Germany: Jörg Warras, Info Sozial director

The media as a means for social change. Jörg Warras is only 35 but ten years ago he founded his own independent online social media project as part of his dissertation ? he was graduating in Education – today it has become a hub for social and educational information in Germany. Jörg also works as a media educator for the city of Bremerhaven.

When did you first start working in the third sector?
I founded my internet portal, Info sozial, in 1998 and have been working there as a volunteer ever since. The original idea came to me while I was still a student; I was looking for a topic to research for my dissertation and I decided to unify social work with the internet media. I pay the costs for technical issues on my own because I strongly believe in independence and this way I do not have to make compromises on what is published.

How did you first become interested in the third sector?
My interest in the social began with my studies in education. Of course professional social work is also important to me, but I think that some projects and initiatives, like my own, can only work if they are truly non profit.

What would you say are the greatest challenges that the third sector in Europe faces today?
I think that the European process of ?growing together? is bringing up a whole set of new social issues. For sure we will all need to profit from each others work and the experience. For instance a good opportunity is represented by the development of European networks and form this point of view internet platforms become more and more important. For example, in order to know what Germany can offer Europe?s non profit sector I need to know more about the situation in other countries. I find this very interesting and even reading vitaeurope.org I have started to know more about the non profit sector in other countries.

And what are the main challenges that civil society faces today?
Civil society has to face two main challenges: first of all the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the growing problems due to globalisation, like the ?working poor?. Another topic is the unequal access to education. Education is a key factor in the preservation of participation and opportunity equity.

What have you learned from working in the third sector?
One of the things I admire most in the third sector is the degree of engagement that is achieved, the creativity that is used to make things happen with very few resources. This is also something that is reflected in my project.

Do you think there is potential to establish partnerships between the profit and the not for profit sectors?
Partnerships between profit and non profit actors are already part of everyday lif, at least in Germany. As a matter of fact much community welfare work sees the participation of different actors: on the one hand non profit projects can profit from the resources of the profit sector, on the other hand the profit world can profit from the engagement of the no profit sector.

Do you have a particularly interesting or favourite website to suggest to our readers?
A website I often visit because it uses many different sources and I always find new things is: www.fachkraefteportal.de . Also a very interesting project is www.gute-tat.de.

More info:
www.info-sozial.de