About the project

The BKJ advises and supports cultural education professionals in organising youth exchanges that may be eligible for financial support from the Teams up! exchanges fund together with their partners from the Global South, especially from African countries. The aim is to give youth groups from Germany and countries of the Global South the opportunity to artistically explore the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations during the various stages of an international exchange. Through its project ‘youth.culture.exchange global’, the BKJ wants to encourage a more in-depth discussion of sustainability issues in the area of cultural education.

Understand global context through artistic exchanges

One of the greatest global challenges at present is raising worldwide social awareness of environmental and climate protection, fairer living conditions, the alleviation of poverty and liveable cities, or in other words, sustainable thinking and action. The debate around these sustainability issues is of particularly great importance to young people and young adults from all continents. As a starting point for international youth exchanges with countries of the Global South, they can help participants exchange Northern and Southern perspectives on sustainable living and understand the associated global contexts.

Teams up! exchanges in the area of cultural education enable young people to deal with complex global contexts through shared artistic learning processes and state their own position. Personal exchanges and insights into the reality of life in the partner countries give them the opportunity to reflect on their role in a global and connected world and acquire skills that allow them to contribute responsibly to creating a more just global community.

As a strategic partner of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the BKJ raises awareness of the Teams up!exchanges fund among cultural education professionals and supports them in creating meaningful projects in this context.

Founded on partnership

An important aspect of Teams up! exchanges is the principle of partnership, that is, the cooperative collaboration on youth exchanges between organisations from Germany and the Global South and awareness of cultural diversity in the social interactions between the young people and young adults. A key area of funding relates to projects with partner organisations from African countries.

In addition to global youth exchanges, the BKJ also aims to encourage and promote the debate of sustainability issues and global learning methods in all areas of cultural education through its project ‘youth.culture.exchange global’.