The Stiftung Demokratische Jugend (Democratic Youth Foundation)
The Stiftung Demokratische Jugend was founded on 20 July 1990 by the East German government between the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, on the initiative of the Round Table on youth policy (Runder Tisch der Jugend). The Stiftung was set up by the Christian Democrat minister for youth, Cordula Schubert, and endowed with a trust capital of 20 million DM. It is an independent public trust based in Berlin, and is subject to legal supervision by Berlin’s Senate department of Education, Science and Research.
The Board of Directors (Stiftungsvorstand) is the Stiftung’s decision-making body. The Trustees (Stiftungskuratorium) advise the Directors and ensure that the purposes of the Stiftung are achieved. The Trustees include representatives of the supreme Land youth authorities of the eastern German Länder and six individuals, who strive to meet the goals of the Stiftung relating to youth work in the eastern countries.
The Stiftung’s statutes lay down that it must support the development of open and pluralistic youth work in the eastern Länder of Germany.
In its funding, the Stiftung prioritises group initiatives and local independent youth-work providers. It supports initiatives which draw directly on young people’s interests and which involve young people in designing and running the project, enable self-determination, and stimulate social responsibility and engagement.
Dedicated to working in and for the eastern countries, in recent years the Stiftung Demokratische Jugend has implemented joint government programmes and support measures in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the youth ministries of the Countries of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
The Stiftung has particularly focused on the following areas of youth policy:
- Development of independent youth welfare providers (1992-1995)
- Opening up of schools / school youth work (1994-2000)
- Youth information / media literacy (since 1994)
- Democracy and tolerance (since 2000)
- Prospects for young people - working together to reduce east-to-west migration (since 2003)
The Stiftung operates as an information and advisory service for work with young people. It supported the federal initiative "Youth Online” ("Jugend ans Netz”), and has worked in partnership with the Länder to create and set up the database www.promix-online, which lists youth-work institutions and projects. The Stiftung operates several Internet platforms such as the Youth Magazine of the Federal Government www.schekker.de or the internet portal for youth work in Berlin www.jugendnetz-berlin.de.
From 2001 to 2007 the Stiftung was responsible for the German federal programme "CIVITAS”, an initiative against right-wing extremism in the eastern German Länder. It currently acts as the central office for the federal programme "Competent for Democracy” ("kompetent. für Demokratie”), an advice network against right-wing extremism. The foundation’s coaching team also oversees the running of 50 of the 90 German local action plans that make up the federal programme "Youth for Diversity, Tolerance and Democracy” ("Jugend für Vielfalt, Toleranz und Demokratie”).
At the end of the federal initiative "we, here... and now” ("wir, hier... und jetzt”) in 2004, the foundation established the coordination centre for prospects for young people "Koordinierungsstelle Perspektiven für junge Menschen”, supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The aim of the coordination centre is to highlight alternatives to the continuing migration of young east Germans into western Germany. The centre initiates and coordinates a wide range of partnerships (including a network for re-migration and in-migration) and organises conferences for different social target groups. It works in the following three areas:
- Encouraging young people’s attachment to their home region
- Promoting youth initiatives
- Establishing local networks
Supporting young people’s civic engagement and their active social participation is one of the Stiftung’s overarching aims in all its programmes.
(Translated by Barbara, Claire, Ellen, Helen B., Helen C., Nicole, Nidia, Sasha, Steve and Tina of Aston University, UK)
