The Awareness Standards presented here were developed through a collaborative process involving various individuals and groups. Over the course of a year, regular meetings were held, complemented by a shared online document (Pad) where ideas and points were collected. These contributions were discussed during the meetings, which took place both online and at rotating locations. Each point was deliberated until a consensus was reached among the participants, after which it was finalized as a result.

At the end of the year, the outcomes of these discussions were shared with over 100 individuals and organizations from social and cultural sectors, inviting their feedback. This feedback was carefully incorporated into the final version. The result of this process is available here for you to view and download.

The Awareness Standards are not a finalized process. They are intended to be further discussed and adapted by the involved individuals and groups in scheduled meetings. Additionally, a simplification of the language is planned to enhance accessibility.

As PDF to download

To read online

Results of the networking meetings on Awareness-Standards

Level 1:

Standards, definitions and regulations

The Standards cover the core principles of Awareness-Work and are not all-emcompassing for every context. Collectives can and should define further standards for themselves that are relevant in their area. The following questions can be helpful for this:

• Where do you offer Awareness?
• What is important there?
• Is there anything which is not covered by the Standards?
• What must be recorded separately?

An undogmatic approach to the Standards is important. They should always be considered in context and remain the subject of reflection and discussion. They should be open to further development and improvement.

The Standards are intended to form a common foundation for reliable Awareness-Work.
Collectives or individuals who commit to these Standards comply with their basic content.
In the event of gross non-compliance, they may no longer carry out Awareness-Work under the name of the Awareness-Standards. In this case, the Standards Network jointly determines the mode of evaluation.

The Standards should be protected and, at the same time, remain open to changes and additions.
For this reason, a supporting organisation was formed from various groups.
Ensuring compliance with the Standards and possible resulting exclusions means power and responsibility.

Under no circumstances should this power and responsibility lie with individuals or a single group. In a second stage, resources such as legal protection, supervision and intervision could be shared and made available via an association.

Awareness-Work is currently being practised in many different contexts at the same time.
Some people can make a (precarious) living from this work. Many others do this work on a voluntary basis. Awareness is practised by small collectives, in football stadiums and at large festivals with high ticket prices. A common standard is needed that can be implemented by everyone equally.

A step-by-step recommendation guide is to be created for small collectives and groups that are just starting out with Awareness-Work. The guide should make it possible to implement the Standards within a year. Collectives should be able to communicate when they set out to fulfil the Standards.

One way of facilitating this could be open workshops “Getting started with the Awareness-Standards”. We welcome further ideas.

It is not our aim that Awareness-Work must always be paid for. However, we would like to see a critical reflection on labour relations. Awareness-Work is care work which is often invisible and unpaid. It is predominantly done by women, trans, inter and non-binary people. If the DJs, security, bar staff or other people involved in the organisational level of an event receive money, the Awareness-Team should also be paid.

‘Awareness’ is increasingly being used as a term in various contexts. It is important to (better) define this work and thus create commitment. This includes clarity about the guidelines and values according to which structures work. The Standards can be requested and read up on.

This is a relevant marker for people who want to be involved in Awareness-
Work.
The protection and safety concept of Awareness-Work should be filled with living practice.

We happily welcome new participants!

Standards and tasks of Awareness-Work

1.1 Definition of Awareness

What is Awareness?

For us, Awareness means mindfulness and consciousness or consciously dealing with each other and avoiding discrimination, assaults and (sexualised) violence. This includes an awareness of social power relations and our own position within them.

The Awareness approach does not come from theory, but from practice: it was developed by persons affected by discrimination and (sexualised) violence and their allies. As experts in their own ‘affected-ness’, they created a common attitude that arose from the understanding of power relations.

Awareness focuses on the well-being of the person affected by discriminatory, abusive or transgressive behaviour. This goes hand in hand with partisan support, so that they are not left alone to deal with the consequences of discrimination and (sexualised) violence.

The approach is intersectional and takes into account that people can be affected by multiple forms of discrimination (‘multiple affected-ness’). Support also includes the creation of a safer space so that those affected do not have to withdraw from spaces/structures, but can (re)gain the agency and further dangers and unwanted encounters can be excluded.

Awareness-Work also aims to have a preventative effect. In some communities, it is offered in combination with an approach that is reflective of the social context and makes use of transformative work in terms of community accountability with people who discriminate or perpetrate violence.

Awareness-Work offers various approaches and possibilities and requires reflective empirical knowledge, sound practice and appropriately trained teams. In all cases, Awareness-Work is orientated towards principles such as consent and the needs of the people seeking support.

Awareness-Work is conducted in solidarity with the persons affected.

1.2 Core principles of Awareness-Work

The core concepts of Awareness-Work briefly explained here can be supplemented by a more comprehensive glossary at a later date. The expalantions given here are not all-encompassing.

Power of Definition

In Awareness-Work, the power of affected persons to define is fundamental. Referring to the Awareness Institute and Ann Wiesental, the Power of Definition means that affected people define what happened to them, what was done to them and what form of violence or discrimination they suffered. They are not obliged to do so and can change the definition over time if, for example, the perception of the experience is initially different due to an initial shock than can be recognised later with distance.

Only those affected know what they have experienced and how it felt and do not have to
justify themselves.

(vgl. https://awareness-institut.net/glossar/definitionsmacht/; Ann Wiesental, Antisexistische Awareness – Ein Handbuch, Unrastverlag, 2017)

Partisanship

When it comes to discrimination or violence, the attitude in Awareness-Work is not supposedly neutral, but rather biased towards the marginalised and those affected. Those affected can report on their experiences in a protected environment without being confronted with doubts, judgement or accusations.

(vgl. https://awarenessinstitut.net/glossar/parteilichkeit/)

Consent

Awareness-Work is based on mutual consent. An Awareness-Team acts in the interests of affected persons after they have given their informed consent. This presupposes that the people involved are able to reach a consent.

The absence of objection does not mean consent.
Clear consent is required.
The needs, boundaries and wishes of the persons involved must be respected.

Understanding of violence

The concept of violence in Awareness-Work is much broader than that on which, for example, legal texts are based. It includes physical as well as psychological and verbal violence and both active and passive forms. For example, verbal hostility can be just as violent as a lack of appreciation. Discrimination is also a form of violence. Violence can be interpersonal, institutional, state and structural and must always be considered in the context of social structures.

(vgl. z.B. Les Migras: Unterstützung geben, https://lesmigras.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/LM_Broschuere_Tapesh_UnterstuetzungGe ben.pdf)

1.3 Awareness-Washing

It should be noted that Awareness-Teams are advertised at locations/parties/events that in practice do not act according to the Standards and basic values already developed (power of definition, partisanship, consent, confidentiality) and without a sound concept.

These can be people/teams who, among other things, operate without sound basic knowledge, without networking, without training and further education, without joint and self-reflection, supervision/intervision and without a common basic attitude, without sobriety, without payment and/or alone and/or are involved in another activity on site.

A structure that works in this way cannot call itself an Awareness-Team. Awareness-Work must always be integrated into a general protection against violence and Awareness concept. Awareness concepts must not only include reactive but also preventative aspects.

The development of common standards aims to ensure that people can rely on Awareness-Teams. If these Standards are not adhered to and “Awareness-Teams” are nevertheless presented or advertised with them, this can be referred to as Awareness washing.

Possible examples are:

• Awareness for an event where a perpetrator plays in a performing band, but those affected are against a further performance (e.g.: Rammstein).
• Awareness for a festival where the organisational structure protects perpetrators (example: There is an Awareness-Team or guests, but principles of Awareness do not apply within the organisation, which does not protect members from their landlord, who was abusive, so as not to “damage” the relationship with the landlord).
• A commercial event that calls something Awareness but generally does not implement common principles of Awareness-Work (example: 2 people for a large club with several hundred people).

The term is based on other “washing” terms, such as pinkwashing or greenwashing. It means that a concept is “watered down” and/or organisers want to “wash themselves clean” of the “obligation” to offer Awareness.

1.4 Awareness-Concept

An Awareness concept is recommended for all structures – not just those that are actively

involved in Awareness-Work with teams. If an organisation has an Awareness concept, this does not necessarily mean that it can also provide an Awareness-Team.

An Awareness concept should encompass various levels:
It usually requires an internal and an external concept as well as various appendices, depending on the context. The concept should include guidelines, basic values and objectives. It should be clarified how the quality of the concept is ensured.
A concept should make it clear who the offer is aimed at, how people can contact the structure and what is covered. It must be clarified which behaviours can be discussed or negotiated and which can definitely lead to exclusion.
There needs to be a clarification of responsibilities and a procedure for dealing with accusations, including against people internal to the organization/structure. Communication and plan of action, discussion guidelines and information material or other materials can be added in appendices.
An external concept is the part of the concept that should be made available and visible to the public.

1.4.1 Awareness structures and labour law

Employment law issues are not included in the Awareness concept. At this point, we would like to make a clear general recommendation for representation according to employment law.

As Awareness-Structures, we argue in favour of organization or unionization in accord with employment law. If there are enough employees or workers to fulfil the criteria for the establishment of a workers’ council or trade union structure, we recommend that these options are implemented and promoted.

1.5 Awareness-Contact Point

If structures are permanent (rooms; groups that repeatedly organise events; Awareness-Groups that are on duty at various events), it is strongly recommended that a Contact Point structure be established. There needs to be a structure that people can turn to.

This applies not only to Awareness-Collectives that offer “external” Awareness, but also to structures that provide Awareness themselves.
Every collective that commits to the Standards should have persons of trust who are not in positions of power and who can provide support in the event of internal and external conflicts and decide how to deal with violence and discrimination.

This Point of Contact must be appropriately anchored within the respective structure (e.g. via the statutes, rules of procedure, resolutions, etc.).

This is about creating continuity and accountability in the structure.

Contact Points should be more than just people to whom internal problems can be addressed. People from outside the structure/group should also be able to turn to them if there are problems.

If, for example, incidents concerning an event are communicated via social media, it should be clear that this will be forwarded to the Contact Point. If there is a permanent location, there should not only be a team for the evening, but also a protocol on how to deal with problems related to the space that occur outside the event.
Where can I report if I find a posting of the structure or the content of an event problematic/discriminatory or if there are problems with the Awareness-Team?

1.5.1 Options for implementing a Contact Point

One way of implementing a contact point is to provide an e-mail address.

This e-mail address should be made publicly visible and easy to find, and the purpose and possible use should be clearly presented:
“You can send us an e-mail to contactpoint@nameofthestructure… “, for example:

• If there is relevant information in the run-up to events, e.g.: known boundary-crossing behaviour of people appearing at the event.
• If an incident becomes known following an event that had an Awareness-Team on duty and/or someone in the team has behaved problematically.

Selected people have access to the e-mail address, and there are rules for this, e.g:

• Mails must be answered within 3 days.
• People directly involved in a situation may not work on a case involving their behaviour or possible misconduct.
• The way in which processes and incidents are documented must be clarified.

For cases that are internal, a Contact Point is possible on a reciprocal basis. An example of this is when the Contact Point of one group undertakes to process possible internal cases of another group and vice versa.

Regardless of the type of implementation, structures should take care to keep their distance from incidents outside their reference:
If it is too far away from us and the field of activity relevant to us (e.g. for event organizers”Two days later the event, this and that happened to me on the street”), then referral to a counselling can take place.

Each structure must decide for itself how the Contact Point is implemented (in addition to or instead of an e-mail address, a web form is possible, for example, possibly with the option of anonymous entries; a telephone number, a kind of consultation hour)

In any case, access should be as low-threshold as possible, the Contact Point must be easy to find and public and there must be established rules for processing the case. These are at least:

• Time frame for processing incidents
• The principles of Awareness-Work also apply here
• Minimum two people in a structure
• Reaction to a report by people independent of the incident (e.g. persons not actively or directly involved in the shift/event)

The structures decide individually how this is implemented in each case. If someone from the structure is involved as an abuser, this must be made transparent to those affected, otherwise this can lead to perpetrator protection.

We recommend a written definition of the Contact Point’s working methods and how the respective structure should deal with the crossing of personal boundaries. This includes possible moderation, mediation and exclusion procedures. It is also advisable to put the desired behaviour and principles (socio-political, moral, ethical) down in writing.

1.5.2 The question of anonymity

The possibility of anonymous reporting is contrary to the desire or perceived need for dialogue with the reporting person. On the other hand, it can be easier to report something anonymously.
We therefore recommend making anonymous reports possible, but ideally in a form that still allows for questions to be asked.

One problem with anonymous reports is that they cannot be used as an exclusion criterion, as they can easily be misused to exclude someone unjustifiably.

1.6 Requirements for Awareness-Persons

The question of the prerequisites for and qualifications of Awareness-Workers also raises the question of the feasibility of these Standards – especially for small structures or those still at the beginning of their work and in the context of unpaid/voluntary work.

Consideration must be given to how resource inequality can be dealt with. Standardisation and “putting a label on it” should not contribute to commercialisation or instrumentalisation.

The prerequisites for Awareness personnel and the exemplary qualification steps listed below should therefore be considered in the context of the respective circumstances. In the case of smaller collectives in which members can, for example, only slowly gain shift experience or complete workshops at longer intervals, the “formal” requirements can be approached step by step.

1.6.1 Who can work as an Awareness-Person?

A prerequisite for Awareness shift personnel is that they have knowledge of the jointly defined Minimum Standards. This can happen through self-learning (autodidactic) , by utilising existing knowledge, through workshops, training or other means.

The person must be familiar with the basic theoretical concepts of Awareness-Work (power of definition,
partisanship , consent, understanding of violence). Individuals should also familiarise themselves with social power relations, opportunities for solidarity and their own privileges.

We suggest that a person be considered “new” to Awareness-Work until they have the experience of at least 10 shifts in different contexts.

Official training or qualification is not required before people do their first shift, but it is recommended. When work is carried out according to the Awareness principles, people should know and recognise the Awareness Standards. In any case, they must not be people who are confronted with acute and unresolved allegations of violence.

Care must be taken to ensure that in a team with completely new people, experienced people are also part of the respective shift.

As a medium or longer-term step, we recommend that the Standards are adapted so that everyone attends a workshop in advance. However, this requires sufficient availability of offers, preferably free of charge for the workers.

1.6.2 Helpful characteristics for people in Awareness-Work

• Awareness of the limits of their own resilience / awareness of their own boundaries
• Conscious handling of stress
• Ability to reflect
• Team competence
• Critical faculties
• Power-critical, thinking critically of structures and society
• Solution orientation
• Reliability

1.6.3 What disqualifies a person?

Acute allegations of violence and/or massive misbehaviour by a person are seen as excluding them from Awareness-Work. This may also require clarification regarding the conditions for a possible reinstatement of the person in the structure.

If an exclusion is necessary, the information about this may and should be shared.

1.6.4 Exemplary qualification steps

• Familiarisation interview (motives, questions of knowledge, political self-image)
• Workshop(s) with group exercises
• Trial shift (usually shorter than a regular shift, accompanied by a team of
  experienced people, ideally at an event where there is actually something going on)
• On-site check-out, prompt feedback from both sides
• Regular shift
• Orientation interview (expectations, feedback, scope of activities)
• workshops for basic qualification:
  To qualify, we suggest completing at least 2 workshops of the following type:
  • Standard workshop
    • at least 4 hours
    • Awareness basics
    • work in large groups, small groups, discussion phases
    • best in person
    • recommendation: maximum 16 people
  • Advanced workshop
    • at least 4 hours
    • scenario training
    • detailed analysis of the understanding of roles
    • not only frontally, but also in groups, interactively
    • must be in person
    • recommendation: maximum 16 people

A list of educational institutions that offer Awareness-Workshops will be available on the Standards-Website in the future.

1.7 Tasks of Awareness-Work

The tasks of Awareness-Work include, among others:

• doing care work & providing emotional support
  • implementing ‘braver and safer spaces’ approaches
    • This means ensuring greater safety/well-being for all
    • Create a protected space/framework where grievances can be addressed
  • Communicating the meaning of consent
  • offer an initial low-threshold Contact Point in the event of conflicts/incidents
  • promoting a non-violent community
    • The presence of Awareness-Team already has a signalling effect.
  • do preventive work
  • support the context of the respective community
    • different, e.g: Alcohol and drug-free event; special topics to be addressed, e.g. specific needs at a FLINTA party
      • “FLINTA” stands for Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-Binary, Trans and Agender. It stands for anyone who is not a cis man. Cis or cisgender is the opposite of transgender. A cisgender person presents as and/or identifies as the gender that they were assigned at birth. https://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/previous-years/ecotopia-
        biketour-2022/lgbtqia-flinta-start
    • also (depending on context): harm reduction (safer drug use & safer sex tools)
  • Convey partisanship, consent, power of definition

Depending on the context, more active or more passive behaviour.

Awareness-Work in practice

2.1 Principles for Awareness-Shifts

Shift length and breaks

• Shifts lasting 2-3 hours are ideal, especially for people who are “new”. A break of at least 20 minutes is recommended after 3 hours.
  Smoking, toilet breaks, getting something to drink etc. are not included.
• Working Hours Acts / Employees Protection Acts in German-speaking countries include an obligation to take a break after either 5 1⁄2 or 6 hours, but we consider this too late.
  • The Austrian, German and Luxembourgish law stipulate a break after 6 hours of work, the Swiss law obliges to take a break after 5 1⁄2 hours [laws effective by the time the Standards were composed]
• Awareness-Shift workers should also pay attention to their own capacities and not do more than they are capable of once they have determined the length of shift that is feasible for them.
• A system for unexpected personnel shortages or deficits should be created and the teams set up in such a way that people can drop out and others can step in without neglecting the feasibility of the shift. This can be done by, e.g.: stand-in employees/substitutes.

Buddysystem

• Awareness is done exclusively in the buddy system (at least in pairs).
  → For safety – accountability – reference/contact person – room for manoeuvre
• The Buddy-System is about working together directly. It requires a regular check-in and check-out with each other.
• When working in pairs, attention is paid to availability and approachability. (Therefore, during the service, for example: no deep political or personal discussions that make accessibility for external parties difficult).
• Safety also means: emotional safety, physical safety, making decisions together, being able to make agreements and supporting each other.
• Critical and sensitive issues are not decided alone.

Please note:
Recommendation: When composing the buddy system, we recommend to ensure that the team is diverse.
Depending on the situation, people within a buddy system may temporarily split up into several positions. For example: one person fetches something, another person stays with the affected person.

Nevertheless, the respective buddy person should always know where the other person is and what they are doing.

Sobriety

Soundness of mind, capacity to work and trustworthiness must be guaranteed. There are no compromises here. Before the shift and as long as a person is recognisable as an Awareness person, no intoxicants may be consumed. Emotional availability and mental resilience are required. In the case of private presence of an Awareness-Person at an event after shift, the person should make sure to consume intoxicants only in a moderate way – if at all.

Consent

The Awareness-Team is only involved with the consent of the person concerned. Consent can be reached if the Awareness-Team is approached by an affected person or on behalf of an affected person, or if the Awareness-Team observes an incident and approaches the person(s)affected .
If a person affected is deemed to be not (or no longer) capable of consent, an individual decision must be made. In the event of acute danger to the person, first aiders or security must be called in. This also applies to a possible threat to the Awareness-Team.

Mental and physical condition – Self-protection

A person cannot put themselves in a position where they are doing Awareness-Work if they might need Awareness themselves in the situation.

Visibility

It must be clear how the Awareness-Team can be contacted.

This includes the location (info point, entrance, mobile on the premises, etc.), accessibility (e.g. telephone number) and identification features (e.g. lighting, uniform, badge, high- visibility waistcoat, labelling, etc.). The identification features and contact options should be communicated to visitors before the start of the event (e.g. on social media, via flyers/posters, verbally at the entrance).

Recommendation:
Use illuminants (e.g. fairy lights) in the dark. Otherwise, guarantee accessibility via info point and/or telephone number. Ideally, there should be several recognisable features.

Diversity in teams

We are in favour of giving people with different backgrounds, experiences and people who are or have been affected by discrimination and violence themselves, access to this work if they so wish.

Awareness has an intersectional claim. This should also be practised by as many different people as possible. Everyone can offer support. This also means implementing this within teams, in the structure and in all other areas of activity.

Requests from organisers for teams with specific characteristics should be well justified and appropriate to the event context so that they must be followed (e.g. FLINTA teams for FLINTA events, BIPOC teams for BIPOC events).

BIPOC – Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color, see https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/BIPOC

Group- or community-specific work

If risk is expected and/or work is carried out with certain groups, an appropriate protection concept may be required. For example, a suitable child and youth protection concept when working with children and young people.

It is important to engage with the respective groups before the work takes place.

For community-specific events, people from the respective community should be involved.

2.2 Awareness service regulations

2.2.1 Procedure, preparation and follow-up

The following checklists should be understood as guidelines that can be adapted as necessary. The points relate to the work of external Awareness-Teams at events. In the case of internal Awareness-Teams or locations with fixed teams or other settings, the points must be adapted accordingly.

Note:
The topic of the advantages and disadvantages of external teams or a fixed connection between Awareness and structures/spaces is complex and will not be dealt with here.
In principle, we believe it makes sense to firmly anchor Awareness so that an external team is not always required. Awareness should always be anchored in structures in the form of a Contact Point.

Preparation for event-related Awareness-Work

• Clarify general conditions: Who works when? How much & how is paid, how is the team provided for? If not:
  • Is there compensation?
  • How can the general conditions be fair?
  • If other positions (e.g. bar, DJs, security) are paid, the Awareness-Team should also be paid.
• Preliminary agreements
  • ensure that shift personnel have all information about the shift/event/location; also address responsibility of the organisers/spaces here
  • Set a date for a possible debriefing in advance
  • Site inspection: As many people as possible should have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the venue in advance.
  • There should be plans, information, photos etc. of the venue and at least part of the team should visit the venue in advance.
• Clarify communication channels to use at the event
• Clarify how people find out that there is an Awareness-Team (flyers, posters, …) and how it can be reached (telephone, information table, …)
• Get equipment, prepare it and take it with you
• Clarify documentation of incidents (confidential, anonymised, . .)
• Clarify whether and how the venue and organisers support the Awareness-Concept and team and the associated principles
• Clarify who the contact persons are
• Discuss (spatial) barriers and make them visible (door policy, toilet situation, access, light/strobe situation, …)
• Clarify how security is guaranteed for the Awareness-Team
• Clarify questions about house rules and (if applicable) cooperation with security

Beginning the shift

Prepare the planned infrastructure in good time (refuge area, information table, hanging up material, . ..

• Duty room and refuge area (quiet space): distinct space for those affected and for the team (duty room); quiet, cosy (handle pragmatically if possible)
• Check-in as agreed collectively (at the start of each shift): Personal condition, event related needs and concerns as well as things people are not comfortable with, share resources and skills with the team etc.
• Clarify whether everyone is familiar with the location and whether communication channels and meeting points have been clarified and are functional, etc.
• Check-in with other people working on site (bar, cloakroom, security…)

Note: People who want to work should know the estimated risk of the event in advance – even before registering for the shift.

During the shift

Follow the tasks and shift rules! (see 1.7 and 2.1)

In case of incidents:

• Observe guidelines for working with affected people (work in progress; not yet included in this document)
• Respect your own boundaries! In the event of an incident, only act if nothing contradicts this (e.g. self-protection; personal relationship with the persons involved)
• Documentation, passing on information if necessary

After the shift

• Check-out: condition of the team people; offer space for feedback and reflections
• Packing up materials/taking them with you
• Check-out with organisers / people working on site
• If necessary, prepare information, make documentation

Follow-up/debriefing in the team and with organisers if necessary

Duty of confidentiality

In Awareness-Work, a duty of confidentiality should apply in the sense that the passing on of information or experience – unless otherwise necessary – is anonymised so that the individual(s) cannot be identified. We refer here to (other) social work professions.

Discretion must be maintained and the duty of confidentiality can be enshrined in the statutes/principles. Non-compliance can lead to exclusion.

The disclosure of information is possible and possibly necessary in various cases:

• during work
• in the follow-up (if necessary with external parties)
• Supervision/intervision (if necessary with external parties)
• for further care of affected persons

Within a shift, the passing on of information to the replacing team is permitted or may be necessary. This applies to information that is necessary in order to be able to continue working, i.e. information and details that are relevant for action. It may also be necessary to pass on (non-anonymised) information in the follow-up. For example, information about perpetrators must be passed on. During intervision and supervision sessions, experiences made during the shifts can be shared anonymously.

2.3 Awareness Duty To-Do & Can-Do

What is the Awareness-Team allowed to do? What is it not obliged to do?
The Awareness-Team…
…cannot be obliged to perform administrative tasks for the organisers.
…cannot take on other tasks such as cash desk and door selection at the same time.
…has no responsibility for collecting fees of any kind. Similarly, the preparation and/or serving of drinks and food is not the responsibility of the Awareness Service.
…can decide to exclude people causing harm from an event, supported by consultation with the buddy person, but is in no way obliged to implement it.
→ Get those responsible (security, organisers, etc.)
… must be consulted in cases of violence and discrimination (by other structures at the event).
…consciously intervenes in conflict situations in accordance with the Awareness principles.
…has an educational function with regard to safer sex guide, safer drug use, Awareness, queer-friendliness, referral to professional contact points, . ..
…is not a substitute or replacement for a professional emergency service or trained medical or psychotherapeutic personnel. Even if medically trained personnel are active in the Awareness-Team, they are not a substitute!
…primarily provides protection and support for those affected, as well as direct support in specific situations and general support.
… offers (depending on capacity) reflection with people causing harm.
…represents the ‘house rules’ or ‘code of conduct’ if the organisers and venue owners have agreed on one(s) and have communicated these to the Awareness organisation in the course of preparing the event, provided that these do not violate the Awareness principles and local jurisdiction.
…can fulfil services at their own discretion (collecting cups, collecting rubbish, …), but is not obliged to do so and should not be assigned a regulatory/control function.
…can act and move around a fixed point. This is agreed in advance.
…should, if people are temporarily acting alone, be in good consultation and seek to return to the buddy system.
… persuades guests to leave the venue after consultation with the Awareness-Team Coordinator if there is imminent danger or if such instructions are received from the police, from the organisers or from the venue owners (e.g. after the end of the event). The work time agreed with the Awareness-Organisation must be adhered to, otherwise it counts as overtime.
…takes on a role model function.
…can provide further knowledge and information to (and/or affected) person(s), carry out educational work or, for example, refer them to counselling centres – but is not obliged to do so. The Awareness-Team is not “automatically” the group that does further care work.
→ Readers on this and also reflection on the limits of one’s own work are needed.

2.4 Requirements for event organisers

The provision of an Awareness service for an event is not a matter of course and is subject to requirements that serve to ensure safe conditions for guests and staff.

Appropriate preparation and follow-up is needed with organisers and spaces/venues

• in relation to certain events: e.g. event-site inspection, visibility of the Awareness-Team,…
• in a holistic context of structural work:
  • Risk analysis (toilet situation, refuge space, emergency exits…)

The organisers should be made aware that they are responsible for these points.
What happens if…? Preventive action! Possibly clarification of liability.

Preliminary agreements with event organisers and venue managers are a must, as it is often not clear what Awareness means. It must be clear that Awareness is to be taken seriously and that structural work must also be done internally.

Awareness must be visible both in advance and on site (website, social media, flyers, posters in advance; at the door / on admission) and the associated rules must be clarified.

The joint agreements made during the preparation phase must be adhered to. It makes sense to record these in writing and have them confirmed.

Good communication is needed during events – and correspondingly sober contact persons.

2.4.1 Payment

We advocate fair and inflation-adjusted remuneration appropriate to the event or situation. Fair payment includes not only the work on site, but also the preparation and follow-up work, the organisational framework and any supervision costs incurred.

In particular, if other positions or people, such as DJs or securities, are paid, the Awareness- Team should also be remunerated for their work.

In contexts where everyone works without money, Awareness-Work can also take place on a non-monetary basis.

Nevertheless, we believe it is necessary to maintain a critical dialogue about who can afford unpaid work.

It is also good to reflect on the distribution of labour – especially in the context of care work, which includes Awareness-Work. For example, who does the Awareness-Work, who is performing at the event, who does the organisational work, who does the security? Are normative relationships reproduced in the way they are practised in the respective structure?
Example of this: FLINTA people do the bar service and Awareness, men do the technical work and security.

2.5 Terminations of service

The regulation of an Awareness cancellation is important and the criteria for this must be clearly communicated and, if possible, set out in writing in advance. Especially if there is already a standard for both the venue and the team.

2.5.1 Criteria for cancellation of service by Awareness-Teams

• an unavoidable risk to people due to the conditions on site
• Gross violation of the agreement by staff on site
• No or insufficient possibility for the implementation of standards and agreements
• gross misinformation about the working conditions and/or event by the organisers
• Consensual decision of the Awareness-Team
• Cancellation by the organiser’s contact person
  • In this case, the Awareness service is entitled to (written) notification on site or video/audio recording of the cancellation of the service-shift by the organisers.
• Staff shortage
• Intervention by emergency services
• Dissemination of right-wing extremist or fundamentalist ideas by the organisers or owners of the premises
• Active prevention of work by organisers

There are not always clear-cut cancellations of events, but there is a need to follow up on grievances and draw consequences afterwards

2.5.2 How to withdraw as an Awareness-Team

In the event of a cancellation, it must be made clear that the team is no longer available:

• Take down posters, dismantle stand, remove identification symbols
• Make a social media post, e.g.: “We had to withdraw from event XY today” + short explanation or keep it general: “We are no longer responsible for event XY from time ZZ” + contact option
  → Do not write a detailed explanation out of emotion! Statement may follow after a debriefing.
• sign out on site at the other areas (bar, security, cloakroom…)
• Leave place

2.5.3. Legal protection

To prevent the Awareness-Team from incurring costs in the event of necessary service cancellations, it makes sense to have a corresponding clause for contracts.

Proposals are to be drawn up in accordance with the respective legal context.

Quality assurance & transparency
(public)

3.1 Safeguarding the Standards

After a joint decision on the Standards has been made, the implementation is to be
defined.

• It should be made transparent who is behind the Standards.
• To this end, there should be a website where the Standards are formulated and it is clear who supports this or is committed to it and how complaints are possible.
• It would be desirable for the administration to be supported by the existing structures and not have to rely on volunteer labour. It is important that there is a good exchange of information, for example via a mailing list.

Awareness-Board

An Awareness-Board is formed from all structures/people who participate.

• If there are incidents/accusations, then two people who are not involved should take over the case and make suggestions for handling.
• People should rotate so that the same people don’t always take care of everything.
• If there are still questions, there needs to be an editing/discussion mode for this. In case of doubt, an extra meeting is needed.

Revision mode

Proposals for processing the Awareness-Standards are always possible in a joint document (proposal function).
Suggestions and topics are collected up to 2 weeks before a meeting and the agenda is then set.

There should be at least 2 meetings per year.

Ideas/comments on the mode:

The Standards are to be revised for the first time after one year.
Comments and feedback will be collected during the year.

There will then be adaptation meetings.

All persons and groups who publicly commit to the Standards can participate in the adaptation meetings.
Amendments are made by consensus at the respective meetings.

A corresponding document is created to collect feedback.
Dates are sought and set together two months in advance.
The dates are chosen where most of the structures can participate.

Multiple entries from groups should not be taken into account when choosing dates, i.e. if more people can attend a date, but fewer different structures would be present overall, then the date is chosen where more different structures can be present.

Quality assurance and support (internal)

4.1 Intervision and supervision

Intervision

• from / for Awareness-Persons
  • Standards for this should still be written down; interview guidelines – see below
• Regularly organised intervision meetings. Regionally organised meetings, cross- collective meetings. Reciprocity if necessary..

Supervision

→ by qualified external persons

Recommendations:

• A supervision programme should be available free of charge on a regular basis for people who do Awareness-Work.
• For teams that work regularly, supervision should be offered every 4-6 weeks if possible and, if necessary, for individuals.
• These costs should be taken into account and paid for so that individuals do
  not have to bear these costs themselves.

Support pool (medium/long-term)

→ Persons that are supervisors

• as far as possible it should be for all
  • e.g.: all who are members; all who co-sign
• Financing via membership fees, grants, voluntary work by suitably qualified persons
• For event organisers and venues that do not organise supervision themselves, there is the option of contributing to this pool with a suggested donation

Conversation guide

We recommend using conversation guidelines for different circumstances. These can contain the points mentioned in the example below and others. We would like to encourage you to make the relevant templates available and share them (e.g: Conversation guide for intervision; for discussions with affected persons; …)
Sample conversation guide for discussions to follow up on (shift) situations:

for narrating person(s):

• Initial situation / rough description of the setting
• Anonymised description of the situation
• What was the problem?
• Where did you encounter obstacles to action?
• What should there be feedback on?

for listening person(s):

• wait and see what the feedback is requested about
• Give constructive feedback
• Do not devalue others’ activities / work
• clearly declare your personal opinion as such
• Pay attention to Awareness-Standards

Common framework for reflection:

• Set a time frame (How long should the conversation last?)
• Clarify what people affected by the situation need (What further support is needed?)

4.2 Further education / training

It is recommended to undergo regular training (at least twice a year) in relevant areas depending on the context. Further training is context-dependent, so only recommendations and examples can be given.
Training courses that appear useful in all areas are, for example: first aid, transformative justice, gender appropriate language, anti-racism.

When working with certain groups, care should be taken to ensure that the training courses are appropriate to the sector, e.g. drug use, sex positivity, child and youth protection, etc…

A collection of topics for possible further training programmes is to be compiled.
A collection of points of contact in the sense of an education network contact point for the purpose of exchange between structures that provide educational programmes would also appear to make sense.

What counts as training?

Can content be self-taught (e.g., in a reading and discussion circle)? That is almost impossible to answer. We therefore appeal to the interest of all participating collectives to handle this with integrity.

A lack of further training is not an exclusion criterion per se; however, what results from it
may be.

In any case, a suitable further training programme should be provided that qualifies people
for Awareness-Work in the respective area.

Appendices / Supplementary collections

5.1 Collection of regionally available support structuresren

Several collectively shared lists should contain information in a specific format.
Name of the structure:
Place/Region:
Function/area of responsibility:
Contacts:
Website:
Examples:
Name of the structure: Psychotherapy Helpline
Place/Region: Austria
Function/area of responsibility: follow-up of “serious” cases, sensitisation and psychological
support
Contact: Mon-Sun 8-22 hrs: 0720 12 00 12
Website: https://www.psychotherapie-wlp.at/wlp/psychotherapie-helpline
Name of the structure: Les Migras
Place/Region: Berlin
Function/area of responsibility: Counselling and support
https://lesmigras.de/de/ueber-uns
Who are we here for?
We are a place by and for trans* and cis women, trans* and cis men, all gender-queer, non-binary,
trans* and inter* people who are lesbian, bisexual, gay, pansexual, asexual, queer and also black,
indigenous, people of colour, migrants, refugees or white.
Contact: LesMigraS – Lesbian counselling
Kulmer Str. 20a Backyard – 4th floor 10783 Berlin

Phone: 030 – 21 91 50 90
Fax: 030 – 21 91 70 09
E-mail: info@lesmigras.de
Website: https://lesmigras.de

5.2 Further collection of resources

Further resources are to be shared on a voluntary basis in a share folder, e.g. suggestions for procedures, shift procedures/workflow, checklists,…
The financing of the first step proposed up to this point, the creation of a common working basis, should be financed by a donation from all participating groups if possible.

Stage 2 – outlook: possible expansion

Creating a joint association or joining an existing association for the following purposes would be desirable:

• legal protection
• insurance issues (e.g. liability, accident)
• supervision

We advocate that all members have covered these points in their work.