Conditons of democratization of youth work

    Since 1994 Omsk State Pedagogical University, the Department of Youth Affairs of the Omsk Region Administration, and Otto Benecke Stiftung, Germany, have been working together under the topic of democratization of youth work.
    The base of this cooperation is a contract regarding cooperation in the field of youth work between the former Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany, which was signed in 1989. According to this contract, Omsk State Pedagogical University, the Department of Youth Affairs of the Omsk Region Administration, and Otto Benecke Stiftung signed different agreements to fix the targets of their cooperation since 1994.
    The initiative for this cooperation came from the Omsk Region Administration which had been thinking about possibilities to let young people take part at the changes of the society and to let them take part at the development of democracy in the Russian Federation. Otto Benecke Foundation had been asked to cooperate, because it had a long tradition and a lot of experiences in preparing young people, coming from the States of the former Soviet Union to Western Germany to introduce them into a democratic system and to enable them, to take part in the activities and the developement of the society, and to manage their individual future by themselves.
    Exactly this is the mutual objective of our cooperation with the Administration of Omsk Region.
    But what does it mean - democratization of youth work?
    The partners of our cooperation have not found a basic or final definition of this idea until now. But we may describe some basics of it, which can be meant as conditions of democratization.
    First of all democratization is a process, which needs the participation of all members of the society. According to youth work, it means participation of all actors: of children and youth, parents, teachers, administrators, political leaders, and the public. Participation means to take part in discussions about the topics of youth work,in decision-making and practical work.
    The aim is that all the individuals and the society in the whole take benefits from this process. That means that an individual is not allowed to use society only for realizing its own, single, individual interests, but it is obliged to support the development of the society at the same time. That means developing the interests and abilities of idividuals in accordance with and for advantage of the whole society. This result has to be based on discussions and arrangements which give changes to take part to everybody who will be concerned.
    The process of democratization is based on communication. Communication means to talk about objectives, to listen to other people, to express one's own interests and opinions, to discuss the development agreements and compromises.
    The process of communication itself needs some rules, very simple rules: to let other people talk, to listen to them, to ask, if something is not understood, to respect their personality, expressions and opinions.
    This kind of communication has to be realized on all levels of youth work. It has to be a main target of education, in direct work with children, youth and parents, too, according to every coherence, among the pedagogds, administrators and politicals and last not least between the different levels.
    This kind of communication needs structures, which allow to discuss the objectives, which are able to pick up interests and opinons from every level of the system of youth work. The structures have to be transparent. All the actors have to have changes to give their input and to look through discussions and decisions. The society has to have a chance to take part in discussions and developements too. That means that the communication has to be public.
    This kind of communication needs control. The control will be realized by the actors and participants themselves. All of them have the resposibility to watch at communication and to take care of the rules. And all of them are obliged to criticize activities, which call the rules of communication in question. Everybody who is involved in the process of communication and who is concerned by any activities, is responsible.
    Last not least, the process of democratization of youth work needs trust in all actors, including children and youth, that they will find their own ways to realize democracy. And we should not forget, that they will lead democracy in the society of the future.
    This is the description of some conditions which can be considered as basics of democratization. If we are really interested in developing democracy we should try to realize these conditions in sphere and level of education of our children and youth. As teachers we know it better, that children and youth learn more easily, faster and sustainably than adults.
    Maybe the description seems to be very theoretical. But it is very easy to describe a lot of examples, situations, scenarios, where children and youth can learn democracy. It should be the aim of discussing and researching the daily practice of youth work and education, whether it is referring to democracy or not. Checking the situation frankly and with the readines to develop it, one finally will notices that a lot of questions, decisions and activities concerning children and youth can be realized in a democratic way. And be sure, children and youth will like it and respect democratic behaviour very seriously.
    According to the agreements between the Omsk Region Administration and Otto Benecke Stiftung we are very proud that we are allowed to take part in the developement of democracy in your country, and that we may offer some ideas, conceptions, methods, and practical experiences, which specialists in the sphere of youth work support, to carry on the process of democracy. But finally it is the responsibility of our Russian partners only to take their benefits from this cooperation and to realize their own figures of democracy in youth work.