Weltwaerts, Volunteers from Germany
Learning by serving
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) decided in 2008 to launch the Weltwaerts Programme (“Going out into the world”), in seeing the value for society, when young people want to work in developing countries and acquire some international experience and qualifications that will be of help for their future lives as well as for the country they have decided to work in.
The volunteers are learning about inter-cultural-communication, socio–cultural-cooperation and social responsibility in an increasingly globalised learning and working environment.
The German Government pays to the volunteers a monthly contribution for board and lodging, insurance, food and pocket money.
Applying conditions
A volunteer has to be at least 18 years old. The minimum of education has to be 10th passed plus a vocational education or 12th passed. They are expected to be open minded, eager to learn, interested in culture and conditions of these countries and have to be good team players.
The projects in the foreign countries are expected to work in fields of important contributions towards development in their region.
The volunteers work fulltime and have to be completely integrated in the local organisation. The work is educational, but it is also real work and calls for a high level of commitment.
Auroville projects concerned
Via the Weltwaerts programme 17 young volunteers started in 2016 volunteering for one year in Auroville. Their projects of work are:
- Auroville Institute of Applied Technology (AIAT)
- Aikiyam School
- Udavi School
- AuroOrchard
- Discipline Farm
- Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG)
- Thamarai
- Botanical Garden
- Deepam
- Pitchandikulam Forest
- Sadhana Forest
- Auroville Sports Resource Center
- WasteLess
- UnLtd Tamil Nadu
For more information, visit www.auroville.de (in German) or write to weltwaerts[a]auroville.de .