University honoured by Federal Minister of the Interior

UniKAT project of University of Siegen receives national Helfende Hand sponsorship award for supporting voluntary work.

In Berlin, the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Dr. Thomas de Maiziere, presented the winners of the national sponsorship award “Helfende Hand” with their prize. One of the winners is the University of Siegen. In the category “Supporting voluntary work”, the project “UniKAT: die Universitäten im Katastrophenschutz” (UniKAT: universities in disaster control) received 5th prize. This project, which is unique across Germany, aims to encourage students, as the managers of the future, to support civil protection. “This is a special distinction for a particularly valuable undertaking that we are very proud of. Voluntary help is vital and deserves any and all support,” says Ulf Richter, Chancellor of the University of Siegen.

UniKAT – universities in disaster control

UniKAT was set up at the University of Siegen to raise awareness among students – the managers of the future – of the importance of voluntary help. After all, many voluntary helpers depend on leave being given by their employer in order to be where they are needed in an emergency. For example, firefighters can only be of assistance if their employers give them time off for operations. “With the UniKAT project we aim to emphasize the significance of volunteering and raise awareness for this kind of work. We are delighted by the award and the appreciation associated with it, and this encourages us to do even more,” says Toni Eichler, a doctoral candidate at the University of Siegen who is involved in the UniKAT team. UniKAT provides opportunities to get involved in civil protection and be trained as an emergency helper – without any obligation. Emergency helpers are volunteers who are called on for assistance in particular situations to use their special abilities, such as language skills, excellent interpersonal skills and technical expertise.

Campaign week in the summer semester of 2016

A campaign week will take place at the University of Siegen in the summer semester of 2016. In cooperation with public authorities and organizations with functions related to safety and security (including the fire service, the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief, Malteser Hilfsdienst and the German Red Cross), students are given an understanding of civil protection with the system of voluntary helpers. Exercises, interactive activities and workshops will be offered during the campaign week, as well as incentives to examine voluntary help from an academic perspective. For example, students can get involved in the development of ideas and concepts for efficiently redistributing the work at short notice of employees who are involved in operations, in order to minimize the loss of earnings for companies.

Federal Minister of the Interior de Maiziere: “Germany needs volunteers”

The most important German sponsorship award for voluntary work in civil protection has been offered by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) since 2009. More than 200 applicants from all over Germany applied for the “Helfende Hand”. There were a total of 15 winners in three categories. Dr. de Maiziere, German Federal Minister of the Interior, declared at the award ceremony: “Germany needs the many volunteers involved in civil protection. The numerous submissions show us what great significance this sponsorship award has for the volunteers. They have all developed great ideas and projects as to how to promote work in civil protection. The idea behind the sponsorship competition ‘Helfende Hand’ is to bring their dedication more to the attention of the public.” The dedicated helpers have applied with a total of nearly 1,200 projects over the last seven years.

Background
Since 2009, the “Helfende Hand” has been promoting volunteer work in civil protection. The award is given to ideas and concepts that arouse people’s interest in voluntary involvement for civil protection. In addition, the “Helfende Hand” honours companies that particularly support the voluntary work of their employees. The sponsorship award is presented by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior every year around the time of International Volunteer Day on 5 December. You can find further information at

www.helfende-hand-foerderpreis.de

 

Award ceremony in Berlin (left to right): Jörg Koschig, Dr. Thomas de Maiziere (Federal Minister of the Interior), Toni Eichler, Ulf Richter, Stephan Vogt, Prof. Dr. Gebhard Rusch, Reiner Senner (local representative for THW Siegen) and presenter Anne Gesthuysen.