Testimonies of the co-coordinators of the Europe Region and of an expert of the Network on the strengths of the Forum Words from the Street of October 2021 especially with young people from Brussels at the European Commission

A EUROPEAN POINT OF VUE ABOUT THE FORUM WORDS FROM THE STREET 2021

Organized by Dynamo International, the Forum was a profitable event of the global network of street social workers. Since autumn 2021 we, Anja Manja Segulin from Slovenia, and Helmut Steinkellner from Austria, are responsible for the coordination of the European region.

The forum was a 5-day, intensive program with many comprehensive workshops, presentations, visits to youth organizations and Streetwork approaches in Brussels, regional network meetings and meetings with young people. The evening program supported the informal exchange, (a treasure hunt on the streets of Brussels, the “Freedom Festival”, plus inspiring electro-swing rhythm).

A highlight as an international network was certainly the reception and discussion in the European Commission. We think that we have all succeeded very well in portraying the need for Social Streetwork as a response to the effects of globalised poverty. We consider the fact that young people were able to present their guidelines for the future to be an important sign of empowerment.

The presence of senior representatives of the European Commission underlines in our view the importance of Dynamo International’s concerns.

We have started the journey home with a multitude of new acquaintances and insights, of ideas and additional motivation for the further development of the field of Social Streetwork.

Many thanks for the great work to the organizing team of Dynamo International 

Anja Manja Segulin and Helmut Steinkellner

Co-coordinators European Region

 

THE STREET, MEETING PEOPLE, A FORUM WORDS FROM THE STREET ….

The street makes me and all around me visible, makes it easy to see and to meet each other, to walk and to run, to drive and to be driven, to approach and to be approached, to observe and to be observed, to love and to be loved, to listen and to be heard, to teach and to be taught, to discover and to explore, to lose and to be lost, to help and to be helped, to drink and to be drunk, to move ahead and to be moved, to smile and to cry, to be angry and calm, to be tough and kind, to be afraid and strong, to be ordinary and special in the same time, to be at home without a home, to be active and to resist, to be united in solidarity.

United in solidarity we met in “Words from the Street Forum” that Dynamo International organized in Brussels in October 2021. The Third International Forum of Street Social Workers brought around hundreds of people from each corner of the globe sharing our experience, our feelings, our thoughts, our optimism and our visions.

That was exactly what we needed after a tough pandemy that kept us far away from the street.

The street belongs to us, we belong to the street, the street is shared between us, we share our life with it, the street knows us better than anybody else, the street… having so much in common, the common looking for future. See you in the next “Words from the Street Forum”!

Valbona Hystuna, Expert for DISWN (Greece)