Two Days of Rethinking YIP

Magic in the room

On the first day, someone who wasn’t initially connected to YIP, said to me: “This all sounds like they are in a big crisis, with all these questions of: Why are we here, what do we want?”

But I felt the opposite, there was some magic in the room, because we asked ourselves these question even though there was no crisis. We asked ourselves these questions, because we wanted to stay connected to the core values, principles, callings and intentions in the work of the International Youth Initiative Program.

The Schedule

We started on Sunday, with a welcoming and framing, an exploration of who was in the room through different activities and Orland Bishop gave a review of what happened in the last 4 years.

After Fika we came together again for a World Cafe with the following three questions:

• If the title “International Youth Initiative Program” was the only given, what do you imagine happening?
• Where do YIP and the need of the world meet?
• What is YIP striving to support its participants to become?

The Five Pillars of YIP

After lunch Renoud Meijer gave a presentation of the previous schedules of YIP and the idea of the Five Pillars it was designed around. After this presentation, we split up into smaller groups to talk with the Organizing Team (OTs), about our reflections and ideas for the Five Pillars. The Five Pillars are the following:

• Head, Heart & Hands
• Inner & Outer
• Comprehensive overview of the world
• From idea to action
• Community life

The Themes of YIP

Coming back together on Monday morning, we went straight into a Conversation Mapping process. People where invited to write down their reflections, ideas and suggestions for the following themes within YIP:

• Courses
• Sustainability
• Internships
• Community Engagements
• Harvesting and sharing of the YIP experience

After Fika we came looking back to prioritize and synthesize together, what had been written down on the “Map”.

Open Sessions

Following lunch, the Organizing Team invited to open sessions around:

• Hosting YIP (roles of organizing team & volunteers)
• Finances & Fundraising
• Participants & Application Process
• YIP Network & Association

Open Space About YIP

Later in the afternoon, we came together for an Open Space about YIP. There were themes like: YIP food, life after YIP, the role of Human Rights in YIP, or how to adapt the YIP method for High School.

Everything mentioned was collected on big paper sheets, and later typed up on a computer. It will be used as an inspiration and reference for the Organizing Team, when designing the next YIP years.

There is a Longing for Mentorship

A theme that emerged in lot of conversations was mentorship. There seems to be a longing for mentorship amongst young people. The question is how to offer it so that the participants get the support they need, but also develop their own tools to support themselves.

I enjoyed these two days a lot. As a host, it made me happy to see that everyone was open to listen to each other, and difficult as well as simple ideas could be said and heard. After working through the harvest in retrospect, and seeing how much it comprises, I am very grateful to Organizing Team, who will take on the huge task of looking through and considering all of the ideas.

This event was a part of the Initiative Forum 2011.