Diocesan Caritas Association for the Archdiocese of Cologne (DICV)

The DiCV Cologne was founded on 27 February 1916 as a regional umbrella organisation. Today, the DICV Cologne has around 280 member organisations in cities and municipalities in the Rhineland and neighbouring districts, including 43 local Caritas associations and other Catholic associations. Caritas in the Archdiocese of Cologne is responsible for around 1,800 facilities and services - including hospitals, care services, family centres, social facilities and advice centres - with around 55,000 employees.

The DICV Cologne is responsible in particular for the professional development of Caritas employees in the member organisations. It employs around 150 specialists. Every year, around 9,000 people take part in the various training and further education programmes offered by DICV Cologne. These training programmes are audited and certified in accordance with the quality system of the German Caritas Association and are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The DICV Cologne has a "Social Integration" department with 17 specialists and a "Training and Further Education" department with ten specialists. The task of the "Social Integration" department is to advise and develop concepts for the member organisations in order to further develop help for disadvantaged people and families locally. The task of the "Further and advanced training" department is the professional qualification of specialised personnel in the social and health services of Caritas in the Archdiocese of Cologne. Participants in the training courses come from child and youth support, family support, elderly care, health and care, support for the homeless and offenders, counselling in socially deprived areas, general social counselling or support for migrants and refugees. The DICV Cologne has the necessary technical and administrative expertise to successfully implement European-funded projects. He has been carrying out transnational projects with European partners for around 20 years, mainly in the field of adult education on socio-political issues affecting disadvantaged groups of people. For more information: www.caritasnet.de

Caritas Oberösterreich

Caritas Upper Austria offers a variety of social services to people in need in the state of Upper Austria. Caritas Upper Austria is responsible for over 300 regional sites – including care facilities for the elderly, family centers, youth homes, work integration centers, counseling centers etc. With 3.200 employees and over 1.000 volunteers the organization serves over 40.000 people per year. Further information can be found at https://www.caritas-ooe.at/.

Caritas Upper Austria provides various direct client services with an educational and vocational training component. Various work integration programs, career counseling services, as well as support services for disadvantaged groups like people with disabilities and people with a migrant background are being offered. A wide professional development and training program is offered to both, staff, as well as volunteers. Many of the trainings and direct client services are organized and held according to standards of the Austrian Adult Education Quality Certification – Ö-CERT.

Caritas Upper Austria`s employees and specialists work in various fields in the social and care sector as social workers, counselors, social educators, care and nursing staff as well as administrative staff. The learners participating in this project will be mostly specialists with an educational background and/or work experience in social work, counseling or social education. Their age ranges between 25 – 60 years.

Caritas Upper Austria participated in multiple Erasmus+ projects over the last few years. Through these transnational interactions with partner organizations, staff members as well as clients were able to get experience working in multicultural teams and developed important skills in intercultural communication.

ASOCIATIA CARITAS - ASISTENTA SOCIALA FILIALA ORGANIZATIEI CARITAS ALBA IULIA

Association „Caritas – Social Assistance” was founded in 2005 with the main scope of developing and promoting primary and specialized social services for all categories of persons and communities at risk of social exclusion. The main programmes and activities of the association are: • Roma Integration Programmes • Programs for Children and Young People: Day Centers for Children in Need, Counselling Center for Disadvantaged Children and Youth, Mentorship for teenagers, Family Home Center, • Early Education and Development Programmes • Rehabilitation and Day Centers for people with disabilities • Counselling Programmes for People with Addiction • Programmes for the elderly: Day Centers, Nursing home • Volunteering activities for the benefit of people at risk: elderly, people with disabilities and illnesses, children in need • Community development programmes Caritas Alba Iulia is active in 5 counties, offering programs and services with the help of 162 employees.

The activities and different programmes of Association “Caritas – Social Assistance” aim to support families by approaching their needs and problems from different perspectives. The direct activities with families offer a great overview of the challenges, problems, needs of the families in the region Caritas is working, as well as experience in dealing with these challenges. Many years of experience in implementing projects and programmes helped to develop approaches and competences in family education, non-formal education, counselling, support and solution for those affected or threatened by poverty and difficulties. Based on our experiences Caritas is able to organize non-formal education, parental education and individual counselling for youngsters, families and elderly people in the regions we are present with our programmes.

Caritas experts will participate directly in the project and the transnational exchange. Indirectly, disadvantaged people will be supported through non-formal programmes. These include children, youth, families, elderly, disabled people, people with addiction, people with no income or low income, ethnic communities at risk of social exclusion, other people or communities in situations of social needs.

Association Kaunas Carmelite community

Day care services for children is provided the Association Kaunas Carmelite community, as well as family and parental support, which includes: offering information, consultation, mediation, and representation. This support also covers organizing meal preparation activities, distributing free food packages to families, supplying essential clothing and footwear when necessary, and arranging transportation to summer camps. Additionally, the organization facilitates socio-cultural services and personal hygiene and care services when needed.

A focus is lying also on educating parents and disadvantaged families. This involves teaching them how to enhance their children’s learning abilities and improve both the children’s and parents' social skills, including communication, cooperation, and emotional intelligence. The program promotes group activities for families and help children socialize through visits to other organizations, fostering peer learning and experience sharing.

Experts from the association are directly involved in the project and participate in transnational exchanges. Indirectly, parents from disadvantaged families will be supported through non-formal programs, addressing the various challenges they face, such as low income, single parenthood, and large families.

FONDAZIONE DIOCESANA CARITAS TRIESTE ONLUS

Caritas Trieste focuses on poverty reduction and social inclusion. It supports annually about 5,000 people in difficulty through 6 Listening Services, 30 Reception Services, 4 Primary Needs Response Services, 6 Specialist Services and 21 projects between European, national and regional funds. It also promotes poverty studies, training courses and community work.

With respect to non-formal education, Caritas Trieste has a double perspective. On the one hand the focus on building educational contexts for people in vulnerable situations and on the other hand promoting educational activities for the wider population in order to create solidary contexts attentive to the needs of people in need. Below are two main activities Caritas Trieste promotes in this context. Workshop activities (photography, art and craft, cooking, art) aimed at volunteers, young people, people in difficulty (mainly women) to offer spaces for discussion to grow in listening to and accompanying the least in a community dimension. In the specific area of educational poverty, we have activated the 'Let's sustain the future!' project, which supports recreational activities for young people from at-risk neighbourhoods. Activation of a 'Cantiere Carcere' (Prison Group), consisting of groups, associations, organisations that carry out training and education in the prison.

Caritas Trieste employees 137 people at the moment. 67.9% are male. 12.4% are 18-24 years old, 19,0% are 25-34 , 21.2% are 35-44, 24.8% are 45-54, 21.2% are 55-64 and 1.5% are over 65 years old. Caritas Trieste has social workers, educators, psychologists, cultural mediators, teachers and sociologists.