Fritidsforum - not simply a forum for recreation
Fritidsforum – Swedish National Association of Youth Clubs and Neighbourhood Centres, is an inspirational and educational forum for members, with its own publishing company and the magazine Fria Tider. The 360 community- and association -run centres are visited by 52 000 youths.
Democracy, solidarity, and compassion are developed through human interaction. It is therefore imperative to ensure that there are possibilities of meeting together, at youth- and community-centres, or the neighborhood center. Society must be built and organized in such a way that the social fabric is strengthened at city-block level. Fritidsforum views the centers not only as institutions for recreation, but would also like them to be at the heart of the effort to improve and influence society around them. In what way is Fritidsforum working for this to become a reality? Let us describe some of our activity:
Open Centers
Every citizen has a right to enjoy meaningful recreation, and access to quality meeting-places.When local authorities shut down youth centers for financial reasons, or remove the foundation of neighborhood, youth, and community centers, a means of promoting communication and understanding, especially between Swedes and immigrants, is lost. Fritidsforum is carrying on a campaign with the purpose of providing decisions-makers, center visitor and leaders with appropriate information. ”Öppna Gårdar”(Open Centers) -campaign has received a considerable response. Fritidsforum demands legislation that guarantees the right to meaningful recreation, and that the government invests more aggressively in the interests of youths.
What about the girls?
Teenage girls are all but forgotten in municipal youth center activity. Girls are perceived as a passive group, difficult to involve in center activities. Boys are easier to involve, and more readily take advantage of the resources made available to them. Therefore boys are favored financially, greater funds being focused on boys (e.g. ice-hockey) than girls (e.g. equestrian sports). Research into recreational habits shows that approximately 10 percent of available resources ought to be redirected in favor of girls activities. Most of what is written or said concerning youth in the news, investigative reports, and research papers is mainly about boys. Boys are seen and heard. They make their presence in the public arena felt in a strong way. Girls, on the other hand, are practically invisible. We are conditioned to this from early childhood. Youth centers have traditionally been based on the needs of boisterous boys, the whole endeavor being shaped by this. This neglect of girls is not a circumstance unique to youth- and community-centers, rather it is evident throughout human society. Fritidsforum endeavors to emphasize activities for girls, and to strengthen center guides in this work. In 1993 the project ”Men tjejerna då?” (What about the girls?) was concluded. The purpose of this project was to give girls increased influence in recreational activity, and to find a method of working which is based on the needs of girls. The project clearly showed that teenage girls are not content with sitting at home, but rather are just as interested in, and in need of, meaningful recreation as boys are. Methods and content needs to be structured and adapted so as to appeal to and reach girls.
International meeting-places
In an ever-changing world it is important that youths have the opportunity to meet with youths from other on countries, on an equal footing. Through our involvement with ECYC, European Confederation Youth Clubs, UFN, Ungdom och Fritid I Norden (Youth and Recreation in the Nordic Countries), as well as IFS, International Federation of Settlements this is made possible. For members, opportunities for youth exchange, visits to other centers, and participation in conferences all over the world, are provided. Youth counselors have the options of language travel and volunteer work abroad. ECYC is a web of 20 000 clubs with about 4 million members. By means of a database it is possible, for example, to quickly research the feasibility of taking the local group of heavy-metal fans to visit a like-minded group at a center in Spain.
Open Centers for everyone
Nothing says that a meeting-place necessarily has to be a youth center. Fritidsforum has many different kinds of members. Youth-, community-, and neighborhood-centers, local associations, music-, and culture-houses, etc. What unites us, among other things, is the desire to provide open activity for people of all ages. Open activity strives to facilitate and provide space for people to meet together. The activity is voluntary and open to everyone. Visitors attend when they wish. Fritidsforum is a forum for the development of new forms of activity in this field.
Community work brings cooperation
A long-range goal is that every neighborhood should have a community center or a flexibly equipped youth center that promotes the development of local cooperation between neighbors and associations. Therefore an important purpose of community work is to improve the possibility for people to start their own associations and collectively take responsibility for the local cultural and recreational activity. Some of the ways in which Fritidsforum promotes community work are educational courses, published materials and editorials. By seminars links can be established between research and practice, contributing to development among members based on knowledge.