Jena THEKiZ in the final of the German Kitapreis 2021

The past few months have brought many challenging changes for childcare staff. Shortly before the end of the year, ten daycare centers and ten local alliances for early education received the good news: they are in the final of the 2021 German Daycare Prize. One of the contenders is the "Anne Frank" parent-child center in Jena.

Minister Heike Werner says: "The work of the ThEKiZ Anne Frank in Jena shows the success of the state strategy for more Thuringian parent-child centers. The Anne Frank daycare center is an example of what good family education for children and parents can look like under the name Thuringian Parent-Child Center. Here, the focus is on every child and every family and their needs. Even in the current special situation, families can find reliable contacts here. This makes it not only one of the best daycare centers in Thuringia, but also deserves the award as the best daycare center in Germany."

The finalists of the national competition will present their work to a team of experts in the coming weeks. Due to the current situation, the visit will not take place on site for the first time, but digitally by means of discussions and interviews with the specialists and daycare center managers, virtual tours and workshops. Not only good results are taken into account. The general conditions of the facilities on site play just as much a role in the decision as the involvement of children, parents and staff in everyday educational activities. The German Kitapreis is endowed with a total of 130,000 euros. The first-placed facility receives prize money of 25,000 euros, while the four runners-up can look forward to 10,000 euros each. The winners will be announced in spring 2021. The German Daycare Prize was initiated by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the German Children and Youth Foundation and has been awarded once a year since 2018.

Background:

The Thuringian Parent-Child Center (ThEKiZ) Anne Frank has been a model location of the Karl Kübel Foundation since 2012 and also acts as a local alliance for early help. Since 2019, funding has been provided at municipal level by the independent city of Jena as part of the state program Solidarisches Zusammenleben.

The ThEKiZ is located between the districts of Lobeda-Altstadt and Neulobeda. The location between detached and semi-detached houses in Altlobeda and the large blocks of flats in Neulobeda characterizes the social structure. The living situations, needs and interests of the residents of the social area vary greatly. This is reflected in the work of the ThEKiZ "Anne Frank". As the central hub of the district network, the ThEKiZ cooperates with the most important players in the daycare center environment on a case-by-case or offer-by-offer basis.

The aim of the Thuringian parent-child centers is to support the self-determination and autonomy of families and to promote family networks. They work according to an integrated overall concept in which families are considered in their family context. They are meeting points where families find a place that they can shape. In this way, ThEKiZ contribute to the development of neighbourhood support and life organization.

The implementation of the ThEKiZ state strategy began on December 1, 2010 with the pilot project "The daycare center on the way to becoming a parent-child center". The pilot project covered a period of 43 months and ended on June 30, 2014.

Since the end of the pilot project, the number of ThEKiZ facilities in Thuringia has quadrupled. Since 2020, there have been 57 facilities spread across 21 districts and independent cities. Thuringia funded the expansion of ThEKiZ facilities in 2019 and 2020 through a special program with 1.5 million euros per year.

Further information on the ThEKiZ Anne Frank at: https://anne-frank.jena.de/de/startseite/650579 as well as further information from the "Fach- und Koordinierungsstelle Thüringer Eltern-Kind-Zentrum" at www.thekiz.de.

All information on the German Daycare Center Award and the selection of award winners can be found at www.deutscher-kita-preis.de.