Center for Danish and Integration
CDI
The Centre for Danish and Integration (CDI) is a public institution under Køge Municipality. CDI offers the Danish language as a second and foreign language for citizens of Køge and Stevns Municipality. CDI is also responsible for integration and social housing of refugees in Køge Municipality. There are about 30 people working in CDI (17 teachers and 13 staff and administrative workers).
Courses in Danish. At the moment, 400 students are attending Danish language courses at the different Danish Language Programs. At CDI, the development of language proficiency is further enhanced through integration into society, which had earned CDI the Annual Education Award of 2014. Language proficiency is thus cemented through active social participation in authentic social contexts.
Integration department
The Center for Danish and Integration cooperates with asylum centers in Denmark in connection to receiving refugees after proclamation from the Danish Agency for Foreign Affairs. The Centre for Danish and Integration provides integration of the refugees in the local community and houses the secretariat for Køge Municipality’s Integration Council. Moreover, CDI actively coordinates social housing projects and development efforts.
In the past year, Køge Municipality has received many Ukrainian refugees (currently 350). Center for Danish and Integration is responsible for coordinating the reception of refugees from Ukraine, including close cooperation with the Municipality's other departments, e.g. concerning housing, daycare, schools, family department, and citizen services. The Center for Danish and Integration is also responsible for orientation at the political level and coordination of press coverage.
CDI is very active in the frame of integration of disadvantaged groups involving the main stakeholders of the local community for valorization and dissemination of European best practices through visits, seminars, forums, conferences, and newsletters.
Our staff has experience of working within an international setting and sharing, communicating effectively with colleagues across Europe and they are involved to some extent in international education. We constantly encourage our students' global citizenship, awareness of the world around them, peace, and international understanding.them, peace, and international understanding.
The Center for Danish and Integration has no experience with Erasmus+ projects. Our organization’s motivation to participate in Erasmus+ projects stems from the will to instill in our staff/students a sense of community and partnership with other European countries.To ensure a quality project our organization will involve expert staff members in the project implementation, monitoring, evaluation, dissemination, and follow-up. With experts’ experience in European project management, our organization will contribute to sufficient project delivery by providing an experienced project manager, project assistant, administrative and communication staff member.
CDI is acting to develop European projects in order to involve adults, staff, youth, students, and socio-disadvantaged people. For this aim, it is established partnerships with other European countries and promoting lifelong learning cooperations. Our organization acts to create EU opportunities for our target groups to better improve their awareness of the European dimension and European citizenship. Our organization promotes and supports the principles of tolerance, intercultural, no violence, equal opportunities, and a culture of peace. We fight social exclusion, xenophobia and we give our efforts to favor social and sustainable development, with the help of programs/projects instituted and supported by the European Union.
Head of CDI
Anne Kirstine Noehr is the head of the Center for Danish and Integration (CDI), a public institution in the municipality of Køge. For the last 3 years, she has been the head of political, strategic, and economic planning and development of the institution, which main areas are the reception of refugees and Danish education for adult foreigners.
Anne started her career in the Municipality of Køge in 2004 as a chief consultant in Children and Youth Management. Here she was responsible for planning and coordinating projects in the Children and Youth area within the areas of the organization, management information, and strategic, professional development.
Anne is educated in Danish and psychology at Roskilde University, where she has primarily dealt with Danish culture, integration challenges, and bilingualism and, among other things, wrote a thesis on Danish values.
Anne has also studied for a master’s in Public Governance at Copenhagen Business School. Through Anne's management experience in combination with a higher academic education in management, she has earned visible and proven results through the combination of focus on high academic standards, the financials, the development of employee skills, and a flair for political signals.
Project coordinator
Irina Grauengaard is CDI’s integration consultant, a member of a Team Reception and Integration, is responsible for receiving newly arrived refugees as well as their registration in Køge Municipality, providing guidance and advice, support, tips and recommendations as a contact person for Ukrainian refugees.
Irina is also an Erasmus+ project leader/coordinator and teacher of English language with master degree, has excellent organizational and communication skills as well as much experience having led Comenius and Grundtvig projects. Starting as a coordinator of the SOCRATES program project in 2002, she coordinated many Comenius and Grundtvig projects for 15 years in Lithuania. She is the coordinator for many Erasmus+ projects (KA204/KA229/KA220) in Køge Business College and she is a contactperson in Denmark for the “Europe for Citizens” program “Strengthening a Europe of solidarity in times of migration” as well as “European Voices Challenging Euroscepticism”. She coordinates the activities, supports the project team involved, assists the communication, and contributes to the administrative team to accomplish the financial aspects requested by the projects.