Wefugees

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Wefugees gUG

logo
legal form Entrepreneurial company (limited liability)
founding 2016
Seat Berlin
management Cornelia Röper , Henriette Schmidt
Website info.wefugees.de

Wefugees (former name: Wefugee) is a 2016 founded social - Start-Up from Berlin that the claims to be world's largest online community for Escaped operates and helpers. The platform sees itself as a central point of contact for questions on various topics from the everyday life of the newcomers. By networking with locals and experts, an exchange of knowledge is stimulated, which accelerates the integration process and makes it easier for refugees to get into the society of their host country.

Naming and self-image

The name “Wefugees” is a fusion of the English words “ Welcome ” and “ Refugees ”. An alternative meaning of the word is ' We are all Refugees ' ('We are all refugees'). It is intended to underline the integrative and egalitarian aspiration of the start-up's work as well as to emphasize the platform's common spirit. In this sense, the slogan "Community without borders" was chosen, which also emphasizes the low-threshold accessibility of the online offer.

The assumption on which the work of Wefugees is based is that access to information is essential for successful integration in the host country. For this reason, all newcomers should be given simple, interactive and direct access to information. This should enable them to help themselves and enable them to live an independent, independent life .

Wefugees pursues this goal with the help of a society-wide approach in which refugees not only come into contact with experts, but also consciously come into contact with locals. This knowledge transfer leads to more efficient management of bureaucratic hurdles. In addition, further integration into the subsystems of society is supported.

history

The idea for Wefugees came about in 2015 when the peak of the migration movement from the Middle East, North and North East Africa to Germany was reached. In a self- experiment, Cornelia Röper , who later became the founder of Wefugees, tested the existing options for obtaining information on relevant questions from the everyday life of a refugee. The sobering impressions gained in the process led to the question of how access to information can be made easier for newcomers to Germany.

After conducting a co-design workshop with refugees and the resulting realization that an online platform based on the question-and-answer principle makes sense, the online community started in January 2016. The technology company enabee provided the technical basis for the platform. The implementation of the project was made possible at the beginning by the Think Big program of Telefónica o2 and by the Startery grant from SAP in the Social Impact Lab Berlin . In addition, funding from the Engagement with Perspective (PEP) program was used.

It was founded as a non-profit entrepreneurship company (gUG) in August 2016. The shareholders are the founder Cornelia Röper and her co-founder Henriette Schmidt. In addition, the first community events were held in Berlin and Munich in order to achieve greater integration between online and offline areas. In 2017, Wefugees aimed to expand its offerings outside of the Internet.

The online community

Communication on the platform takes place primarily in German and English . In addition, it is also possible for newcomers to ask their questions in their mother tongue . With the involvement of Arabic and Farsi- speaking volunteers, these can be translated into German or English and answered accordingly by the entire community.

The platform is divided into numerous subject categories:

  • Home & Living ("Home & Living")
  • Asylum Proceedings ("Asylum Procedure")
  • Education ("training")
  • Work ("work")
  • Legal Advice ("legal advice")
  • Money ("money")
  • Activities ("leisure activities")
  • Healthcare ("Healthcare")
  • How can I help? ("How can I help?")
  • Other Questions ("Other Questions")
  • Information & Offers ("Information & Offers")

The quality assurance of the answers on the platform is ensured by several moderators. They not only lead the discussion , but also refer to experts who work with refugees who are involved in the community. With the help of this network with other refugee aid organizations, Wefugees is able to respond to a wide variety of questions with well-founded answers.

In 2017, the platform recorded over 5,000 accesses and over 1,000 users a day. By April 2017, the community had around 1,500 members. More than 800 questions were asked and answered. With 11,000 regular users per month (as of Oct 2018), Wefugees is the world's largest online platform for refugees. In 2018, Cornelia Röper received the Global Goals Changemaker Award for this project , which was presented to her personally by Bill Gates .

Organization & team

Wefugees is supported by a five-person core team in Berlin and a group of around 15 volunteers and supporters - volunteers , refugees, students and practitioners from refugee work .

Cooperations

Wefugees maintains cooperation partnerships with Kiron Open Higher Education , a platform that gives refugees access to real courses of study via online courses from universities , the social temporary employment agencies avenir and Aiden , the auditing and consulting company Mazars , the solidarity neighborhood in Richardkiez SoliNaR , which is based in Munich club help from person to person and online training and job exchange for Escaped Workeer . These companies and organizations support the Wefugees platform with their expertise in working with refugees. In return, access to the online community gives them the opportunity to link the offline and online areas of their work.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ You are welcome. (No longer available online.) June 20, 2016, formerly in the original ; accessed on June 2, 2020 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.changemakercourse.com
  2. ↑ Thomas Frey: Refugees ask, Wefugees answers: Online platform as an interactive aid project. In: Berlin Week . May 23, 2016, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Leo Mühring: Digital support for refugees: Interview with Wefugees. In: TheTechnologicals. May 2, 2017, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Ken Fullerton: Wefugee: Supporting the Integration of Refugees in Germany. In: Ayiba Magazine. January 13, 2016, accessed June 12, 2020 (American English).
  5. ↑ Wefugees: ABOUT US. In: Wefugees. Retrieved June 12, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Sarah-Indra Jungblut: TATENDRANG: Wefugees.de - An online community for refugees and helpers | Responsibility. June 21, 2016, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Leonie Fößel: Wefugees: On this page you can help from the sofa. In: Greenpeace magazine. June 27, 2016, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Thomas Frey: Help for Wefugees. In: Berlin Week. August 16, 2016, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  9. ^ Daniel Larrivee: Changing the Way Refugees Connect. April 25, 2017, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Wefugees: Browse categories. In: Wefugees. Retrieved June 12, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Regina Rohland: Wefugee, community without borders: "[...] Online hub for refugees, volunteers and organizations". In: SustainableJobs.de. March 21, 2016, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  12. ^ Berlin Valley editors: Bill Gates gives Changemaker Award to Wefugees founder. In: BerlinValley. October 16, 2018, accessed June 12, 2020 .