PFI
Paulo Freire Institute
ADDRESS
Cranachstrasse 59
(S. H. left 1st pc.)
12157 Berlin
Management
Dr Sophie Kotanyi
Telephone
+49 (0)175 5428824
Website
Get to know us
About the PFI
The Paulo Freire Institute (PFI) is an autonomous institute of the International Academy Berlin for Innovative Pedagogy, Psychology and Economics (INA) gGmbH. We work in the field of education at local, regional and international level. Since the founding of the Paulo Freire Institute in July 1999, our international co-operation has focused on Chile, Colombia, Peru and most countries in Central America. Individual members of the PFI have also been active for many years in various African countries, formerly in Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda, and most recently in Mozambique and D. R. Congo. Portugal and the Czech Republic will be added from 2023.
The Paulo Freire Institute is a place for the theoretical and practical exploration of critical education. Our work is based on the approach of dialogue-based pedagogy inspired by the Brazilian pedagogue and sociologist Paulo Freire. We run international training programmes and initiate local and regional conflict transformation and participation projects. We work primarily on socio-economic peripheries and create spaces for learning about complex realities, based on the concrete life situations of all those involved in the learning process. We are involved in political education work as well as in supporting schools, teacher training and scientific monitoring.
Further training, seminars, workshops
We offer training courses, seminars and workshops on various thematic focal points that always overlap in practice: intercultural and transcultural education and inclusion, gender, intersectionality and discrimination-sensitive perspectives, conflict transformation and peace work, remembrance education and biography work (including in Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Central America). We also promote dialogues on socially and culturally inclusive knowledge and practices in the field of health, especially for the prevention of epidemics (HIV/AIDS and Covid-19) and in dealing with and generating knowledge through practices in lived law (in the palaver and rituals in Africa in Mozambique and D. R. Congo). The promotion of memory work includes a multifaceted examination of the necessary decolonisation of concepts of knowledge and behaviour in Europe.
One of the foundations of our work, inspired by Freire, is face-to-face dialogue with others (Lévinas) and the approach of thinking and shaping educational action dramaturgically in encounters and relationships with others (Hausmann). Central points of reference are a critical gender perspective, the realisation of human rights and a holistic understanding of sustainability as a basic prerequisite for democratic responsibility. Cultural and other forms of inclusion with the recognition of local knowledge are important to us, which for us is linked to taking up and implementing decolonising approaches and promoting dialogue between different forms of knowledge and practices. In our educational work, we refer to an understanding of dialogue as a practice of freedom (Paulo Freire), which we link to other approaches and theories, such as community-oriented approaches and teachings of complementarity (Georges Devereux), postcolonial feminist theory and racism-critical pedagogy (bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Yuderkys Espinosa, Paul Mecheril) and the concept of intersectionality (Kimberley Crenshaw) as a guiding principle for a critical understanding of education. We are also grappling with notions of "identity" (Derrida); the multiplicity and diversity of our affiliations and their recognition seem more important to us than ever before.
Partner
The PFI sees itself as a grassroots organisation. The working groups are active in various areas of theory-practice education. The Paulo Freire Institute Berlin works in co-operation with the Paulo Freire Gesellschaft e. V. in Berlin. As a recognised partner of the Paulo Freire Institute in Sao Paolo, we have been in close contact with various other Paulo Freire Institutes in Latin America and Europe for many years and take part in the Paulo Freire World Forums. We work with numerous other partners, individuals, groups and organisations in Germany and internationally together.
Face-to-face dialogue with others
El Instituto Paulo Freire
El Instituto Paulo Freire (IPF) es un instituto autónomo de la Academia Internacional Berlin (INA) que comenzó su tarea en julio de 1999. Trabaja en estrecho intercambio con la Asociación Paulo Freire e. V. (PFG).
El Instituto Paulo Freire en la Academia Internacional fue creado con la intención de brindar un marco para el debate teórico y práctico en torno a la pedagogía de diálogo en Alemania y en la cooperación internacional. Lleva a cabo diferentes programas de educación y diálogo con enfoques en temas de educación para la paz, memoria histórica, género y diversidades, transculturalidad e inclusión, transformación de conflictos, no violencia en el ámbito de la educación formal y no formal. Trabaja estrechamente con organizaciones sociales, universidades e instituciones educativas en Europa, América Latina y Africa en la formación, entre otros, de docentes, profesores/as, educadores/as defensores/as de derechos humanos y líderes sociales.
L'Institut Paulo Freire (PFI)
L'Institut Paulo Freire (PFI) est un institut autonome de l'Académie Internationale de Berlin (INA) qui existe depuis juillet 1999. The PFI works in close collaboration with l'Association Paulo Freire e. V. (PFG) travaillant plus avec des associations). The Institut Paulo Freire de l'Académie internationale provides a framework for theoretical and practical debate on the pedagogy of dialogue in Germany and in international cooperation. The PFI creates various education programmes in the form of dialogues on education for peace, historical memory, gender and diversity, transculturality and inclusion, the transformation of conflicts, and non-violence in the field of formal and informal education, developing approaches to inclusive sociocultural dialogues in health education (VIH-SIDA and Covid-19) and those concerning the dialogue between the practices in popular law (palabres and rituals in sub-Saharan Africa) and those used in official law. The PFI works in close collaboration with social organisations, universities and educational establishments in Europe, Latin America and Africa for the training, among others, of teachers, professors, educators, human rights defenders, social leaders, as well as agents active in health and law.
The Paulo Freire Institute (PFI)
The Paulo Freire Institute (PFI) is an independent institute of the International Academy of Berlin (INA) and exists since July 1999. PFI works in close collaboration with the Paulo Freire Association e. V. (PFG) working with other associations. The Paulo Freire Institute of the International Academy was created with the intention of providing a framework for theoretical and practical debate around the pedagogy of dialogue in Germany and in international cooperation. The PFI conducts education and dialogue programs focused on issues of education for peace, historical memory, gender and diversity, transculturality and inclusion, conflict transformation, non-violence in the field of formal and non-formal education, as well as dialogical inclusive socio-cultural approaches in health education (HIV-AIDS and Covid-19) and concerning lived law principles and practices (palaver and rituals in sub-Saharan Africa), which need bridging with official law rules, practices and practitioners. PFI works closely with social organisations, universities and educational institutions in Europe, Latin America and Africa for the training, among others, of teachers, professors, educators, advocates of human and social leaders, as well as agencies actives in health and law.
