YMCA Netherlands is an old organisation. Very old even! This 23rd of October it celebrated it’s 170th birthday!
Since its founding in 1853 as the Netherlands Jongerenverbond (Dutch Youth League) or NJV, YMCA has evolved throughout the years as a vibrant youth organisations with activities throughout the Netherlands and abroad!
The birthday was preceded by a two-day conference, taking place in the YMCA-aligned hotel of Ernst-Sillem-Hoeve in Den Dolder. More than 100 Dutch youth, volunteers and staff came together to discuss the urgent and important challenges and opportunities of youth work in the year 2023. But there was also enough space for enjoyment. Visitors could attend workshops on many different topics, they could play and meet together and were treated with live-music and a fancy dinner.
There were also some international guests and speakers. These include the Belgian Dr. Filip Coussée, speaking about the changing climate of youth work in the last 170 years. Les Peters of YMCA Greater Long Beach in the United States, talking about equity and inclusion in modern youth work. As a Native American, he gave a very unique perspective on inclusion and equity in his Y. Permi Vanek is from the Czech Scouts and gave an explanation on the ongoing MIYO project on Impact-measuring. YMCA Netherlands is also a partner in this project. Do you want to know more about MIYO? Please click here! Peter Nasir, General Secretary of YMCA East-Jerusalem in Palestine, joined from abroad to talk about the mental health programmes of the Palestinian YMCA and its relevancy in the current region. The YMCA also welcomed guests from Finland, Russia, Belarus and Moldova.
YMCA Netherlands created a video to give an impression of this celebratory congress.