Global Youth Work is a transformative practice which starts with and values young people’s own views. Quality Global Youth Work, as reflected in the Good Practice Guidelines in Global Youth Work, is rooted in the empowerment model of youth work, raising critical consciousness, and offering young learners the skills and knowledge to understand the nature of local, national and global inequality, and young people’s role in challenging this. It gives them the opportunity, through participation, to reflect on what they stand for and what they stand against on issues of global justice such as hunger, poverty, racial inequality, or climate change.
As global youth workers, we are educators, intentionally supporting young people to engage as global citizens with the confidence, resilience, capacity, and critical thinking skills they need to be involved in society, to reach their potential and to become change makers.
Mapping your own Global Youth Work journey using 15 indicators:
We are all on our own unique journey in youth work. This self-assessment process, Mapping Your Global Youth Work Journey, enables youth workers and organisations to reflect on and track your progress in Global Youth Work, over 15 indicators. It allows you to consider where you are on your journey by using a self-scoring mechanism for each area by using the downloadable Self-Assessment Tracking Tool. You will see that as well as the 15 indicators, the tracking tool includes spaces under each step to give examples from your own practice, to keep a note of where you are keeping evidence of those examples so you can refer back to them and for you to score your overall progress. It also includes a space for you to identify where you decide to ask for support from NYCI on your journey. While the tracking tool is for your use in completing the self-assessment, below is an explanation of each of the indicators, including examples of what the individual indicators might look like in your own practice, as well as case studies of existing good practice in these areas. Also highlighted are where the Good Practice Guidelines for Global Youth Work may support you on your journey.
Your Self-Assessment Tool
The Self-Assessment is broken up into 4 areas of your Global Youth Work:
- Organisational structures
- Programmes and practices
- Training and capacity building
- Partnerships and collaborations
When you are carrying out your Self-Assessment, you can work your way through these and score your progress using the downloadable Self-Assessment tracking tool, including your overall progress. Please see the page on How to Score your Progress, which is also explained in the tracking tool. Note that there is no particular order in which the indicators should be used, and that every indicator is progress! While the tracking tool has case studies under each step, here the longer version of the case studies are included.
AREA 1: Organisational structures that support your Global Youth Work
These indicators encourage you to reflect on how your organisation provides institutional, financial and strategic support for your Global Youth Work programmes and practices.
As part of this, we include a robust approach to the evaluation of our Global Youth Work which is appropriate to our work and ensures that ongoing learning is taking place. Where we need support to develop our evaluation approaches, we are seeking that support from NYCI.
- What this could look like in practice: Global Youth Work is included in our operational plan, our work plan, or programme plan, or in our Annual Report. In relation to evaluation, we can show how learning from our programme has fed into our planning process.
See Guideline 9 in the Good Practice Guidelines for Global Youth Work for support in this area.
___________
CASE STUDY 1: Scouting Ireland: Embedding Global Youth Work into the Scouting programme.
Scouting Ireland has incorporated GYW into their work plan through their Irish Aid and Youth Climate Justice funded programme. These funded opportunities look to embed GYW into a robust Scouting programme that meets young people where they are today in relation to their leadership skills, and how they can be equipped with the skills to support them development and navigation of a globalised world.
- What this could look like in practice: We have a Global Youth Work policy in place within our strategic or implementation plan.
__________
CASE STUDY 2a: Youth Work Ireland – Tipperary: Youth Work policy that supports local and global connections and the SDGs as part of strategic goals
In their new strategic plan, 2024-2028, and under the Goal: To deliver a quality integrated youth work service to young people across Tipperary and East Limerick, the supporting of young people to connect with the local and global influences that impact their lives and their communities taking account of the Sustainable Development Goals is named as a key strategic objective.
__________
CASE STUDY 2b: IGG have a ‘Global Citizenship Education (GCE) Policy’ effective since October 2022 which was approved by IGG’s Executive Committee (Board).
The policy outlines our commitment to GCE and specifically outlines how youth work Guiding Methods align with Development Education, hence helping us achieve IGG’s overall Mission: ‘to enable girls and young women to develop to their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world’ and our Vision: ‘a future which is sustainable, diverse and equal where girls and young women are empowered to advocate and lead the way’.
GCE has also been integrated into our strategic plan for 2023-2028 aiming to “promote and support learning on the SDGs and global citizenship development within the organisation”. This is a key strategic objective which is actively being worked on evident by our recent appointment as SDG Champions by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications.
- What this could look like in practice: We have programme budgets (if relevant); we report on our programme or project in our organisation’s annual report.
__________
CASE STUDY 3: Scouting Ireland: Committing resources to Global Youth Work
Scouting Ireland has three staff members equipped in Global Youth Work skills, including completion of the NUI Certificate in GYW and DE and has financially supported two volunteers’ participation in the current NUI Cert in Global Youth Work certificate and DE.
- What this could look like in practice: We have secured a seed or a mini grant, an Innovation Grant, an Irish Aid grant, or an Erasmus+ grant.
__________
CASE STUDY 4: Friends of Africa: From Charity to Solidarity, Through a Racial Justice Lens Innovation Fund initiative.
FOA received an Innovation Fund Grant and training from Youth 2030 to help FOA on its journey to a more solidarity-based model. This initiative was designed to embed a decolonial practice in the work of FOA. 25 young people, members of FoA, were involved in the training which aimed to achieve a more racial justice conscious membership, and to centre the voice of young people from the Global South. With the emergence of a local African diaspora in Belfast through the International Protection system, the organisation saw this as an opportunity to diversify the membership base as well as empowering the current membership with the skills to integrate an understanding of oppression and inequality into their voluntary commitment to FOA. Feedback from participants included a sense of increased confidence in understanding racism, a collective energy to do more practical things, a better insight into knowledge of racial awareness and justice and feeling more inspired to get actively involved.
- What this could look like in practice: We are introducing ourselves or making ourselves familiar with the Code of Good Practice, or we are signatories to the Code of Good Practice (depending on where you on in your Global Youth Work journey)
__________
CASE STUDY 5: Gaisce: Engaging with the Code of Good Practice in Development Education
Gaisce has been engaging with Global Citizenship Education in a proactive way since 2019. At first, it was to address some identified needs in the support we offer to partners delivering the Gaisce Award. As the demand increased there was a need for us to structure our support and that was when we looked at IDEA for guidance. From our involvement in the IDEA network, it was clear that participating in the code of Good Practice would be useful. Initially it was to look at learning from best practices in designing support/resources and so focused on the Principles for Educational Practice, Principles 1 -9. This was mainly managed by a small number of people in the Organisation who had a specific interest or experience. However, it was clear from our first steps that Gaisce needed to look at some fundamental bedrock components to build on the Organisational principles such as having a DE Strategy and Action Plan. For this, Gaisce integrated reflecting on GCE best practices into regular meetings of not just the Development Officers but to the wider staff and Council. The key focus for our CoGP is on Principles 6, 9, 10 as they can support Gaisce in building a reflected experience as well as a better Organisational Capacity.
Since signing up to the Code the main challenge is on ownership as there has been a few personnel changes in the last two years. This highlights the need for an even greater Organisational understanding and involvement in a bigger number of staff.
AREA 2: Programmes and Practices that build our good practice in Global Youth Work
These indicators provide an opportunity to reflect on our support to young people through our quality programmes and practices. How do we support them in making local and global connections, or engage them in thinking about key global issues, the achievement of the SDGs or Climate or Racial Justice? How do we, as youth workers, leaders, and as young people, reflect on our place in the world and our values and attitudes? Finally, how do we share our good practice in Global Youth Work with the wider youth sector, or beyond?
Based on this work, we support our young participants and learners to take informed, youth-led action for a more just world.
- What this could look like in practice: Young people, staff or volunteers have participated in One World Week events and activities; we have signed the Climate Justice Charter; our group of young people took part in an action as part of our programme of work.
__________
CASE STUDY 6a: The Young People’s Committee ‘Dear Poverty’ Process & Launch.
The Youth 2030 Young People’s Committee (YPC) successfully launched ‘Dear Poverty – A resource exploring poverty through an intersectional lens’ resource as part of One World Week 2023. This resource has been designed by young people for other young people, youth workers, educators, and youth leaders to explore the concept of poverty from a local and global perspective. It was an opportunity to bring awareness of the global injustices and inequalities that exist within our local communities and the wider world, in discussing poverty. The opportunity to use the theme of poverty using GCE/GYW tools was to attempt to explore an issue that doesn’t get enough debate and discussion and is an issue affecting young people within the YPC committee on a personal level. ‘As someone who comes from a lower socio-economic background, having the opportunity to create this resource was an incredible experience, and I hope it encourages you to become engaged in tackling these issues’ shared by Aisling, a YPC member.
__________
CASE STUDY 6b: ECO UNESCO-World Water Day
To celebrate World Water Day on the 22nd March, 13 of our young people came together to complete a river clean-up along the grand canal in Clondalkin. The young people had decided themselves that a river cleanup was a collective action they wanted to take. This site was chosen as many of them are locals of the area, and so are interested in protecting it and keeping it clean. It also allowed us to collaborate with Ronanstown Youth Service for this event, and several of their young people joined us to take action. The group dedicated a couple of hours to pick up litter in the river and surrounding area with their litter pickers and gloves, filling 7 full rubbish bags. We linked in with the County Council for this project, and left them at a designated spot for collection. The canal is home to a huge variety of plants, wildflowers and wildlife, including kingfishers and dragonflies in spring. We had an engaging discussion all about the importance of clean waterways and the positive impacts we can have when we take actions to protect them and the beautiful wildlife they harbour. We also discussed the theme of SDG 4: Clean Water and Sanitation, and why it is important on a global level, as well as how local actions can have far-reaching repercussions. Throughout the day, we discussed the impact waste has on the local area, and spoke about the changes that could be made – e.g. more bins, better understanding of local biodiversity in schools, etc. Our young people were excited to make a positive impact to celebrate ‘World Water Day’ and we were very proud of the time they volunteered towards protecting their local environment.
We incorporate the SDGs and their implementation into our Global Youth Work programmes and projects.
- What this could look like in practice: We have run or taken part in a training, event or workshops on the SDGs; we have added to the visibility of the SDGs in our education through posters, our website or social media.
__________
CASE STUDY 7: Youth Work Ireland – Tipperary: The Getting Real About Poverty campaign.
The Getting Real About Poverty campaign was planned to tie in with UN World Food Day, which is a day of action dedicated to tackling global hunger on Wednesday, October 16, and UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Thursday, October 17. The young people of Youth Work Ireland Tipperary challenged several of their Youth Workers to Get Real About Poverty by living on €2 a day for 3-5 days! By running workshops with young people and by sharing it on social media the young people and workers involved wanted to raise awareness and give people a greater understanding about the reality of Poverty both in Tipperary and globally. “It’s also really important to highlight the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a road map for change and difference that we can all make” said Cate O’Connor Youth Work Ireland Tipperary Youth Worker.
We use the empowerment model of youth work, raising critical consciousness that understands the world as diverse and interdependent and includes voices and perspectives from the Global South.
- What this could look like in practice: We used an art-based methodology to explore a global justice issue with our group; we ensured there were a range of perspectives in a workshop we ran on fast fashion, including from the global south.
__________
CASE STUDY 8: Irish Refugee Council Youth Group: Participation in Artivism Summer School, on using the creative arts as a methodology to unlock innovative and practical ways of working when advocating for change on global issues.
The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) works with young people aged 16-25 who are seeking protection, or those granted refugee status. Three youth leaders from the IRC youth group participated in the Artivism summer school. Artivism was a collaboration between NYCI’s Youth Arts Programme and Youth 2030 Global Youth Work Programme. The training focused on using the creative arts as a methodology alongside a Global Youth Work approach to unlock innovative and practical ways of working when advocating for change on issues that affect us all. Following on from this, the IRC youth leaders developed a global citizenship inspired talent show, with a group of 25 young people from a neighbouring youth service. The Youth 2030 team provided two specialist training sessions to support the preparation and planning of the practical, theoretical, and political/cultural aspects of this event. One of the youth leaders went on to co-deliver a workshop, making local-global connections, with Foroige, Athlone.
We support the young people in our groups to do the same when exploring with them the key global justice issues that define our times, including racial justice, equality and anti-oppression, and the value of diversity.
- What this could look like in practice: We ran Climate Justice training, event or workshop which explored the issue from a global perspective. As part of our preparation we considered our own biases in the questions we were asking.
__________
CASE STUDY 9: ARD Youth Project peer learning sessions
We run monthly peer learning sessions with the aim to support staff, placement students and volunteers to reflect on issues presenting within the local community/communities and to identify how these issues connect in a global context. This space aims to include diverse perspectives from both local and global contexts. The intention is to use the monthly space to provide opportunities to unpack learnings and to enable critical exploration of how local and global justice issues are linked. Some recent topics we have explored are the genocide in Palestine and community-led initiative which build solidarity, and how climate change is impacting locally and globally. Our organisation, staff and volunteers have undertaken intercultural and diversity training through the Intercultural and Equality programme at NYCI, and core staff have also undertaken racial justice training. We are also members of the Making Links network at NYCI.
- What this could look like in practice: We shared our practice through our organisation’s Annual Report; we shared a case study with our networks; we created a new educational resource that reflects our work; we created animations, art, photographic exhibitions or songs.
__________
CASE STUDY 10: Nadia at Cloyne Diocesan Youth Service (CDYS):
One World Week Cork plays a pivotal role in fostering global awareness and understanding among young people, serving as a catalyst for positive social change. We have established this as an annual event now, and a model for other services to engage with. We advertise this throughout the region and invite wide participation from different youth organisations. Its recurrence is essential as it provides a consistent opportunity for young people to engage with pressing global issues, develop empathy, and cultivate a sense of responsibility towards creating a more just and sustainable world.
With the pre-activities leading to OWW, we aim to foster collaboration, dialogue, and collective action to address the complex challenges of our interconnected world. We also aim to inspire others in our network, by engaging with a very wide group of stakeholders, and using multi-media forms of communication, from art, to spoken work to case studies. All of these are shared as part of the messaging for this event.
Collaborating with young people on development education initiatives before One World Week serves as a crucial foundation for their engagement and participation in the event. This is done by providing educational activities; interactive workshops and discussions focused on global issues. We employ a multifaceted approach to deliver development education/ a critical global youth work approach, leveraging the PLNGs (personal, local, national, global) compass, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and case studies as effective tools and frameworks.
Young people and youth workers alike explore diverse perspectives, challenge stereotypes, and act on issues such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and human rights. OWW impact extends beyond the week itself, inspiring participants to become active global citizens who are committed to making a difference in their communities and beyond. We do observe an increase in advocacy of young people beyond their own realities. For example, the strong participation of the LGBTI+ youth group in the Cork Anti-Racism Youth led Summit, 2024. As such OWW, as a recurrent event, directs them to other related events and resources, deepening their involvement in global issues and expanding their perspectives. This dedicated platform amplifies their voices, allowing them to share their unique perspectives and insights on global challenges, fostering a sense of ownership and agency in addressing these issues within their communities. We believe this is an important example of a youth participation model, with a local to global context.
__________
- See Guidelines 1 – 9 in the Good Practice Guidelines for Global Youth Work for support in this area.
AREA 3: Good practice in training and building our capacity in Global Youth Work
This area looks at how we build, and are supported to build, our own capacity to deliver quality Global Youth Work.
- What this could look like in practice: Our staff and volunteers took part in a Global Youth Work training, or an external training related to Global Youth Work.
__________
CASE STUDY 11: YMCA: Deepening our Global Youth Work capacity through participation and building relationships.
We are a key organisation in the NYCI Climate Justice Future Generations consortia. This includes involvement of scientists and experiential marine learning within YMCA Youth Information service (Cork Region) which is a YMCA programme with GCE fully embedded, consistently delivering GYW since 1997. Separately, YMCA Ireland Global Justice and International Development Committee are a key strategic element in our embedding of a local-global focus across our work. Importantly, we are resourced through relationships with NYCI, IDEA, Irish Aid and Dochas, while our partnerships with Y Care International, YMCA Europe, strategic partnership with YMCA Kosovo, and with YMCA Worldwide, and specifically YMCA Columbia all help us in resourcing a GYW approach.
- What this could look like in practice: Our team (or part of it) has completed the NUI/NYCI Cert course in Global Youth Work and Development Education.
__________
CASE STUDY 12: The Involve Meath Global Youth Work participation in the NUI Cert and subsequent work on educational inequality.
Involve Meath has participated in a number of Global Youth Work trainings and courses, including Global Youth Work training sessions with the Youth 2030 team. They also presented at a Global Youth Work Learner’s Network meeting, sharing work they had developed through Erasmus (the No Shame Mental Health Resource).
A key youth worker from Involve Meath participated in the NUI/NYCI Cert course in Global Youth Work and Development Education. Subsequently, Involve Youth Meath ran a project to look into educational inequality experienced by Travellers. Workshops were conducted to understand young people’s lived experience with the education system, and the personal, local, and national experiences with educational inequality, with collaborative research conducted among Involve Youth Services and Traveller organisations. A second youth worker is undertaking the NUI Cert in GYW and DE to progress making global connections with educational inequality.
__________
- See Guidelines 5 & 9 in the Good Practice Guidelines for Global Youth Work for support in this area.
AREA 4: Developing partnerships and collaborations in Global Youth Work
This area focuses on how we, as Youth Work organisations and practitioners, collaborate with others to deepen or expand our Global Youth Work in all of the indicators on our Global Youth Work journey. This collaboration includes learning from and sharing with others, including through establishing and deepening links with youth organisations and relevant platforms in the Global South.
- What this could look like in practice: We have supported young people to run a Global Youth Work event, to take part in a training during One Work Week or take part in the Climate Justice Charter training; as part of collaborative action, we have signed the Climate Justice Charter.
__________
CASE STUDY 13: Crosscare: What Does Leave No One Behind Mean in a Youth Work Context?
Crosscare Ronanstown and Clondalkin is a community-based youth service supporting the development of a broad-based service to all young people in the North Clondalkin area. Under the Youth 2030 Innovation Fund, across eight weeks both youth workers and young people from Crosscare engaged in a Global Youth Work learning journey, exploring the concept of social justice through interactive workshops, and spoken word. The theme was ‘Framing justice’ as a broad concept, outside of the criminal justice context framing the Youth Diversion programme in Crosscare. The local-global training delivered by the Youth2030 team used drama and debate with youth workers. Separately this was carried out with young people to explore justice with spoken word artist Kelvin Akpaloo, and they participated in a One World Week festival. Additionally, one of the staff of Crosscare participated in the Leave No One Behind panel for One World Week, and a group of young people presented a spoken word piece on social justice at a One World Week Global Youth Summit.
‘Following the project, we have an increased confidence in discussing social justice and how to use the PLiNGs (personal, local, national, and global) perspectives. We saw this as an opportunity for our staff and young people to step outside of their comfort zones, to network and build new relationships, and to increase their capacity in having a dedicated space to talk about critical issues’. ‘Using a GYW approach helped us to understand globalisation, the Sustainable Development Goals, and how to approach topics with a critical lens such as the World Cup, fast fashion, climate change and youth work in the space of policy making. We are based in an area of social disadvantage and sometimes it’s hard to get beyond the everyday issues, but this project has given both staff and the young people a new outlook on youth work which is invaluable in today’s society”.
- What this could look like in practice: We are involved in the Global Youth Learner’s Network; we are involved in the Global South Engagement Forum, and/or we are members of IDEA, Dóchas or NYCI.
__________
CASE STUDY 14: The Global Youth Work Learners Network
The Global Youth Work Learners Network (GYWLN) is an intentional learning and knowledge sharing space, working within the spirit of SDG 4.7, to support all learners with the knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development. A core intention also is to centre youth projects and expertise from the Global South, a key part of the resourcing of the space. The network has wide participation from collaborators within the NYCI/Global 2030 youth network. Importantly, the GYWLN has benefitted from expertise within a youth focused context in Ireland, South Africa, Botswana, Mali, Malawi, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ghana, and other countries. Topics have included a focus on gender, status and power, climate justice, reduced inequality, and poverty, amongst others. One participant commented that ‘the inclusion of the Global South voice is unique’ and mentioned the importance of peer learning and working together on issues towards collective solutions.
Where possible, we are deepening these collaborations, which may include with youth organisations and platforms in the Global South, or organisations, communities or practitioners from the Global South living in Ireland.
- What this could look like in practice: We have shared information between two or more organisations; we have worked together on a joint event or a meeting online; we held joint trainings or co-designed resources; we are deepening our partnerships with youth organisations in the Global South (if the partnership develops to this stage).
__________
CASE STUDY 15: Youth Work Ireland Galway/World Vision Tanzania-Sauti (Sustainable Accountability Uniting Tanzanian and Irish Youth)
SAUTI-Youth was a youth-led monitoring of local government commitments on climate action linking Youth Work Ireland Galway (YWIG) and Tanga (Tanzania). The project aimed to meaningfully engage young people in the governance process in relation to climate adaptation and mitigation policies. Young people were provided with skills to monitor their local government’s climate action commitment and spending. They also were empowered to dialog with local authorities so that young people were considered active contributors in shaping the society we live in. A particularly innovative point of SAUTI-Youth was the collaboration between Irish and Tanzanian youth, where climate issues and action were addressed from a Global North and a Global South perspective looking at what unifies us from young people’s point of view. The exchange of knowledge and experience between the youth was at the core of the project. However, this didn’t happen overnight. The first step was to create a meaningful collaboration between the organisations implementing the project on the ground (Youth Work Ireland Galway and World Vision Tanzania) facilitated by World Vision Ireland. We had monthly meetings and ongoing communication. This was very important to create mutual trust and understanding of each other’s core values underpinning our work with young people. The exchange between the young people had some initial difficulties due to language barriers and issues with internet connections, we then used other methodologies such as letter writing (pen pals) and video making to encourage communication. However, what really made the difference was the physical youth exchange. Five young people from Ireland had the chance to visit Tanzania. We had field visits to all the different groups involved in the project and we had shared activities with the counterpart’s youth committee (CVA focal points) and local government. This experience had a great impact on the Irish young people as they realised how much these communities were directly affected by climate change but also how passionate and active they were in climate action. From then on, the two groups really worked well together.
__________
- See Guidelines 4, 5 & 9 in the Good Practice Guidelines for Global Youth Work for support in this area.
Click the images below to learn more:
Contact Information
If you would like to support undertaking the Global Youth Work good practice journey, support is available from NYCI’s Youth 2030 GYW team. For more information, please contact Sally@nyci.ie.