Together with the child and youth psychiatrist Dr. Therese Steiner, Irene Bush has been leading the Youth2Youth training program (Y2Y) for eight years, which is very successful in our project countries. We asked her where this success comes from and what she has learned from this time.
terre des hommes schweiz: What is Y2Y explained in simple terms?
Irene Bush: Youth2Youth is a training program in which young people learn to apply the solution-oriented approach (SFA). That means they learn how to communicate better and how to use their existing strengths. They also learn how to set better goals in order to achieve them. In the course of this training, they develop a kind of attitude that they can apply to their lives and to their work with other young people.
Who are the young people who participate in the Y2Y program?
These are young people sent by our project partners. That means they are young people who have many strengths, but are disadvantaged by their circumstances. They have difficulties and have to live with these challenges
What are the difficulties?
Some have parents who have HIV/AIDS. Others, for example, grow up alone and often still in difficult circumstances such as poverty, neglect and an environment full of violence.
There is also a special teaching method behind the Y2Y program. What is special about it?
In Africa, frontal teaching is predominant. In the schools, pupils learn above all to parrot content. The ability to find out or discuss something on their own is neglected. In contrast, in Y2Y, the young people help determine what is useful for them. They talk about their challenges, their problems and what they want to learn or in which situations they need support. And then the program is adapted. The young people ask themselves questions like: How do I deal with the situation when someone dies or someone comes to me and needs help? It is very interactive. The workshops are constructed by the facilitators and the young people together.
What effect does this teaching method have on the young people?
The young people are strengthened in their personality. On the one hand, they learn to develop their own opinion, and on the other hand they learn to stand by their opinion or to represent it.
That's very positive. However, depending on the environment, it can also be problematic when young people suddenly find themselves able to hold their own. They could also be perceived as rebellious.
It was clear to us from the beginning that young people who have an opinion can also get into trouble. That is why we try to involve those responsible for the project from the very beginning. At the beginning of a project they are asked whether they want young people to be strengthened at all. They are also invited to participate in the Y2Y program. So far this has mostly worked very well. But this aspect is a challenge for the organisation and the respective communities.
Why is this a challenge?
The image of young people in the communities is often poor. They are often perceived as a problem. However, the evaluation of the Y2Y programme has shown that the image of young people in the community has improved. Young people who have undergone SFA training become more involved in the community, get involved and take on tasks. In turn, they are also heard more. These young people have also sometimes been given jobs in the organization or the community.
If you compare the way the Y2Y program works today with the way it worked eight years ago, what has changed?
We have found that exchange in a network among program graduates is very important. This enables the young people to translate certain words from the program into their own language. In addition, it is important to create links to the respective culture and to recognize existing values that are suitable for SFA. What we never thought was possible is that the young people develop their version of SFA in their own culture. They develop their own visual languages. This shows a degree of professionalization that I would never have thought possible.
What lessons have you learned from the last eight years of Y2Y?
Anything is possible if you believe in it and work with people on it. It is worth putting trust in the young people.
While accompanying the program you got to know the fates of many young people. Were there moments that remained in your memory?
It touches me again and again when I witness the changes in young people. For example, there was a young woman who initially could not look me in the eye and say anything. In the meantime she is the director of a partner organisation and takes care of young women who have experienced assaults. Another girl was a domestic worker and just as intimidated. During the first two modules she didn't really know why she was actually there. Now she is training to be a teacher and helping other housemaids. But there are also young people who did not complete the training and still continued with SFA. They now use SFA as a method in their work as doctors or lawyers. The participants of the Y2Y program now see themselves as a kind of movement because of the independent propagation. We have recorded some such stories in our book. That is why I recommend that everyone read this part of the book first. It makes you curious to learn how such a thing is possible.
What role does the new book play in the Y2Y program?
It is not important for the actual training. It is a documentation of the program and its development. From my own experience in development cooperation I can say that the Y2Y program is quite extraordinary. And it was brave to try it like that back then. The goal was to empower young people, but we didn't know if that would work at all. Y2Y is a one-time thing.
For whom is this book suitable? Which group of people are you addressing with this book?
For all organizations that work with people. The book shows how much can be achieved with cooperation. People who already work with SFA can learn new creative methods for the further development of SFA. There is a lot of practical guidance. Last but not least, the book shows how lay people can be trained to be able to help others.
Where can you learn SFA in this or a similar form in Switzerland?
There are a few courses in Switzerland that teach the basic knowledge. But like us, with the creative part of the program, there is no such thing. You can already learn SFA in Switzerland, but in this practical and low-threshold way, it only exists here. Although it would also work here in Switzerland for young people - for example with young refugees who have similar cultural backgrounds.
Youth2Youth is written in English and can be ordered in stores under the ISBN number 9 7837 4316 1504.
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