Next to my work for SK Stiftung Kultur, which unfortunately already ended this week, I have supported KRF – KinderRechteForum since February. The KRF is a non-profit organization based in Cologne and has been committed to the realization of children’s rights since 2014. I got together with their CEO, Üwen Ergün, to start building a new and innovative platform project called „Kids connect“ for the past months. It is of course still in its infancy, but since I am also leaving my volunteer work here for a longer trip to Asia until June, sharing and promoting seemed the obvious thing to do:
Social entrepreneurship is the use of start-up companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. With the „Kids Connect“ platform, we want to digitally transform a focus of KRF’s activities: throughout Germany, it should be possible to enforce child rights by making it possible to file complaints and gain information – accessible at all times, at any location! It is the first project of this kind in Germany and now that I am leaving my volunteer work behind, they are looking for a full-time project manager by the way! (Feel free to contact them or me, of course.)
I really enjoyed my time volunteering for those two organizations (SK Stiftung Kultur & KinderRechteForum) and learned quite a lot: Social Entrepreneurship is a great field to work in and includes everything you want in an interesting and fulfilling work environment. The colleagues you get to know are opening many different perspectives of looking at the usual „business doctrines“. At times, profit-making social enterprises may be established to support the social or cultural goals of the organization but not as an end in itself. For example, an organization that aims to provide housing and employment to the homeless may operate a restaurant, both to raise money and to provide employment for the homeless. Because many people asked me – I would like to mention Kölner Freiwilligen Agentur, which helped me find those projects in the first place.
