Soziale Bildung e.V. (registered association)

Soziale Bildung e.V. (SoBi) (Social Education registered association) is based in Rostock. As of 2005 we are an officially recognised institution of furthering education, and an accredited representative of the Freie Jugendhilfe (free youth welfare services) since 2009. We work in the areas of political education of youth and adults, Offene Kinder- und Jugendarbeit (outreach work with children and young adults), social work in schools, and research and evaluation.

Our team consists of approximately 20 full-time employees, including apprentices, BFD (Bundesfreiwilligendienst - Federal Volunteer Service ), FÖJ (Freiwilliges Ökologisches Jahr – voluntary ecological year), and dedicated volunteers and multipliers (opinion makers).

In the extracurricular area of political education of youths and adults, the main topics focus on the fields of migration & diversity, globalisation, politics of development, politics of remembrance, right-wing extremism, and strengthening of democracy.

SoBi, provides a wide range of offers predominantly throughout Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania including project days, perennial project classes, workshops, basic and advanced training classes, international youth exchanges, international field excursions, exhibitions and cultural events such as readings, movie nights, and panels on current topics.

Since the start of the 2007 pilot project "Demokratiestärkende Bildungsarbeit im ländlichen Raum" (educational work to invigorate democracy in rural areas), "Soziale Bildung e.V." has also been involved in research and evaluation as well as being dedicated to practical educational work. In addition to evaluating our own projects, the association analyses the work of its peers in the areas of child and youth outreach as well as education in politics.

SoBi has been working with the "Offene Kinder- und Jugendarbeit (OKJA)" in the Rostock districts of Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt (KTV), Stadtmitte, and Brinkmansdorf since 2008. A team of three members provides a free open-room and offers vacations as well as consultations. The efforts of the team are supplemented by social work from five schools in the above-mentioned districts and “Streetwork”/ outreach in those parts of the community being discriminated against in several aspects.

Among other goals, the association’s objective is to support self-organisation and understands itself to be a structure of empowerment through participation. This is reflected in our guiding principles and educational concept.

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