Apply for funding from the ESF Plus federal program "Gemeinsam für Qualität: Kinder beteiligen im Ganztag"

With the ESF Plus program "Gemeinsam für Qualität: Kinder beteiligen im Ganztag", the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) wants to use the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) to provide impetus for the necessary further development of all-day offers at primary school age. The BMFSFJ's ESF Plus program will be implemented in a model and implementation phase until 31.12.2027.

The aim of the program is to create participatory structures in all-day elementary school as a joint offering between schools and youth welfare services. The needs of the children form the central starting point in this process. The children are actively involved in the design of the all-day activities and democracy is thus made tangible for them.

As a school authority or as a public or independent child and youth welfare organization, you can apply for funding if you are responsible for school supervision. Your task is then to improve the quality of all-day care by strengthening children's participation and co-determination. Participation approaches and concrete participatory offers are to be developed and tested at the participating schools. The aim is to create a participation concept that firmly anchors the tested approaches in the overall concept of the all-day elementary school.

The program is aimed at elementary school with an all-day program. The target group specifically includes educational specialists and teachers from the participating elementary school and after-school care centers.

The following items are funded per project in order to achieve the program objectives:

• Half a staff position at the provider as a coordination office
• Qualification and process support
• Material costs for services to increase children's participation

Coordination office

Funding is provided for a half-time position at the applicant organization as a coordination office to manage the overall process of program implementation on site.

Qualification and process support

A central component of the program is the tandem qualification of selected teachers and educational specialists from the participating schools on the participation of primary school children. A research team from the Evangelische Hochschule Berlin (EHB) and the Zentrum für Inklusionsforschung Berlin (ZfIB) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has been commissioned by the BMFSFJ to develop a nationwide training curriculum on the participation of primary school children. This is to be tested and further developed in the program. During the implementation of the program, the developed curriculum will be tested, particularly with regard to its practical suitability. The locations will be supported in the process by trainers and mentors.

In order to implement offers for more participation, material resources are provided for the implementation of offers that provide children with spaces to
participation and co-determination.

Type and scope of funding

The funding is paid out as a grant. The maximum grant amount is EUR 115,000 (until 2024) and EUR 137,000 (until 2027).

The funding rates are as follows:

• for more developed regions (this includes the old federal states, as well as the state of Berlin and the Leipzig region, but not the regions of Lüneburg and Trier) up to 40 percent
• up to 60 percent for the target area of transition regions (this includes the new federal states and the regions of Lüneburg and Trier, but not the state of Berlin and the Leipzig region)

Applications are approved by the Service Center at the Federal Office of Family Affairs and Civil Society Functions (BAFzA).