The project ICH BIN DABEI / COUNT ME IN is a collaboration between Concrete Narrative Society e.V. and the wannseeFORUM Foundation. Since 2017, we have been running one or two programs annually for young people with refugee experience, aged 9-21. This has led to a steadily growing network in our Steglitz-Zehlendorf district and beyond, connecting us with refugee support organizations, integration initiatives, accommodations, youth welfare and education facilities, caregivers, as well as children and their parents. Since 2024, the funds previously allocated to this project have only been available to youth associations within the State Youth Council, to which we unfortunately do not belong. We needed to find a new sponsor for this impactful project. We put a lot of thought into how we could continue. For 2024, we successfully secured funding from the Youth Democracy Fund. The penny dropped when the wannseeFORUM Foundation, as a municipal project related to the EU Youth Dialogue, was appointed to the National Working Group for its implementation. Wasn't the target group of the holiday seminars offered since 2017 one that receives little attention in youth participation? Youthgoal 3, which is central to the dialogue in 2024, includes ensuring "(...) socially disadvantaged young people participate in all decision-making processes and are key players. This applies particularly when it comes to their own rights, well-being, and interests."
This is precisely where we began. In the first part of the holiday program, during the Easter break, the young people first learned about their rights as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Lena Luckow from the Youth Dialogue Department then presented Youth Goal #3: "Inclusive Societies" in small groups. According to this goal, creating an inclusive Europe requires that the voices of all children and young people living here be heard. The participants discussed this in a self-organized plenary session. Through dialogue with others, they developed questions about their own challenges: What forms of exclusion or discrimination do I experience in my life? How can I name them? And what are my wishes and ideas for fully realizing my rights? They formulated their own demands regarding school, housing, discrimination, leisure time, and friendship, aiming to improve their lives. In workshops, they then translated these demands into a screenplay, song lyrics, and tape art. In the second part of the program, during the summer holidays, the artistic workshops—film and tape art, as well as theater and music—collaborated. Through dialogue, they collectively translated their demands into artistic performances, concerts, projections, and exhibitions. The results were presented to invited guests—friends, family, and network representatives—at a final presentation. Beyond the project's duration, the children's demands remain online, in film , and in print. Furthermore, the results were incorporated into the EU Youth Dialogue. The German Federal Youth Council, together with EU youth representatives, prepared the findings and forwarded them to political decision-makers.
What happens next with the holiday program? In October 2024, we submitted an application for a participation project to Erasmus+ Youth, because the integration of young people with and without refugee experience from Steglitz-Zehlendorf into the youth dialogue will continue. Their voices are being heard, and the holiday project, which has been running since 2017, will continue in 2025.