The SPD, FDP and Greens had actually agreed in their coalition agreement to strengthen voluntary services. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier even called for a compulsory social year for everyone. But now the funding is to be cut by around a quarter.
The budget for youth voluntary services, including the Voluntary Social Year (FSJ) and the Voluntary Ecological Year (FÖJ), is expected to fall from the current 121 million to 96 million euros in 2024. In 2024, instead of 207 million, only 154 million euros should be available for the Federal Voluntary Service (BFD). This is what it says in the draft budget, which the Bundestag will debate until late autumn.
The family and youth ministry of Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) has to make cuts in many areas in order to comply with the savings targets of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). In order to secure voluntary services as best as possible in this “challenging financial situation,” according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Family Affairs, there should be discussions with the associations, central offices and states. The good news is that the volunteer cohorts starting this fall can be financed as planned.
A quarter to a third of all jobs could be lost
The FSJ, which only young people between the ages of 16 and 27 are allowed to do, is linked to school times. The Federal Voluntary Service, the successor to the community service, is aimed at everyone who is 16 or older. Around 100,000 people, mostly young people, are currently involved in hospitals, schools, daycare centers, museums and environmental associations.
If the cuts come as planned, Kristin Napieralla, spokeswoman for the Federal Working Group FSJ, expects that a quarter to a third of the volunteer positions could be eliminated. That would be a “slap in the face” for all volunteers, providers and institutions. “The porters are very unsettled and don’t know how they’re going to manage it,” says Napieralla. Volunteers take on auxiliary work in the facilities, for example handing out food to the homeless, playing with children in daycare centers or going for walks with seniors. This relieves the burden on full-time employees who are already working a lot of overtime, says Napieralla.
Voluntary services play a major role in recruiting personnel, especially in daycare centers that are sparsely staffed. After completing their FSJ or BFD, the majority of their volunteers begin training as educators or studying social work, says Naomie Wille, head of a daycare center in Frankfurt am Main. “The planned cuts would be dramatic” – for the children, for the institutions, their providers and for the volunteers themselves.
A petition for better working conditions and pay was launched in March
Marie Beimen is 19 years old and recently completed her FSJ in a hospital near Dortmund. In March she started a petition, originally with the aim of improving working conditions and pocket money for volunteer workers. She and her fellow campaigners collected more than 100,000 signatures and a week and a half ago Marie Beimen spoke to the Bundestag’s Petitions Committee. There she was “horrified” by the planned cuts.
“Voluntary services have a three-dimensional benefit: for the volunteers, for the institutions and for society,” said Beimen on the sidelines of a demonstration with the motto “Don’t cut us away” last Wednesday in Berlin. The Petitions Committee had received their goals very favorably, and now the federal government is responsible, said Beimen. “Where there is a will, there’s a way.”
Swantje Michaelsen, Green MP in the Petitions Committee, says on the phone that she supports the petitioner’s goals. “We Greens find the cuts to voluntary services painful.” It was agreed in the coalition agreement to strengthen voluntary services. “All partners have to take care of that,” says Michaelsen. The FDP-led Ministry of Finance can feel addressed.