Project description

The project "International Social Work Acting in Crises - Attitude Matters (AttiMa)", funded by the German Academic Exchange Service's (DAAD) as part of the programme "German-Arabic Transformation Partnership 2021-2022", is a cooperation between these universities:

In addition, the project team cooperates with numerous civil society actors in Germany, Lebanon and Jordan for the implementation of the project measures.

Social work professionals face major challenges in dealing with contradicting imperatives and uncertain contexts, which are shaped by increasing economic differences, ecological, economic and health crises as well as various forms of group-related enmity and violent extremism. She finds herself as an actor in poverty, overburdened health systems, refugee camps, conflict areas or as an actor in repressive systems with addressees who have experienced massive human suffering. Even if international social work has to act anchored locally and has to orientate itself on the interpretation schemes valid there, its professionalism always acts in the light of universally valid maxims of action, which also include ethical dilemmas and challenges. Furthermore, it is important that social workers are aware of the global networking and interdependencies, including the unequal balance of power and unequal access to resources, in the concrete, local practice. It is not enough to deal with the competence with different systems of interpretation, theoretically exploring, but it has to be practically, physically experienced.

In today's time of global crises, social work has to expand its methodological repertoire and, accordingly, expand and adapt its work and teaching practices.

Within the AttiMa-Project culture-sensitive and resilient social work in contexts of crises will be promoted through the following activitites:

  1. Experience-based exchange seminars on violence prevention & conflict transformation for Bachelor & Master students of social work at the partner universities
  2. Development und implementation of an online teaching format to foster culture-sensitive and crises-resilient social work (Mindfulness Based Intercultural Communication and Resilience Training)
  3. Bilingual scientific competence seminars for social work students in Jordan and Lebanon
  4. Case study about social work in crises and conflict situations in Lebanon, expert discussions with civil society actors from Germany, Lebanon and Jordan about the role of professional attitude in international social work