Gangway e.V., Social streetwork

Gangway – Social Streetwork in Berlin (GW) is an NGO that provides detached street work in at-risk neighbourhoods of Berlin. It combines prevention and first-line anti-violence, anti-hate crime and exit interventions with young people that are susceptible to gang-conflict, ethno-nationalist, as well as right-wing extremist violence.

GW’s city-wide team comprises of professional street workers, trainers and facilitators that have a licence to act largely independently from statutory agencies and thus may grant confidentiality. GW practitioners use various settings of open group, individual, focussed training and project work, which include mediated get-togethers of members from adversary Groups, as well as community organising approaches. Diversity trainings, the ‘World of Difference’ approach and the middle-term ‘Anti-Violence-and-Key-Competency Training’ (AKT) are applied.

A particularly promising aspect of GW’s approach might be how it combines city-wide detached street-work with both inter-agency action in the community and more intensive and targeted interventions with young people.

Presently GW intends to develop a Street College pilot Project that facilitates a non-directive, peer implemented programme of tailor-made activities, combining capacity building and anti-bias and anti-violence training in the streets. Furthermore, GW intends to intensify its international practice exchange with other EU member states and the US.

Contact details:

Silvia Rentmeister
Jürgen Schaffranek
Email: info@gangway.de