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 of December 21, 2004.
In February 2022 at the initiative of the German side the implementation of all bilateral youth events was suspended. Taking into account the political situation, in order to discuss opportunities for maintaining and renewing contacts between Russian and German partner organizations implementing youth exchanges, it was decided to hold a training seminar for the organizers of Russian-German youth exchanges on the Russian side.
The training seminar program was organized from June 28 to 29, 2022 in an online format by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and MIREA – Russian Technological University acting as the Russian Coordination Bureau for Youth Cooperation with Germany. The seminar was held with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The objectives of the training seminar:
- support for the professional community of the organizers of Russian-German youth exchanges,
- informing about the current situation in the field of Russian-German youth exchanges,
- discussion of the possibilities and formats of bilateral youth cooperation in the new conditions,
- development of competencies in the field of youth exchanges online,
- familiarization with methods and tools of crisis and stress management in the context of managing youth exchange projects,
- development of the variable Action Plan for the further interaction with German partner organizations in the field of youth exchanges.
The training seminar was attended by 30 people including representatives of organizations and institutions from Russia that have a partner organization in Germany and implement youth, school or professional youth exchange projects together with it (teaching staff of general education organizations, representatives of professional educational organizations, educational organizations of higher education, representatives of youth public associations, youth workers).
The following regions were represented: the Republic of Karelia, the Republic of Mordovia, the Chuvash Republic, the Krasnodar Krai, the Perm Krai, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Lipetsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Tambov, Yaroslavl Regions and Moscow city.
On the first day of the training seminar the participants received information about the current situation in the field of Russian-German youth cooperation and bilateral relations in general. During the training session they became acquainted with the methods of crisis and stress management in the context of managing youth exchange projects as part of group work developed possible formats for youth exchanges in the new conditions.
At the opening of the training seminar the speakers were the head of the Department of International Youth Cooperation and Tourism of the Department of State Youth Policy and Educational Activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation A. Fomin, the Head of the German Foreign Policy Department of the Third European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation M. Turilov and the Vice-Rector for Youth Policy of RTU MIREA G. Petushkov.
The program of the second day of the training seminar included training in the methodology of conducting online youth exchanges and group work. The result of the training seminar was the Action Plan for the further interaction with German partner organizations and support for youth exchanges developed by the participants.
As a result of the training seminar the collection of methodological materials "International Youth Exchanges Online" was published.
