Empower refugee moms

The aim of the project is to strengthen the self-determination and participation of refugee mothers by developing individual possibilities and ways to balance family, work and leisure time against the backdrop of coming to Germany. This offers support for refugees in their special and often challenging life situations. To this end, the cooperation partners will conduct a range of workshops, discussions and counseling sessions in safe spaces. 

All activities are developed together with the mothers, taking their needs, interests and life situations into account. The project partners offer childcare during all activities to make it easier for people to participate. A regularly scheduled "women's meeting" makes the project accessible to those it aims to serve and facilitates a variety of contacts. In the future, mothers will also be recruited to carry out projects themselves. The cooperation partners have worked with the target group of refugee mothers for a long time – in the project "Now it's my turn!" – and are now pooling their expertise and learning from and with each other.

The project is aimed at mothers from Berlin's BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community. It addresses women who have fled to Berlin from Ukraine and other countries. The goal of the project is to strengthen the mothers' social participation. It offers a safe place where they can process experiences that are racist and discriminatory, exchange ideas and support each other in everyday life, particularly in child-rearing. For this purpose, offers such as educational counseling, empowerment workshops for mothers and children (and sometimes also fathers), integration assistance, community events, and psychosocial support are held weekly on the premises of the daycare center "EKT Kwetu."

The goal of the daycare center is to develop into an educational institution that is critical of racism and sensitive to diversity and to establish a sustainable network in the Berlin BIPoC community. The Bantu Association is learning how daycare centers function and is building its own daycare center for Black children.

"...the goal is key: not letting injustice dictate your life, while simultaneously showing solidarity with those not privileged enough to escape it." (Kübra Gümşay, Speaking and Being). 

Our project supports women* and mothers aged 18-60 in the development of linguistic, professional and social perspectives through various qualification opportunities. We accompany the participants in this process, considering adverse underlying conditions and structural exclusion processes, and ensure that the qualification offerings by integration course providers, vocational schools, companies and public administration are diversity sensitive. The idea of empowerment is fundamental to the project. We want to work in solidarity for fairer social conditions for women* and mothers and thus also focus on the resources and competencies that refugees and migrants have within themselves.

Asked about their challenges with the German education system, women with a refugee background still often say: "I would like to do more, but there are many things I don't understand." The project aims to change this to: "My children's school is also a place where I can participate, where I can contribute my strengths to the community."

In cooperation with the the Muslim Women’s Social Services (SmF) in Kempten and the Elementary School an der Sutt (Suttschule), the project aims to change this outlook through empowerment as a way of helping others to help themselves. From May 2023 until the end of 2024, the Suttschule will offer the following opportunities: Language Cafés to consolidate and expand acquired language skills, a women's breakfast to make strengths visible and realize educational and work ideas, time to exchange thoughts, points of view and experiences, and support for women to become "homework pros" for a better understanding of the German school concept and to help them become active and strong partners in the education of their children.

The project aims to strengthen cooperation between educational institutions and civil society organizations at the local level. It will expand on and transmit tried and tested strategies of integration work carried out by mothers with a refugee background. Focusing on a few effective projects and highlighting success stories can help reduce the burden on the people and institutions supporting refugees. 

Over a period of 20 months, a team of experienced mothers and instructors with key language backgrounds (dari/farsi, languages of former Soviet states, and Arabic), together with contact persons at institutions dealing with refugee families, will identify factors and approaches that have contributed to successful integration processes. The mothers/instructors will see that their experiences count and are taken seriously. They will work in a dialectical process to find the best way to support women in their child-rearing responsibilities and social participation. The meetings will be documented in writing and shared in professional circles, with the community and with the interested public.