ijgd stands for International Youth Community Services. It is a non-profit organisation working in the field of international youth work and political education. ijgd was founded after World War II by a group of pupils and teachers. Since 1949, ijgd has been active throughout Germany as an organisation independent from any religious or political party and recognised by the state authorities.
The aim of ijgd is to forward young people's awareness of social conditions and to support the development of a feeling of social responsibility. The work of ijgd thus includes the promotion of international understanding and the reduction of prejudice between people of different nations, social backgrounds, religions and political ideas.
We have long-term experiences with the organisation of voluntary work.
Ijgd is one of the oldest workcamp organisations in Germany; it organises more than 100 international workcamps in the fields of nature-conservation, care for children and elderly, anti-racism, restoration of old buildings and heritage. ijgd also organises international youth meetings and youth holiday periods in Germany, Europe and overseas.
In addition, ijgd is in charge of different long-term voluntary services such as the voluntary social service (FSJ), the voluntary ecological service (FÖJ), the voluntary heritage service (FJD), mid-term voluntary services overseas (MTV), the European Voluntary Service (EVS) and different trainings and seminars for further education.
ijgd LV Berlin has a specific focus on intercultural projects. In the field of the European Voluntary Service, ijgd Berlin has a number of EVS-placements in the area of intercultural work, migration, health, social work, projects involving cultural initiatives as well as media and arts and the support of marginalised groups. We work as a sending organisation for young people that want to do a voluntary service aborad (2 weeks to one year). The Belin office also offers mid-term voluntary services (mtv) between two to six months in Africa, Asia und Latin- America.
The national association of ijgd is a member of DPW - Deutscher Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, Gesellschaft für internationale und politische Bildung, Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations, IJAB - internationaler Jugendaustausch und Besucherdienst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland and AdB - Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten.
Since 2002 ijgd - international youth community services - regional association Berlin coordinates projects in the framework of the European Voluntary Service under its pilot project "further development of voluntary services in socially deprived areas. These projects are located in socially deprived areas in Berlin.
This pilot project supports social integration and intercultural leraning, and it is particularly aimed at small non-profit project and initiatives.
The projects are active in the fields of intercultural work, migration, health, social work, cultural activities, media, arts and support especially for marginalised groups.
Since 2004, we have been involved as a sending organisation for the European Voluntary Service.
Since then, we are in charge of about 12 European volunteers in Berlin in a year.
We send about the same amount of European volunteers to projects of our partner organisations abroad in a year.
From 2007, we want to support new projects in the framework of the European Voluntary Service in Berlin, among other themes in the field of heritage protection. Furthermore, our new projects will not just be located in socially deprived areas anymore.
So far, we have gained positive experiences with this progamme. Evaluations from our partner organisations and many German and non-German participants have confirmed this assessment.
With our work, we would like to contribute to international understanding between people and to intercultural learning. This is the reason why we would like to be involved in the programme Youth In Action, Action 2.
ijgd also organises international workcamps, mid-term voluntary services in Africa, Asia and Latin-America and the voluntary social service year abroad (FSJ-I).
Details
Activities: Sending EVS volunteers, Coordinating EVS projects