At Crosscare – Ronanstown and Clondalkin, we provide a community-based service for young people, including advice, support, and opportunities. We work with youth groups to support a wide range of interests like outdoor pursuits, the arts, sports, drama, and more. We also provide services for marginalised young people including drug users, the homeless, Travellers, teenage parents, early school leavers, and young offenders. Our work includes promoting the creation of voluntary youth groups and developing and managing resources for young people locally.
Why global youth work?
Working with inequality locally, we wanted to step out of the immediacy of our work and deepen our understanding of connected issues globally. So, we applied for the Youth 2030 Innovation Fund. Our goal was to explore justice as a broader concept, outside of the criminal justice framing we typically encounter it through.
Steps towards global citizenship
Over eight weeks, our youth workers and young people took part in a global youth work learning journey. We explored social justice through spoken word and interactive workshops, including drama and debate, discussing the topic politically and philosophically. We looked at it as a concept where everyone has equal access to wealth, health, justice, well-being, and opportunity.
The learning process
A total of 20 youth workers and young people took part in the training, delivered by NYCI’s Youth 2030 team. We participated in One World Week 2022, increasing our global youth work knowledge and skills. A highlight was our young people presenting a spoken word piece at the One World Week Global Youth Summit. In addition, Sinéad Harris, manager at Crosscare Ronanstown, was part of the event’s Leave No One Behind panel.
After One World Week, Sinéad represented the youth sector at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) National Stakeholder Forum. There, she spoke about leaving no one behind in the context of youth mental health. Sinéad’s efforts highlighted our work and the growth of Crosscare and the young people we work with. She also promoted the Youth2030 Innovation Fund to other youth work organisations.
The benefits of global youth work
Using a global youth work approach helped us understand globalisation and the SDGs. We learned how to approach familiar topics like fast fashion and the World Cup with a critical lens. Global youth work showed us how to approach climate and youth work in the space of policy making. Our young people learned that the issues affecting them are universal and that we are all connected.
We work in an area of social disadvantage and sometimes it can be hard to see beyond everyday issues. Reflecting on the project, Sinéad said, “[It] has given both staff and the young people a new outlook on youth work, which is invaluable in today’s society.” Our young people learned that all of the issues they face affect young people all over the world.
Looking to the future
Since working with Youth 2030, we are more confident in discussing social justice issues and in using personal, local, national, and global perspectives. We stepped outside our comfort zones, built new relationships, and created a dedicated space to talk about critical issues. We are planning to increase our global youth work focus across all of our programme offerings and eventually to share our approach with all eleven Crosscare services.