Prevent loneliness and support those affected: Family Minister Paus has presented a “strategy against loneliness”. Social organizations welcome the move, but are skeptical about its success.
In Berlin-Friedrichshain, people didn’t wait for a political strategy of loneliness. The city mission has created a meeting place here. Every Wednesday, neighbors from the Travekiez meet over lunch together to spend a few hours together.
Lothar likes the chili con carne. This is mainly due to society, he says. Ten women and men of retirement age sit at tables decorated for Christmas with candles and enjoy the home-cooked meal – a lively group, there is a lot of talking and laughing. Everyone is warmly invited according to the motto “Together you eat less alone”. The city mission has had lunch for three years; In the summer in the yard, in the winter indoors.
Lothar also comes every Wednesday because he likes to be among people, he says. The 83-year-old Berliner lives alone with his cat Felix. At the weekend he goes collecting deposit bottles to supplement his pension but also to come into contact with people: “Young and old, it doesn’t matter, I’m just spoken to, I also think that’s very nice, it makes you feel like you’re there again young,” says Lothar, laughing. Most of those who come for lunch live alone, looking for company and a change from loneliness.
“You can’t see loneliness”
For Jost Berchner, the coordinator of the project in Travkiez, there definitely needs to be many more meeting places in the city districts than just parks or playgrounds. He calls it “moderated city places where you can come together in a good atmosphere and experience yourself as a neighborhood.”
In addition to the weekly lunch, they have created a place in the neighborhood called “einLaden”, a shop space where living room concerts, story evenings or exhibitions take place “to bring people together, spend a little time together and see each other as neighbors,” says Berchner . It would be nice, he says, if everyone knew more about their neighbors than just the last name on the doorbell – “that they develop an eye and a heart for the people in the neighborhood.” Berchner’s experience is that there is a lot of loneliness that you don’t see, that goes under the radar in the hustle and bustle of the big city.
Berchner thinks it’s good that the federal government is now taking on the issue with the strategy paper, but it takes more than just “wanting to take on the issue,” he says. He has doubts as to whether concepts can be used to spark a matter of the heart: “I wish it was and our society needs it. But I have my question marks.”
111 measures to combat loneliness
For Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Alliance 90/The Greens), loneliness is “one of the most pressing issues of our time.” It has negative effects on health and social interaction. Paus wants to take the topic of loneliness out of the taboo zone. The cross-departmental “strategy against loneliness” developed by her company is intended to provide more support to lonely people and combat social isolation. Because there are ways out of loneliness, according to the family minister: “No one who is lonely in Germany is alone.”
The aim is to shed more political and scientific light on the topic. The 111 measures are intended to strengthen social solidarity and social interaction.
No further funding planned
Specifically, the Family Minister wants to raise public awareness of the issue with annual action weeks and regular campaigns. In order to close knowledge gaps, research into the health, social and political effects of loneliness should be promoted. A so-called loneliness barometer is also planned. The aim is to examine the extent and prevalence of loneliness. The federal government also wants to continue to promote model projects to combat increasing loneliness in communities and also shorten waiting times for therapy places.
According to the Family Minister, no further financial resources are planned to implement the strategy’s plans. The project thrives on going into the structures that already exist, such as sports clubs or multi-generational houses.
Caritas: “Strategy must be more than a well-known name”
The German Foundation for Patient Protection, among others, criticizes the fact that no additional financial resources are earmarked for the implementation of the strategy measures. Many initiatives in the municipalities simply don’t have the money, said board member Eugen Brysch: “So it will be important that families, friends, neighbors, former employers, clubs and churches face up to the responsibility.” Relying on the federal government is a waste of time, says Brysch.
The German Caritas Association also warns against purely symbolic politics. The loneliness strategy must be more than a well-known name or a loneliness barometer. The announced measures would also have to be adequately financed. Measuring how and where loneliness increases is only effective if effective resources are put into combating it, says the association: “It’s like with fever. Here too, the fever-reducing medication is more important than the thermometer,” compares Caritas. President Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa.
For Ulrich Schneider, the general manager of the Joint Association, it is above all the people who can help combat loneliness: “It’s not just any politicians, it’s not just any big concepts, but it’s really the neighborhood that can help , the many clubs, the visiting services. We can all help.”
Just like in the Berlin city mission in Travekiez – here there is now coffee and pastries on the tables and people do crafts together. If you don’t feel like it, you can just stay and enjoy the company – like Lothar did before he goes home to Felix the cat.