MENTORING PROGRAMME FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
BALU UND DU (BALOO AND YOU)
Children’s educational success in Germany is still strongly dependent on their social background. The Balu und Du mentoring programme seeks to cushion this lack of equal opportunities with early intervention at the primary school level, by recognising talent and encouraging children to develop in a positive direction. The Crespo Foundation supports the two Frankfurt sites for Balu und Du, at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.
For whom?
Students at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences; children at Frankfurt primary schools
Aim
To reinforce personal development
Duration
1–3 hours once a week for a year
Location
Frankfurt
A big commitment to small individuals
The Balu und Du programme was inspired by the children’s classic ‘The Jungle Book’. Committed students spend a year as a ‘Baloo’ mentoring a primary school child. They meet their ‘Mowgli’ once a week, giving them individual attention and doing leisure activities together, which helps the children grow and master everyday challenges more successfully.
Expanding to Frankfurt
The Balu und Du programme was initiated in Osnabrück and Cologne in 2001. The programme then started up at Frankfurt’s Goethe University in 2007, and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences now also participates in the mentoring programme. The Crespo Foundation and aqtivator gGmbH are financing the programme at Frankfurt UAS for five years so that even more primary school children in Frankfurt can be reached.
BALU UND DU IN NUMBERS
1.249
tandems throughout Germany
230
tandems in Frankfurt
164
Balu und Du locations
67
percent of Mowglis
33
percent of Mowglis
‘Mowgli always waits eagerly for Baloo an hour before they’re due to meet.’
‘Mowgli always waits eagerly for Baloo an hour before they’re due to meet.’
‘Today I tried everything out with you and now there’s nothing I don’t trust myself to do.’
‘Today I tried everything out with you and now there’s nothing I don’t trust myself to do.’
BALU UND DU ON VIDEO
‘At the end of the project, Mowgli’s mum told me that Mowgli had made huge progress. She thanked me for everything and I felt really good about it, and I was also a bit proud that I’d done it and had actually achieved something.’
PARTNERS
Balu und Du is a programme run by the Balu und Du association throughout Germany. In Frankfurt it operates in cooperation with the Goethe University Frankfurt and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, with the support of the Crespo Foundation and aqtivator gGmbH.
CONTACTS
Chiara Schomburg
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Tabe Müller
Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences