ENGAGEMENT UND ERWERBSARBEIT IN EUROPA - BBE

Marc-Axel Hornfeck, German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
20
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Dear Organisers from the ‚Institut für Sozialarbeit
und Sozialpädagogik‘, the institute for social work
and social education, and from the ‚Bundesnetzwerk
Bürgerschaftliches Engagement (BBE)‘, the national
volunteering network, dear Dr Klein, dear Ms Riedel,
dear Contributors, and dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to be able to welcome you in the name of
the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens,
Women and Youth, and particularly in the name of its
Federal Minister Dr Kristina Schröder, to the experts
conference on ‚Volunteering and Gainful Employment
in Europe‘. This experts conference marks an important
point on the agenda of the national European
Year of Volunteering 2011. We are now far more than
halfway through the European Year of Volunteering,
and a lot has already happened so far.
The year started in February with a joint experts conference
held by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs,
Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft
der Freien Wohlfahrtspflege, the
national association of independent welfare organisations.
The discourse and exchange on a wide range of
volunteering related issues continued at several regional
conferences in Hamburg, Magdeburg, Potsdam
and Stuttgart; further conferences are still scheduled
to take place. One highlight was the launch of the international
‚7 bridges that connect‘ project by Federal
President Wulff in Görlitz in June. This international
project is being run in five European countries and will
continue in the coming European Year 2012.
Of particular importance to us are the numerous
events, conferences and projects being organised by
civic organisations, charitable foundations and businesses
within the scope of the European Year. The
more than 2,000 events during this year‘s ‚week of
community volunteering‘ organised by the BBE and
supported by ourselves also demonstrate the wide
spectrum and many faces of volunteering in Germany.
A further highlight of the year was the German leg of
the European Year of Volunteering tour, which visited
Berlin from 14 to 20 October. To raise public awareness
of the European Year of Volunteering, and to link
the activities of the 27 EU member states, this tour
of volunteers passes through all of the capitals of the
member states of the European Union, offering space
and time for activities related to civic engagement
over several days in each location. The conclusion of
the Year will coincide with the awards ceremony for
the Deutscher Engagementpreis award for outstanding
civic engagement on 2 December 2011.
Ladies and gentlemen,
A lot has happened in Germany since the European
Council agreed the objectives for this year‘s Year of
Volunteering in November 2009: A national volunteering
strategy was passed about a year ago. The national
volunteering strategy clearly shows that Germany
sets great store on civic engagement; numerous national
organisations for the promotion and recognition
of volunteering are already in place. It focuses on
addressing all social groups, getting them together and
thereby involving them in shaping community life. This
in turn results in an extensive scope for action, one
area of which is also the range of issues touched on by
today‘s event. The relationship between volunteering
and gainful employment is characterised by their close
interwovenness and extreme complexity.
i am referring primarily to the role of civic engagement
in terms of labour policy and employment here.
At the core is the activating element inherent in civic
engagement. Besides increasing the sense of selfworth,
qualification by means of volunteering also
significantly improves the chances of better access to
paid employment.
In this context, I would like to briefly address the example
of voluntary services: In the government-run voluntary
services sector, the Bundesfreiwilligendienst (federal
voluntary service) and the Jugendfreiwilligendienste
(federal voluntary youth services), informal learning in
a practical social setting promotes the acquisition of