The FAIR.STÄRKEN e. V. association supports children and young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in Cologne with various group activities.
The PowerKids project is an extracurricular social training program for children and young people.
They work with young people growing up in poverty or with a single parent who have experienced violence or other trauma due to war, flight or exclusion.
Some of them are traumatized and display behaviours that indicate attachment disorders.
The children stand out due to their challenging behavior.
This includes aggressive and violent behavior, withdrawal and depression.
Bullying also plays a major role.
The children and young people, for whom school measures or educational support are not very effective and who are socially disadvantaged, are approached by school social workers, child psychologists or in youth centers,
For one year, they are accompanied by experienced social trainers in weekly 2-hour sessions.
The trainers have additional qualifications in anti-discrimination, anti-violence and de-escalation strategies as well as coolness training.
Through the extracurricular social training and group work, the children learn to develop a positive view of themselves.
Through various forms of group work as well as movement and role-playing games, the focus is on self-esteem, social skills and action strategies in a variety of methods.
In the long term, the training should lead to them developing non-violent strategies, self-regulation in conflict situations and the ability to cooperate.
Children with and without migration and refugee experience get to know the local children, their living environment opens up and they can participate in social and cultural life in Cologne.
The training aims to promote participation and equal opportunities by strengthening their personal skills.
Two new groups have been set up in Cologne Porz, one for girls aged between 10 and 13 and one for boys aged between 12 and 14.
Each group is led by two educational specialists.
They are designed to be gender-specific in order to address role-specific issues, among other things.
The project is set to run for one year and is financially supported by the Karl Bröcker Foundation.
Photos: (c) FAIR.STÄRKEN e. V.
