a text that was posted in a forum online about Connect...(facebook group: goodProject, projects that are ratehr good than bad for the planet, find it on twitter: http://twitter.com/goodProject

The Connect Conference

The Connect Conference is a highschool conference which takes place every 2 years in Dornach, Switzerland (and hopefully in the year in between in a different place as of now...)

The most recent one was this April (09) and aimed at being a space where young people could practise what it is like to be an active partner in shaping a reality. All participants where invited and challenged to take on the responsibility in shaping this conference and - they actually did it! They all engaged in some place to design a fulfilling, exciting, life chaging for some, conference for 4 and a half days.

They thus did, what is generally un-expected of youth, they tool on responsibility and carried it as best as they could. They filled the program with contributions on their year-project from class 12, they helped in practical tasks and made everything run smoothly, the whole time, all 550 of them.
We believe that, when trusted, (young) people can make a difference without being expert in a specific profession. If we trust them they will do it! And they will do meaningful work while they're at it.

Connect somewhat showcased a slice of reality. We hope and also actually believe that Connect was only a mirror image of how they will one day take on responsibility for their tasks for this world. They will have the courage to invest in the shared reality we call society and they will make choices based on how to serve a bigger context and not just their own wallet. They are the generation the world has been waiting for. Its all possible. Its all in them. Our task is to provide spaces for them to be able to reach this potential they all have!

Lets build on trust and do it!

Connect is only one way of creatig a space for youth to learn about how easy it is to change the world and how cool responsibility can be. There is a general recepie to follow in order to create that. We only know a few ingredients by now, some of them are:

-taking youth seriously, not patronizing them because they are "young and inexperienced" but rather seeing them as full human beings and thereby empowering them to see them selves and use what they naturally bring with them as youth, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of will, a lot of strength to invest, and a lot of time, plus the hunger to learn from whatever they are doing.

-a place where they can meet each other and other cultures, like a platform hosted by "adults/experienced people" for them.

-a social event, like making food together, enjoying something interactive together, in order to get over the initiatl shyness.

-a few agreements about staying focussed, dealing with certain things consciously, e.g. drugs and alcohol...

-a good information source about global issues, so discussions can proceed.

-a comfortable place, a room, a chill out zone they can feel at home in and care for.

- and much more...

ANY SUGGESTIONS: please post them here...