Wind
- We are a group of young people who want to take a critical look at the negative and exploitative consequences of international volunteering and develop and support meaningful alternatives. For this purpose, we founded our association Wind (in German: Brückenwind) in April 2017!
- We are convinced of the fundamental potentials and versatile opportunities that volunteering can offer. We fundamentally understand volunteering as a form of solidarity-based and sustainable engagement and would therefore like to draw attention to dangers of possible dependencies and power relationships.
- Through critical engagement with volunteering projects and the motivations, interests and consequences for everyone involved, we would like to promote a sense of responsibility on the one hand, and on the other fuel a critical reflection on one's own positioning in society, above all among potential volunteers.
- Currently, we primarily support volunteers who are involved in projects with and for people on the move and refugees at Europe's (external) borders. We consider this form of volunteering to be a necessary civic engagement. However, social power relations and inequalities are also - or especially - apparent here, which is why we aim to accompany this process critically.
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For Volunteers
Online support for volunteers
Building on the experience gained in various projects, our Team Volunteering has developed an Online Seminar for people who want to volunteer in the support of protection seekers at Europe's (external) borders.
The Online Seminar wants to enable volunteers to critically and reflexively deal with their expectations and experience regarding their volunteering stay and provide crucial information, as well as valuable tips along the way. Through this online support, we want to help you to understand your own positioning as a volunteer and provide you with important orientation, information and suggestions.
The Online Seminar wants to enable volunteers to critically and reflexively deal with their expectations and experience regarding their volunteering stay and provide crucial information, as well as valuable tips along the way. Through this online support, we want to help you to understand your own positioning as a volunteer and provide you with important orientation, information and suggestions.
Education and exchange programmes
We want to draw attention to various critical aspects of international volunteering through our exchange and education programmes. We deal with volunteering in the context of forced migration and so-called development cooperation, and related issues and problems. In doing so, we take an in-depth look at structural racism in society and, among other things, how institutions such as schools, universities, companies, etc. play a role in this context.
It is important for us to hear and consider voices from different perspectives. Our work takes place in mutual exchange, is receptive to ideas and suggestions and therefore remains open in its outcome. It should be accessible to anyone who is interested, that means we want to design our topics in a way that everyone can understand and enable to join in the discussion.
Join us
Perhaps you have already had experience with international volunteering or would like to delve deeper into the topic?
You think it is important to critically engage with structural and social power relations?
You want to get politically and pedagogically involved and like to discuss social issues?
You want to contribute your energies, ideas and social visions to a team of volunteers?
You think it is important to critically engage with structural and social power relations?
You want to get politically and pedagogically involved and like to discuss social issues?
You want to contribute your energies, ideas and social visions to a team of volunteers?
Then feel free to contact us!
How do we work?
- We are all involved in this association on a voluntary basis.
- Accordingly, each of us invests different amounts of time and work into our association, depending on our current situation and capacities. However, a certain degree of continuous commitment is a matter of course for us.
- We live in many different cities across Germany and therefore work mainly online in different teams. But we also try to meet regularly for mutual exchange.
- At the moment, we all speak German and therefore also work together in German - but no knowledge of German does not have to be an exclusion criterion if you are interested to join us.
Become a member
- We are always happy to welcome new members from all parts of society!
- It is not important to us whether you have already dealt with international volunteering in depth or are simply interested in doing so together with us in the future!
- Anyone who enjoys working together in projects, events, educational programmes or social media can join us.
- If you would like to get involved with us, please email us at kontakt@brueckenwind.org. Write us a few words about yourself, your motivation why you want to get involved, and maybe even if you already have ideas about how you would like to contribute.
