As part of a Small Scale Partnership under the Erasmus+ programme, the City of Cologne and the City of Gothenburg have been working together on the topic of Youth Protection Concept in international youth work.

The aim of the project was to make international provision for young people safer and to support professionals in consistently factoring in safeguarding and wellbeing.

International encounters create many valuable experiences. At the same time, professionals bear responsibility: young people should feel safe, boundaries must be respected and risks identified early.

🎯 Project goal

The project had a clear goal:

Develop a practical safety framework for international youth work.

This focused on important questions:

• How do we create safe spaces for young people?
• How do professionals handle boundary violations or conflicts?
• Which rules and agreements help with international encounters?
• How can prevention, awareness and operational security be strengthened?
• What do professionals, volunteers and organisations need for better safeguarding in international projects?

Collaborating with partners from Gothenburg has opened up new perspectives and shown how a Youth Protection Concept are shaped in different countries.

🤝 What made the project special?

The project thrived on shared learning.

Experts from Cologne and Gothenburg shared experiences, discussed practical examples and jointly developed solutions.

These included:

• Professional exchanges and international meetings
• Discussions on protection and responsibility
• Exchange of practical experience
• joint development of standards
• Work on concrete recommendations for action
• Reflection on diversity, power dynamics and boundaries

It was particularly important that the safety plan should be practical, easy to understand and immediately applicable.

⭐ Why is a Youth Protection Concept important?

International youth work brings together young people from different countries, realities of life and backgrounds.

A Youth Protection Concept helps to:

• empowerment of young people
• identifying risks early
• to encourage respectful encounters
• Supporting professionals in difficult situations
• to establish clear rules and responsibilities

This is how safe spaces are created where learning, encounters and international experiences become possible.

The Youth Protection Concept is available to download here: