Module 7 – Global Youth Work

Welcome! We are delighted to introduce our newest addition to the suite of interactive modules developed for youthworkandyou.org.

The Global Youth Work module is brought to you by the Youth 2030 Global Youth Work Programme which is a consortium partnership of the National Youth Council of Ireland, Trócaire, Concern Worldwide, and Maynooth University and it is funded by Irish Aid.

The Global Youth Work module is designed to support and enhance your understanding of Global Youth Work and global issues that influence your life and the lives of the young people with whom you work. These issues include poverty, inequality, hunger, injustice, fair trade, climate justice, etc. We will explore global issues through non-formal education, which is powerful in that it opens up a great opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of what is happening in the world – locally and globally – and why it is important to know about these global issues and how they are connected to our everyday lives. 

This module identifies the benefits of exploring the role young people have in their local community as well as their connection to the broader, globalised world. In the process, we recognise that globalisation increasingly influences young people’s lives and environments, creating new possibilities, challenges, and concerns.

The module considers the distinctiveness of a youth work approach, and how critical consciousness-raising is explicitly engaged when embedding a Global Youth Work approach.

Finally, it asks how youth workers might better orient themselves in their current work to embed the transformative practice of a global youth work approach.

This module is designed to develop the capacity of those involved in youth work to bring a Global Youth Work dimension to their work within their own specific contexts.

1. Global Youth Work: Understanding Globalisation

2. Global Youth Work: Principles and Practice 

3. Global Youth Work: A transformative youth work practice model

Each unit contains an interactive video along with downloadable resource material you can access on a variety of devices. All videos are subtitled in English. The video is in the region of 20-30 minutes with the interactivity and about five minutes if you watch the original video straight through without the interactivity. Both options are available below. While individual video are informative in its own right, the interactive dimension invites you to engage more deeply with the topic, to ‘watch, read, reflect and act.’

The downloadable resource in pdf format delves deeper again and provides additional information and resources on each unit’s topic. It is entirely up to you how to engage with the material though we suggest that there is an value in engaging with each unit sequentially.

The module content was developed by the National Youth Council of Ireland (who is the lead partner in the Youth 2030 Global Youth Work Programme) in collaboration with CYRD at Maynooth University. You can learn more about the team who developed the module here.

Unit 1 – Global Youth Work: Understanding Globalisation?

Starts the interactive video

Unit 2 – Global Youth Work: Principles and Practice 

Starts the interactive video

Downloadable Resource
Module 5 Unit 2
Original Video Unit 2

Unit 3 – Global Youth Work: A transformative youth work practice model

Starts the interactive video

Original Video Unit 3

More Sources and Resources

You will find additional Sources and Resources on this and other Youth Work topics here.