17.03.2025 Accompanying measures for engagement funding of former South-North volunteers in the Global South

We drew attention to this funding opportunity in the last partner newsletter (June 2024). Since then, the weltwärts coordination unit has received some project outlines, phone calls and a total of four requests. Two requests were approved last year. Unfortunately, the other two requests were denied, but we did provide information on what changes would be necessary in order for those requests to have a good chance of receiving funding.

Which requests have been approved?

The Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missionswerk Leipzig e.V. ran a three-day seminar in Tanzania, to which nearly 20 former South-North volunteers from the last ten years were invited. The goal of the seminar was to allow volunteers from different years of service to network with one another and to act as ‘multipliers’ of developmental engagement.

The former volunteers reflected on their experiences as volunteers in Germany from the perspective of hindsight. They formulated individual and collective goals for social and development-related engagement in Tanzania. Based on these aims, the former volunteers developed joint visions and specific action plans in a ‘future workshop’. They established what would be required of their sending organisations and other supporting stakeholders.

In a project by Ecoselva e.V., 17 former South-North volunteers from Peru joined forces to set up a hiking group. They established a structure for sustainable hiking tourism in the Peruvian regions of Pasco and Huanuco.

During their exchange year in Germany, the volunteers learnt the role hiking groups have played in the development of the network of hiking trails and of ecotourism. They also saw the opportunities for new sources of income that hiking tourism can bring to rural areas. After their service, many of the volunteers returned to their parents’ organic farms in Peru. They brought with them new ideas and concepts for the future of their villages. With their hiking club, those returning home also wanted to establish a circular economy for locally produced organic products. In particular, the indigenous women of the villages stand to benefit economically from hiking tourism.

Together with the village population and the current North-South volunteers, the returned South-North volunteers are looking to develop and signpost hiking routes. In doing so, they hope to incorporate the ecological, social and cultural elements of the region. Short, medium and long routes will be created, some circular and some point-to-point. Maps will be produced for relevant web portals. This project will also boost the personal and professional competencies of the former volunteers. Those who volunteer as a collective acquire important key skills: teamwork, assumption of responsibility, knowledge transfer, problem solving and a variety of organisational abilities.

What needs to be considered when submitting a request?

Projects for engagement funding by and for former South volunteers must be submitted through a German implementing organisation and implemented together with a partner organisation in the Global South.

Would you like to learn more about the funding conditions?

The framework conditions for accompanying measures are explained on our website in multiple languages. Before submitting a request, we recommend that the interested sending organisation in the Global South contacts their German partner organisation as early as possible (submission deadlines are always 1st June and 1st January). The German implementing organisation will then contact the weltwärts coordination unit in order to discuss your project idea:

Developing measures to accompany the programme