Refuge and Asylum

Third World Saar Campaign (Aktion 3. Welt Saar) is a social organization that is not linked to any political party. We are not involved in any projects in the Third World because we think that we do not have the right to develop people in other countries. Our objective is to make a difference in Germany. For centuries, Europe has forced its ideas about development upon other countries and thereby destroyed development programs that were already in process. Now it is time to put an end to this kind of violent development policy.

Since we are not associated with any political party, we refuse to focus on one individual objective. Some people expect us to stand up exclusively for topics related to the Third World and stay out of German politics because they assume we cannot achieve anything anyway. But instead, we interfere because we care. We want to bring about changes in Germany.

As an organization that is not linked to any political party, we commit ourselves to topics such as fair trade, world trade, nutrition, political asylum, racism, migration, energy policies, anti-Semitism, militarization, ecology and development policies. Above all, we try to do something about the unequal distribution of goods in the world. We intend to make sure that everyone has access to intellectual and material resources and does not live in poverty and misery.

We, the Third World Saar Campaign,

• are financed by our members and sponsors and are not linked to any political party, church or lobby;
• annually organize 120 events and campaigns independently or in cooperation with other organizations;
• establish networks, link up groups and people and initiate campaigns;
• recommend speakers and provide counselling for the organization of events;
• publish the results of our research and studies on a regular basis.

The Centre for Peace Studies (CPS) grew out of various direct forms of peace-building in Western Slavonia, such as the Voluntary Project Pakrac, from 1993 to 1997). CPS aims at promoting the values of non-violence, social justice, respect for human rights, tolerance, and accepting differences through participative methods such as peace education, research, and through publicly advocating peace-building.
CPS operates through two complementary programs – peace education and peace-building public policies, with a focus on human and minority rights, human security, combating discrimination, asylum rights, education policies, and on dealing with the past.
CPS considers that through building a network of educated citizens, who are skilled in employing the values of peace-building, it contributes to the process of creating an active and influential civil society. By strengthening active and interested citizens, CPS acts as a driving force in promoting a positive and sustainable peace. CPS wants to share its peace-building experience with all interested citizens at the local, regional, and global level.
Through public events and public actions, CPS aims to influence the public, the media and state structures, as well as encourage them to be more active when it comes to the processes of facing the past, articulating peace-building policies, and the peace-building programs.
Today, The Centre for Peace Studies deems the following activities to be fundamentally essential for reducing the unjust distribution of power within society, and for the active transformation of conflict:
• Education for peace, non-violence, and on human rights;
• Advocating peace education within the system of formal education;
• Specialized education for implementing standards of protection of human rights, and for the implementation of anti-discriminatory norms;
• Transforming traditional concepts of security policies into concepts of the individual’s security;
• Fight against xenophobia and racism, advocating global human solidarity through the affirmation of asylum rights, as well as supporting the integration of foreigners based upon the principles of interculturalism;
• Advocating intercultural dialogue, and re-examining the traditional concepts of dominant identities;
• Individual work with victims of human-rights violations, and helping them to create a normal life as fulfilled members of our society;
• Reducing social-economic injustice and the exclusion of certain groups within society;

Public Policy Program. CPS follows all public policies dealing with issues identified as relevant within the extensive and positive context of peace-building. Those issues include – anti-discrimination, asylum rights, human security, interethnic relations, intercultural dialogue and peace education.
CPS works on public policies from the initial process of drafting and analyzing a particular policy; through which, CPS advocates a change or modification of a policy; conducts research and make recommendations as a basis for a certain policy and/or advocates for a new one. CPS advocates for extensive social change in all of the aforementioned issues. Through education and advocate campaigns, CPS addresses the public; while through research, analysis, and expertise, CPS contributes to changes in legislation.

Peace Education Program. CPS’s peace education program consists of: 1. Peace Studies as a holistic interdisciplinary peace-education program for interested citizens and citizens; 2. MIRamiDA Youth – a program for invigorating young people who are active in their own communities; 3. Human-Rights Schools – a training program for high-school students; 4. Trainings for Trainers as an empirical methodical trainings program for disseminating empirical participative peace education.

In our charitable organisation, experts on educational matters and coaches from the Brandenburg and Berlin area are working on the following topics:

• adult and youth education in politics (development policy, ecology, development of democracy, civic participation, questions concerning human rights, migration, etc.)
• intercultural communication
• mediation and conflict management, mediation training and parental training
• organisation counselling
• anti-discrimination training
• study travels focusing on political and cultural matters and related to natural history in (Eastern) Germany and Eastern Europe

In terms of language and culture, we have gathered experiences and established contacts particularly with (Southeastern) Europe, Turkey, the Arab States, Israel, Latin America and Africa.

The workshop “Solidarische Welt e. V.” (founded in 1980) wants to offer possibilities together with the world store in Augsburg for united action beyond borders. This includes educational work, fair trade, the work for a humane asylum and the support of single projects abroad. We work independently, of benefit to the public and regardless of political parties. Our work is performed in an honourary capacity and full-time. We offer regular series of events: Asia days, African weeks, fair week and peace actions. Moreover, single events, an educational material place, a public library and a north south-info archive. We publish north south information for teachers regularly.

The Foundation Education and Development is the Swiss centre for Global Education. We support teachers in Switzerland at all levels in their daily work by giving them impulses for their lessons which are directed towards a viable development in a global society. We sell and lend over 800 tried and tested teaching aids in German, French and Italian language. We provide teacher training. We inform and advise with relation to Global Education. We are part of a network of national and international organisations having similar aims. The services of the Foundation Education and Development are available at four regional centres throughout Switzerland: in the German and Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking region, in the French-speaking region, and in the Italian-speaking region.

W - as in world 
The World University Service (WUS) is an international non-governmental organisation which is politically and denominationally neutral. Since 1920 the WUS supports students and academics in higher education institutions. Today, WUS exists in over 50 countries.

U - as in university
The core issues of WUS Germany are higher education and defending human rights, especially the human right to education. WUS provides seminars, publications and information. It pursues public relations at political level, institutions, civil society and the media.

S - as in service 
WUS Germany takes part in national and international campaigns in the educational and development cooperation sector, offers consulting and carries out scholarship programmes as well as projects. Among its projects are those dealing with Development Education and Global Learning, capacity building for students from Africa, Asia and Latin America and subsidies for experts returning to their countries.

WUS takes part in national and international campaigns in the education and development sector, offers counseling and implements projects.

Information Centre Education North-South
The Information Centre of WUS is a project carried out jointly by the German State Administrative Units (Länder) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development. The objective of the Information Centre is to intensify communication and the flow of information as well as to help building networks in the field of Development Education and Global Learning.
Contact: infostelle[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. +49 611 9446170

Global Learning Portal
Offers an overview on of school materials, seminars and acitivities around Global Learning in Germany.
Contact: Heike Jäger, jaeger[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. +49 611 9446170

Website of German Federal States in Development Policy 
German Federal States in Development Policy presents the respective development policy objectives and activities of the 16 Federal States. It provides an overview of the multi-facetted commitment and involvement of the Federal States and their desire to contribute to the formation of public policy.
Contact: portal[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. +49 611 9446170

Development training for students from Africa, Asia and Latin America
With its project "STUBE Hessen", WUS offers a study-accompanying programme addressing students from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Contact: stube-ref[at]wusgermany.de, Tel. + 49 611 9446171

Projects with experts from Developing Countries
The project "Subsidies for Experts from Developing Countries" can promote graduated students under certain conditions in their return and professional reintegration in their home countries (reintegration programme).

Lobbying and Networking

(wlp)° - the world lecture project is an online library for video lectures in any language and of any faculty from all over the world. The project is collecting all links to video lectures and their meta data in one freely accessible database. A search engine helps the users to find the lecture of their choice easily. They can search lectures according to various criteria: theme, faculty, country, language and others. Everyone can contribute to broadening (wlp)°'s lecture fund. Once registered it is easy to put new lectures onto the data base or to complete the data of the lectures that are already available. (wlp)° is looking for partners across the globe who contribute in facilitating the exchange and the access of knowledge for everyone – everywhere. The World Academy of Young Scientists (WAYS) and Young-People Platform in Agricultural Research (YPARD) for Development are already collaborating with (wlp)°.

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.

RAA - regional centers for foreigners' concerns, youth work and schools in the German state of Brandenburg - is a non-profit organization based in Potsdam. We manage six "Regionale Büros für Integration und Toleranz" (BIT) (regional offices for integration and open-mindedness) and four other offices as well as regional and local projects. In 2004, we established "Globales Lernen/Entwicklungszusammenarbeit" (global learning and cooperation for development). For us, global learning is about raising awareness of the world as a whole, of interrelations between North and South, and about relating our everyday life to the lives of people in developing countries. RAA is involved in an enormous variety of development-policy projects. We offer working groups, workshops, and training for teaching staff, and support schools in organizing workshops for students. Long-term projects include supporting school partnerships between schools in Brandenburg and schools in Senegal, Zanzibar/Tanzania and Angola, as well as smaller-scale initiatives. "Begegnungen mit Sansibar" (meeting Zanzibar) is a project that combines education and cooperation for development. Since 1992, more than 160 adolescents and teachers have been given the chance to gain deep insights into another culture and to help promote interactions between Germany and Tanzania, and more will follow. The project in Zanzibar encourages participants to closely examine both the foreign culture and their own. It includes such diverse activities as the building of classrooms, theater projects, thematic research, workshops, seminars and continuous education for teachers. In Germany, the results of this work are available as educational materials, thus enabling our partners from Tanzania to present their life and their views in Brandenburg. In addition, RAA is in charge of organizing and holding the "Brandenburger entwicklungspolitische Bildungs- und Informationstage" (Brandenburg educational and informational days on development aid) as well as the education program of the 'Berlin Import Shop' fair.

Networking of asylum and refugee policy initiatives