Berlin British School Parent Teacher Association

Volunteering: why and where to volunteer in Berlin!

What’s good about being a volunteer?

• It opens up new opportunities and challenges
• It develops skills that equip you for life
• You experience diversity and integrate with the community
• You make friends with like minded people
• It can be fun, exciting and fulfilling
• It builds your confidence
• It makes a difference in the world
• It enhances your CV and improves your chances of getting a job
• It helps you to have a purpose and also to practice speaking German

Berlin has many international schools and kindergartens many that may welcome a volunteer to assist in lessons, support the library or run a school interest club... speaking English is especially desirable but any other language could be useful too. It will be easier for you too Google “bilingual kitas Berlin” or “International Schools Berlin” to find the most suitable place for you.

Below are some organisations you may find useful:

 http://www.strassenfeger.org/topic/104.en.html

This is a charity that helps the homeless in Berlin. The website has plenty of information written in English. The charity offers a day centre and second hand shops to support homeless people. Worth looking at even if you don’t want to volunteer!

http://www.nabu.de/nabu/portrait/

This focuses on Environment Preservation. This website, written in German, offers the chance to do regular volunteering as an individual or to organise a group visit either as a one off or throughout the year. It also offers the chance to join a conservation project as part of your holiday!

General Search Sites (The key words for this subject are freiwillig – voluntary, and ehrenamtlich – voluntary/honorary)

Freiwilligenagenturen  (Volunteer agencies)

Many districts seem to have their own volunteer agency, where groups seeking volunteers can register their needs. The Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freiwilligenagenturen eV. (bagfa) has a website where you can search for your local agency – http://www.bagfa.de/ – click on ‘Liste der Agenturen’ then ‘Agenturen-Suche’ then Berlin. E.g. for Charlottenburg/Wilmersdorf it gives the following info:

Freiwilligenagentur Charlottenburg / Wilmersdorf 10585 Berlin, Otto-Suhr-Allee 100

AnsprechpartnerIn:
Frau Heidemarie Hansen
Frau Karin Bischof Frau Brigitte Ohle

Telefon: 030 - 90 29 13 601
Fax: 030 - 90 29 12 299
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You could then maybe visit your local agency and find out about projects where you could help.

http://www.freiwillig.info/

This is the website of the Landesfreiwilligenagentur (regional volunteer agency) for Berlin. If you click on the red ‘Mach Mit Online-Datenbank’ box on the right of the page (http://www.freiwillig.info/mm_machmit_freinet.html) you can search for current volunteering opportunities in Berlin.

Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (DRK) (German Red Cross)

http://www.drk-berlin.de/ is the website of the Red Cross in Berlin. If you click on ‘Ehrenamtlich helfen’ then ‘Helfen’ it gives you numbers to contact etc.http://www.drk-berlin.de/ehrenamt/ehrenamtlich_helfen.htm

Diakonisches Werk der EKD (Evangelische Kirche) – Charitable/welfare work of the protestant church

http://www.diakonie-portal.de/ is the website of the welfare ‘arm’ of the Evangelische Kirche. http://www.charisma-diakonie.de/  will take you to the volunteer agency bit of the site (Freiwilligenagentur Charisma - Schönhauser Allee 141, 10437 Berlin
Tel.: (030) 44 32 37 11, Fax: (030) 44 32 37 13) where you can fill in a “Fragebogen fuer Freiwillige” (questionnaire for volunteers) online, if you are interested in offering your services.

http://www.caritas.de/ – Caritas (the welfare arm of the Catholic church)

http://www.caritas-ehrenamt.de/ – is the volunteer bit of the site. You can click on ‘Angebote fuer Freiwillige’ and do a search by putting in your post code.

www.berlin.de/buergeraktiv/ehrenamtsuche

This is the citizen’s action/voluntary work section of the main Berlin administrative authority’s website. You can search for volunteering opportunities according to whom you would like to help, what sort of work you’d like to do and in which part of the city. It then gives you details of links to projects & organisations looking for volunteers. Unfortunately this part of the site appears to be only in German so you may need someone with good German to help you search on it.

http://www.buergerhilfe-berlin.de/

This is the website of a privately run organisation called Bürgerhilfe Kultur des Helfens gGmbH, which appears to offer social-work type advice and support to those for whom (in the words of their website)  social problems have become so difficult that they can’t cope with them by themselves. (“wenn soziale Schwierigkeiten so stark geworden sind, dass die Betroffenen aus eigener Kraft es nicht mehr schaffen.”)The site does give an email address to contact if you are interested in voluntary work (ehrenamtliche Taetigkeit).

Any organisation with ‘Diakonie’ or ‘diakonisch’ in its name is usually linked to the Evangelische Kirche Deutschland (EKD – ie. the protestant/Lutheran church). (‘Diakonie’ is the ecclesiastical word for social/welfare work.) Any church can of course be a way to find voluntary possibilities.

The “gruene Damen” of the Charite hospitals.

The “gruene Damen” (so-called because of the green uniform) are a group of (mostly) women who visit and assist patients at the Charite hospitals in Berlin. The co-ordinator, Christiane Hahn (Tel: 030 7116304), is based in Mitte and says that they are always looking for new volunteers. You would need some German because the work involves talking to & helping out patients. But it would also be a good way of improving your German!

Please let me know if you become involved in any of the organisations mentioned here, or of any others you hear about!

Happy Volunteering,

Libby Hassanali

Community Liaison Officer

November 2009