Russian-German youth cooperation is carried out in accordance with the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of youth cooperation dated December 21, 2004.
One of the priority areas for the implementation of the 2004 Agreement is the holding of joint youth events in the field of sports (meaning mass sports since the Agreement does not address issues of youth exchange in the field of elite sports).
In 2017 in order to intensify bilateral youth cooperation in the field of mass sports, the Russian Coordination Bureau for Youth Cooperation with Germany initiated the creation of the partnership between the Russian Student Sport Union and the German Sports Youth Association Deutsche Sportjugend (dsj) im Deutschen Olympischen Sportbund e.V. (the corresponding cooperation agreement was signed on September 14, 2017 in Rostov-on-Don).
At the 16th meeting of the Russian-German Council on youth cooperation it was decided to hold a bilateral online seminar "Russian-German sport youth exchanges".
The purpose of the seminar was to inform about possibilities of Russian-German youth cooperation and the development of Russian-German partnerships in the field of sport youth exchanges.
Participants were representatives of organizations from Russia interested in the implementation of Russian-German youth exchange projects in the field of mass sports (youth workers, heads of sports clubs operating on the basis of schools, professional colleges and universities, heads of institutions of additional education of physical culture and sports orientation, leaders of public associations), representatives of partner organizations with experience in conducting youth exchanges in the field of mass sports and planning joint projects for 2021, representatives of organizations that have experience in conducting youth exchanges in the field of mass sports, but do not plan joint projects for 2021. 205 people participated there.
Results: As a part of the program of the 1st day of the seminar, a webinar was held for Russian organizations interested in conducting Russian-German youth exchanges in the field of mass sports. Participants got acquainted with possibilities of Russian-German youth cooperation, the history of the development of Russian-German youth exchanges in the field of mass sports, the system of sports work with youth in Russia and Germany, the methodology for conducting Russian-German youth exchanges in the field of mass sports. In addition, successful youth exchange practices of the Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sports in the field of swimming and the Pyatigorsk State University in the field of volleyball were presented.
As a part of the program of the 2nd day of the seminar, a discussion on the current situation and prospects for the development of Russian-German youth exchanges in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic took place. In addition, a presentation of the Russian-German Forum of organizers of sport youth exchanges was conducted.
