Dynamo International asbl

Dynamo International, located in Uccle (Brussels), is an association which was created in 2001 stemming from Dynamo ASBL, which was an outreach assistance service for young people, with over 25 years experience in social street work for children and young people in difficulty in Brussels. The association became a recognised NGO on 25 November 2004 and has the social objective of ensuring cooperation for development in the area of children’s rights and more specifically in areas concerning children and young people in the street, education, social street work, community development and the prevention of social exclusion, protection of children and socio-professional integration. Dynamo International works in 5 activity sectors: 1) Coordinating the international network of social street workers; Initiation and coordination of a mobilisation platform for social street workers from different regions of the world. Currently 36 countries are part of this platform. 2) Support for projects concerning children and young people in the street: This support falls under the umbrella of this network and currently affects four member countries (DRC, Haiti, Nepal and Vietnam). 3) The European Volunteer Service and the International Mobility Project for Young People with fewer opportunities; Mobility projects for young people aged between 13 and 25 are the link between the local and international levels, aiming for active international citizenship and awareness-raising of North-South issues. 4) Training: A real network of solidarity and political will for training has developed, in order to allow the exchange of practices and achievement of pedagogical tools. 5) Awareness-raising and education for development: Participation in all projects contributing to building better perception of children, young people and their situations, of raising awareness among the youngest people of the reality in the South and the need to build international solidarity. Dynamo International was created to carry out international projects mainly following the request of young people from Dynamo AMO. Thus for some years now Dynamo International has been sending and hosting young people under the European Voluntary Service, EVS. Dynamo International has been an accredited host organisation since 2000 and a sending organisation since 2003 within the framework of the EVS. The international aspect of Dynamo International is along the same lines as the Dynamo AMO missions; giving young people from the area the opportunity to have a unique experience abroad. In this way, carrying out an international project also becomes accessible for them. Hosting young volunteers also allows the association to further develop its international vision, giving it a new view of the activities and new energy thanks to the beneficial input of these young volunteers. Furthermore, Dynamo International has developed coordination of the International Network of Social Street Workers, which now comprises 42 countries; a network created based on Youth Projects in Action, and aiming to facilitate collaboration between partners in the framework of the EVS. Before October 2009, one part-time person looked after the EVS; we hosted one to two volunteers per year and we sent four on average. Since then, a real mobility service has been created, entitled ‘Project on Mobility, Integration and Young People in Difficulty’, with four people (including one coordinator) on this project and offices in Brussels (including one at the IYO) and in Walloon with our partners.