Qualification course: worldview and extremism commissioners (WelEx)

In the "WelEx" project, the IZRD is developing a detailed e-learning course to be offered to specialists from (municipal) youth welfare offices. The aim is to train specialists within official child and youth welfare structures to become worldview and extremism commissioners (WelEx) and to support them in establishing and institutionally integrating this competence within official structures.

Preventing radicalisation and extremism is a task for society as a whole. Youth welfare offices are also significantly and repeatedly confronted with cases and challenges in the context of radicalisation and extremism if they directly or indirectly affect child and youth protection and issues relating to child welfare risks. Prevention and intervening with radicalisation and extremism is therefore also central to the work of (communal) youth welfare offices and closely linked to the core mandate of child and youth protection (according to SGB VIII). The overarching goal of the project is to fulfill this specific mandate in the form of a central responsibility as a WelEx commissioner within the municipal child and youth welfare services and to support the youth welfare offices in the qualification and implementation of this mandate and field of action.

In the first step of the project, needs will get identified and fixated in cooperation with the target group. Basing the e-learning concept on this needs assessment will ensure that it meets the structural and content requirements of the target group and takes their needs into account right from the start of the process. Collecting and evaluating the needs themselves will be carried out on the basis of scientific standards of qualitative social science research and culminate in a results report.

An advisory board supporting the project also provides bundled specialist expertise from science and practice with a view to the concepts and content of the training. The concept and content are critically examined and constructive feedback is used to develop continuously.

By supporting the exploration of funding opportunities and the structural establishment of a WelEx commissioner, the project also makes a sustainable contribution to strengthening the prevention and intervention of radicalisation and extremism in the child and youth welfare sector and supports the expansion of the interfaces of interdisciplinary cooperation in the field.

Advisory board

Members from academia and practice:

  • Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena & Director of KomRex)
  • Leon A. Brandt (SOCLES International Centre for Socio-Legal Studies)
  • Noah Buhmann (Competence Centre for Parents and Right-Wing Extremism; Kompetenzstelle Eltern und Rechtsextremismus, Miteinander e.V.)
  • Lisa Hempel (Specialist Office for Right-Wing Extremism and Family, Lidice House – Youth Education Centre Bremen; Fachstelle Rechtsextremismus und Familie, Lidice Haus – Jugendbildungsstätte Bremen)
  • Prof. Dr. Heinz Kindler (German Youth Institute; Deutsches Jugendinstitut)
  • Angelika Wunsch (Scientology Crisis Support Centre, Centre Bavaria, Family and Social Affairs, Bavarian State Youth Welfare Office; Scientology-Krisenberatungsstelle, Zentrum Bayern, Familie und Soziales, Bayerisches Landesjugendamt)

State Representatives:

  • Berlin: State Commission Berlin Against Violence, Senate Department for the Interior and Sports (Landeskommission Berlin gegen Gewalt, Senatsverwaltung für Inneres und Sport)
  • Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: State Coordination Office for Democracy and Tolerance at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Centre for Civic Education (Landeskoordinierungsstelle für Demokratie und Toleranz bei der Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
  • Lower Saxony: State Programme for Democracy and Human Rights, State Prevention Council at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice (Landesprogramm für Demokratie und Menschenrechte, Landespräventionsrat im Niedersächsisches Justizministerium)
  • Saxony-Anhalt: Democracy and Engagement Promotion, Ministry for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, and Equality (Ministerium für Arbeit, Soziales, Gesundheit und Gleichstellung)
  • Schleswig-Holstein: State Democracy Centre at the State Prevention Council, Ministry of the Interior, Municipal Affairs, Housing and Sport of Schleswig-Holstein (Landesdemokratiezentrum beim Landespräventionsrat, Ministerium für Inneres, Kommunales, Wohnen und Sport des Landes Schleswig-Holstein)
  • The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF) is also part of the Advisory Board.

Project term until:

31.12.2026

Funded by:

On the left side of the logo is the federal age, next to it a narrow vertical line in the colors of the German flag. To the right is written Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.