Summer festival of open youth work: fun for young and old in Berlin!

Summer festival of open youth work: fun for young and old in Berlin!

The summer festival of open youth work is just around the corner and will take place on Saturday, July 5, 2025, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Zillestrasse 54 in Berlin. Under the patronage of district councilor Christoph Brzezinski, the opening is celebrated together with district councilor Heike Schmitt-Melz. Over 20 youth welfare institutions and organizations, including the youth club Berlin e.V. and the media competence center, have put together a diverse program that includes music, games and creative actions. The physical well -being of the guests is also taken care of, so that food and drinks are available. Admission is free of charge and registration is not necessary, which makes the event particularly inviting. Further information is available on the Zille54 website, and interested parties can contact Mr. Christian Slezak from the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf media competence center.

The event aims to highlight the importance of open child and youth work. This not only represents a place of entertainment, but also offers reliable support for young people in the region, strengthens the cohesion and opens up new perspectives. These aspects are particularly important because democracy in Germany faces challenges, as the developments have shown in recent years.

democracy and participation

In this context, participation in the nationwide campaign "Day of Okja 2025" is emphasized again on Friday, September 26, 2025. In the week from September 22nd to 28th, 2025, promotions are planned to illustrate the relevance of open child and youth work (OKJA) in public. Over 1,000 promotions that took place last year testify to the commitment of the actors in the Okja. These events, which range from open meetings to dialogue formats with politicians to social media campaigns, are intended to help increase awareness of the need for bringing youth participation structures. The use of the hashtags #tagderokja and #Tagderokja2025 helps to spread the message in public.

Child and youth participation is a central aspect in today's society. The initiative in Baden-Württemberg, for example, shows that since 2015 children and adolescents have had a say in decisions that affect them. The number of municipalities with corresponding participation offers has increased from 53% to 68% since 2018. There are also positive developments in relation to children's participation, since the increase from 23% to over 55% is recorded. This shows that more and more voices are heard and young people can actively participate in the design of their surroundings.

future challenges

Open child and youth work offers young people places to actively experience and help shape democracy. Actions such as the "Day of Okja" are therefore of great importance to promote participation and increase the visibility of these important offers. The challenge of counteracting anti -democratic developments requires an active involvement of youth and their creative participation in democratic processes. The intended co -determination as part of the OKja plays a crucial role here.