Supported by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
There is a great deal of interest among young people in working as a volunteer in a developing country. For society, it is good that young people want to work in developing countries and acquire some international experience and qualifications that will be of help to them in their future lives and when choosing a career.
There are currently far more young people looking for opportunities to work abroad as volunteers.. The existing voluntary service opportunities offered by private organizations using their own funds frequently involve high costs for the volunteers. We want young people from lower income groups to also have opportunities to do volunteer work abroad.
That is why the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as initiated this volunteer service involving assignments in developing countries, which is financing from public funds. The idea behind the volunteer service is the successful formula of “learning by serving” and its aims are two fold: to achieve added developmental value for the partner projects in terms of help towards self-help, and to speak new interest in development issues in Germany.
The new volunteer service is making an effective contribution to development policy information and education work in terms of “global learning” and towards nurturing a new generation of development workers. It is enhancing intercultural understanding and helping increase awareness and acceptance within society of how development policy issues impact on our future. In addition to acquiring knowledge of foreign languages and of specialist development topics, the volunteers also learning about intercultural communication, socio-cultural cooperation and social responsibility, all valuable skills in an increasingly globalizes learning and working environment. The volunteer service is also help to reinforce civil society structures in the developing countries and in Germany.
ICYEA staff and Members has been working with Weltwaerts program since 2008. Our partner organization ICJA, Germany. For more information on this programe please visit www.icja.de
