What's your name and job title?

Katharina Gräf, CEO of MIND 

Tell us a few words about your background:

I have a Bachelor degree in modern languages, cultures and business administrations and a Master degree in languages, literature and culture. Before studying I’ve spent one year for Travel&Work in Australia and New Zeeland and went abroad again during my studies for a semester at UWM in Milwaukee and an internship in Costa Rica. After my studies I’ve worked as project and department manager in a local educational institute until I founded MIND together with three colleagues this year. 

What organisation do you work for?

MIND gGmbH 

What does your organisation do?

MIND is a non-profit, educational institute that has made it its mission to contribute to a just society that treats all people equally and that values ​​and cares for its environment. The key to creating such a world on a small-scale, is to bring about change in local communities by providing educational opportunities for all, youth, adults, local and migrant.  

MIND raises awareness of critical issues such as climate change, discrimination, shortage of skilled workers etc. and creates inclusive learning opportunities that take into account the needs of all groups in our society. The MIND portfolio includes offers that support particularly disadvantaged groups in developing skills in the field of work and digitization as well as to promote social and personal skills and to enable these groups to actively participate in our society and to help shape it. 

What is your role in the Code4SP project? What are you currently working on?

MIND is responsible for the evaluation of the project management and implementation, which means a lot of questionnaires… currently it’s time to work out evaluation tools to assess the quality of the adapted training materials as the pilot testing phase is about to start. 

Why is being part of the Code4SP project important to you?

CodeDoor has been a partner of our staff for many years and we have cooperated in several projects, which gave us a first-hand insight of the promising opportunities their infrastructure offers our joint target group. We are proud to help transferring the good practice to our partners and happy to learn more about chances and obstacles for our target groups as well as share our own experience with participants that became CodeDoor beneficiaries.  

How do you like to spend your free time?

I like to travel a lot and generally to be outside in the nature, go hiking or for long walks and to read. I like sports, exercizing and watching ;-D And most of all, I love to spend time with my family and friends.