My internship at the YES Forum has been an incredible experience full of new insights, self-development, interesting topics and opportunities. From March 2025 until July 2025, I had the chance to contribute to various projects, work together with international partners and learn a lot about youth work.
Already at the beginning of my internship as an Educational Sciences and Social Work student, I was able to travel to Brussels to attend the Civil Society Week – two days to get to know EU institutions and the role of organisations that work for and with the civil society. Thanks to this great opportunity right at the beginning, I not only learned about these topics, but stepped out of my comfort zone and learned a lot about myself. Additionally, I could get first insights into what the YES Forum’s work looks like and how they collaborate with their members across the EU.
In general, travelling was a part of this internship, of which I benefitted a lot. Visiting other countries and exchanging with international members of the YES Forum enriched my knowledge about the EU, as well as about circumstances and differences in other European countries.
During my time at the YES Forum, my tasks also involved working in the Back On Track project – a project in the Danube region which aims to support the (re)integration of NEETS in rural areas. As I attended some workshops with the young people, I was also able to gain experience about the direct practical work with those the YES Forum supports and works with. I found this experience particularly very enriching and helpful because it broadened my horizons. it gave me a concrete idea of the project and its participants by being in direct contact with them.
Furthermore, I was also involved in the Zug um Zug project. This gave me the opportunity to take responsibility, be creative and organize various parts of the project. Especially here, I felt another aspect of my internship: I believe it was an internship which also took my individual interests and abilities into account and helped me strengthen them. For example, I was able to use and to improve my creativity at the same time. As this project was at the very end of my internship, I valued this experience as a great challenge and opportunity to conclude it adequately.
Overall, my internship at the YES Forum taught me a lot about the organisation and framework of youth work in the international context, but also about young people and inclusion more specifically. It is very important nowadays to support the younger generation as they are the ones who will shape our future. I was able to take a lot with me for my studies and my future and learned about the importance of my future field of work.
I am very grateful for this whole time with the YES Forum because I could expand my horizons and gain a lot of new experiences. To conclude, I learned about others, Europe, international youth work and myself and was able to gain self-confidence as well as more independence by taking steps out of my comfort zone and taking on responsibility. It was a journey on which I look back with joy. Although I am very sad to leave the YES Forum now, I am still beyond grateful and happy with this instructive and insightful internship and look forward to gaining more experiences!
