Civic commitment in the area of animal welfare is extremely demanding all over the world and is based primarily on voluntary work, especially in Chile. No member organization of the “Chilean Federation for Animal Welfare” network could exist without volunteers.
Fortunately, there are many people who want to serve society and work for a more humane and sustainable world. In Germany, for example, many young men and women have the choice to serve a Voluntary Social Service Year or a Voluntary Environmental Service Year after having completed compulsory schooling and before starting their vocational training.
The choice of one such young woman gave FinnDomingo e.V. the impetus to start setting up a voluntary service. One of the most popular service programs is the International Youth Voluntary Service (IJFD) which is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. If an organization wants to offer voluntary work places in the frame of the IFJD, it must meet strict quality criteria and must document the entire process. After all, it is the responsibility of the organization to prepare and educate the young volunteers, not only to serve humanity in a different cultural environment, but also to gather intercultural, socio-political and personal experience.
In order to gain practical experience, we are implementing our first volunteer project on a private law basis. As soon as we have successfully completed this project, we will apply to the Federal Ministry as a provider organization for the IJFD.
This project is demanding, but a lot of fun. Everyone involved is working carefully to ensure that our first volunteer will soon be able to start her adventure at the dog rescue station of our Chilean partner organization, Homeless Paws Shelter.
Our biggest hurdle is the financing of the project. As fund raising has become extremely difficult during the corona pandemic, we have decided to try alternate ways to finance. Now you can meet our first volunteer under Freya’s voluntary service for Chile’s street dogs on the crowdsourcing platform gofundme.com and convince yourself of her enthusiastic level of commitment and motivation.
We welcome any and all help. No sum is too small. Please consider helping to sponsor our very first volunteer, Freya!
