International youth exchanges help to build intercultural and social competence, self-confidence and a sense of responsibility, and help young people to develop their own identity. Beginning after the Second World War with a goal of reconciliation and peace, they have long since become an important area of informal learning for children and teenagers.

International youth work in sport particularly benefits from two aspects: the universal nature of enjoying games and physical activity, and the low-threshold access to sport. Initial contacts between children and young people are established quickly in international exchanges, even without the use of language. The international exchange programme provides professionals in the field of child and youth welfare in sport with the opportunity to exchange ideas and network with experts from other countries, to get to know their approaches, and to consider their own work from a different perspective in the process. 

German Sports Youth is active on behalf of its member organisations on many levels. As well as providing advice and support for international exchange programmes and participating in German and European discourse in the area of children’s and youth work in and through sport, dsj also maintains direct partnerships with partner organisations in a wide variety of countries.

German Sports Youth’s international engagement is based on the concept “International youth work in sport”. This concept describes dsj’s self-image as an umbrella organisation for children’s and youth sport in an international context. It also presents the goals and the strategic building blocks and actions of international youth work in sport.