Defending vulnerability

Our project focus

From aid for the victims of torture through support for traumatised refugees to work with abused women. medico has long been committed to recognising the effects on individuals of massive social exclusion and violence as being a separate element in project promotion, and opposes attempts to treat this as a medical condition of the individual. Psychological disturbances are human reactions to inhuman experiences. It is necessary to create protected spaces where people can regain their dignity and ability to act in an atmosphere of empathy, trust and respect.

Resist. Defend. Protect. Psychosoziale Arbeit in Zeiten von Rechtsverschiebung und Ohnmacht
BAfF & medico international

Resist. Defend. Protect.

Psychosocial work in times of the rise of right wing politics. Symposium from June 3 to 5, 2024 in Berlin.

Against the privatisation of suffering

Unbearable

In a troubled world, psychosocial work means not simply enduring the conditions in the world that make people ill. Theory and practice of our cooperations.

Namibia

So all good again now?

Ngauzepo, Hanging Tree, Namibia, Ovaherero und Nama wurden an solchen Bäumen während des Genozid ermordet.

German remembrance policy is patting itself on the back. In Namibia we are seeing just how deficient it actually is.

South Africa

How do we move forward as a society?

Pandemic, War and Xenophobia. A conversation with Koketso Moeti.

South Africa

Care work is doing change

An interview on a legal case for the rights of Community Health Workers (CHW) and the future of care relationships

Lecture Series

The shakes explored

Review of auf "Troubling Psyche[s] – Affects and Struggles in the Pandemic".

Namibia

So all good again now?

Ngauzepo, Hanging Tree, Namibia, Ovaherero und Nama wurden an solchen Bäumen während des Genozid ermordet.

German remembrance policy is patting itself on the back. In Namibia we are seeing just how deficient it actually is.

South Africa

Care work is doing change

An interview on a legal case for the rights of Community Health Workers (CHW) and the future of care relationships

South Africa

How do we move forward as a society?

Pandemic, War and Xenophobia. A conversation with Koketso Moeti.

Lecture Series

The shakes explored

Review of auf "Troubling Psyche[s] – Affects and Struggles in the Pandemic".

Psychosocial work

Project Funding 2022

  • Psychosocial support for people and groups affected by socio-political violence and disregard for their human rights in Nicaragua / Aluna Acompañamineto Psicosocial (AAP)
  • Networking meeting of members of the "Victims and Solidarity Network" (BeSoNet) and further training on secondary traumatisation / Verband der Beratungsstellen für Opfer rechter, rassistischer und antisemitischer Gewalt (VBRG) e.V.

Project Funding 2022: € 36,322.90 (incl. support from stiftung m.i.)

Projects – Projections

All articles on the topic of psychosocial work

24.03.2021 Global Feminisms
Protest meets pandemic

March 8 confirmed it once again: Feminism is a truly global movement. This also means that its differences should be understood. They are more visible than ever in the pandemic. By Julia Manek.

31.08.2018 Resilience
The rise of a concept

Resilience has become a buzzword in development affairs and a yardstick for funding decisions. In regard to security, climate change, natural disasters and terrorism, resilience is given an increasingly dominant role in crisis management. By Usche Merk.

27.06.2016 South Africa
Breaking the Walls of Trauma Counselling

A critical analysis of the models and diagnoses of trauma on the basis of the work at the SCPS, Johannesburg.

25.06.2015 Afghanistan
Bottom-up reconciliation

In this traumatised and fragmented country, AHRDO insists that peace has to be based on justice and a voice for all.

20.11.2014 Psychosocial Work
Globalization and Its Discontents

The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020 depression will be the second most common illness worldwide.

20.11.2014 medico practice
Guidelines for psychosocial work

What should therapy, psychosocial aid and emancipatory psychosocial work look like? How can we make room for attentive relationships that are based on mutual aid and help individuals and groups to refuse the commodification of their illness?

18.05.2013 Struggles for solar plants, farmland and freedom

In several important project regions, medico maintains its own offices to coordinate projects and service partnerships. Three office directors describe what they considered the most impressive local events in 2012.

01.05.2013 The anxiety in the wake of globalisation

Economisation of life worlds is resulting in increasing mental suffering worldwide. Social problems are often individualised in the process, classified as mental illness and treated with drugs. Emancipatory psychosocial work is a critical challenge to these tendencies. The medico international symposium in May 2012 provided an opportunity for thoughtful discussion.