Girls’ Empowerment Program

Consultation on Female Genital Mutilation

Organization: Lessan e.V.
Place: Hamburg

Founded in 2009, Lessan e.V. is a predominantly voluntary association that helps girls and young women to overcome the consequences of female genital mutilation. With the support of filia, Lessan e.V. wants to finance urgently needed protected counseling rooms. They want to offer those affected a safe place where they can open up at any time and talk about what they have experienced. Personal contact on site is important so that those affected feel comfortable. This is the only way to create a relationship of trust (especially given the sensitive nature of the topic). Due to the pandemic, the activists have noticed that virtual consultations are less accepted by those affected and are not as effective. By improving the room situation, the activists expect more girls and young women to receive qualified advice. This means that the counselors can better help the girls and women to cope with their precarious situation, deal with trauma and heal injuries.

www.lessan.eu

“Sisters” Jewish-Muslim Dialogue

Organization: Türkische Gemeinde Niedersachsen e.V.
Place: Hannover

The “Sisters” group was founded two years ago by the Türkische Gemeinde Niedersachsen e.V. to redress the imbalance in male-dominated organizations and in the Turkish communities. In close cooperation with the Jewish community in Hannover, 13 to 16-year-old girls from both communities meet regularly. Joint activities and celebrations have broadened their perspectives.
With the “Sisters” Jewish-Muslim Dialogue project, they are planning political education workshops on the topics of (anti-Muslim) racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination. The aim is to develop intercultural skills, prevent anti-Semitism and racism and strengthen Jewish-Muslim dialog. The workshops are intended to remove inhibitions and knowledge gaps that still severely impair Jewish-Muslim interaction. They also aim to overcome fears of contact and prejudices. “Sisters” aims to emphasize the similarities and differences between Judaism and Islam in order to strengthen democratic conflict resolution skills and allow diversity in our society to be experienced as an enrichment.

Inclusive and successful implementation of the women’s empowerment workshop!

Organization: Dima e.V.
Place: Köln

Dima e.V., which has been active since 2013, is committed to inclusion in the migrant community. Its name, derived from “permanence”, emphasizes the ongoing process of inclusion. Dima e.V. organizes activities to raise awareness for people with disabilities and promotes encounters.
The women’s empowerment workshop offers workshops for young blind and visually impaired women with a migration background who are affected by exclusion and intersectional discrimination. The focus of their work is empowerment: people with disabilities are encouraged to make their own decisions, demand their rights and strengthen their self-determination. The workshops aim to help participants develop a healthy sense of self-esteem, build networks and enable them to make their voices heard for their own concerns. They are also trained to become multipliers by applying the skills they have acquired. This includes planning and implementing independent projects and leading workshops themselves.

Role Models

Organization: FEM – Forum des Empowerments und Teilhabe für Migranten e.V.
Place: Potsdam

FEM – Forum des Empowerments und Teilhabe für Migranten e.V. was founded in 2017 by migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who experienced discrimination and did not receive sufficient state support. The aim is to achieve equality for migrants in legal, political and social terms. The organisation focuses on promoting solidarity between different cultures, family and parental work, youth work, projects for the participation of refugees, prevention and health promotion, intercultural educational work and commitment to a humane and sustainable society. FEM works primarily with girls and women, who are to be empowered and supported through empowerment workshops. The “Role Models” project aims to bring African migrants living in Germany – the mentors – together with the project participants – the mentees. The mentors are either in training, studying or working and want to pass on their wealth of experience and provide advice and support in all phases of life. They meet with the mentees in workshops and on excursions and report on their careers, stumbling blocks and successes, for example. The sustainability of this project is particularly noteworthy, as the mentees are trained as multipliers who pass on their knowledge to new mentees as mentors.

www.fem-ev.org

Empowerment for Girls – Education about rights in the family and computer courses

Organization: Bewusstsein e.V.
Place: Jena

Founded in 2021, Bewusstsein e. V. actively supports girls and women’s projects in Jena. In addition to tutoring, language and sports courses, it also offers legal advice for women. The organization offers its visitors a safe space for intercultural exchange. Special attention is paid to raising awareness of the rights of girls and women with a migration background. With the support of filia, the topic of family violence is discussed in workshops for girls and young women and the participants are informed about their rights. The planned project also aims to support affected girls and young women. Prevention workshops will be held to raise awareness of family violence. Another of the organisation’s plans is to raise public awareness of the issue. The funding is also intended to enable a computer course to open up career prospects for girls and young women in the use of computers.

www.bewusstsein-ev.de

Life Skill Journey

Organization: Initiative Integration Schongau
Place: Apfeldorf

The Life Skill Journey is a workshop program for young women between the ages of 16 and 18. The aim is to develop skills that play no or only a very minor role in the school context: the specific facets and challenges for a female-read person in a capitalist-patriarchal society. A test run will take place at Welfen-Gymnasium Schongau in the 2022/23 school year. From the 2023/24 school year, the aim is to make the leap beyond school boundaries. This means that the format will be offered at other schools or at an adult education center. This “leap outside” will be made possible by filia’s funding, which will cover the material costs for the workshop and enable advertising measures. In the future, the training of the pilots will be financed by the funding. Lectures are to be organized, for example on the “Pink and Blue Trap”, on the topic of “Mental Load in Adolescents” or on dealing with the cycle, to enable the pilots to receive in-depth training.

www.integration-schongau.de

Female* Voices – Black Youth Poetry

Organization: Arca-Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum e.V.
Place: Hamburg

Arca was founded in 2009 by Black people in Hamburg and has been driving social change towards more diversity and participation ever since. Their vision is the self-empowerment of Black women* in particular. The association offers a wide range of activities to highlight Black/African, Afro-German and Afro-diasporic perspectives.
Through filia’s support, empowerment for Black youth is realized in poetry workshops and a poetry night: in creative self-expression, young people raise their voices, strengthen their identity and share their stories. The workshops offer young people a powerful opportunity for artistic self-expression. They create a space that promotes a sense of belonging and strengthens self-esteem. Through poetic exploration of themselves and their own stories, young people are supported in positioning themselves in society with confidence and commitment. Writing poems about their experiences, their culture, their dreams and their challenges helps young people to connect with their identity and develop a sense of pride.
The project is rounded off with an Ebony Poetry Night, where the young people perform their poetry in front of an audience.

www.arca-ev.de

Project days on queer education and empowerment work in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Organization: Bildungsprojekt Qube, Jugend kann bewegen e.V.
Place: Greifswald

Qube is a queer education and anti-discrimination project founded in Greifswald in 2016. It developed and professionalized its project days as part of the “BAEM!” model project. Through intensive cooperation with schools in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, demand has increased, particularly from structurally weak regions. The project is involved in youth and adult education, organizes public events and creates spaces for empowerment. The aim is to address structural discrimination in a low-threshold manner and to highlight individual scope for action. Special attention is paid to the empowerment of queer students through visibility and open handling of lsbtiqa* topics. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has a low level of acceptance for gender and sexual diversity, which makes it difficult for young lsbtiqa* people to find their identity. The 8 workshops at various schools are designed to promote queer diversity and anti-discrimination. The workshops focus on information, self-reflection and concrete action strategies for everyday life. The aim is to raise awareness of prejudice and discriminatory behavior and to promote an open-minded approach to diversity, especially for FLINTA* pupils.

www.bildung-qube.de

Be loud or relax? – Media and Empowerment Project for young Flinta

Organization: Hörfunk- und Projektwerkstatt Leipzig
Place: Leipzig

Hörfunk- und Projektwerkstatt Leipzig is a media education organization that offers radio and media projects for children and young people. The Radioglowgirls, a group of young FLINTAs, produce radio programs about their interests and broadcast live from various events, such as the Federal Conference of Gender Equality Officers. In conversations with young FLINTA, topics such as self-esteem and pressure to perform were discussed. They also report that they would like to get involved in politics, but then don’t feel assertive enough or are afraid of “failing” and standing up to the boys in the groups. To address this, the association is planning a media and empowerment week in February 2024. In a preparatory meeting, the Radioglowgirls themselves will decide on the topics of the workshops. One workshop is planned per day, followed by an exchange with the workshop leader. The project ends with a public presentation of the results on the last workshop day.

www.hup-le.de