From February 5 to February 19, 2013, as volunteer board member of a Youth league (Workers’ Welfare Organization), I came to Japan and worked with young leaders from all partaking countries to develop young “core” leaders of civil society groups in Japan and created a network between those of Japan and other participating countries.
The activities in Japan consisted of the following three pillars:
- Opening and Closing Program in Tokyo, including one day Japanese cultural experience
- 11th NPO Management Forum in Tokyo with Japanese participants and the Organizing Committee members
- Local Program in Prefecture Shimane concerning the field of activities for Youth to learn insights into the youth situation in a local area (Topic “Development of youth workers”)
During the NPO Management Forum, we discussed about “Collaboration with community residents” and shared and exchanged examples from our countries and worked what is required to promote further collaboration within communities. We visited two institutions to learn actual situations of project management in Japan and I presented topics such as “Role of NPOs and its position in society”, “Successes and challenges of collaboration with community residents” and “Motivation and empowerment of volunteer citizens”. I also summarized required approaches of the chosen topic for further collaboration into a form of statement.
The Local Program in Shimane aimed to identify the problems to strengthen youth workers who lead and support young peoples’ development and to explore its concrete measures, by grasping the enlightenment of youth support and the current situation of partnership between the public and private sector in Shimane. In this context, we exchanged experiences and introduced topics such as “Cooperation among NPOs and the government”, “Development and retention of leaders/ youth workers” and “Expansion of youth workers activity fields”. We also had a courtesy call to the local government office, institutional visits and a homestay...
Sounds like a crammed and extensive program for two weeks? It was. It definitely was! But, back to Germany, I am still deeply grateful for the warm welcome and the cordial hospitality, the fruitful discussions and interesting exchanges of experience, the days full of learning – substantial, cultural and cross-border! I have drawn a lot of lessons - and a lot of new friends from Japan, Denmark, UK and Germany!
Arigatō, tak, thanks and danke schön, Edeltraud Botzum
