Kindervereinigung Leipzig e.V.

The KINDERVEREINIGUNG® Leipzig e. V. (KVL) is a recognized independent provider of child and youth welfare. It employs approx. 380 people in 13 kindergartens, 14 open youth clubs, seven school clubs, as well as social workers at 22 schools and in the "KAOS Kulturwerkstatt", the mobile game project bus, the advice center for cults as well as the Competence Center for International Youth Work and non-formal Education (KIJA). It is active in three counties around Leipzig and in the city of Leipzig. It is supported by around 100 volunteers. The KVL sees itself as an innovation leader in the field of child and youth welfare. The offers are mainly financed from public funds.

The Competence Center (KIJA) currently consists of three full-time employees and a network of around 20 honorary volunteers. These employees are very well networked in the scenes of international youth work, cultural education, political education as well as media education and youth association work at local, state, federal and European level. Our core range of international youth work is financed by the city of Leipzig and is aimed at two target groups: young people between 13 and 17 who have so far hardly participated in any international youth exchange activities, and young adults as teamers/Coaches.

The Kindervereinigung Leipzig e.V. has been organising international youth exchanges, seminars and trainings from the early 1990s onwards. In the last years (before Covid) we organised six to nine youth exchanges a year. Most of our activities are funded by the ERASMUS+ Programme. However we try to use also the bilateral funding organisations, such as DPJW, DFJW, Tandem combined with regional funding.

In 2014 we decided to search for ways, how we can get youth into international youth exchanges, that are underrepresented in these learning activities. Doing so we started projects that recrute their participants in the context of schools as well as cooperations with our open youth clubs. Part of this strategic development is the project wir weit weg.

The project wir weit weg (www, “we are far away”) connects the work with both target groups. The core of the project is regular group meetings over a period of 10 months, at which young people meet voluntarily, across classes, after class in the rooms of their schools in order to prepare international youth exchanges. The young people themselves decide on the target country, topics and methods. They practice democratic decision-making processes, experience self-efficacy and develop awareness of diversity. The groups are supported by voluntary young adults ("Coaches") who lead the group meetings. The full-time employees train the coaches and accompany them in the process. The success factor of www is the cooperation of all involved on an equal footing, the transparent communication as well as the ability to work cross-sectoral.

We share our experiences in several local, regional, national and international networks. In Leipzig we are member of the municipal expert committee on international youth-work.