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8/14/2019 Shaping Interculturalism Report 2009
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REPORT ON CONSULTATIONSFOR AN INTERCULTURAL
STRATEGY FORYOUTHWORKCompiled and written by Lisa Mauro-Bracken
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CONTENTS
Foreword 4
Introduction 5
Context 5An Intercultural Strategy or Youth Work 6
Consultation Process 6
Focus Groups with Young People 7
Focus Groups with Parents rom ME
and Irish Communities 7
Youth Workers and Representatives o
Organisations o ME groups 7
Key Messages and Priorities 8
Eperiences of Youth Work 9
Eperience of Racism 11Participants Perceptions in the Irish Community 13
Barriers to Accessing Youth Work Opportunities 14
Challenges in the Deelopment of Inclusie Programmes 17
Supports and Resources for Youth Organisations 20
Supports that can be gien to Minority Groups 23
Eamples of Good Practice 25
Kerry Diocesan Youth Service 25
Blanchardstown Youth Service 26
YMCA, Dublin 27
Peer Mentoring Activities 27Suggested Actions 29
Research into Practices and Needs 29
Policies to Support Intercultural Practice 29
Funding and Resources 30
Interagency Partnerships 30
Training and Support or Youth Workers 31
Recruitment o Outreach and Youth Workers
rom ME Background 31
Targeted Outreach and Inormation Programmes 32
Pilot Projects and Initiatives 33Monitoring and Evaluation 33
Conclusion 34
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5
INTRODUCTION
The National Youth Council o
Ireland (NYCI) with the support o
the Department o Education andScience (DES) and the National
Action Plan Against Racism
(NPAR)1, produced a Report
and Recommendations or an
Intercultural Strategy or Youth
Work. As part o this process, NYCI
completed a consultation process
to establish views on improving
access to youth work opportunities
or young people rom Traveller andminority ethnic communities.
Youth work has particular
characteristics, which make it
suitable or working with young
people rom Minority Ethnic (ME)
groups. These include diverse,
learner-centred programmes, its
ocus on voluntary participation and
fexible, adaptable methodologies.There is evidence o a commitment
to, and interest in, intercultural
youth work among both youth
workers and young people in
the ongoing activities o many
youth organisations. However,
there remains a need or greater
strategic direction, support and
coordination in this area to ensure
that a commitment to inclusive,intercultural practice becomes a
sustainable eature o youth work in
Ireland.
This report summarises inormation
gathered as part o the ocus group
consultations held with young
people, their parents, youth workers
and representatives o minority
ethnic communities includingyouth workers rom minority ethnic
backgrounds. It highlights the range
and depth o comments made
during the consultation phase o
the development o an Intercultural
Strategy or Youth Work.
CONTExT
In the relatively recent past, Irelandhas changed rom being a state
with strong traditions o emigration
to one experiencing substantial
and diverse inward migration.
It is estimated that since 2002,
immigration has contributed to the
overall population increase with
the astest growing immigration
fow coming rom EU New Member
States ollowed by Aricans andAsians.
10%ofIrelandspopulationare oreign nationals or
approximately 420,000 people.
Thispopulationconsistsof migrant workers and their
amilies, asylum seekers,
reugees, Roma and oreign
students rom 165 nationalities.2
Thisisinadditiontotheexisting cultural and ethnic diversity
that had already existed in
Ireland including 22,435
Travellers.
Developmentofapproachesforthe integration o diverse
cultures and ethnic groups is
essential as they are at
increased risk o poverty,exclusion and discrimination.
1 NPAR has since reached 2 Central Statistics Oce,the end o its projected Census 2006 Principalproject timeline and has Demographic Results,been discontinued. July 2007.
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AN INTERCULTURAL STRATEGY
FOR YOUTH WORK
In response to recommendations in
The National Action Plan against
Racism, 2005 - 2008 (NPAR)3 and
the National Youth Work Development
Plan,4 NYCI and DES undertook
to develop an intercultural strategy
or the youth sector. This report and
recommendations responds to the
need to promote interculturalism
and combat racism in the youthwork sector. It aims to ensure that
development opportunities in the
youth sector promote equality and
are accessible, culturally sensitive
and appropriate in meeting the
needs o young people rom diverse
and dierent cultures. This Report
and Recommendations will take on
board the whole system approach
advocated in the NPAR includingmainstreaming, targeted strategies
accommodation o cultural diversity.
An Intercultural Strategy will enable
the youth work sector to work more
eectively to:
Ensurethatyoungpeople,volunteers and youth workers
rom minority ethniccommunities and diverse
cultures can be assured o
opportunities to engage in
youth work and have equality
outcomes rom youth work and
youth service provision.
Befullyinclusiveofandresponsive to the rich cultural
diversity that exists amongst
young people in Ireland todayand to ensure that such
diversity is valued, celebrated
and positively reinorced or the
benet o all young people and
or society as a whole.
Contributetothedevelopmento a shared ability and a sense
o responsibility to protect allyoung people and to ensure,
or each other, the right to
be dierent and to live ree rom
racism and unair discrimination.
Shareexistingnationalandinternational good practice, or
example in relation to youth
work with young
Travellers,reugees etc.
CONSULTATION PROCESS
Between April and June 2007 a
wide-ranging consultation process
was completed to support the
development o an Intercultural
Strategy. A steering group with
representation rom the youth work
sector, government and nongovernment organisations advised
on key aspects o the consultative
process to ensure a strategy
and implementation plan were
completed.
The consultation process included:
Apubliccallforsubmissions Aseriesofdiscussionsand
workshops with stakeholders
rom statutory bodies and
agencies
AninvitationtoNYCImemberorganisations as well as other
relevant groups to make
submissions and contribute to
the development o the strategy
Focusgroupconsultationstoensure young people and youthworkers inormed the
development o the strategy
As mentioned above, this
report highlights the comments
made during the ocus group
consultations. The aim o the
consultations was to determine how
access to youth work by memberso new and established minority
ethnic communities could be
improved.
A total o 95 participants attended
the ocus group events. The aim o
the ocus group sessions were to:
Provideanopportunityto engage in interculturaldialogue, exchange ideas and
raise awareness.
Allowparticipantstoshare experiences o needs, barriers
to participation, and suggest
adaptations necessary to ully
accommodate young people
rom diverse cultures and
minority ethnic backgrounds in
youth work. Contributetotheintercultural
practice and social inclusion
work being undertaken in the
various locations.
The groups were organised in the
ollowing locations:
Blanchardstown,Dublin15 Dundalk,Co.Louth Tralee,Co.Kerry CanalCommunitiesArea,
Dublin 8
3 www.diversityireland.ie
4 www.youth.ie
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7
accommodation.
FOCUS GROUPS WITH
YOUNG PEOPLE
A total o 29 young people attended
these sessions. The sessions were
targeted at those engaged in youth
activities who were interested in
more inclusive youth development
opportunities. In addition, young
people rom diverse and/or minority
ethnic backgrounds were invited
to attend. They may or may not
have been engaged in youthactivity but they wanted to discuss
their experiences o inclusion
and exclusion and their desire to
be involved. This included young
people living in direct provision
FOCUS GROUPS WITH PARENTS
FROM MINORITY ETHNIC AND
IRISH COMMUNITIES
Fiteen parents attended sessions
which were targeted at those
who wish to promote a greater
inclusion o young people rom
diverse cultures in development
opportunities. Many o the parents
met or the rst time to discuss
issues around inclusion/intercultural
youth work and the opportunitiesor young people to participate in
general.
YOUTH WORKERS AND
REPRESENTATIvES OF
ORGANISATIONS OF MINORITYETHNIC GROUPS
A total o 51 people contributed to
these sessions. The sessions
provided opportunities or sharing
experiences and insights which
contributed to the development
o an Intercultural Strategy.
These sessions also provided
an opportunity to consider howyouth service and minority
led organisations could work
collectively to develop a more
inclusive youth work practice locally.
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KEY MESSAGES AND PRIORITIES
The ocus group consultations were inormative and a good opportunity
or people to meet and discuss issues around intercultural youth work.
These sessions created links between youth organisations and communitydevelopment agencies that oten do not work together on youth issues. In
addition, the sessions provided an opportunity or participants to learn about
available services as well as cultural learning.
A number o recurring themes occurred throughout the discussions held with
young people, parents and youth workers. The general ndings demonstrated
that the equality ocus at the local level is not signicant, with limited inclusion
programmes and activities being implemented.
Activities which are inclusive o minority ethnic communities are developedbecause an individual youth service or worker/leader has recognised the
need. Participants were not aware o any national guidelines or research on
the needs o young people rom minority ethnic groups. Youth workers elt
there is limited leadership in relation to intercultural youth practice and they
do not have a sense o being responsible or inclusion. Many youth workers
stated they are not condent about their skills to manage racist incidences
and have limited ability to acilitate eective interculturalism/anti-racism
practice with their groups.
The ndings below outline the key messages emerging rom the ocus groupconsultations and include the ollowing:
- Experiences o youth work
- Experiences o racism
- Participants perceptions o the majority community
- Barriers to participation or minority ethnic/Traveller young people
- Challenges to developing inclusive programmes
- Support or youth organisations and youth workers
- Support or minority ethnic organisations
- Examples o good practice- Suggested actions
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9
ExPERIENCES OFYOUTH WORK
A majority o the ocus group respondents rom ME backgrounds involved
in youth work opportunities stated their experiences have been positive.
Several young people rom ME backgrounds stated they are unaware oopportunities through the youth service in their community. Their involvement
in youth related activities occurs through ater school programmes, church
groups and sports clubs. However, their experiences are similar to those
young people involved in the non-ormal youth sector. The participants
mentioned the ollowing points:
- Interaction and riendship
- Creativity and reduced boredom
- Inclusion and integration
- Positive involvement in the community- Leadership activities and engagement or older youth
- Support and assistance with ormal education through peer
mentoring programmes and homework clubs
- Support and welcome or parents
- Reduced negative attitudes towards Travellers and a sense
that discrimination and racism is decreasing
- Need or more relevant activities
- Employment options or disadvantaged communities
Invited new people into youth club;
Music is a good way to bring people
together; swapping music; drama, hip
hop; dancing and music.
_ME Young Person
New riends were made; we were
all kind o riends, the whole group; it
brought us togetherWe were working
together or a perormance; elt good;working together and completing
something; having to perorm; not
messing up _ME Young Person
For them, at moment theres not
any dierences, whether Catholic or
Muslim, all treated as one; not putting
children into religious situations; make
riends with who you want just be as
one; dont worry about i rom Iraq orIreland _ME Parent
Its important because we stay in same
place; would eel separate i dont go;
keep busy; go nuts i just stay at home;
no external activities/entertainment;
otherwise only TV _ME Parent
I youre new its important or
someone to make you eel welcome
_ME Young Person
Support rom Ms R. (a teacher) or the
dance club; she gave us resources,
radio/player, room to practice, anything
we needed. She is the best; brought
everyone together, brings black and
white together; we have un; I have so
many Irish riends she is so good she
doesnt discriminate
_ME Young Person
I worked with principal to develop a
strategy to get all children involved,
they do the work; encouraged positive
multicultural activities in school;
we learn about each other; level o
tolerance high, includes Travellers,
Aricans; example o a school as a
multicultural youth centre; we celebrate
diversity. Need to have an active anti-
bullying/racism policy; needs to bevisible not just poster gathering dust
_ME Parent
In my country or young people
turning 18, receive community
education, involved with education into
lie, not only relying on school
_ME Community Representatie
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Leadership activities, we made acommittee, so young people come in
and will plan what they want to do ornext week and this week say i want to
go to cinema; one would be president;
next one would have to see how
much it would cost especially or trips
_Youth Worker
Sometimes things organised but not
what interested in; sometimes, as well,
gone through programme already or
have been on exchanges so comingto basketball wouldnt be as exciting;
boring _Traeller Young Person
Ater age 18, kids, they enter dierent
area, real challenge comes. At this age,
looking at dierent pleasures o lie. So
how to promote something more or
them? How to express yoursel; how to
develop yoursel; what is out there or
you? Give chance to everyone to do
things to contribute sel to communityand as a whole, to society; want to
work with other youth organisations
to keep them in this balanced state;
extremes in both ways.This comes to
light in all societies/communities, so
how do we keep to the middle way.
Thats our challenge.
_ME Youth Worker
Traveller kids mixed in with settled; noghting, no racism no name calling;
kids get on well. (Local youth) Centre
broke boundaries; settled come up
to site and Travellers can go to their
houses; call on each other to play.
Dierent nationalities mixing too; youth
workers must have knowledge o
cultures; youth leader treats everyone
Overall participants stated their experiences o youth work/activities were
positive and provided opportunities or interaction, integration and riendships.
These interactions reduce boredom and help to support young people and
their parents in becoming a part o the community. Participants mentioned that
positive experiences occurred because o the support provided by a teacher or
other adult in creating an environment that is respectul and open to diversity.
The positive environment was also ostered by schools and youth clubs having
a policy on equality, bullying, and/or anti-racism in place ensuring that issues
o race and culture are discussed openly. Although many young people andparents stated their youth work experiences have been positive, several
participants stated that youth work activities are boring and need to be more
relevant to their needs. They stated the current projects and activities do not
oer opportunities to minority ethnic/Travellers beyond volunteering. There is
a sense o rustration and disgruntlement towards the service with a desire or
more activities which promote employment opportunities or Traveller youth.
the same but doesnt come naturally;
(The youth centre) is great or young
people, it keeps them occupied and weknow where they are.
_Traeller Parent
Dont know what to do; would like
to have opportunities; my status is a
problem; I cant continue my study,
cant work, and cant do anything.
_ME Young Person
Many Travellers work alongsidetrained people a long time; work
but not qualied. Travellers have
the experience; need recognition o
experience so people can provide
youth work as employees not
volunteers. _Traeller Parent
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11
ExPERIENCE OF RACISM
Several young people and parents rom minority ethnic and Traveller
communities stated they had experienced racism with the ollowing points
raised:
- Verbal attacks are oten made by children. There is a perception that
the children have no understanding o what they are saying.
- Believe racist behaviour/comments are learned and that dealing with
a situation requires working with children at school but also with
parents and the wider community.
- Response by parents is to limit activities outside the home. Young
people also limit their own activities to places where they eel sae
and do not travel alone or ater dark.
- Very ew incidences are reported as there is a ear o repercussion.Reporting to those in authority does not resolve the problem as
participants perceive they are the ones with negative attitudes.
- Lack o inormation on the part o all participants about the role o the
National Consultative Committee on Racism in Interculturalism
(NCCRI).
- Many stated there are mechanisms and policies in place to deal
with such situations. Such approaches have assisted in reducing
racism/discrimination in some areas.
- In other cases, i an incident is reported, amilies, schools and
youth organisations will respond, however participants stated they eltthe response is not always appropriate.
nothing happening; Ethnic Liaison
Ocer, he needs to have training in
interculturalism; Garda employed in
these posts need to liaise with groups;
never see the ace o them; need
to know what their job description,
role, training brie is and who theyaccountable to; what ollow up will
occur i report something.
_Traeller Community Worker
Told Ms. R. (teacher) about it, she
wanted to tell the police but I didnt
want to because didnt think it would
help, could make it worse because
parents o the kid dont care about how
they act; dangerous but didnt want toreport; thought would get bullied more.
_ME Young Person
This is around racism; racism is a lot
around skin/colour but people say need
to be mindul o imported racism.
_ME Youth Worker
Football is a mixed team but
sometimes call names, skin colour etc,insulting; at my school wont call it to
my ace; know it happens but pretend it
doesnt _ME Young Person
Irish in class tell me to *** o, shut up,
etc.Teacher told about these things,
but does nothing. Nothing will change;
crazy;Teacher tells me to be quiet, shut
up; makes me sad.
_ME Young Person
They get it rom their parents, young
people dont understand and dont
know what they are saying; I dont think
they believe what they are saying; it is
easier to start with young people, but
theres a lot o work needs to be done
withadults;Idsay60%ormoreneedsto be done with adults.
_Youth Worker
It comes rom parents, just today,someone was saying in the crche i
someone brown comes here Im not
allowed to come in anymore; parents
in Ireland havent grown up in the
Ireland their children are growing up in,
their attitude is learned.The attitudes
and opinions o parents are based on
own experience and kids believe their
parents when they say something. It
has a negative eect._ME Youth Worker
People are araid to report racism to
the Garda because Garda are racist.
Everyday, people are araid because
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Not easily reported. Accept it. I amused to it, incidents happening.When
I report, and call Garda, no response.They say, that oenders are underage,
nothing they can do; they advised me
to move out.There is nothing I can do;
so why should I report it; eventually I
let. _ME Parent
I had an experience to report an
assault, a racist incident; the Garda
asked any bruises? There werent,
so he said cant do anything or you.Victim becomes the suspect, there
is no protection, dont eel sae; keep
curtains closed, dont want people to
know you live there. _ME Parent
I someone calls you a monkey, just
walk away, you are not a monkey so
why does it bother you. I am teaching
her to ignore racist statements
otherwise will escalate and then its aburden to make
amily sae. Its up to parents to teach
child, tell them not to speak certain
ways. _ME Parent
When I rst came a kid said n****;
I reported it to a teacher but he did
nothing about it. All he did was ignore it.
He should have gone to head teacher.
I he did this the person might have got
in trouble, but all he did was say dont
say that again; (I was) told to ignore it;
but when he let, the kid did it again.
Why would I ignore it?_ME Young Person
People dont know that (they can
report to NCCRI). Need to advertise
this or make it publicly known; has to
be independent o government and
Garda. Is it kept condential?; maybe
(advertise) in Citizen Inormation
Centres or advertise service in
community groups _ME Parent
Participants stated that they had experienced racism and dealing with it
required work with children at school and with parents in the community. A
whole community approach was necessary to reduce the occurrence o racist
incidences. Several Traveller parents, young people and youth workers also
stated they repeatedly experience institutional as well as direct discrimination.
Most participants stated they did not report racist incidences as there is earo repercussion and that there is little interest or willingness to assist. Oten
there is the sense o being treated as the one in the wrong. There is a lack
o inormation on the part o all participants about the role o the NCCRI as
an organisation that records incidents o racism and compiles three monthly
reports and also oers advice on reporting incidents o racism to the Garda.
This suggests the need or community groups to work closer together in
understanding how to combat racism. More inormation and skills are required
on handling racial incidences within the youth sector, schools and in the
community. A concerted eort to combat racism is required to ensure young
people eel sae and can participate actively in youth work.
School yards, lot o bullying/racism in
the past; kids wouldnt go i racism; but
now, schools do something; somethingbeing done; kids can come back tell
parents and then tell teacher; people
can stand up now. Racism gone away.
Mixing in now. _ME Young Person
Racism is dealt with quickly; and
sometimes (schools) over respond;
cant say black; cant accuse minority
ethnic o doing something; ght
between communities and an Irishyoung person will get expelled; Oten
appear obsessed with issues but not
talking about it; Schools are terried
problem will arise and will get accused
o not handling it; DES has to look
at it and provide support to schools;
Board o Management o a school
needs to have policies in place and
create/approve language that wont be
considered oensive; but need to beallowed to express sel without causing
problems. _ME Parent
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13
PARTICIPANTS PERCEPTIONSOF THE IRISH COMMUNITY
Some o the participants gave their own views on the Irish. Many o these
views are based on their negative interactions with other young people during
their time in Ireland. The ollowing statements were made:
Dont meet Irish or play with them or
get together with them; I have Czech
and Polish riends; dont want to make
riends with Irish; some are not good,
crazy, not nice, wild.
_ME Young Person
Irish dont understand; but also notinterested in Arica, Poland etc. I you
dont have accent okay, but once have
accents even i white, people start to
say oh hes rom there; shes not our
riend because shes got this accent.
_ME Young Person
Irish not social; they dont speak to
each other.Three oreigners on team,
but the Irish dont speak to us; trainingbut no interaction with me other than
kicking ball, etc. Acceptance dicult,
but important; coach has tried but
not work. In my class 50:50 Irish to
oreigner, but segregate each other,
dont have ull acceptance.
_ME Young Person
Settled people assumed I knewpeople because I was a Traveller and
its same with coloured people, settled
people think all know each other.
_Traeller Youth Worker
Irish kids dont identiy sel by
creed/religion. Muslim kids identiy
themselves by creed. Irish kids tend to
ocus more on attitude, class.
_ME Youth Worker
Negative interactions with the majority Irish community have created
a perception o the Irish as not social, not interested in minority ethnic
communities and being racist. Many o these perceptions have grown out o
the rustration and isolation young people eel when they are not included in
activities. Several o the young people would like majority Irish youth to learn
more about them in order to gain acceptance.
I dont think they know what people
go through to get here; its not like
we came here and it was all peaches
and cream.We had a hard time
getting here. Now I want to go home
because you get bullied just or your
race; I hated it so much when rst got
here. People look at me and they saywhat is she, not black not white, I am
something unny; I explain what people
go through to get here they understand
better, might make a dierence; might
make it easier to come together.
_ME Young Person
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BARRIERS TO ACCESSINGYOUTH WORK OPPORTUNITIES
There are many barriers to accessing youth work opportunities or young people
and adults rom a minority ethnic and Traveller background. Participants stated that
youth organisations need to actively promote their services and provide a sae,welcoming and inclusive environment or true participation by young people rom
diverse backgrounds to occur.The ollowing barriers were mentioned throughout
the discussions:
- Lack o inormation about youth work opportunities and youth
organisations
- Lack o targeted outreach and accessible programmes provided
- Language and miscommunication
- Limited awareness about cultural and religious belies and practices
- Lack o youth workers rom the minority ethnic and TravellerCommunities
- Parents ear and saety concerns or their children
- Perception o parents about Irish culture, their own culture, youth work
and young people
- Gender issues
- Financial constraints
- Garda vetting process
I dont know where to get inormation;supposed to have community projects
but where to go dont know where to
start._ME Parent
I dont know about stu outside o
school; wouldnt know about other
clubs, not invited to go.
_ME Young Person
Lack o knowledge about service;need to do outreach; i its about
building relationships, need to inorm.
_ME Representatie
Up to agencies to promote services
that they have to oer .And up to
parents and young people to nd out.
_Community Worker
Parents should be involved; veryprotective about my child; when no
inormation mentioned this is one o the
problems.Want it (inormation) written
out, not have children telling us.
_ME Parent
I want to set up club that ocuses oncultural inormation, on Arican culture,
happy to have Irish join, but most
likely they wont be interested; things
we want our children to learn; have to
accept that we want dierent things.
_ME Parent
People lack inormation; might be
on radio but not many understand it;
helps i come and speak or provideinormation in persons language.
_ME Community Representatie
Literacy may be an issue; there is
an assumption that people have the
condence to make a call (to get
inormation), presumed people will call
numbers.
_Traeller Community Worker
People in class know where I come
rom.This helps; have to get to know
each other but language biggest
problem; i didnt speak English, they
would tell me to go.
_ME Young Person
Accents can cause barrier becausecant understand each other; but need
to keep mixing and keep trying; say it
once, dont understand, try again.
_ME Young Person
English language greatest barrier
or social communication; dont know
what to talk about or what to do; we
can talk and have group discussion
about medical things, school work, buti want to talk urther, dont know what
to say; dont know what their social lie
is. _ME Young Person
Arican cultureor example, why
do children avoid eye contact when
speaking with an adult. also way
we address people is dierent; my
children call other elders Aunty, not by
rst name; show respect; I cant reerto my older sisters by rst name;
taboo.This can cause signicant
problems; it causes conusion between
the two cultures.
_ME Community Representatie
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15
Understanding their culture, its a big
problem;Travellers, they have their
own culture; its rom the parentsperspective what their children are
allowed to do while trying to keep the
culture. _Community Worker
I have my Arabic background, I am
British, I am Irish.Whole concept o
integration is undened; what do
we mean by integration. I have Irish
riends, study here, work here, pay
taxes, go out; okay, dont drink, not intoclubbing scene thats my preerence
rather than cultural thing. So when
someone says integration, I eel more
integrated as have similar problems as
othersCeltic Tiger, Ireland changed,
been here through that change; Irish
have lost identity, ewer Irish going to
church. Culture constantly changing so
to promote Irish culture then is a good
thing or us. _ME Youth Worker
The religious aspects is what brings
us together; cultural aspects brings
or creates a dierence within groups;
last Friday had around 15 cultures in
one group; or us, the uniying thing is
the creed and dont dierentiate based
on culture. Next step is to invite other
creeds because religious barriers they
do exist because parents have ears;real barriers that need to be crossed.
To preserve religious identity, this is
greater challenge to us than the cultural
challenge. _ME Youth Worker
I dont know each other, how can we
know values.The idea o Irish culture
or Irishness overrides religious barriers;
promoting the idea o a common thread
is a good way orward._ME Youth Worker
Issue around ood; i ood not halal,
this is a barrier; i invited to events, it
is dicult to attend, need to have halal
ood; oten this is overlooked and i I
dont tell them about ood need, I wont
come to event. _ME Young Person
Parents come with ears o exclusion;
oten trying to build trust but still
Travellers wont let children out on
trips.
_Traeller Deelopment Worker
Mum not allow me, wont let me walk
around at night. I parents know where
I am and know its sae, its okay. I dont
know whats happening, not happy. Ithey have a consent sheet and letter,
its ne, its okay. _ME Young Person
Saety or kids, araid or them to just
go to things; need to know who is
organising. _ME Parent
Not a ear born out o ignorance; have
to understand their context, dierent
backgrounds, dierent experiences; itsnot as i dont have youth work/groups
at home but in a dierent country.
Families trying to nd own area, theyre
looking rom dierent perspective.
_ME Community Representatie
In Blanchardstown, some parts are
disadvantaged; many people living
modestly. Some children involved in
bad activities, so parents dont wantchildren mixing with Irish children and
Irish children may also not be willing to
mix up with new communities.There
is a ear o ghetto/not mixing between
two communities; very disadvantaged
because not in powerul situation.
_ME Community Representatie
Many want to be involved but not
accepted; example, ootball teamsnot accepting them to join in; i no
integration we will see ourselves as
disadvantaged; revenge could happen.
This is what happened in France with
Arabic black children; need to rst
address what type o interaction can
we promote between communities. I
talking about integration, interaction is
the rst step. _ME Parent
Children will see selves as children,
integration is really about us the adults
who have to look at this; Children will
grow into culture, shit into it
_Traeller Deelopment Worker
Parents can be a big barrier or
children; need to get them involved,
explain positive benets o youth work;personal development o young people;
most time parents dont realise that.
They are living in a dierent society,
where i dont care about personal
development o children, it could be a
tragedy or them. _ME Youth Worker
In school, kids making riends with
other kids; kids interact quickly, but
parents holding them back; hard toget parents involved; try dierent
things. Lucky with Forige youth club,
but parent involvement a challenge.
Activities at youth club would mean two
ree hours or them (dont get this oten)
so see it as something to look ater kids
not to get involved with themselves.
_Traeller Deelopment Worker
Parents are oten reluctant to integrateand wont let young people do this;
because when dont eel welcome, they
live in and stay in own community; dont
let children out; strategy is to work with
parents; hard to get them to trust and
be happy to see children involved.
_ME Parent
Adults are the ones with problems
and prejudices (teach to children). Anaccepting school environment creates
accepting children; learn rom children;
need to oster this acceptance so
society will be better. _ME Parent
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Dicult to engage parents; manycame with business ideas and busy
with own things and survival, no clueabout the society around them; dont
understand Irish society, culture.
Parents unaware o social make up o
Ireland and new needs o kids; think
o it as when at home; need to be
aware o new country that they live in
and being aware; See education side
o things, getting decent grades, but
dicult to educate them about the
other things; Parents dont see it asimportant; havent understood need or
children to engage.
_ME Youth Worker
I am a Muslim ather, (its a) matter o
act that boys and girls dont mix; even
in prayers, separate in mosque; cant
be where a woman is, because it would
get me out o my prayers. _ME Parent
When youre a girl you stay right
until married; parents have to know
everything. _Traeller Parent
Perception nothing to do with a
religious thing but more to do with
cultural thing rom home; that women
are not involved outside o the home.
_ME Youth Worker
Girls not let o as much as boys;
not as much reedom.This could be
challenged but traditions are up to
parents. Mothers and athers always
strict with girls; usually seen not heard.Once a girl is 12/13, must stay home;
young girls are engaged at 16/17;
engaged so girl wont get bad name; i
out (socially), get bad name and then
hard to get her married.
_Traeller Youth Worker
Girls engage easily and well and very
willing. Men reluctant wont necessarily
join. See a lot o sexism in school.Need or equality, respect; amily values
issue and belies so dont see that
certain actions not acceptable.
_Community Worker
Young emale leaders on committees,
at least a third on committees; want
50%butstilldifculttogetfemalesinvolved.The youth leaders will provide
the condence to the parents; let themknow this is our prole, our history; can
only be broken down by youth leader;
and create trust. _ME Youth Worker
(In our countries) unusual to spend
money on ootball, or activities but here
income is limited and many activities
have to be paid or; and parents dont
have money to pay. Their perception is
that here many activities are seen ascosting or requiring pay; and in reality
many activities do not cost; parents
Many o the barriers mentioned throughout the consultation process require
youth organisations and workers to rethink how they promote their services
and create a more welcoming, inclusive service. Language, cultural and
religious diversity within the minority ethnic communities urther limits the
ability o some groups to learn about youth services through the normal
recruitment processes being used. The perception o parents about Irishculture, their own culture and how young people are expected to behave
creates barriers to active participation due to ear and concern or the saety
o their children as well as the desire to maintain their cultural/religious
identities. Additional inormation about the youth service and the benets to
young people must be provided to parents along with the creation o a trusting
relationship beore real participation can occur.
need inormation about this.
_Community Representatie
Barrier; but theres a reason or
people not getting clearance (Garda
vetting), very essential(need a) level
playing eld; same clearance as any
one elsehave one law or youth
organisation and one or others. Other
organisations looking at it but up to
them; doesnt make sense.
_Community Worker
For example i she wants to apply
she should know how to get it; Need
to know more about the procedure;
how long; explanation about how it
works; how apply or it; there should be
someone there to help. _ME Parent
No problem or issue getting Garda
clearance or volunteers, but there
was a real standoshness whenproduced orm; understand that they
have to ll in lots o orms so they
were taken aback and suspicious
by this but explained its to protect
young people and sel, and explained
the orm so ound it okay; Garda
clearance has to be done by each
organisation so every time they
volunteer or dierent group they
need new clearance._Community Worker
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17
CHALLENGES IN THE DEvELOPMENTOF INCLUSIvE PROGRAMMES
Youth worker participants stated they ound it dicult to get young people
rom a minority ethnic background, especially asylum seekers and separated
children, to access and participate in youth work. For those experiencingdiculties rst hand, they recognised it is necessary to encourage young
people directly and have a fexible, open attitude in order to respond eectively
to the needs o this group. They recognised the need to create an environment
within the club that values and respects diverse cultural backgrounds. The
ollowing challenges were mentioned throughout the ocus group discussions:
- Youth workers perceptions and attitudinal barriers
- Need or enhanced skills or youth workers and Irish youth
around intercultural issues and anti-racism
- Funding and resource constraints- Programme and structural infexibility
- Lack o interagency communication
Peoples prejudices there; ear o
change, ear o dierence.
_Community Worker
A lot o youth groups live in own
bubble and need to burst bubble. Noawareness about the issues, many
dont want to change. A lot more work
has to happen and see what other
youth groups are doing.
_Youth Worker
Outreach work to target minority ethnic
groups has to do with leadership.
_Youth Worker
Society gives silent messages to
people: an all Irish group sends a silent
message to minority groups; when
writing up constitution, should ask, are
we being inclusive; are we wheelchair
riendly, are we LGBT inclusive; are
we open to minority ethnic groups;
are we making eorts to include
minority ethnic young people or are we
orgetting subconsciously?_Community Worker
Need to break down perceptions; need
to break down locally; start small and
move up; break ormation o ghettos
and seclusion.Want everyone to have
ree way o expression. Perceptions
grow there (in ghettos) and extreme
views, bad things can happen; so need
to ocus on how to break perceptions
o young people, its how to break theghetto. _ME Youth Worker
Youth Workers need to be trained
to deal with issues; understanding
the need and having skills to take
responsibilities or comments/actions
being made at youth clubs. Xenophobia
versus racism needs to be addressed;
imported xenophobia/anti-Semitism
with migrants; No intercultural stubeing implemented.
_Community Worker
Dealing with anti-racism work:
members at Y hadnt engaged
beore. Anti-racism work with Irish,
there was a wariness because never
mixed with oreigners beore. Also,
at the hostels, dierent groups live
together and have many signicantdierences. They dont necessarily
get on; doesnt mean have to get on.
Only thing they have in common is
that they are oreign nationals (and
they are asylum seekers.) They are
rom dierent countries; could have
Nigerian, Moroccan all together;
problem with that, but people see
them all as non-nationals.
_Youth Worker
Oten activities enorced through
unding;Youth leaders not connected
to this because so engaged and
absorbed with kids so dont have time
to make connections. _Youth Leader
Asylum seekers and reugees,
minority ethnic youth are not
mentioned or named in DES
unding as a target group like theTravellers and disadvantaged youth
are. Disadvantaged young people,
what does it really mean? Open
to interpretation; not specied so
interpret it way we need to; but should
specically name asylum seekers as
a target group as they are living o
19.10 a week. We should receive
proper unding not 2,500 to sustain
projects or a year...We have twogroups, legally resident migrants and
asylum seekers group, integrated
groups together; decided to target
asylum seekers beore got unding;
ran project on a shoestring to oer
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something; anything we can oer ornothing, we did it; oered arts, crats,
computers. _Youth Worker
Awul lot o people coming in are
living in rented accommodation;
very expensive, living on very small
budgets and are disadvantaged but
my area wouldnt cover them so they
arent coming into my youth group;
Disadvantaged by cost o living; my
remit not able to target minority ethnic
groups even though would like to dothis. _Youth Worker
Access to spaces; waiting lists to
youth projects; a lot o projects would
be geographical, based on catchment
area and that unding excludes; that is
a barrier.
_ME Community Representatie
Youth organisations have geographicboundaries. Funding is provided to
parishes which serve specic areas.
Dierent types o boundaries exist,
need to dene community.
_Youth Worker
Our experience o amilies at
accommodation centre: they need
greater access to youth organisations;
waiting lists, shortage o spaces andunding can be issues. Dont want to
organise separate, own little groups.
Want them to join in. Inclusion very
dicult because arent enough
services; even trying to get them
into ater school, oten service not
there or ull; need or more provision
especially or children living in dicult
circumstances who are cut o already.
When young people cut o its evenmore important to tap in to other
existing mainstream programmes so
young people get some type o normal
lie and or their parents sanity, give
them a break knowing that children are
going to something._ME Community Representatie
Transport a problem and time because
cant allow them out too late. In
Tyrellstown, kids everywhere but no
place to bring them locally; have to pick
them up personally; needs exploring,
something needs to be done. Driving
like mad to erry all over the place to
get children to places because theywanted to do things. _Youth Worker
I you get clubs that invite people you
will get people mixing in, get them
together, but depends on the acilities
and where it is located. Some people
will drive kids to it; some only walk and
i too ar wont go but i 5 minutes.
Sae enough or kids to go to centre;
but i it were urther away wouldnt goto it. Facilities/Centre have to be where
everyone goes. _Traeller Parent
Evenings 5:30 to 6:30pm okay but not
sure as I dont want to walk about at
night; area really rough.
_ME Young Person
Wont set up groups unless have
three volunteers; all have to go throughinduction training and Garda clearance
is required. _Youth Worker
Worry about being on own so i its to
happen, inormation must be provided
about youth club in school, can talk
with riends about going to club.
Separate, isolation will lead to people
not joining; only go to places with
riends, peers, community; cant underestimate ears. _Youth Worker
Dicult or newcomers, people dont
join in because they dont want to be
the rst one. People huddle togetherin groups; need something to get them
going, break boundaries.
_ME Youth Worker
Go to places where relatives go so
easy to make riends and mingle.
_ME Young Person
Global village is held over lunch with
sizeable number o oreign nationalsand some Irish; 1st to 5th year (12-16
yrs old) seem to love it; keep coming
back; asked them once i they would
attend NYP (regular youth club based
outside o school) but this was outside
their comort zone so didnt show
up; let the activities in school; very
successul, they attend doing great
work. _Youth Worker
People looking or place but only place
(in Tyrellstown) is the school and it is
willing but small, only 6 classrooms;
built these places but no place to
gather. May live in an advantaged area
but no acility available.
_Community Worker
No regular meetings; did some training
with (other organisations) and rom thatsaid needed network days to support
using the new skills but not really
happening in terms o networking. Its
obvious its needed; (Interculturalism)
big thing or all but so used to what
doing and tend to catch up at trainings;
nothing however done that is saying
lets get together. _Youth Worker
Racism dicult to listen to Dontknow how to react, challenge
misinormation Youth workers not
trained. _Youth Worker
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19
Attitudes o youth workers at the individual and organisational level can result
in exclusion and discrimination. Language and images used at youth centres
can also create an exclusive environment limiting participation o minorityethnic and Traveller youth. The lack o acilities, location o some centres in
rough areas and geographical boundaries have also limited the participation
o young people as many participants stated there are saety concerns about
allowing children to attend activities ater dark.
Furthermore, a lack o cross sector work between youth services, schools,
community development projects and minority ethnic led organisations limits
channels or disseminating inormation, developing projects that involve a
amily ocus and providing services that refect the needs o the community.
These challenges aect the ability o youth organisations and workers todevelop inclusive programmes and will need to be overcome to ensure
increased participation.
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SUPPORTS AND RESOURCESFORYOUTH ORGANISATIONS
Youth workers and representatives o the ME ethnic communities elt there
was a need or support and resources to ensure their services are in line with
intercultural practice. Many o the participants stated they would be interestedin working with diverse groups but that they lack the awareness o, or skills in,
intercultural issues and practice.
The ollowing supports were mentioned as being essential to reducing
miscommunication and confict and ensuring the implementation o
intercultural youth work practice:
- Ongoing and relevant intercultural awareness and capacity building
(support and training)
- Intercultural communication skills and support in using skills gained- National guidelines and policies to instruct and guide youth organisations
in implementing intercultural practices
- Support in the development o inclusive programmes
- Skills on implementing needs assessment
- Documentation and sharing o good practice approaches which can be
used by youth workers as models
- Support in understanding the Youth Work Act (2001) and the role o VEC
Youth Ocers
- Adequate resources, both human and nancial
I used Theatre o the oppressed:
very simple game; one person
nominated as devil; game called
Devils Advocate and did with mixed
group; some young children rom
minority ethnic participants rozen in
ear; quizzed them on why? (To them)
devil is powerul; culturally ound this
disempowered me as I didnt expectthe reaction; ound I wasnt culturally
aware. I learned, but need more
inormation about cultural issues/
belies and parameters can work
with. Feel youth workers need to be
more aware; made me stop and think.
Never thought or a second that a
word would righten them.
_Youth Worker
Need to understand culture, cant
use hearsay or media; need support
around the idea o amily in own and
other cultures; all responsible or
what is important and need to nd
out; really need to re-educate selves
around values and belies.
_Youth Worker
We would work on integration,
but there is ear we wont be able
to communicate (with youth and
parents) _Youth Worker
I cant communicate here, how canwe communicate about other areas;
to avoid this sense o alienation need
to promote intercultural activities
together. _ME Youth Worker
Language, many parents have little
or no English; how am I going to
communicate with them; can use
children but Explain to young
people and then expect them to tellparents, this might not work.
_Youth Worker
Youth services should take the lead
on this and embed it (intercultural
youth work) into organisation; always
deal with it and ensure people aware
o policy. _Community Worker
I think it should be in the Constitution
to have to start somewhere with
integration. School and youth clubs
that is where bulk o work is, this is
where rst contact comes. School is
a miniature version o lie; what youinstil in school years and i putting in
wrong ingredients into child (Need
to)have it (equality/inclusion) in
constitution but could raise hostility.
_Community Worker
We have no guidelines, no direction;
nothing that states include everybody
or that have to be proactive and
provide service. Have to do this work._Youth Worker
Comes rom youth clubs and youth
work, understanding o why doing it
(equality) young people and youth
workers have to be part o the
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21
process; important process; design
the policy themselves.
_Youth Worker
Lot o work needs to be done,
still nothing, no specic project
or programme in place. Many
voluntary groups dont have equality
policy; there is a stage beore that,
understanding why need it; need to
do education about why do we need
equality and then develop policy rom
there. _Youth Worker
I think locally it would be useul
to develop similar intercultural
strategy with VEC via Community
Development Board (CDB); i CDB
under NPAR, takes the initiative to
develop anti-racism and equality
plans, there needs to be a ocus on
youth inside this. It would bring all
agencies together; Galway did thisand very strong youth ocus. Could
happen in other places, but depends
on the CDB; where is commitment o
board on this.
_Community Deelopment Worker
A lot o the projects have expressed
an interest in intercultural work but
dont know where to begin; and a
lot o times, because the projectsare so established themselves, its
something completely new that has
to be taken on and the leaders would
need training; dierent piece o work;
the interest is there; its just where to
begin. _Youth Worker
Youth services have to be directed
to be inclusive; sometimes important
to make things a condition o unding.Now, have to provide child protection,
but should it be a condition o unding
that have to be inclusive? Do youth
services have to be directed to do
this? _Youth Worker
Assessment as well, youth should be
asked elt needs and express what
want to do; and getting other groupsto respond to the assessment. I
young people not included, they will
get in to trouble. Get them together to
ask them what like to do; how to get
these done; nd out what they need.
_Youth Worker
Need to nd out what young people
want; mom and dad give certain
education and experiences but needother inormation; take responsibility
and experience or lie.
_ME Community Representatie
There are Muslims in many
areas and would have dierent
communities. We know have to go to
community and provide services, but
need easy access. A small survey
to outline where they are and whatbackground they are; i know persons
are there and what ethnic background
is there, makes it easier; but havent
really looked into a survey and not
done a survey because costly and
timely so dont know dierences.
_ME Youth Workers
Is there learning rom UK and EU;
they have already come up with stu;gone through this process already;
is there something else we could be
learning. _Youth Worker
VEC under the Youth Work Act,
taking on Youth Ocers; their job is to
develop comprehensive youth work
plan with policies; intercultural work
needs to be integrated into plans.
Youth ocers being trained but notsure i getting diversity or intercultural
training; need to push it nationally or
at least locally. _Community Worker
Theres a lot o scepticism around
VEC taking on youth work; and
what that is going to dictate to the
workers and the young people and
putting a curriculum to youth work;ear that they will be taking on large
youth projects and programmes and
squeezing out the smaller ones; huge
scepticism. _Youth Worker
I let Kildare at a time when people
starting to talk about it; maybe its
about going under ormal education
area, when youth work is about
inormal education; VEC would bemore ormal education and that
will dictate how it is reported, this
changes how we manage as well as
accountability. People are araid its
becoming very numbers ocused,
how many kids, how many projects
did you run, what activities, etc., not
about development; changes the
ocus to outcome based; taking away
rom real ocus, o reaching out toneeds; youth work however ocuses
on reaching out to disadvantaged,
empowering; but becoming more like
private business. _Youth Worker
Its important they (minority ethnic
led community groups) all hear
about VEC registration and that
VEC includes their work in the
mapping exercise._Community Deelopment Worker
Need or inrastructure, acilities
and venues or activities. Saying that
though, need to be careul where
youth club is set up; certain areas,
like living in hell; youth club in one
area would not be good.
_Traeller and ME Parents
Comes down to having resources;
limited resources, cant promise
something cant deliver.
_Youth Worker
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Limited unds but implementing as
much as we can, as see there is a
great need to include these groupsso kids have a chance to be kids.
_Youth Worker and Leader
Ongoing, continuous support and adequate training is required or youth
workers to gain the condence to use the inormation and skills obtained
as well as to build their capacity to work within a diverse and inclusive
environment. Several youth workers elt national guidance regarding
intercultural issues is necessary along with policies to target new communities.
Guidelines on how to develop inclusive programmes as well as inormation onbest practice approaches which can be used as models would be useul.
The invisibility o the ME community in some areas suggested youth workers
and organisations required assistance on implementing needs analysis and
gathering baseline data about the local population. There is a need or a better
understanding o the Youth Work Act and the role o the VEC Youth Ocers
in terms o its impact on unding and resourcing existing youth organisations
as well as youth work implemented by community-led groups. Adequate
resources are necessary to ensure youth organisations have the capacity to
target young people, volunteers and workers rom ME backgrounds.
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23
SUPPORTS THAT CAN BEGIvEN TO MINORITY GROUPS
In order to support minority ethnic groups and enhance participation o young
people rom these communities, youth organisations must actively engage
local groups to explore areas o overlap and identiy opportunities to plan andwork together.
Participants stated the ollowing supports would assist minority groups in
becoming more involved in youth work:
- Inormation and greater awareness about the youth service,
becoming aliated to a youth organisation and accessing
supports available rom the service
- Establish partnerships and networking opportunities to learn
and share skills, knowledge and expertise- Provision o certied courses to minority ethnic organisations
to enhance the capacity o their members
- Resources such as access to acilities, unding opportunities,
identiying materials/training and managing logistical barriers
such as transport and child care
Have no knowledge about how youth
services work or the unding.
_ME Community Representatie
Didnt know until recently that we
could become aliated with KDYS;
doing own thing; talked to sta
here trying to get membership, got
inormation about service but dont
know what help is available, what
we can do etc.
_ME Community Representatie
Biggest challenge we all ace was to
set up youth organisation; that was
our challenge. I build up networks;
try to meet once a month and discuss
what doing; once a month or an hour,
as its silly to operate separately.
_ME Youth Worker
Issue o capacity building, most o us
our qualications are not recognised,building capacity so possible to get
employed aterwards.
_ME Community Representatie
Some groups need to have their
capacity built like we said earlier
because they have been oppressed
all their lie. Targeting people, but then
giving with one hand and taking withthe other; theres a ne line there; a
group may need all help they can be
given in their category group but then
are we reinorcing the stereotypes vs.
making it more inclusion vs. fung
over the issues.
_Traeller Community Worker
Should always ollow up to try not
to have training just or training sake;(review) training; and push agencies
so that its proper and accredited
training leading to skills and
employment; aiming to build peoples
capacity; people need jobs..
_Traeller Youth Worker
Come to KDYS to do junior cycle and
senior cycle; when rst started o I
came here as participant; in all theseyears dont understand (why) only
one Traveller employed here. Strategy
is to include Travellers, supporting
them to nish school and get trained,
get qualications, but also need to
support them getting employed.
I dont have them employed there
is a barrier to using service; dont
penalise those or not nishingschool; nd other ways to get them
involved. _Traeller Community
Worker/Parent
Support would be to include
open door, unding, inormation,
equality policy.
_ME Community Representatie
Need some sort o nancial help;security, a place to meet, maybe
a sports hall; dierent clubs have
access to halls so play/bring teams
together in dierent places
_Youth Worker
Funding and resources an issue;
put own money into setting up
youth organisation, all o us are
proessionals; so thats how we raisedmoney at beginning. Now looking or
unding; should be able to get a little
support rom other organisations but
mainly on us._ME Youth Workers
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25
ExAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE
Much o the good practice occurring at the ocus group sites is occurring in an
ad hoc ashion and is not ully documented.
Documentation o such activities could be shared with other agencies. An
activity which ocuses on identiying and collating best practice materials and
disseminating it to youth organisations would be useul. Examples o good
practice were identied in the ollowing areas:
- Welcoming environment: ethos o equality
- Targeted outreach/inormation provision
- Interagency partnerships
- Employment o minority ethnic youth worker
- Peer mentor programmes
WELCOMING ENvIRONMENT,
ETHOS OF EqUALITY: KERRY
DIOCESAN YOUTH SERvICE
To be really honest ever since I
came to Tralee been seeing leafets
about KDYS; KDYS statement o
welcome, anti-racism, equality, all onleafets; dierent people on posters,
amiliar aces. In KDYS, there was a
leafet; there was a decision made
that said we will be clear, honest,
open. _ME Parent
Have long relationship with some
parents; have strong relationship with
a good ew parents; some minority
ethnic parents volunteering, they gettraining. _Youth Worker
KDYS has an ethos o equality;
always had practice o inclusiveness,
equality; saw a massive need or
young people in town rom asylum
seeker and new communities
background; knew they needed to be
accommodated, needed to respond;
volunteers came along at right time;
antastic all came and said wanted
to be volunteers; oered training,
got nancial support; everything
happened at the right time.
_Youth Worker
As KDYS workers and leaders, we
will sit with them (parents) and saywhat procedures there are and tell
them who we are, give application
orm, insurance and explain have
emergency number; meet with
parents rom accommodation centre
to talk about this. Next month, or
example, all parents with children,
we will have meeting and coee; tell
them who we are tell about equality;
we will say who is responsible orthem, build trust, explain service.
Even me, beore I knew KDYS, I
wouldnt let my daughter come, not
until I am sure, now know them. So
get them in, build trust, is important.
_ME Youth Worker
Parents need to know about youth
services. We have a meeting or
parents to come to; a letter can work
too, but a visit may be necessary. Tell
them where you are, invite parents to
come to meet youth workers; when
tell them about programme they trust
you. For example, some members
last week went to Dublin; we had
sent a letter home explaining the
programme and invited parents todrop in or call; explained everything
will be ne; there were no problems,
but just wanted to be sure.
_Youth Worker
Also organise programmes in school,
Lets be r iends and Okay, Lets Go
(transition programme). Workers go
out to primary school, 6th class, and
go through timetable, school tour,language inormation or parents.
The KDYS member o sta that runs
the programmes acilitates students
to make transition rom primary
to secondary school; will provide
inormation or parents in several
languages explaining that child needs
to be registered in secondary school.
_Youth Worker
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TARGETED OUTREACH COMBINED WITH INTERAGENCY PARTNERSHIP
AND EMPLOYMENT OF MINORITY ETHNIC YOUTH WORKER:
BLANCHARDSTOWN YOUTH SERVICE (BYS)
An example o good practice included a targeted outreach programme or a
summer camp. The youth outreach worker met parents, oten going door to
door, and presented inormation at a local church about the youth service,
proposed activities and answered parents questions.
This assisted in building a trusting relationship with the amily and helped to
spread the word about the summer camp. The programme was unded by theBlanchardstown Area Partnership (BAP) and linked with local schools and
churches which also oered venues or promoting youth work. It allowed the
youth service to utilise the cultural resources in the community and provided
useul insight to cultural dierences.
For young people to integrate
properly need to speak the language;
inability to speak English language
was a barrier; other issues too;language was one way to get them
involved. Families had issues around
culture in Ireland; i young people let
on own would be easily accepted,
but when mix up with Irish people
couple o issues had to be looked
at. Having the language was helpul;
it enabled and empowered them to
communicate and inormed them;
gradually able to include youth inactivities at community centre and
youth clubs in the area. Initiative
in BYS, unded by BAP, ound
partnership between these two
organisations (BYS and BAP) worked
very well. _Community Worker
I think we did sow a seed which I
believe can be tapped into; the layout
is there and very successul, theresno doubt about that; we ended up
involving a great number o these
young people in activities in the
summer. Whole idea is to get them
to take part in area club and group
activities in the area and achieve
integration as a result o that. I think it
was successul, however we need tobuild on that. _ME Youth Worker
Had a ew issues, like the culture
thing; young people decide not want
to do this; some o them didnt want
to; so we wondered why; when asked,
we realised it wasnt a question o the
young people not wanting to do it; a
lot o issues around ear, and around
mum and dad and asking i couldgo out; parents opinions, not tting
in; so devised couple o strategies.
Have to bring the whole amily along;
went and spoke with parents, carried
them along and explained what was
available; positive aspects o youth
work; educate parents means it is
easier to get children to come; sit in
living room; they invite you to dinner
or cup tea; tell them whats available;time done educating parents much
easier to get young people to take
part; I believe strategy that cant go
wrong. _ME Youth Worker
The work, done in the summer, is
important; vast majority o activities
were ree; getting inormation out was
necessary, but we had to change (inorder) to reach the community;(the
youth worker) he went door to
door; met parents and talked about
the programme; issue is getting
inormation out, had to change to
get into the communities; youth
worker explained things, answered
questions. Outreach, knocking on
doors; challenging ear; think o worst
case situation so gave them thepositive; acknowledge what is going
on. _Youth Worker
Every community cant have ull
time worker; impossible to have
ull time worker in each place; will
always be restriction but important
to acknowledge all the work that is
being done; do a lot o work to plan
activities and to inorm people aboutthem but inormation still not out
there. _Youth Worker
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TARGETED OUTREACH:YMCA, DUBLIN
Youth worker participants providing services or young asylum seekers,
including separated children, have ound it dicult to get young people to
access and participate in youth work because o the lack o trust, ear due to
previous experiences/trauma, and reluctance to leave their accommodation
centre. The youth workers stated it is necessary to encourage young people
directly and to provide fexible, one to one support. Youth workers stated the
identication and implementation o dierent approaches to initially engage
young people rom ME backgrounds would be essential.
Starting in September, we set up
a system where one youth worker
would take responsibility or linking
up two hostels; there would be a
crossover between youth rather than
the case workers sending them to
us; more connected, with us going
to them; I will go over and will be
PEER MENTORING ACTIVITIES
the key person who goes to centre
and inorms youth o activities to get
them to join. I act as a go between; I
know it sounds small but (not being
physically present) is a barrier;
so I will attend every photography
course; we need to think about
things a bit more; make sure our
Peer mentoring programmes geared towards ensuring a positive transition
rom primary to post primary school have been a successul mechanism
or involving minority ethnic youth in youth work activities. It is elt that once
they are involved in school activities it becomes easier to involve them in
ater school youth work activities. It also ensures young people talk about
youth work and promote increased participation within their own social group.
Involvement in youth work activities rom a young age is believed to be the
most eective way to increase participation.
Peer mentoring programmes are a positive approach or promoting andadvocating young peoples interests to a larger group o people and they
improve representation o minority ethnic groups within a service. It has
given youth workers the opportunity to consult with young people about their
interests as well as identiy how to improve access to the youth service.
Projects can then be developed in response to such consultation.
The mentor group, 5th year, look
ater 1st years; always look to
promote 5th year oreign nationals tobe positive role models or a 1st year
oreign national; see it as very well
balanced and mixed. Comortable
there; made an exhibition, created
using stories, masks, dierent
dances, the project based on themes
looking at commonalities.
_ME Young Person
The mentoring model tries to give
them a positive ocus; many are
disadvantaged because o their
status in Ireland; Motivate and remind
them there is a uture; use sports,
art, academics, science. Very little
work is connected. In terms o the
young people mixing we had a lot
o success; its just getting them on
a continuous basis and making the
unaccompanied minors rom the
hostels eel part o the project.
_Youth Worker
positive promotion o Arican culture;
no role models; dont hear about
them, so need to promote the positiverole models more; dont hear about
them or things accomplished; Need
to identiy successul people;(instead
o) emphasis always on the negative.
_ME Community Worker
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In that school they have a peer
mentoring programme; trained to
mentor isolated youth; trained 12mentors; roll out in September;
People at risk will now work with
other students; School approached
KDYS to run the training.
Young people at risk o leaving school
themselves trained as mentors;
helps in school, provides a contact,someone can go and talk to when
have a problem; they listen but not
counsellors; so i you are araid to go
to a teacher about being bullied, you
have a mentor so go to mentor and
they have the courage to go to the
teacher. Support you to do this and to
get help. _Youth Worker
Several examples o good practice were highlighted during the consultation
process. This inormation provided ideas or other youth organisations and
workers on dierent approaches that could be used to increase participation o
young people rom minority ethnic and Traveller communities. However, there
are many more examples o good practice occurring which are undocumented
and thereore, unavailable as learning models. Documentation o good practice
will need to occur so that youth organisations and workers can share ideas
and support each other in developing more inclusive practices.
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SUGGESTED ACTIONS
Throughout the consultation process several suggestions on how to ensure
participation and develop intercultural youth work practice were made.
- Research into practices and needs
- Policies to support intercultural practice
- Funding and resources
- Interagency partnerships
- Training and support
- Recruitment o outreach and youth workers rom ME
background
- Targeted outreach and inormation
- Pilot projects and initiatives
- Monitoring and evaluation
RESEARCH INTO PRACTICES AND NEEDS
There is a lack o relevant data about ME young people, their needs, the
barriers to their participation in youth work and what interests they have. Also
there is a lack o knowledge about activities and programmes occurring in the
youth services that have had success in increasing participation o minority
ethnic youth and adults. In order to ensure programmes and activities are
relevant to the needs o young people, research is required. The researchshould provide youth organisations with a base rom which to plan and develop
positive, inclusive programmes.
Research into best practices should also occur with the aim o producing
resources and guidelines or the development and implementation o inclusive
programmes. The research should include a component on organisational
refection to ensure an equality agenda which respects diversity and promotes
anti-racism is embedded in all programmes, policies and procedures.
POLICIES TO SUPPORT INTERCULTURAL PRACTICE
Several participants stated there was a need to develop equality and
intercultural policies within their organisations. As part o this process all sta,
volunteers and young people involved in the organisation should determine
what interculturalism means and what an intercultural approach would entail.
Support should be provided to youth organisations in this process. It is also
important to ensure the involvement o local minority led groups and young
people. The policies should promote equality and inclusion in services. It maybe necessary or an organisation to refect on current policies and practices
and identiy good practices in the sector.Youth workers, volunteers and
young people should be provided with training on the policies to ensure they
understand and can implement their programmes in line with them.
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Use the human rights based
approach. Members must enshrine
equality into constitutions; anti-racism code o practice embedded
in this, diversity plan; doing this with
the sporting organisations getting
them to look at equality clauses/
FUNDING AND RESOURCES
codes; sports organisations told by
ministers i they didnt include child
protection and equality they wouldlose unding so they incorporated
these into constitutions; so something
to consider.
_Community Deelopment Worker
Additional unding is required to enable intercultural youth work and
integration initiatives are developed and implemented. This should be madeavailable to all youth organisations to promote participation and inclusion
in their work. Inclusive activities will require that youth workers, leaders and
management provide adequate time and human resources to the planning
and implementation process. This will have cost implications. Providing
sustainable, long term unding sources will ensure all organisations can avail o
training, education and the support needed to promote interculturalism within
Ireland.
INTERAGENCY PARTNERSHIPS
Networking with other youth organisations needs to be prioritised. Participants
involved in close working relationships with other agencies demonstrated this
provides the necessary nancial and resource supports to implement inclusive
programmes.
Such partnerships must be built into programme planning and educational
training as it will enable smaller organisations to provide more equal access to
and a wider range o options or minority young people. Participants also stated
the development o good relationships with existing minority ethnic groups willprovide contacts and enable them to participate in the development o relevant
policies and practices within youth organisations.
Have to be proactive and promote
working together.
_Community Worker
Would be useul i youth workers
came together visit each other, mix;have an organised event.
_Youth Worker
A couple o Aricans, other oreigners
around table, get mixture o cultural
views; in your culture you do this, in
ours we do this so nd balance so
that child will not come home and
talk back or say your culture is badbecause it is a domineering culture;
respects me _ME Parent
Getting dierent groups to work
together is the rst step; even i its
raising awareness about issues.
_Youth Worker
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TRAINING AND SUPPORT FOR YOUTH WORKERS
Throughout the consultation, youth workers and volunteers stated thatcontinuous training and intercultural awareness with young people, volunteers,
sta and the community is necessary.
For youth workers to work eectively with young people rom minority
ethnic backgrounds, they need greater cultural awareness, intercultural
understanding and skills. Such activities would ensure recognition o
intercultural dierence and an understanding o traditions, social norms, values
and belies. Participants elt that all youth workers within organisations should
complete intercultural and anti-racism training so that they may develop their
own understanding and insights into racism and discrimination.
The training should provide an opportunity or sel refection and develop
practical skills that will enable them to respond eectively to racist incidents.
Formal training should also be provided within youth and community course
work on intercultural issues and provide youth workers with skills that will
assist them in developing inclusion practices in their daily activities.
Better training provided; better
understanding o the peoplewe are working with; practice o
interculturalism need skills; great
youth workers should mentor
others; more volunteers rom local
communities. _Youth Worker
Bring children, youth workers and
volunteers together and teach about
Arican culture; important to share
inormation between communities._ME Community Representatie
Our club has a ew new members;
couple o white aces; anti-racismwas discussed last night; one kid
stated maybe he eels let out
because hes Irish, but kid stated its
great I love coming here. We all have
preconceived ideas and a level o
ignorance, lack o education around
cultures. Need to educate these
groups and merge them and need
good acilitators to do the integration
part. They are willing and want toget to know each other. Exciting to
have people rom other places; young
people in Drogheda think its exotic;want to learn about them, culture,
stories. In Drogheda young people
are ascinated by cultures.
_Youth Worker
RECRUITMENT OF OUTREACH AND YOUTH WORKERS FROM MINORITY
ETHNIC BACKGROUND:
A review o recruitment policy may be required to ensure minority ethnic
groups and Travellers are represented on youth organisations sta.
Recruitment o outreach and youth workers along with volunteers romminority ethnic background was recommended throughout the consultation
process. Several participants elt this would ensure better understanding o
cultural dierences and demonstrate a commitment to diversity by the youth
organisation. It would also promote the services o the youth sector to the
minority ethnic communities creating a stronger relationship between them.
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(Having youth worker rom own
culture) guarantees that there is
balance, someone who will stick upor my interest; then I would be happy
or child to go there. _ME Parent
Lose motivation i experience
racism and bullying so b