The Art of Developing Global Perspectives Together

Climate change, sustainable development and globalisation are issues that are a concern for young people as well. They are deeply engaged in debating what the world will look like in future. Instead of an infinitely positive outlook on the future, many young people today have adopted a sceptical and realistic attitude to the personal and professional prospects that await them. Others propose taking radical steps in order to protect the planet against the consequences of environmental destruction. In addition, young people's lifes are becoming more and more international. The world in which they live has expanded beyond their local environment, just as the challenges of sustainable development can no longer be addressed by each country individually. With all of these issues moving higher up on the social and educational agenda, a number of questions are being thrown up for non-formal education, too. How can awareness of these aspects be raised among young people, especially among those who feel pessimistic about their own future and are fairly indifferent to social issues? What is the appropriate approach for multipliers to help young people to develop new attitudes con-cerning sustainable development? How can multipliers provide young people with the knowledge that we live in a world that requires us to change the way we live? How can they address especially those young people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, as it will be difficult for them to under-stand that they have to limit consumption when they had so far no chance at all to participate in pros-perity? How are international educational programmes responding to the fact that while global problems have been identified, the consequences that countries are willing to take vary widely and to some extent even contradict each other? The conference will pay particular attention to international cooperation. It is an opportunity for or-ganisations to exchange information on the various approaches and concepts of education for sustain-able development in non-formal education in other countries and to jointly develop concrete ideas for implementation. In particular, the discussion will deal with the financial sector, energy turnaround and lifestyle and consumption choices. Emphasis will be laid on the following questions: - How can sustainable development issues be portrayed and discussed appropriately to differ-ent target groups, e.g., disadvantaged young people? - How do experts and team leaders see their own roles in this context? How can the teaching process be shaped in order to successfully pass on certain values? - How can these issues be dealt with by youth organisations in international cooperation? How promising is it to have an international debate on the subject and what are the challenges? The conference is aimed at experts and team leaders working in youth services and youth work in Germany and abroad who deal with sustainable development and have already gained experience or have a strong interest in international youth work.