Anna Fredriksson’s IFSJ 2021 Journey in France

Paris is the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Notre Dame. Paris has escargot (snails), champagne and cheese. 

Paris and France is also FCSF and Social Centers. 

During my five days of Study Visit in Paris, I have learned a lot, met many interesting and competent people, and I saw many beautiful places. 

The participants from all over Europe had different professions or came as volunteers from various programs, and I think it was perfect. You could see that methods and ideas were the same regardless of the differences, and you could learn from each other. The one thing that I noticed we had in common was the idea of the power of empowerment. In my opinion, it is of great value that we, despite our differences, have the same ideas, and it is a strength that people think of empowerment as something necessary to develop. 

We had the opportunity to visit two different social centers and spent a day with the manager at one social center. Throughout the visits and the one day spent with the manager, we learned about other methods that I will be implementing in my town; these methods are something that I think will help us improve work with youths and the concept of empowerment in the future. 

I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn and get inspired to evolve our work. A few of the keywords I bring with me are “Common goals”, “Evaluation”, “Together”, and of course “, Empowerment”. 

Anna Fredriksson,

Borlänge, Sweden