The Association of German Educational Organisations (AdB) was founded in 1959 as a registered association. The educational organisations which comprise the AdB are represented by individual members.
 
We are a pluralistic, content-independent association that offers to its members comprehensive information on the association and civic education, concrete assistance and a forum for international exchange on the basis of its non-partisan expertise and wide spectrum of subjects covered.

We are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

What is our goal?
We aim to preserve and promote civic education as an important element of democracy. Democracy is not only a form of government, but needs to be experienced and promulgated in the daily lives of citizens. Civic education is a training field for democracy.

Through their training offers, the member organisations of the association strive to motivate and enable citizens to recognize the relationship between political framework conditions and their own lives, play an active role in public affairs and participate in the making of society and political processes.

The member organisations see themselves as places of encounter between people of different cultures, demographic groups and worlds.

As a specialised organisation of civic education we foster an exchange of information and experience, training and a joint representation of interests in the area of civic education. We actively contribute to specialised discussions on civic education. We advocate a European Educational Network for Human Rights and Democracy and commit ourselves to the realisation of equal opportunities between men and women in all our fields of work.

What do we offer to our members?
We provide:

• a forum for the analysis of the fundamental and current questions and problems of youth and adult education;
  
• participation in commissions and working groups, in which key points of various fields of work are debated, positions are formulated, educational tools are developed and information on training, youth, didactic and economic contents is presented;
  
• further training possibilities via conferences and workshops at which important themes are treated and discussed with experts;
  
• participation in bi-national and international specialised programmes for managers of youth work. At present we are cooperating on the federal level with partner organisations in Israel, Poland and Spain and organise training projects for the set-up of democratic education in Palestine, the Russian Federation and Mongolia;
  
• support of youth training officials through funding from the Children and Youth Plan of the German Federal government to the individual member organisations. This training officials make up an association-wide working group, in which innovative models of political youth training are developed;
  
• the promotion of conferences and projects, for which we apply for public funding as a central group;
  
• regular information on developments in the areas of youth and adult education, further education and funding opportunities.

Who are our cooperation partners?
At the federal level we cooperate with similar associations and are represented in numerous political bodies of youth and adult education at national and international levels.

In addition we are a member of:

• the Working Society for Youth Assistance in Germany (AGJ),
  
• the German Federal Committee for Political and Civic Education, which we also manage (bap),
  
• the DARE network (Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe), which we initiated,
  
• the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE),
  
• the European Association of Adult Education (EAEA),
  
• the International Youth Exchange and Visitor's Service (IJAB) and
  
• the House of Youth Work in Germany (HdJ).

What information do we provide?
We offer information on our activities and the work of our members on our homepage and in our quarterly magazine entitled "Außerschulische Bildung", in which the main points of civic education are expanded and practical training examples are presented. You can subscribe to our magazine directly from our headquarters.

Furthermore, we document individual projects and areas of work in numerous brochures and reports.

How can you contact us?
Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten
Mühlendamm 3
10178 Berlin
Germany

Tel.:  + 49 30 400 401-00
Fax:  + 49 30 400 401-22
E-mail info@adb.de
www.adb.de

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