KIST Consult has been actively spreading awareness about the InCommon project with a view to leverage the Volunteers’ Network of major social-service organisations in Carinthia. Arguably due to the statutory obligation of employment and accident insurance, Austria does not have an established network of volunteers, which is accessible to small grassroots organisations.
An important building block of the project InCommon is to identify and reach out to volunteers, who are motivated to support the migrant women in their integration into the host community and the exercise of active citizenship. The strategy was to connect with the organisations like Caritas, Red Cross, etc and to channelize their volunteer network.
The Austrian Red Cross is a non-profit association with a total of 139 district offices and 711 local offices. The majority of the staff works voluntarily, and even in 2012 they had 74,327 volunteers. Ms. Ingrid Trenner, Project Coordinator – InCommon from KIST Consult met with Dr. Peter AMBROZY, the President of Red Cross in Klagenfurt, Carinthia on 25th February 2019.
As an aid organization of the Catholic Church, Caritas supports the community in many ways, including integration. Caritas has over 50,000 volunteers who work with them on diverse Caritas humanitarian efforts across Austria. Mr. Raj Sethia, Project Manager – InCommon from KIST Consult met with Mag.a Judith Oberzaucher, the Head of Volunteers Engagement for the Caritas in Klagenfurt, Carinthia on 1st March 2019.
To join our InCommon volunteers’ network in Austria, please contact: office@kist-consult.com
