Solidarity

Be it a dancing, football or carnival club - they bring together people with similar interests and shared goals. That gives people a feeling of belonging.

Statistically speaking, Germany has approximately as many club members as residents. Nearly 80 percent of the approximately 580,000 clubs in Germany are managed entirely by volunteers. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find volunteers to serve on the clubs’ managing boards.

With the Civic Engagement Requires Leadership program the Robert Bosch Stiftung is supporting clubs in the process of acquiring and training volunteer board members. The foundation offers workshops on communication, conflict management, or winning new members.

Jan Backes has participated in several of the Engagement Needs Leadership events. As a legal intern, he was particularly interested in the laws governing clubs. He can’t understand why more young people don’t want to get involved in club management. "You can gain incredible experience for your career here, without serious pressure."

In the multi-generational workshop, senior citizens pass down their technical and practical knowledge on to children and teenagers.

"To know that you’re needed, that’s fantastic," says Eyerer, a former professor and the head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology.

When you start working with asylum seekers, the headlines about refugees become human. "Every refugee has a face and a name, like you and me," Lettow-Berger notes.

Many of the people on that council list have become her friends.

Every day, a young Senegalese man stops by her store for tea on his way to and from his job at an old folks home, where he is paid just over a Euro per hour.

For 9-month-old Amir she organizes a baby tub and a crib, she helps a family father to reunite with his family and move in together.

A Syrian who was being forced to move into a homeless shelter when he turned 18 is now renting a room in Christiane Lettow-Berger's home. When she takes him to vocational training in the morning, she also picks up three Syrian girls and drops them off at their school.

In her bookshop she helps refugees to fill out applications for asylum.

As well as learning a little Arabic, Farsi, Pashtu, Dari and Tigrinya, the literary scientist has also picked up another language: German officialese. "She is our boss," says one of the refugees and puts his arm around her.

Far from Germany's bigger cities, refugees often rely on volunteers.

Christiane Lettow-Berger attends VOR ORT networking meetings and seminars. The VOR ORT project, initiated by the Bavarian Refugee Council and funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, provides information through workshops, assists with networking with other volunteers, and helps encourage those giving their own time and energy.

Lettow-Berger will be passing on her bookshop to a new owner soon. As a city council member, she wants to continue her work, but on a more political level. So that in the future, refugees are able to have a decent chance of really becoming part of the local community.

When it comes to her own work as a cultural manager, Vivian also got inspired by others. In Bremen, Germany, she interned at a cultural center as a fellow of "START".

With the program "START – Create Cultural Change", the Robert Bosch Stiftung supports dedicated cultural managers from Greece who promote social participation and increase solidarity in Europe by organizing innovative cultural projects.