New not-for-profit project of the BUTTING Academy

For many years, the BUTTING Academy has been promoting projects for early childhood science education and offering extracurricular programmes for pupils. Now the BUTTING Academy has taken over responsibility for the Integration Workshop in Nordkreis Gifhorn district.

The name of BUTTING has been inseparably linked to the Knesebeck region and stands for a clear value orientation based on Christian ethics. Hermann Butting, the sole Managing Partner of BUTTING, explains: "We wish to give a stimulus to the region’s people and companies and support their development along a successful, value-oriented path.”

Against this background, the BUTTING Academy gGmbH has taken over responsibility for the Integration Workshop in Nordkreis Gifhorn district. The German Federal Employment Agency has given a one-year commitment to promote the project. The goal of the integration work in the institution is to provide the refugees in the district with comprehensive and equal participation in all areas of society.

The offerings of the Integration Workshop in the Nordkreis Gifhorn district are intended to stabilise, activate and motivate participants – and prepare them for integration in the primary labour market on the basis of their individual situation. The main emphasis of the work in the facility is in the non-industrial sector. The focus is not on the production of particular products. Instead, the participants are introduced to the safe handling and use of machines and equipment. For example, participants carry out painting work, work with wood, sew and tailor fabrics, or cook and bake together. Another characteristic of the Integration Workshop is that only German is spoken during the work sessions. Thus the German language is not only taught in the daily lessons, but also reinforced during practical work together.

Uschi Schüller, the responsible project manager of the Integration Workshop in the Nordkreis Gifhorn district, says: "We see it as a task of our project to satisfy the needs of our new fellow-citizens and to meet the demand of the regional economy and the public authorities for suitable and motivated workers."

BUTTING – Progress by Tradition