In autumn 2016 the work of ConAct – Coordination Center German-Israeli Youth Exchange and the cooperation with the Israel Youth Exchange Authority will celebrate its 15^th anniversary. The name “ConAct – Acting together” implicates the meaning of it all: German-Israeli Youth Exchange implicates the sharing of Thinking and Acting of German and Israeli organizations and partners.

We would like to use the anniversary to focus on sharing insights and experiences with one another!

Here come our invitation and requests to you to share with others the following:

15 years – 15 stories…

The previous 15 years implicate a remarkable time in German-Israeli exchange. After the so called Second Intifada in 2001, many projects reentered the routine of mutual visits in Israel and Germany. Topics were developed further, such as shared ways of commemorating the Shoah or a changing consciousness for the cultural variety of participants from both countries; some partnerships ended and more than 90 new cooperations were founded.

Every exchange implicates a great number of well-known and individual stories of not-knowing and getting to know, of distance and approach, of misunderstandings and understanding, of being an expert or being a beginner, of tears and laughter…  What stories in and around German-Israeli Exchange can you tell from your experience of the last 15 years? Which interesting, astonishing, irritating, moving and uplifting stories or moments from your experience in German-Israeli youth or professional exchanges are you willing to share?

We would like to hear and read these stories and share them with others! Please write to us stories from the youth exchange during the last 15 years. Please send them to us latest until October 10, 2016 to Rebecca Görmann. Thank you – Toda!

15 years – 15 educational methods…

German-Israeli exchange projects are alwaysas various as the people organizing and guiding them. Some are engaged in sports, others share music, create dance or perform theatre together, and others again choose to work on certain topics or invest time to explore everyday life and youth cultures of the other country. Every group leader holds his/her own preference for educational settings and methods for getting to know one another, for playing games, discussing or spending leisure time together. We would like to invite you to share your preferred educational method of working with Israeli-German groups with us: Which methods do you choose for your educational work? Do you have specific methods for preparing the group or introducing the encounter? Which method helps building close personal connections? Which method takes the individual, national, cultural or religious variety of personal identities into consideration? Which methods can be used approaching diversity-conscious education within Israeli-German encounters?

At the German-Israeli conference taking place in Germany November 14 – 16, 2016, we would like to present the 15 highly estimated methods and have us all profit from our mutual ideas. The focus of the conference will be on "Living Diversity in Germany and Israel – Challenges and Perspectives for Education and Youth Exchange".

Please describe to us your favorite method of current educational work in encounters. Please send this to us latest until October 10, 2016 to Jonas Hahn. Thank you – Toda!

15 years – 15 highlights…

During the past 15 years ConAct has – in cooperation with the Israel Youth Exchange Authority – been supporting Israeli-German Youth Exchange in various ways. At the beginning we have been collecting ideas, wishes and needs from the viewpoint of organizations and group leaders, how they would imagine the supportive and guiding work for German-Israeli Exchanges to be. We have always taken these hints as the leading basis of or work. Now we would like to ask you for your feedback: Which offers of open conferences, bilateral seminars and educational materials did you find helpful? Which aspects of our supportive work do you consider especially valuable – can you name any highlight within the last 15 years? What do you see as the most important task for the future?

Please formulate your highlights and needs. Please send them to us latest until October 10, 2016 to Christine Mähler.