Culture

The experience of the peaceful "Wende" in 1989 awakened in many people the hope that a Germany without a military could be possible. This hope led people from various civil initiatives in Halle together to found the Friedenskreis in 1990. The Friedenskreis Halle e.V. is an group of people of differing world views, religions, nationalities and political affiliations. We see peace not as a state of being or as a distant goal, and not simply as the absence of war. Peace is for us a means to a common, just and non-violent life together in diversity, where the personal development and liberty of the individual is made possible. The conception of this life together is always a new experience. This is why we try to explore, find and pass on new ways of doing so, while never forgetting to question the same. We are consequently involved in education, peace-associated activities and in projects for civil conflict resolution on both the domestic and international levels. Our work is made possible by paid and voluntary staff and carried through donations and public subsidies. Our current programme and projects

• Seminars and educational programmes in the areas of communication, conflict resolution, mediation, dealing with violence and learning how to speak out
• Consulting for initiatives and projects
• Lectures and seminars on current peace-associated themes
• Civil conflict resolution through the development of an educational and encounter centre in Jajce, Bosnia.
• Work camps, youth encounters and volunteer work in the countries of the Balkans.
• Counselling on military service and conscientious objection
• Cooperation in activities and campaigns against militarisation
• Coordination of the initiative "Zivilcourage: Bündnis für Gewaltlosigkeit, Demokratie und Toleranz in Halle"

The Open School 21 offers students in and around Hamburg (Germany) a broad program for global education. It aims to raise their awareness of global correlations and realities. At the same time concrete options for action are created for and together with students that enable them to make a self-determined contribution to a sustainable development and more global justice. In the Open School there is the experience that one can make an important contribution to justice, environmental protection, peacekeeping as well as poverty reduction by oneself and that success in these areas is possible.

Open School 21 offers about 40 different workshops, project days, city walks and harbor tours on request. Topics of the Open School are globalization, human rights, poverty reduction, world agricultural trade, climatic change, flight and migration, fair trade, sustainable
consumption, child labor, colonial history as well as living conditions and environments in different countries.

The program of The Open School 21 is directed to school students from every grade and school form. The activities take place at the harbor, in different parts of the city, in the education center “Werkstatt 3” or in one’s own school.

The events are held by self-employed experts with abroad and migration experiences that come from the field of development cooperation, arts and science. For teachers, the Open School 21 offers consultation for global education, support for day-projects as well as materials for preparation and follow-up of events.

Labor union

The Heinrich Böll's institute Schleswig - Holstein offers services for the political education, mainly in the most northern federal state. We consider us as an independent part of the worldwide green movement. Our events and other educational projects are aimed to further clarify "green" discussions and proposals and to spread them through society. We want to stimulate democratic processes and enable people to become active independently and to take part in forming society and politics.

Here, we relate to subjects, discussions and questions which are of particular importance for the "green project" and its programmatic advancement. We love the dispute and the common research of new knowledge and answers. Our events are places of the political discussion, considered as the serious and heated dispute about important present and future subjects. The authentic representation of different positions, the dialogue between people from different social spectra and the "learning of each other" are characteristics for our events and projects.

The KMK is an association of the German government ministers, who—in their function as highest authorities of a Land—are responsible for education, science, and culture. The Länder work together on educational and cultural issues to develop common guidelines. Their primary aim is to guarantee an equal standard of quality in all German schools. They also reciprocally recognize different educational qualifications. In higher education, the KMK regulates German university admissions and guarantees the equivalence of academic achievements. The Pedagogical Exchange Service (PAD) offers projects and programs promoting the exchange of students and teachers. The German Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) reviews 15,000 foreign educational qualifications every year.