European Network on Humanist Services meets in Berlin.

CEOs and leaders from 16 European humanist organizations met in Haus des Humanismus in Berlin to discuss the future of networking and capacity building in Europe with special regards to humanist services.

The organizations met to discuss the future cooperation on humanist services on an European level. Humanists International has for the last couple of years hosted the development of a networking and capacity-building project. This project has focused on cooperation and development of humanist services in Europe and has prepared a solid ground for the future cooperation among the humanist organizations in Europe.

Humanists Professionals Network manager, Humanists International, Lone Ree Milkær, is looking forward to the future developments:

Lone Ree Milkær,
Humanist Professionals Network Manager

“There is a real momentum for cooperation among the European organizations and all of the participants in the meeting shared an optimistic view of the future. Every one of the 19 organization that signed a partnership agreement with Humanists International to explore a cooperation on humanist services is interested in continuing the cooperation in a network, including the 3 organizations who where not able to join us in Berlin.”

The European humanist organizations present at the meeting agreed to continue the cooperation in a network structure for European members of Humanists International.

Ceremonies, Existential Care and Youth Education has been identified as core areas to develop in the project process. In the next year the network will focus on:

• Development of a structure for professionals working in the field of humanist existential care, which includes chaplaincy and pastoral care. The field of humanist existential care is rapidly expanding all over Europe and the demand for professionalization will be explored in the network. This includes the possible establishment of a professionals organisation.
  

  Humanist organizations meeting at the Humanist House in Berlin.

• Development of a joint standard for humanist weddings. To strengthen the humanist community a joint wedding standard will be discussed and generated, and a way of making it easy to access information about humanist weddings across borders will be developed.
• Ways on cooperating in the area of youth education. This is the widest field of the identified areas and covers programs and initiatives from courses before humanist confirmation or Jugendfeier to educational programs in public schools. Networking is at the core of this focus area.

The European Humanist Professionals will be a part of the network as well and will continue to develop their activities aimed at individual humanist practioners. The network will also continue the cooperation with Humanists International, but as an independent network from 2024.