- Professional Further Education Academy of the German Caritas
- Conference Center of the Professional Further Education Academy of the German Caritas
Further Education in and for Europe
The Professional Further Education Academy of the German Caritas Association plays a decisive role in the foundational and further training of the professionals working in the Association. The Academy also operates internationally: It has several long-term partnerships with institutions in Eastern Europe, and it works to continually improve the intercultural competence of Caritas’ staff on a European level.
In partnership with Caritas Croatia and Caritas Spain, the Professional Further Education Academy designs and develops courses of study for Caritas executives, managers and ambitious young professionals from all over Europe. In the Advanced Caritas Leadership Learning (ACLL) programme, students learn leadership and managerial skills for running Caritas organisations in Europe, all of which value continued learning. This school focuses on the following subjects: developing visions and strategies, human resources management, fundamental conditions of social and European policy, and issues of theology and social ethics.
Welcoming Partners from All Over Europe
The Professional Further Education Academy of the German Caritas Association in Freiburg continues to offer more courses to participants from other European countries. Every two years, for example, the Academy hosts the Social Economy Conference (Kongress der Sozialwirtschaft). In the last few years, the Academy has also been offering seminars to promote the European intercultural competence of Caritas staff in Germany. These courses, taught in cooperation with the German Caritas Association’s EU office in Brussels, focus on issues such as ‘How Does the EU Affect Caritas’s Work in Germany?’ and ‘Raising Caritas’ Profile with EU Funding’.
Sharing Knowledge across Europe
In the future, Caritas executives, managers and staff will continue to explore and shape knowledge-sharing networks across
Europe. The EU sees itself as more than just an economic union; it is also a social union. The Professional Further Education Academy of the German Caritas Association strives to contribute to this development through its collaborative international projects, which it is committed to maintaining
while initiating new ones.
The Academy also took part in the project Working Group on Organisational Development, which was initiated by Caritas Europa.
In this group, Caritas representatives from Belgium, Georgia, Switzerland and the USA joined forces with a representative from the Academy to study and discuss international developments in the areas of education,
further education and training, human resources development and organisational development. In 2007, the key issue for this
group was the development of minimum management standards.
Collaborative Projects with the University of Budapest
The Professional Further Education Academy has been collaborating with the Semmelweis University of Budapest since 1994 to provide various education and advisory projects for social, youth, family and health care chaplaincy. The Academy is currently involved in the first training programme for practical instructors which is part of a further education course in ecumenical chaplaincy. This further education programme helps to develop the professional identity and competencies of chaplains working in the field of psychosocial support and provides them with advanced professional skills in chaplaincy, networking and education.
The Academy is also a co-editor of the periodical European Journal of Mental Health published in Budapest, in which abstracts on current social, socio-political and psychosocial developments are published in several Eastern European languages.
Establishing Substance Abuse Advice Centres in Eastern Europe
The Academy collaborates with Caritas Bosnia-Herzegovina to establish substance abuse advice centres. It supports local relief organisations in planning and setting up drug rehabilitation centres and also provides expert advice on how to better integrate the drug prevention project into Sarajevo’s social care system. The Academy is also involved in the establishment of substance abuse advice centres in Romania and Tajikistan. Furthermore, in 2007 the Academy intensified its partnership with Caritas Russia: Department heads and administrators from the Caritas Academy for Social Work in St. Petersburg now attend lectures at the Professional Further Education Academy of the German Caritas Association in Freiburg to learn more about its education management.