Diakonie Bremen e. V. is recognized head welfare association in the German federal state of Bremen. It organizes and represents the interests of its more than 40 member organisations, which include the Protestant Church of Bremen.

"Diakonia" refers to the social work of the Protestant churches, thus fulfilling an important mission. The church as a whole is called to witness the Good News of Jesus Christ in the world and this is realized in their diaconal action as charity and service to others.

The fields of work of Diakonia with separate facilities, initiatives and associations cover the entire spectrum of social work in Bremen.

A total of 3,300 full-time employees and 800 volunteers are working in Bremen Diakonia, mainly on the fields of service for persons with disability, in hospital, rehabilitation units and institutional or home care for elderly people and families with education problems. Other professionals and volunteers work in community or human rights projects, including international solidarity and One World development. Their work is characterized by a high degree of professionalism on the one hand, as through human contact and warmth on the other. There are many different professions and varied ways in which people can participate and contribute.

Grundtvig Partnership “Qualifying Volunteers in Networks against Domestic Violence” (2011-13): The first meeting of this partnership was held at Bremen end of Novembre 2011. Partners of Diakonisches Werk Bremen are “Home of Hope” Reformed Church and Christian centre (Brasov, Romania) and Sinop İmam Hatipliler Derneği (Sinop, Turkey).

Domestic violence is a danger to life quality and balance and a risk for chances to learning and civil engagement. The vicious circle of “shutting up” and giving the negative experiences to next generations is a danger to the building of a society of peace and learning chances. Topics and concepts like “family”, “violent behavior” or “group of risk” and “learning” and forms of network cooperation are deeply rooted in the tradition of each state and society, even in Europe. The exchange will help to understand how these effects are felt and how they work and impress themselves on the mentality of offenders, victims and “helpers”, judges, reporters etc.

The partners agreed on a work plan which includes three other meetings for exchange of experience and discussion. Reports on tasks and strategies in the fight against domestic violence will be presented during the sessions and later be published. Another result should be recommendations for the training of volunteers in this field of work and the report on local projects of each partner.

 

“An informed person is a protected one” – Promoting best practices in prevention activities against trafficking for forced labor through a European network funded by the European Commission HOME Programme

The project is implemented by the Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania - AIDRom, in partnership with Foundation  "Lámpás" at Oradea, Verein für Internationale Jugendarbeit Stuttgart, Germany and Diakonisches Werk Bremen. It combats trafficking in human beings for labor exploitation, one of the most lucrative criminal activities of our days, through the establishment of an EU interdisciplinary network promoting best practice in prevention, identification and assisting victims of trafficking for labor exploitation.
The project makes existing best practice visible, explores transferability to other countries and feeds into EU debates on the issue, e.g. with a European conference around Anti-trafficking day. Results and examples of best practice will be summarised in a multilingual booklet. It establishes a mechanism of cooperation between different actors: churches, trade unions, NGOs, and public institutions.

ISEC 2010

The Project “An informed person is a protected one – Promoting best practices in prevention activities against trafficking for forced labor through an European network is coordinated by the Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania (AIDRom).
It is funded by the European Commission HOME Programme
The views expressed and information provided by the project and the partners involved do not necessarily reflect the point of view of the European Commission and in no way fall under the responsibility of the European Commission.

Diakonieprojekt gegen Menschenhandel

An einem europäischen Zweijahresprojekt zur Verhinderung von Menschenhandel, das jetzt auf den Weg gebracht wurde, beteiligt sich das Diakonische Werk Bremen. Ziel ist die Bekämpfung des Menschenhandels zum Zweck der Ausbeutung der Arbeitskraft. In der zweijährigen Projektphase arbeiten Beratungs- und Präventionsstellen in den vier Städten Bremen,  Stuttgart, Oradea und Iasi (Rumänien).   Initiiert wurde das Projekt von der Ökumenischen Vereinigung von Kirchen in Rumänien AIDROM. Weitere Partner sind die Stiftung Lampas aus Rumänien und der Verein für Internationale Jugendarbeit, Landesverein Württemberg. Verbandskoordinator Dr. Jürgen Stein, Diakonisches Werk Bremen, berichtet, dass die Bremer Beratungsstelle im Büro Beratung für Opfer von Menschenhandel und Zwangsprostitution  (BBMeZ) des diakonischen Vereins für Innere Mission in die Arbeit einbezogen ist. Die BBMeZ ist Anlaufstelle für Frauen, die Opfer von Menschenhandel geworden sind und/oder zur Prostitution gezwungen wurden. Das jetzt gestartete Projekt befasst sich auch mit der Prävention von Menschenhandel und Arbeitsausbeutung in anderen Bereichen (Landwirtschaft, dem Baugewerbe und der Hausarbeit …). Untersuchungen sollen zeigen, welche Themen hier besonders dringend zu bearbeiten sind. Neben der konkreten Beratung von potenziellen Opfern Arbeitsbereichen mit ausbeuterischen Strukturen wollen die Projektpartner ein Netzwerk zwischen den verschiedenen Akteuren von Kirchen, Gewerkschaften, Nicht-Regierungs-Organisationen und öffentlichen Institutionen schaffen. Diese Akteure entwickeln ein Best-Practice-Verfahren gegen Ausbeutung, das in einer mehrsprachigen Broschüre zusammengefasst wird.

The aim of this study project by Eurodiaconia and International Academy for Diaconia and Social Action, Central & Eastern Europe, o.p.s (interdiac):  is to offer a space to share experience and sharpen the understanding of community engagement in Diaconia and Christian social action, in a broad European context and to create a network and platform for further developments in the field. Participants from at least 13 countries, with different starting points and experiences share and explore the role played by youth, social & diaconal workers in community development, approaches we can learn from, in order to promote community participation and the engagement of young people in community development and how the strengths and gifts of volunteers and activists can be recognised and enhanced.
Until now, a kick-off at Brussels and two study visits with participants form Diakonisches Werk Bremen were organized to Helsinki and Česky Tešin. See here for a report about the last meeting by Ann-Kathrin Laschewski (in German).

2008 to 2010 our member organisations St. Petri Kinder und Jugendhilfe and Stiftung Alten Eichen participated in a Grundtvig - Partnership dealing with questions of migrants integration. It was joined by organisations from Spain, France, Turkey and Norway. Work and results are documented in the blog http://withoutbarriers.blogspot.com/.

Diakonisches Werk Bremen was coordinator of the Leonardo Partnership "Training of Care Staff for People with Disability (2008-2010) establishing recommendations for assistants' training. Look here

See here for download of the Result Papers!