WHP: Can you briefly introduce your initiative? What is its main task in Berlin?
Dr. Natalia Roesler: CLUB DIALOG e.V. is a migrant organisation that was founded in Berlin in 1988 to stimulate social dialogue between Russian-speaking migrants and local Berliners, as well as to promote the integration of immigrants. Over the course of more than three and a half decades, Club Dialog has developed a structure that enables comprehensive transnational integration and educational work in multiple languages and for all generations.
Our primary target groups are people who have come to Berlin from Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, and Central Asia. However, in some projects we also work with people from other countries. In one important project – “TEAM für Berlin” – we also work with organisations and initiatives of people with a history of migration, with the aim of professionalising and empowering them.
WHP: What personally motivated you to get involved here?
Dr. Natalia Roesler: Here, as in social work in general, you get the sense that you are doing something truly meaningful and helping people. You receive plenty of feedback, and there are no rigid routines – every day brings new tasks.
WHP: What challenges do people with a migration background face in Berlin – and how does your organisation deal with them?
Dr. Natalia Roesler: We are quite an old organisation, and yet our tasks have remained largely the same – it is really surprising that when I sometimes read our old funding applications or project descriptions, they are still relevant today. These are always the same challenges people face when moving to a new country: language cannot be learned quickly, children need to be integrated into schools, people want to preserve and pass on their own culture and language, they want to find work, qualifications are not recognised, many experience discrimination, and so on.
We try to find answers to these challenges by initiating different projects that address different needs: for children, seniors, women, job seekers, people seeking education, and so on. We also build and maintain networks that help our target groups help themselves.
WHP: Is there a project, event, or initiative coming up that you would like to recommend to our readers?
Dr. Natalia Roesler: Many of our individual projects will be organising events soon; all of them can be found on our website under “Programm” I would particularly like to highlight the programme of the TEAM project (to be published shortly) – it is intended as support for smaller initiatives and organisations.
WHP: How can interested people support your work or get involved themselves?
Dr. Natalia Roesler: There are many ways to do so. People can volunteer with us – for example, by supporting people from Ukraine (project “Patenschaften”), or by working with refugees in accommodation centres (project “Need for Deed”), or by getting involved in one of our other projects (all listed here). In addition, it is also possible to complete a Voluntary Social Year or a Federal Volunteer Service with us.
| CLUB DIALOG e.V. ist eine Berliner Migrant*innenorganisation, die 1988 gegründet wurde, um den gesellschaftlichen Dialog zwischen russischsprachigen Zugewanderten und der Berliner Stadtgesellschaft zu fördern. Kernaufgabe des Vereins ist es, Integration durch Bildung, Begegnung und Empowerment zu stärken. Seit über 35 Jahren arbeitet CLUB DIALOG generationenübergreifend und mehrsprachig mit Menschen aus Osteuropa, dem Baltikum und Zentralasien, aber auch mit anderen Communities. Neben klassischer Integrations- und Bildungsarbeit unterstützt der Verein mit Projekten wie „TEAM für Berlin“ gezielt Initiativen von Menschen mit Einwanderungsgeschichte dabei, sich zu professionalisieren, zu vernetzen und nachhaltig wirksam zu werden. |
