Award-winning volunteer agencies
Volunteer agencies bring together people in need and helpers.
People in Germany like to lend a helping hand and contribute some of their free time to do so. Around every third citizen is involved in volunteer work. The helpers train young footballers, support senior citizens in everyday life and teach German to refugees. Their involvement often comes quite naturally, because they have been members of a sports club for many years, or because help is needed in their neighbourhood. But what happens if you want to help, but you do not know where it is needed?
Today, volunteer agencies have become established in almost every German city. Anyone who would like to become a volunteer can register there. And institutions that are looking for support let the agencies know what kind of help is needed. The agencies then put the two sides in touch with each other. Many of the agencies also offer further training for volunteers and develop ideas to improve life and living together in their city. Here are three examples of particularly innovative, award-winning volunteer agencies.
Weimar volunteer agency organises the WeimarWillIch volunteers’ day every year. This is when citizens volunteer to spend the whole day working on charitable projects. And in order to encourage even more people to become involved in creating a lively civil society, the agency marked its tenth anniversary by starting to run city tours in an old school bus. The informative tour about volunteer work “Engagement? Voll abgefahren!” was honoured with the 2015 Innovation Award of the Federal Association of Volunteer Agencies.
Essen volunteer agency enables around 900 new volunteers each year to become permanently involved in kindergartens, schools, hospitals, homes for senior citizens, rescue services and other areas. The agency also works together with businesses that want to support civil society in Essen. The volunteer agency has been voted a “place of ideas” by the “Land of Ideas” initiative.
Freiberg volunteer exchange has started to spotlight a special area with its “Language is a Bridge” project, which it has set up together with the city’s Technical University. Among other things, this initiative brings international students together with “language buddies” who help them to learn German. The project has won awards from the Sponsors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany and from the Federal Foreign Office.
International Volunteer Day on 5 December 2015
