This newsletter’s first duty was to attract your attention to two events, one of a tragic nature, the other of a positive one.

The Haiti earthquake did not spare one of the members of our International Network of social street workers, i.e. the “Centre d’Education Populaire”. Seriously damaged, its repair will need an important financial investment. Hence, Dynamo International has created a fund for the collecting of gifts in order to render it again effective, the more so that the number of street children is subject to a drastic increase.

But this does not limit our mission: we are preparing an International Forum of social street workers to take place this coming autumn in Brussels. More detailed information will follow, but right now we hope a great number among you will block the dates in their agenda.

Now for some news about our associations:

An important conference has been organised by the Czech Association of Street workers last January. Divided in four sections, the seminar studied the topics and challenges the educators are faced with.

At the 2009 “Salon Flash” in Namur (Belgium), organised by volunteers aiming to increase awareness of the youngsters regarding active citizenship, two delegates represented Dynamo International. Their interesting report duly stresses the enriching contents of the event.

The article on the international meeting of professional street workers, organised by the Quebec Association of Street workers, having as object a reflexion on their mission and the promotion of their statute, gives a general idea of the questions treated. No doubt the proceedings to be published this coming spring will retain our attention.

Also in the Netherlands, the professional training of street workers has been the object of worthwhile initiatives, well targeted given the context of this very advanced country. Yet, this doesn’t lead to an easier task for the street educators.

Finally, the account of her experience at Dynamo, as first volunteer of the EVS, by a young woman of Portuguese origin, is eloquent as to how much one can gain thanks to such a generous gesture.

The emergency foreign-aid is pouring in, mobilizations are massive. If our proficiency isn’t in the field of current imperatives, our involvement will be all the more essential at the time of the re-erecting of the several structures.

Dynamo International is creating a fund that will be used, at the proper time, to build a new centre but also for the revival and reinforcement of social streetwork in the months and years ahead...

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“Street work, rights of the child, poverty and social exclusion”

DATES : from 26 to 30 October 2010

PLACE : Brussels

The content will consist of three streams...

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Progress, the community program for work and social solidarity, is an initiative of the European Commission – Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities – following on from the community action program on the fight against social exclusion.

It aims to establish and develop European social policy in employment, equal opportunities and to fight against poverty and social exclusion...

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Streetcornerwork in the NL developed in the 70-‘s, as part of professional youthwork, targeting on the 1%-5% marginalized or multi-problem youth, mostly in coaching and specific care/cure. Since 80-‘s also detached or outreaching youthwork developed, targeted on reaching the 15 % at-risk youngsters (CAYAR), mostly in preventive activities...

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As you all know, last June an « International meeting for street work professionals – A world of links and learning » was held in Quebec. It was organised by the l’Association des Travailleurs et Travailleuses de Rue du Québec (ATTRueQ), the Regroupement des Organismes Communautaires en Travail de Rue (ROCQTR) and Dynamo International and was a remarkable event in many ways.

We are still writing up the minutes which will be presented to you very soon. Furthermore, major partners from the world of teaching, from the Ministry of Health and Social Services as well as several other governmental departments made these four days of training and exchange possible. In short, real team work...

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It’ll soon be eight years ago that I spent an entire year at Dynamo International doing the European Voluntary Service (EVS). It was at the very beginning of this NGO, in 2002, and at the time it was called Dynamonde...

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On November 20th 2009, Marta Jimenez, Spanish volunteer, and myself, represented Dynamo International at the flash fair 2009 in Namur (Belgium), an event that has been held for over ten years now by hundreds of young volunteers. It aims to raise awareness and to equip people for active citizenship.

Based on role-play, it offers varied activities and allows people to find specific projects to carry out at the local and international level. The aim of this fair is to bring young people to commit to specific projects from the non-profit world and to facilitate their access to them...

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The Czech Streetwork Association recently organized the conference “Outreach Programs and Low Threshold Programs 2010”. The main objective of the conference was “Best practices and quality” - How do we recognize the best practices and quality? How can they be measured? What are our current challenges and problems?

The conference took place January 14th-15th 2010 in Prague. It consisted of 260 participants, the majority from the Czech Republic, but with a number of representatives from the Slovak Republic as well. We welcomed speakers also from the Netherlands, Norway, Finland (Correlation Network), from Belgium (Dynamo International) and from Poland...

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