ESC: Empowering youngsters' voices through experiential learning

LEJO is an independent youth organisation, engaged within the policy fields of Youthwork, Welfare and Education, located in Ghent, Belgium. The NGO LEJO stands for “Learning by Experience with YOungsters”. A good number of young people find their way in our increasingly more individualized society with great difficulty. We engage youngsters between the age of 12 and 19 years old in different fields (leisure time - education & training), by using the method of experiental learning. The objective is to create situations where youngsters experience and learn ways to develop a stronger awareness of themselves. Together we reflect and look back by using methods of Active Reviewing on how they react to certain situations or dynamics, to peer pressure, tough tasks,… Our trademark is guiding young people in an experiental and process-based approach. What we understand about using method of experiental learning is (generally speaking - “majority & minority”) to empower youngsters in a challenging, yet submerge, real-life activities with high level of trust and interdependency required, which, on its turn, provides an opportunity for developing deeper bonds, awareness of self and others, and in a bigger scale - develops an empathy and understanding of different individuals in a group setting. Fundamental belief. LEJO starts from a fundamental belief in every young person. We have nog interest in the background of a youngster, because we believe that everyone deserves chances. Starting from a tabula rasa opens up opportunities for the youngster to present him/herself as the person they are, which in turn opens up opportunities to make a difference in their lives. Youngsters who feel their life ends up in a cul-de-sac, have the feeling that they are losing direction, not knowing which side they need to choose. Helping these young people finding their own way is where LEJO has built up years of expertise. We strongly believe that placing signposts in the maze, instead of pulling a motorway trough the maze, is the right way. Safe Climate. LEJO invests in a relationship and environment that is perceived by the young as sufficiently safe to leave familiar patterns and to experiment with new behavior. Work on these favorable conditions forms the basis of our guidance. Together on the road. The relationship between youngster and coach is based on mutual trust in which the supervisor holds the mirror up to a youngster and always offers new openings, looks fot other possibilities. Each supervisor/coach steers and monitors the process from an actively involved counselor attitude. Expertise in evolution. LEJO invests in a permanent training of its employees and volunteers to put this experiential and process-based approach in the best possible way. Within the leisure sector, LEJO organises activities such as national youth work and local youth work. Our leisure activities consist of an experiential offer for young people between (mainly)12 and 19 years. Throughout the year, young people can enjoy camps, weekly youth work, eXPerience courses, weekends, kick days,... that are tailored to their needs. The company is developed by an enthusiastic team of professional and voluntary employees. NAFT (seamless, flexible courses) is for young people who, for pedagogical, legal, social or personal reasons, are at risk of dropping out of education. The problems of these young people often go hand in hand with truancy, a problematic home situation, delinquent behaviour or psychiatric problems in the young person or in his or her environment. LEJO organizes itself within NAFT by working together with every secondary school. Our focus is on the needs of the young person. This means that we pay a great deal of attention to clarifying the question, whereby we put together a suitable project in consultation with the young person. In this way, we focus on a sustainable effect. We therefore believe in a strong commitment on the part of the school, in which we also pay attention to a warm transfer and good aftercare. We want to make the young person want to take steps towards school, work or a personal goal. For this we at LEJO use our expertise in experiential learning and pro-active circles to help our young people reach their goals. With the Teenage Parent Action we focus on teenage pregnancies, teenage mothers and teenage fathers. On the one hand with a leisure activity on a national and regional level, on the other hand with a Mobile Teenage Parent Action that at a regional level is a bridge figure for teenage parents. The fourth pillar is Education. Training activities are primarily aimed at organisations, governments and civil society institutions that have to deal with socially vulnerable groups. young people work. But we also have the ambition to improve our expertise with regard to experiential learning. disseminating methodologies to other profit and non-profit organisations