Weltwaerts Project

Duration: 2008-2009

Donor: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Background:
Weltwaerts is the development volunteer service of the BMZ (German Ministry of economic cooperation and Development). The expenses for this are taken over by the BMZ and the sending organisation which ensures that also young people from lower income groups have the opportunity to do voluntary work abroad.
BORDA is one of 192 approved organisations that send young people in terms of this project to these developing countries. The prerequisites that BORDA expects the applicants to meet are higher than the prerequisites of the BMZ. Despite the fact that the applicants should be aging between 18 and 28, that they have finished school and that they are interested in different cultures, BORDA also wants them to be highly qualified. The applicants should be studying on a university or an academia in a project related field. This ensures that the weltwaerts people can work on the project in an effective way, which will increase the outcomes for of the project for BORDA and the participant.
The new weltwaerts projects will be online on the BORDA Homepage in April. The selection of the weltwärts people takes place by inviting the applicants to an assessment center in June. Then there are preparing seminars in September before the young people go abroad in October. Applicants and interested people please go to weltwaerts-bremen.de.

Aim:
The aims of this project are to support developing countries in achieving sustainable development. It is also supposed to sensitize young adults to the topic of globalization and to give them the chance to broaden their mind by participating in development work.

Activity:
At the moment there are ten young people that are working on six different projects in the weltwaerts programme supported by BORDA. These projects are located in India, Indonesia, China and Lesotho and the weltwaerts people are hosted by BORDA and its partner organisations in these developing countries.

India:
Project 1:
Development by basic needs services
The project aims at the development of an instrument for accurate determination/ measurement of socio-economic impacts of a BNS-Project and it is carried out by a 4th semester politics student from the academy for politics, Munich and a graduated international business student from Constance University.

Project 2:
BNS (Basic Needs Services) for Slum clearance
The project is carried out by a graduated human geography student of the University Bremen and a graduated geography student from Leipzig University and it aims at creating a feasibility study for the development of decentralized basic needs services (DBNS).

Indonesia:
Project 1:
Healthier by decentralized wastewater treatment
The project is carried out by a graduated bachelor student in public health and political science of Bremen University and a graduated social science student from Siegen University. The project aim is the introduction of impact analyses to public health (Health Impact Assessment), as part of decentralized wastewater treatment and hygiene education.

Project 2:
Poverty reduction through emissions trading?
The project is carried out by a graduated geography student of Bremen University. The project aim is the use of emissions trading for the financing and dissemination of Basic Needs Services (BNS) and the collection and documentation of appropriate and accepted methods for calculation of CO2 equivalents through waste composting and use of renewable energies as part of BNS portfolio.

Project 3:
Building new partnerships in Cambodia
The project is carried out by a graduated international peace and security student of London University. The project aims at building a partnership network in Cambodia and the organisation of a local project office.

Lesotho:
Project 1:
Training material for the sanitation Sector
The project aims at the creation of standard drawings and descriptions for training materials covering the sanitation sector and is carried out by an architecture student of Reichenbach University of Applied Science and a graduated agricultural engineering student of University Hohenheim/Stuttgart. There will be soon a pilot project in outskirts of Durban, South Africa with the aim of adapting the training material with a special focus on reuse of treated effluent in horticulture community gardening.

China:
Project 1:
Climate and Ressource Protection in the P.R. of China
The project is carried out by a graduated civil engineering and management student of Karlsruhe University and it aims at the examination of CDM potential in wastewater treatment and the sugar industry and the elaboration of a project request on this basis.

The weltwärts programme is an ongoing cooperation, which is in its pilot phase from 2008 to 2010 at the moment. It is supposed to be repeatedly done every year in the future. The BMZ is planning to send up to 10.000 young people to developing countires on a middle term basis. BORDA as one of the sending organisations is delighted to give young people the chance of working voluntary and learning in partner countries and to broaden their mind in this way.

Outcomes: There are lots of different outcomes of the weltwaerts project. For BORDA and its partner organisation it means that they have highly qualified assistance for at least one year. For the developing countries there are motivated people from an industrialized country that help with their skills and their knowledge to create progress. For the weltwaerts people the outcome is experience of life and they will learn about intercultural communication, socio-cultural cooperation and social responsibility, all valuable skills in an increasingly globalised learning and working environment. There will also be positive effects for Germany when the weltwaerts people reinforce the civil society structure with their experiences and new ideas.