The NGO Nest Berlin e.V. (NEST)
A Hub for Research, Education and Personal Growth
NEST is an umbrella organisation for promoting and execution of transnational mobility. The organization assists network partners to support adults/youth and functions as a hub for research and EU project design with a focus on impacting Berlin community, specifically the Wedding Neighborhood.
The NGO co-operates with stake holding parties throughout Europe with the intent to exchange best practices in education, adult training and employability, as well as in social inclusion and disadvantaged urban / rural development projects – with the objective to represent a transnational hub for innovation in NGO best-practices & coordination schemes between NGOs and stakeholders in Europe.
Today the NGO’s ambitions find NEST involved as partner in more than 10 Erasmus+ KA2 VET, Adult and Sport projects and as coordinator in 3 big projects addressing e.g. migrants, employability, inclusion, gender equality.
- KA2 Adults DISACT
- KA2 VET Migrant In Fashion
- Big Sport Collaborative Partnership RINMSASFT
Furthemore, more than 15 KA1 youth projects were already implemented with several Training Courses hosted in Berlin.
Furthermore NEST Berlin has deployed research activities in the foregoing fields and in cooperation with the University of applied Sceinces Bonn Rheinsieg through its chapter NGO NEST Bonn which links formal and non formal education methodologies to add value to the learning of young/adults people.
Co-Founded by 4 leading NGO’s in the field of: Mine Vaganti NGO (MVNGO), The Comparative Research Network (CRN), InterCultural-Youth-Dialogue-Assocication (IYDA) and Mitosis Coworking Space
NEST merged expertise into an approach that grounds transnational cooperation between VET providers, NGOs and Businesses, providing a balanced picture of present challenges for inclusion and integration in Europe.
NEST was initiated in 2016 by expert professionals active in the sectors / fields of NGO, Social Innovation, European project management, European mobility, Networking and Non-Formal Education (NFE) methodologies, and embodies today in its Berlin hub 4 staff members and 4 team members with professional competences / experiences in above mentioned domains. As a NEST is non-profit oriented, it performs crucial parts of its activity’s also on a voluntary bases. At the ‘TUECHTIG room for inclusion’ NEST’s has its office space, amidst other pioneers, freelancers and employees (with and without disabilities) of all ages and backgrounds.
MISSION
The organization aims at human, social and socioeconomic development of people.
NEST is actively involved in scientific and field research thanks to the field of expertise of the board members such as community building development, intercultural dialogue, education through Sport and migration. NEST works internationally in cross-cultural projects by interpreting the local reality in Berlin.
Nest is performing education through sport as an holistic tool of research by implementing international projects within the frame of Erasmus Plus Sport Chapter.
NEST pays attention to valorize and spreading of the potential of NFE methods – as a crucial pathway towards a more impacting and inclusive education functional to professional / personal growth, societal impact and peculiarities of NGO actors.
The application of NFE methods deliver and obtain simultaneously joint elaboration and implementation of educational programmes, involve different targets and fosters a pan-European reach in project design, establishment of thematic networks and offering of mobility opportunities.
SERVICES
NEST creates and deploys a multilayered set of educational activities, with a focus on strengthening skills and capacities, such as leadership, project management, NGO account, application writing and fundraising.
Non-Formal Education trainer-ship, networking, communication (online as well as offline).
As sending organisation NEST offers short-term to long-term stays and mobilities at NGOs around Europe, as a receiving organisation NEST offers engagement in various projects in the creative capital of Germanyand/or at its founding partners from Germany, Italy and Egypt.
With NFE activities frequently based on private initiatives by NGOs. NEST promotes advancement of NFE methods and establishes synergies among formal, non-formal and informal educational methodologies and environments.
PROGRAMMES
NEST is involved in the design and management of international projects in all the sectors of Erasmus+ (Youth, Adult, VET, Schools, Sport.);H2020; AMIF; EuropeAid and engaged to the European Solidarity Corps and other international youth programs, sending and receiving young people from all over Europe and Africa.
AFFILIATION
The ‘TUECHTIG room for inclusion’ is a working / meeting place for everyone who appreciate an inclusive working environment and want to advance their projects jointly or independently, who enjoy diversity and exchange and who are looking for a knowledge and work community that is unique in Berlin.
NEST is a member organization in MV International (MVI), an international NGO network comprising 37 European member organizations, and 6 associate organizations from Africa, Latin America and Asia, as well a founding member of Alliance For Global Development AGD based in University of applied Sciences in Bonn.
What are the activities and experience of your organisation in the areas relevant for this project?
What are the skills and/or expertise of key persons involved in this project?
The Project Team is well experienced in managing and implementing European projects, currently NEST is engaged as coordinator or partner in various KA1 Youth, KA2 Adult / VET / Sport projects.
In the Erasmus+ KA1 Youth sector various projects such as Sport Activities foster e.g. Entrepreneurship, Peace / Trust building, employability and inclusion of migrants – up to employing high-quality educational support / KA2 project and research – focused in accessing knowledge, skills and instruments needed for translating entrepreneurial intentions into concrete business initiatives (start-ups).
(e.g. KA2 “Migrants in Fashion” that addresses the entrepreneurial development needs of female migrants prospective entrepreneurs in the Fashion sector).
NEST co-creates and implements also projects aimed at intervention on skills and emotional dimensions of the disabled, by exploring educational and creative integration (such as the devised Theater which is an original approach to theatrical production entailing a peer process of cooperation in the achievement of a final artistic product).
For the disadvantaged urban and rural communities NEST is dedicated to offer support to Educators/Trainers interested in providing solutions that services social inclusion, adult education institutions, NGOs, cultural businesses and associations, Arts centers/groups, Organizations for the disabled.
(e.g. KA2 project “Dis-Act” which targets disabled adults aged 35-55 coming from disadvantaged urban and rural communities)
Nest pursues Erasmus+ collaborative partnership priority’s related to good governance with a specific focus on enhancing gender equality in sport, such as the strengthening managers of semi-professional (female) sport teams through an up-skill process related to marketing, communication and visibility strategies.
(e.g. KA2 project “RINMSASFT”, Re(IN)novating Marketing Strategy Across Semi-professional Female Teams ).
Moreover, the organization has a formal link with “MITOSIS”, a co-working space in Berlin functioning as an open collaboration and innovation hub, frequented by a disparate set of local and international professionals working in diverse fields such as Programming, Art and Philosophy.
NEST Berlin’s experience in Networking in an European dimension is consolidated by its membership of MV International (MVI), an international NGO network comprising 37 member organizations and 8 associate organizations from Africa (Cameroon, Kenya and Senegal), Latin America (Argentina) and Asia (India and China). MVI is a global platform, open to stake holding organisations and individuals with special expertise in the fields of Social Entrepreneurship, Non Formal Education and Sustainability.
NEST is also experienced in the field of social innovation at the international level. The organization regularly pursues this pattern of action through the management of the co-working spaces “Tuechtig” and “MITOSIS”, participated by local and international professionals in different fields.
