UW/H strengthens voluntary work in Witten through free educational programmes and targeted networking

Working together for strong volunteering in Witten: Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) and the volunteer agency Fokus des Caritasverbands Witten e. V. are taking their cooperation to a new level and relying on strong partners. In cooperation with the vhs Witten | Wetter | Herdecke, they are offering free educational events for volunteering citizens and students. With an accompanying campaign and a constantly growing online portal, they want to make volunteering in Witten more visible and further professionalise it.

In the winter semester 2024/2025, the topics of change management and member recruitment in the digital world are on the agenda:

• Workshop I: Engagement and initiative culture - change management 
  Date: 24.10. & 14.11.2024, 16:45 - 21:00, B63 (Bahnhofstraße 63, Witten)
  In the workshop, volunteers learn about contemporary and digital methods to successfully support associations in change processes. The focus is on the role of the participants as process facilitators who can constructively utilise resistance and guide their association safely through phases of change.
  Registration
• Workshop II: Strategic member recruitment 
  Date: 21 November & 12 December 2024, 16:45 - 21:00, B63 (Bahnhofstraße 63, Witten). Participants learn how associations can attract and retain new members in the long term in an increasingly digitalised world with targeted public relations work, appealing social media campaigns and active community management.
  Registration

Networking, sharing knowledge, creating awareness

Both workshops will be led by speakers from the "Ehrenamt 2.0" initiative. Participation is open and free of charge. The offer is part of the Kreativ.Quartiere Ruhr funding programme, which is financed by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and managed by ecce GmbH.

"The first two workshops last semester were already met with great interest and led to a fruitful exchange between citizens and students," summarises Kathrin Brommer, Service Learning and Community Engagement Officer at UW/H. "Our main aim is to strengthen the 'heart' of volunteering - the passion and commitment that keep it alive."

The workshops also help to forge stronger links between volunteering in the region and student engagement. They are open to citizens and are also part of Witten/Herdecke University's teaching programme. Students have the opportunity to have both their voluntary work and their participation in the workshops recognised each semester. "We want to promote the commitment of our students and offer them space to take on social responsibility," explains Dr Andreas Lingg, academic staff member and project manager of the academic teaching and research platform sieben:viertel at UW/H. "In this way, studying at the UW/H should also contribute to personal development and encourage our students to actively work together with Witten's citizens for a just and diverse society."

Further information

In order to make the numerous volunteering opportunities in Witten visible, the UW/H launched an online platform at sieben-viertel.de/ehrenamt in cooperation with the volunteer agency Fokus in April 2024. Around 25 organisations that are still looking for support are currently presented here. More are in preparation. The platform, which is funded by the Stifterverband, aims to facilitate access to voluntary work and further increase participation.