Mobile youth work today is a professional method of performing social work and of social pedagogy. It is also concerned with street children and street youths. Their problems include isolation and poverty, physical hunger, lack of affection and respect, drug consumption, an inclination towards violence, extremist tendencies, homelessness, and boredom.

The Street Work assistance approach developed for advisory work on the street is now practised all over the world in a variety of forms and according to a variety of different theories. Its origins lie in the concept of street work as developed in the USA. The first social pedagogical programmes were developed as early as the late 1920s, especially in large cities, in connection with constantly increasing juvenile delinquency. The target group typical at that time was the youthful street group, clique, or juvenile gang.

Since the Second World War, street work approaches have been developed in almost all the nations of Western Europe, in Great Britain, where it is referred to as “Detached Youthwork". In the Netherlands, it is known as “Street Corner Work”, in Switzerland as “Gassenarbeit”. In France, street workers are referred to as “Travailleurs de la Rue”; in Germany, this approach is referred to as both Street Work and Mobile Youth Work.

Since the political change 1989/90, street work approaches have also been introduced in Eastern European countries.

2. Where is Mobile Youth Work practised?

Mobile Youth Work takes place at the meeting places or dwellings of children and youths, and, of course, almost always at times determined by the youths themselves. This is especially true for city-centre approaches, where the meeting place is usually a railway station, metro or underground, or other locations where inner-city youths tend to congregate.

The second type of mobile youth work is oriented towards principles of district and municipal work. Here the main emphasis is placed upon the prevention or reversal of the process of exclusion from a social environment remaining intact to some extent, such as the family, clique, or city district.

Wherever groups of the same age, or cliques play a central role for the individual youth, such as supplementing the family or even substituting for the family, this fact is reflected in corresponding group pedagogical activity. These activities view the relational group, not primarily as an instance of seduction, but, rather, as social forces capable of mobilisation, which strengthen, reinforce, and positively correct, street children and street youths.

3. Which are the social and youth policy possibilities of Mobile Youth Work concept?

Eight Topics:

3.1
The most important objective with regards to the improvement of the living situation of street children and street youths is, in each case and depending on the levels of action, to create a
• global
• continental
• regional and
• local
movement of alertness, allowances, care, and assistance. In this process, viable action concepts, compatible with those applied in other humanitarian affairs, must be developed simultaneously.

3.2.
For youth policy officials on the national, regional, and local level, this is primarily a matter of drawing up a solid inventory (field analysis, social space analysis) of the living situations of street children.Every action concept in working with street children should be capable of support itself with quantitative and qualitative data, such as social-spatial studies. These living situation reports are an important youth assistance policy instrument in public debate.

3.3.
The implementation of concrete projects of mobile youth work must first of all be based on the needs of the children and youths involved. All measures in this regard should be oriented towards a reinforcement of personal identity. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that reality, for hundreds of thousands of street children in many parts of the world, still compels them to work in order to survive. Since the voluntary nature of cooperation on the part of the street child with regards to the project service, as well as trusting relationships with service personnel, are the central basis of the assistance process, any idea of repressive intervention is excluded by its very nature.

3.4.
The active combating of crimes and criminal activity committed by street children (for example, violent children's cliques and youth gangs) is the business of the police and justice system, not the youth assistance services. Need-oriented youth assistance services are nevertheless strongly preventive in their effects, and make an important contribution to the creation of public safety and order. Wherever mobile street work is directly confronted with delinquent activity, the reprehensible nature of the act is firmly stated, but without abandoning solidarity with street children

3.5
Mobile youth work consists of youth assistance for street children on a basis of partiality. It involves:
• Street work
• Individual assistance
• Group work, and
• Community work.
This also includes development initiatives in the community, municipality, or district, to reinforce families or single parent families, or to improve the social infrastructure (empowerment).
There is very close cooperation with existing social services and self-help groups, as well as other residents not yet mobilised.
This conceptual approach assumes that the central forces of preventive and healing social work reside in the neighbourhood community itself. When these social forces are not available, or are weakened, they must be created or reinforced within the social environment.
For this reason, before creating a new youth assistance service, an examination must be made to see whether or not an already existing citizens initiative or self-help group – including those based on ethnic membership – is capable of performing mobile youth work for street children with financial and technical assistance from the government or city administration or international organisations.

3.6
Wherever there is a visible lack of training and educational services available for street children, these must be created or reinforced within the framework of community work. Better working conditions should therefore be created for street hawkers, carpet makers, shoe shiners and car washers so as to enable them to participate in informal learning activities or leisure programmes (mobile schools, learning buses).

3.7
Mobile youth work also stresses the importance of ensuring the general interests of local residents, such as, for example, jobs, traffic, health, hygiene, environment, the desire for crime reduction, culture, sport, etc., therefore changing and improving social-ecological living situations. Community-based official enlightenment, mobilisation, and participation of local residents in problem solving all play a central role in this task. The creation of a more humane environment for street children also includes the development of joyful leisure and cultural services (street entertainment, music, dance, and theatre).

3.8
All youth assistance services for street children should be locally supported and rooted, or should at least attempt to obtain such support. The chief responsibility in matters relating to premises and administration should lie with the local (youth assistance) authorities and municipalities; free private bodies (NGOs) should, however, be primarily responsible for practical project implementation. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) must also be especially protected and encouraged for their work with street children by the particular state governments. In this context, NGOs are an important element of civil society and democracy.