SoliDARE Meet-up #2:The lights & shadows of preparedness, 21st of May, 14:30 - 16:00 CET

This MeetUp is a community space for those of us working with young people and organisations who are curious, questioning, and willing to look beyond the concept together.

But before we go further, here is a shifting thought:  

We live in a world of self-regulation tools, well-being practices, and coping frameworks. We know how to breathe, how to ground ourselves, how to set goals. And yet, loneliness is rising. People are disappearing from each other's lives. We say "fine, managing" when we are not. We have many “techniques”. And we are still losing each other.

Preparedness was designed as an institutional language for managing infrastructure, state continuity, and economic systems. The closer it moves towards individuals and communities, the more it risks becoming yet another obligation placed on people who are already overburdened. The intention may be communal. The effect, far too often, leads to individualisation.

And here lies the deeper question this meet-up wants to hold:

What if, instead of preparing for something we wish to avoid, we prepared for what we wish to create?

Building on the SALTO ESC webinar Youth Volunteering & Preparedness Webinar, and the essay Open Windows, this met-up invites us to:

• Explore the lights where the preparedness agenda opens new possibilities for youth work and volunteering.
• Name the shadow, what happens when the language of readiness asks too much of individuals and too little of the structures around them?
• Ask the question, what is our role, as coordinators, mentors and non-formal educators, when preparedness enters our work? 

Continue and widen the conversation started at SALTO ESC RC, bringing in voices, experiences and doubts from across our community

About the speaker: Dagna Gmitrowicz is an internationally active facilitator with many years of experience working with people and organisations. She is the co-author of the essay Open Windows, together with Eliza Zadłużna  (April 2026, KulturNest e.V.), a provocation and invitation to rethink what genuine readiness looks like as a relational and collective practice. It brings both critical reflection and practical grounding to this ongoing conversation.

Recommended preparation: watch the SALTO ESC Youth Volunteering & Preparedness Webinar (January 2026) 

Please take note that a YouthPass will NOT be issued for this type of event.