🇬🇧 About FÖJ-AKTIV e.V.

FÖJ-AKTIV e.V., founded in 2005 and run by volunteers, is an non-profit organisation for volunteers of the ecological voluntary service (FÖJ) in Germany. The aims are to promote the FÖJ, to consult and support applicants, and to plan and implement local, regional and national activities to foster participation and multiply the participation of FÖJ-volunteers.

The organisation supports its members (recent and previous FÖJ-volunteers) by personal or financial aid for local, regional and national projects focused on the protection of environment, nature and climate as well as on the promotion of volunteering and active citizenship and involvement in society. By serving as a platform for actual and previous volunteers, learning over generations and continuing with FÖJ activities even after finishing the voluntary year are enhanced. Furthermore, the organisation focusses on the support of the special spokesperson-system of the FÖJ, an act of realized democracy.

FÖJ-AKTIV managed to organise and join several local projects from German volunteers, for example flashmobs, workshops and educational activities. For almost 10 years, it has been supporting a national-action-day to promote the FÖJ and a more sustainable lifestlye.

In 2011, FÖJ-AKTIV has organised a one-week-congress („FÖJ-Umweltkongress“) about environment and sustainability on national level with 60 participants. The main aim of this project (declared as UN-Decade project) was to educate multipliers about sustainable living (it included various sessions about food, money and banks, waste management and recycling etc.). The methodologies ranged from lectures and movies to non-formal education such as exchanging ideas, creative workshops and „Open-Space“ (sharing skills and knowledge among each other in workshops), as well as excursions. However, the participants also actively protected the environment, contributing to Germany’s biggest renaturing project „Untere Havel“ and learned about the background of renaturing.

Since 2010 FÖJ-AKTIV is a member of Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) – a Europe-wide environmental network NGO (presented in more detail below) – and has sent participants for building up more skills and competences to several Youth in Action and Erasmus+ projects (Youth Exchanges, Training Courses, Study Sessions).