From 24^th to 26^th September, delegations of SOLIDAR and SOLIDAR Foundation and their members had the privilege to visit AWO Bundesverband‘s branch in Braunschweig (Brunswick).

The visit started with Mayor Dr. Thorsten Kornblum and welcoming the delegations in Brunswick’s city hall. City councilor Dr. Christina Rentzsch explained how the city has organised a youth parliament. We then made way to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) premises in the centre, where we received presentations of the AWO Brunswick branch, AWO’s counselling projects for migrants’ participation into the labour market and their work on community engagement.

On the second day, the group followed an intensive programme giving insight on how AWO works to enable the participation of all youth in society, starting on the AWO campus. In ThinkPool, an actual former pool converted into a community space, the Youth and Educational Team presented AWO’s work in residential youth welfare. We had a very refreshing tour of the School Forge ‘Volle Lotte’ and then embarked on a Social Affairs and Education and Lifelong Learning members forum where we notably debriefed the recent nomination of Commissioner-designates. The meeting was also the occasion to hold two focus groups.

In the afternoon, the group visited the ‘IASL’, the ‘Institute for Outpatient Systemic Solutions and the socio-pedagogical group ‘Am Anger’, where several groups of young people experience life in community or independently, under the supervision of a social worker. The day was an enriching introduction to how the youth welfare system works in Germany and how AWO implements a holistic approach involving all stakeholders (the beneficiary, their family, the medical institution, the school, social workers) to make decisions in the best interests of the young person.

On the last day, the SOLIDAR group was given a tour of the TRAFO Hub. Set in a former warehouse, TRAFO provides not only co-working spaces but also aims to build a community between all the people using it, combining open work spaces as well as closed offices and ‘meeting boxes’, alongside shared social or relaxing spaces. AWO itself is a member and as such employees can come work in the open spaces or in the closed office there. The way the space is arranged, and the type of members that are accepted, in themselves, transform the way to work into a more collaborative one.

In total, not counting the AWO Brunswick staff, 17 people participated in the Study Visit, representing organisations from 13 countries: Portugal/Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Albania, North Macedonia, Belgium, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and Greece. The visit was the occasion to visit and get inspired by promising practices in the fields of social and solidarity economy, migrant inclusion, community engagement, and education and youth welfare. It was also an opportunity to witness fruitful collaboration between a civil society organization, local and regional private actors, the municipality and the federal government.

This activity was organized in the framework of SOLIDAR’s programme ”Realising Social Europe for All and With All”, supported by the European Union, through the EaSI strand of the ESF+ programme.