Innovation can also mean creating a completely new form of cooperation, encounters and togetherness. We were able to support the Munich Police Headquarters in the project "Gemeinsam interkulturell stark". The challenge: the work of police officers in and with refugee accommodation centres. It is important to know that people who flee to Germany have often had negative experiences with the police or even police violence in their countries of origin. In order to reduce prejudices, build trust and ultimately carry out important preventive work, the Munich Police Headquarters has brought its cooperation partner BrückenBauen gUG on board. The BrückenBauen team qualifies people with a migration or refugee history to become so-called cultural moderators, who then provide support in schools, hospitals - and now also with the Munich police.
Bridges are built from both sides. That's why police officers were initially trained in intercultural competence and cultural moderators in police work. Our task was to network all parties involved, who in the future should carry out activities together as loose work teams in refugee accommodation centres.
At first, we designed a virtual “World Café” - virtual due to the current pandemic situation. In 5 themed rooms, participants were able to exchange ideas in small groups on current and relevant topics for collaboration in the accommodations. The individual rooms were moderated by hosts from different institutions.
2. Interactive Networking Day –Face-to-Face (100 Participants)
Finally everyone involved was able to meet in person - live and in color! At the interactive networking day, key topics from police work were used for exchange, creative ideas and practical transfer. In our concept, we combined different formats and were able to make very serious topics discussable (e.g. with a panel discussion on the topic of “domestic violence”) and concrete offers of action to be experienced in a playful way (e.g. with a cycling workshop for refugee women).
Our contribution:
Innovation – especially in fixed and hierarchical structures such as a police organization – requires openness, courage and great commitment from individuals. Recognizing your own limitations and at the same time having the greatness to admit them to yourself is a basic requirement for breaking new ground. In this project we were able to experience this from many sides and protagonists. This project touched us, inspired us in many ways and definitely filled us with meaning.
You can find out first-hand how the project went, what challenges we faced and how we solved them together in the following videos - from Katrin Ostermeier and those responsible at the Munich Police Headquarters.
(ONLY AVAILABLE IN GERMAN)
