Consulting

For over 14 years, our mission is to accompany refugees, to provide services and to advocate for their cause. We provide holistic (social and legal assistance, education, cultural and educational activities, financial support and accomodation, advocacy and lobbying, research, studies and surveys, training and seminars, awareness campaigns and information) through various types of projects that we develop (11 projects in 2013).

We assist all categories of refugees and migrants (people with a form of protection in Romania, relocated people, asylum seekers, people in detention, refugees marginalized, tolerated, migrants coming to work or study and others). We are present in all centers opened in country as well as in detention centers (8 centers in total).

JRS Romania has a night shelter in Bucharest named “Pedro Arrupe Center” and also a Multifunctional and Cultural Center named “MyPlace”.

Over 1.500 refugees have been assisted in areas such as association and economic exclusion, detention, integration and acceptance conditions. About 20 specialists work constantly in order to accomplish our mission, supported by many enthusiastic volunteers of all ages and in all fields.

atavus advises schools and other educational establishments on how to create dye-plant gardens. These gardens serve to preserve the diversity of cultivated plants and promote interdisciplinary learning. Dye-plant gardens promote the production and use of colors according to Agenda 21. By focusing on topics such as cosmetics and various types of paints, both children and adults are encouraged to reflect on questions related to ecology, economics and social matters. In addition, opportunities to participate actively in this process are developed. Along with the dye-plant institute in Essen Altendorf, the international dye-plant garden in Gelsenkirchen, and the ones in South Africa, atavus offers numerous possibilities for networking. By including handicrafts we want to create economic cycles where children, as communicators of the "do-it-yourself" approach can find vocational training opportunities.

We get special support from the UNESCO city of Gelsenkirchen. With various activities, Gelsenkirchen is well on its way from being industrial town to becoming the ‘city of 1000 colours'. In the international exchange with South Korea (cultural exchange), Azerbaijan (paint extraction), Lithonia (Africa workshop), South Africa (cosmetics), Nicaragua (manufacturing) and numerous European partners (Ruhr 2010), we are currently running a set of interlinked projects.

Old knowledge, personal responsibility, and pleasure in learning will be taught in various events and places: Landesgartenschau Hemer 2010, European Film Awards 2009, Vilnius 2009, BNE conference 2009, Africa Conference North-Rhine Westphalia, Kaffeegarten Eine Weltnetz 2010, Mondialogo-Unesco, International Painters Camp 2010 and others.

Indienhilfe was founded in 1980 as a non-profit association located at Herrschingen (Germany). Since 1998 it has been included in the list of recommended charities of the German institute for social affairs (DZI).

The organization's targets are to tackle poverty in India through different projects, to promote fair trade, to establish partnerships between German and Indian communities and schools as well as to promote education and global learning. Indienhilfe offers:

• a one-world media center which provides books, topic lists, slides, movies, teaching materials about India and many other countries, as well as about global learning, world religions, the Agenda 21 and fair trade (consultation and rental service at arranged times);
• consultation and assistance to organize projects in schools and kindergartens;
• search for partner schools in West Bengal and assistance in the relations between German and Bengalese partners. At the moment four Bavarian schools are cooperating with Indian ones, helped by the Indienhilfe team in Germany and an Indian team in Calcutta, who try to solve their problems of mutual understanding so that they can meet each other's expectations and communicate successfully;
• help in the organization of travel to West Bengal. Meetings with Bengalese counterparts are very important for maintaining successful partnerships. Indienhilfe can assist interested schools on the basis of its extensive experience in managing group travels as well as the necessary preparations.

With these initiatives, Indienhilfe aims at making people aware of different local and global realities and making them feel closer to distant communities. A further objective is to promote a greater sense of responsibility for social matters and to promote solidarity. Opening up our minds, meeting people from other countries and establishing relations with them are preconditions for the mutual understanding between different cultures, for eliminating prejudices and reflecting on our own lifestyle.