download - Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V.

Christian Lüders, German Youth Institute
Attempt at an initial interim summary
National strategies for the improvement of the circumstances of young
persons in disadvantaged urban districts formed the focal point of this
conference. The background was provided by our experiences and
results of the academic accompaniment of the two German national
programmes “Development and opportunities for young persons in
socially disadvantaged areas” (E & C) and “Local Capital for Social
Purposes” (LOS).
The results of the two previous conferences in Berlin und
Strasbourg, cited several times during the course of this conference,
were of equal importance. 16 Integrated strategies were the central topic in both these
conferences. We were working on the simple assumption that problems in urban districts
could not be solved by a single actor, but that a coordinated and targeted coordination was
necessary between all responsible and participating actors; this includes first and foremost
schools, out-of-school youth welfare, the business sector and training authorities, urban
planning, police and the legal system, the healthcare sector and all relevant local private and
semi-public initiatives.
At both previous conferences, a whole series of interesting projects were presented and
relevant experiences reported under the overall theme of “integrated strategies“. It became
particularly clear that the answers to the questions of who is working with whom, where
which problems occur or where coordination and cooperation prove to be unsuccessful
apparently have a certain connection with the relevant national structures. It became
obvious that it was not only the relevant local problem constellation, but also
• how responsibilities were organised,
• which actors were anchored at which points and
• which practical responsibilities are given
which greatly influenced the nature of the problem solution and its chances of success.
This gave us the idea of progressing a step further.
The aim of the present conference was not merely the presentation of interesting
projects, but should also include the relevant underlying national strategies and the
representation of corresponding general conditions which are unavoidably embedded in
these projects. This was not primarily out of an academic interest, for example the
comparison of various systems, but more out of practical and political interests. We were
working on the assumption that
• the transferability of experiences and concepts would only function if the re
was good to excellent knowledge of the general situation out of which results
and concepts were to be transferred.
• Additionally, and here I must express my own interest, the evaluation of
projects could only present meaningful results if it has been exactly determined
under which premises these results have been achieved and under which
16 Information on these two conferences can be found at: http://www.berlinprocess.eu/information.html
105