Active citizenship in Germany is both diverse and an impor-tant pillar of social cohesion and integration. The number of citizens actively involved is rising continuously even if the figure is slightly lower in eastern Germany than in west-ern Germany.157 All in all, around 31 million people each year are involved in clubs, foundations, initiatives, cooperatives, networks, (youth) associations or in religiously motivated contexts. Around three million people are active in volun-tary welfare alone, up to two million volunteers have signed up for disaster relief and around 100,000 volunteers from all age groups work in voluntary services. It is also impressive
156 The special achievement of the Federal Armed Forces was to disband the East German Army, permanently take on former East German Army soldiers whilst simultaneously stationing units and offices in the new federal states.
157 For more details, see 2.1. Active citizenship in eastern Germany.
how many citizens become involved spontaneously, often organising themselves, for instance, to help the many refu-gees who came to Germany.
Without civic participation it would not have been possible to take in the more than one million refugees who have arrived since summer 2015. This has redefined the relation-ship between the organisations and government bodies, especially the municipalities. New priorities must now be set here, cooperation and network structures must be developed further and the integration work carried out by volunteers must be stepped up.
The Federal Government hence believes that it must sup-port and promote all kinds of civic participation in Ger-many on a lasting basis and further develop a culture of recognition.
2.1. Active citizenship in eastern Germany
According to the data of the 2014 German Survey on Vol-unteering, more and more citizens in Germany are using their free time to become involved and to assume responsi-bility. Throughout Germany, more than 40 % of people aged 14 years and above are involved in voluntary work. That’s ten percentage points higher than 15 years ago. The report also shows there has been a similar increase in the number of volunteers both in eastern and western Germany. That being said, volunteers are slightly more involved in western Germany than in eastern Germany. The rate of civic
partic-ipation for western Germany in 2014 totalled 44.8 %, for eastern Germany 38.5 %.
Men volunteer more often than women, both in eastern and western Germany. School pupils as well as people with a higher education are more frequently involved in volun-tary work in both parts of the country than people with a medium to low education level. In the east, younger people volunteer more often than older people. In the west, the rate of civic participation is the same in all age groups with just one exception: People aged 65 years and over volunteer less.
2.2. Promoting active citizenship
Volunteering calls for good framework conditions and good structures at local level so that citizens can become involved in the way that they wish to. This is also particularly impor-tant in eastern Germany especially considering the still relatively low civic participation rate.
The Federal Government aims to improve infrastructure for active citizenship and is hence supporting various initi-atives, such as the National Network for Civil Society, the Federal Association of Volunteer Agencies and the Commu-nity Foundation Initiative. It is also cooperating more with important stakeholders in civil society and business. The aim of the ‘Engagierte Stadt’ network programme, initiated at the beginning of 2015, is to strategically develop active citizenship and help to establish and stabilise local, tri-sec-toral civic participation networks in 50 cities, municipalities
Source: Survey on Volunteering, weighting, own calculations (DZA) Basis: All those polled
Voluntary Survey 1999 (n = 14,922), Voluntary Survey 2004 (n = 15,000), Voluntary Survey 2009 (n = 20,005) and Voluntary Survey 2014 (n = 28,689).
Figure 14: Share of volunteers in eastern and western Germany
0 20 40 60
2014 2009
2004 1999
Eastern Germany in percent
27.9 30.7 30.5
38.5
0 20 40 60
2014 2009
2004 1999
Western Germany
35.7 37.1 37.4
44.8
and throughout Germany. Twenty of the 50 programme partners are located in the new federal states.158
People Support People programme
The support provided by many citizens for people who have fled to Germany has done much to shape a culture of wel-come in Germany. The Federal Government wants to strengthen this civic participation as it is essential for the integration of refugees.
That’s why in January 2016, the Federal Government launched the People Support People programme. The programme will endow sponsorships between refugees and Germans and gain mentors, guest families and guardians for unaccompa-nied minors arriving as refugees. This programme benefits many organisations in eastern Germany that are working at local level to initiate, accompany and supervise guardian tandems.
Improving the culture of recognition
The Federal Government wishes to make the diversity of active citizenship more visible and continuously further develop the culture of recognition. The German Active Citi-zenship Award, which since 2009 has been recognising the exemplary voluntary work of individuals, initiatives and organisations for the common good, has been restructured and, since 2015, is now awarded to the winners of all other awards that are given annually in the regions and nation-wide for active citizenship, including numerous awards in the new federal states. The updating and continuation of existing awards and projects, as well as support for active citizenship week, which presents and recognises committed citizens and innovative projects once a year159, are expres-sions of the Federal Government’s recognition and support of voluntary work.
Federal Volunteer Service
The introduction of the Federal Volunteer Service five years ago has done much to strengthen and create a broader basis for voluntary civic participation. After finishing their com-pulsory school education, men and women of any age can get involved in the Federal Volunteer Service.
People are taking part in Federal Volunteer Service work primarily in social spheres, but the service also offers place-ments in sport, culture and education as well as in civilian and disaster protection. The Federal Volunteer Service is accepted equally in both west and east.160 In the east, more older people are involved in this service.
Due to the huge potential that civic participation offers when it comes to integrating refugees who have come to Germany and the enormous willingness of the people to become involved in this work, the Federal Government is financing up to 10,000 new positions in the Federal Volunteer Service that are related to refugees. Refugees who wish to get involved and have a good chance of remaining in the country can take part in the Federal Volunteer Service, for instance, by passing on to newcomers their own experiences when they first came to Germany. This programme has been well-re-ceived. As of 1 September 2016, 4,498 agreements have been signed for the Federal Volunteer Service related to refugees, including 1,401 which were entered into with refugees. The figures have been rising continuously up to now. In the new federal states, there are 1,503 Federal Volunteer Service agreements with a refugee reference (33.48 %), in Berlin (east/west) 389 (8.67 %) and in the old federal states 2,597 (57.85 %).
2nd Multigeneration Centres action programme
The around 450 multigeneration centres throughout Ger-many that are supported by the Federal Government have a key role to play in their communities when it comes to finding volunteers and support for voluntary civic partici-pation (also specifically by people over the age of 60). There are 117 multigeneration centres in eastern Germany (a good three quarters of them in rural areas) where around 3,000 volunteers are active, including around 200 through the Federal Volunteer Service.
Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)
Promoting civic participation is a permanent task for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) which is present throughout eastern Germany with entirely voluntary, local associations. Assisting refugees is currently a focal area of work by THW. As part of efforts to convince helpers from specific target groups to become involved, refugees are
158 The programme partners in eastern Germany are in Apolda, Bautzen, Dessau-Roßlau, Ebersbach-Neugersdorf, Forst (Lausitz), Freiberg, Görlitz, Guben, Hohe Börde, Marienberg, Naumburg, Neubrandenburg, Neuenhagen, Radebeul, Ribnitz-Damgarten, Schmalkalden, Sondershausen, Stendal, Weißwasser and Zwickau.
159 One of this year’s four nominated BBE civic participation ambassadors, who are always winners of the German Active Citizenship Award, is from eastern Germany (Dresden). This year’s ambassadors were appointed on 13 June 2016 at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
160 In 2015, 37,099.08 volunteers were active on average for the year.
being addressed specifically so that they can be trained as helpers and integrated into German society in this way.
3. Preventing extremism and promoting democracy