Welthaus Bielefeld

Welthaus Bielefeld is a non-profit, development-policy non-governmental organisation based in Bielefeld, Germany. It was founded in 1980 as the Dritte Welt Haus Bielefeld (Third World House Bielefeld) and renamed Welthaus Bielefeld in 1999/2000. The organisation describes itself as a regional centre with nationwide reach and a firmly established actor in Germany's development-policy landscape. It is a registered association (eingetragener Verein) with a voluntary six-member board and a full-time management, and it engages roughly 120 volunteers and about 20 full-time staff. The organisation's mission is a world in which all people can live well, pursued through socially just and ecologically sustainable development in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Its work spans development-related education, solidarity-based development cooperation with partner organisations in Africa and Latin America, the weltwärts volunteer programme, public relations and lobbying, international cultural work, and support for the Bielefeld–Estelí town twinning. It also runs a café and shop offering fair-trade food and handicrafts. Welthaus Bielefeld is active locally, nationally and internationally. Its development projects have included work in Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru, and its current overseas project portfolio highlighted on its website includes cooperation with ADECAP in Peru, AKAM in Ethiopia's Oromia region, and ZUBO in Zimbabwe. Through weltwärts, active since 2008, it places volunteers in projects in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Mozambique and South Africa, and since 2014 it has also run the South–North component of the programme in Bielefeld. In July 2009 a foundation, Stiftung Welthaus Bielefeld, was established to promote development cooperation and international understanding, with a particular focus on human rights and a socially just world economic order. As a brand-like civil-society institution, Welthaus Bielefeld combines educational offerings, campaigning, cultural events such as the Bielefelder Carnival der Kulturen (co-organised since 1997), and fair-trade retail under one identity. Its public profile rests on long-term partnerships, volunteer engagement and a strong local base in Bielefeld with national outreach.

Welthaus Bielefeld began in 1980 as the Dritte Welt Haus Bielefeld (Third World House Bielefeld), founded by a small group of young people who had been active in separate solidarity groups focused on Africa and Latin America. As one of the co-founders recalled, they decided to act together and create a centre for the 'Third World' — a place for the people of Bielefeld to learn about countries of the South, take part in actions and projects, and buy fair coffee in the Third World shop. The name 'Dritte Welt Haus' referenced the self-designation of the non-aligned countries as the 'third' world, in contrast to the capitalist 'first' and socialist 'second' worlds. The political climate of the time encouraged such an initiative. In 1980, the Sandinista revolutionaries in Nicaragua were attempting to build a 'new society'; Rhodesia became the independent Zimbabwe after long struggles; and in West Germany the Greens formed a federal party. In Bielefeld, a few Greens and other social outsiders invited people to the inauguration of the new Dritte Welt Haus Bielefeld. Growing numbers of people from student circles, church congregations, schools and party groups were seeking information about the upheavals in Central America and Southern Africa, and ways to get involved. The first tasks of the new house thus developed almost by themselves: providing information and enabling action. Over the following decades the organisation grew into a regional development-policy centre with nationwide reach. In 1999/2000 it was renamed Welthaus Bielefeld. In July 2009, the Stiftung Welthaus Bielefeld was founded to promote development cooperation and international understanding, with a particular focus on human rights and a socially just world economic order. The organisation has been active in the weltwärts volunteer programme since 2008, placing volunteers in projects in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Mozambique and South Africa, and since 2014 it has also run the South–North component of the programme in Bielefeld. It has supported the Bielefeld–Estelí town twinning since the partnership began in 1995, and has co-organised the Bielefelder Carnival der Kulturen since 1997. Today it engages roughly 120 volunteers and about 20 full-time staff, with a voluntary six-member board and a full-time management led by Beate Wolff.

• 2014

  South–North component of weltwärts launched in Bielefeld.

• 2009

  Stiftung Welthaus Bielefeld founded in July.

• 2008

  weltwärts volunteer programme becomes active at Welthaus.

• 1999

  Renamed Welthaus Bielefeld (1999/2000).

• 1997

  Bielefelder Carnival der Kulturen co-organised for the first time.

• 1995

  Bielefeld–Estelí town twinning begins; Welthaus supports solidarity work with Nicaragua.

• 1980

  Founded as Dritte Welt Haus Bielefeld by a small group of young activists.

A regional development-policy centre with nationwide reach, combining education, solidarity-based partnerships, volunteering and fair trade under a single civil-society identity.

• Development policy education and global learning

  School partnership support, teacher training, teaching materials and the Mediothek.

• weltwärts volunteer programme

  Volunteer placements in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Mozambique and South Africa, plus South–North placements in Bielefeld since 2014.

• Development cooperation projects

  Partnerships in Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.

• Fair trade café and shop

  Offers fair-trade food and handicrafts.

• Bielefelder Carnival der Kulturen

  Annual cultural event co-organised since 1997.

1. 1Welthaus Bielefeldwelthaus.de
2. 2Aus unserer Geschichte – Welthaus Bielefeldwelthaus.de
3. 3Über uns – Welthaus Bielefeldwelthaus.de
4. 4Vorstand & Team – Welthaus Bielefeldwelthaus.de
5. 5Welthaus Bielefeldwikidata.org
6. 6Welthaus Bielefeldde.wikipedia.org