplain available during the whole work, both for the participants as well as for the team.

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Project Partners

Training programme

Please check the resource blogs for the outcomes, the training manual and more background information.

More info: http://www.kloster-benediktbeuern.de/

Venue

The training course took place at  Aktionszentrum Benediktbeuern. The Aktionszentrum is a training and retreat centre mainly targetted at young people: school groups, volunteers, EVS volunteers, international youth groups, youth workers ... The Aktionszentrum is part of the larger historical site of the 'Kloster Benediktbeuern'.  This site includes amongst others a youth hostel, a centre for culture and environment, a bachelor college for social youth work,  ... 

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