The Jiguiya Kura project strengthens the self-development and self-determination of Black/BIPOC males* between the ages of 21 and 45 through a multilingual, language-sensitive, gender-sensitive, and masculinist educational support structure.

The target group often lives without a home of their own, isolated and lonely in violent living conditions, experiences racial discrimination and violence, and due to language and cultural barriers, the effects of the Corona pandemic, and a lack of knowledge or trust, has no connection to urgently needed support structures that perceive and understand them as Black/BIPOC men* and associated role conflicts. They fall through the social net and slip into drug use and petty crime. The project is based on 3 pillars:

1. Jiguiya Kura creates a BASIS for the promotion and support of self-help through an open, mother-tongue or language-sensitive counseling offer on 4 days per week and a workshop housing search through information and education. The non-existent or lost social and insurance legal basis is established and secured by building trust and maintaining relationships.
   
2. Building on this, the participants become ACTIVE and ACTIONABLE through interpreting accompaniment at appointments and in the development process, targeted activation and motivation, and learn to demand and assert their rights in a self-determined manner and build up a personal help network.
   
3. In weekly workshops and outings in a masculinity pedagogical setting, the participants EMPOWER each other, become more aware of their needs in the community, learn to assert themselves, and reflect on their role as Black/BIPOC men in Cologne’s urban society. In Safer Spaces, they develop solution strategies for experiences of racism and violence, set realistic individual development goals, and carry their acquired knowledge and skills into their personal environment. Such improved conflict management and reduced potential for aggression has a PREVENTIVE effect on an individual and societal level.
   
   From its location in the city center, the project creates a sustainable network of cooperation partners in the city center and in the south of Cologne in the fields of initial orientation, housing search, general and (migration-) specific social counseling, mental illness/disability, and sports and recreation, which sustainably anchors Jama Nyeta as an intercultural center and sensitizes it to the specific needs of Black/BIPOC men* within the network. The “Jiguiya Kura” project is being carried out in close cooperation with the Caritas Association for the City of Cologne. The excursions, workshops and reflection meetings are funded by the Arnsberg district government.

Partners