Der Begriff „Ehrenamt“ stammt aus dem 19. Jahrhundert, als der Staat von seinen Bürgern die unentgeltliche Übernahme gesellschaftlicher Aufgaben erwartete und sie dafür mit Ehre und Amt, mit Ansehen und Würde belohnte. In unserer heutigen demokratischen Bürgergesellschaft denken wir mehr an Freiwilligenarbeit, die für ein funktionierendes Gemeinwesen unverzichtbar ist und deshalb wie früher von den gewählten Repräsentanten des Gemeinwesens, z.B. in Form von Verdienstorden, Preisen und anderen Auszeichnungen, anerkannt und gewürdigt wird. Mit einigen Literaturtipps will dieser Beitrag dazu ermuntern, dieses große Zukunftsthema weiter zu vertiefen.

Wer kennt das nicht, diese ungewollten Geschenke unter dem Tannenbaum, oder diese gut gemeinten Büchergeschenke an Bibliotheken? Seit vielen Jahren diskutiert der Berufsstand der Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare, ob das Ehrenamt eher als Lust oder Last zu betrachten ist. Die Befürworter können zahlreiche Beispiele für die Bereicherung der Bibliotheksleistungen aufzählen, die ablehnenden Stimmen vor allem die Gefahren für die professionelle Bibliotheksarbeit. Wie so oft, haben beide Aussagen einen Wahrheitsgehalt. Deshalb muss es bei der berufspolitischen Diskussion nicht darum gehen, ob, sondern wie ehrenamtliche Tätigkeiten in Bibliotheken ohne Qualitätsverlust zu integrieren sind.

Im Freistaat Bayern werden rund 21 Prozent der Bibliotheken in kommunaler Trägerschaft rein ehrenamtlich geleitet. In diesen ehrenamtlich geleiteten Büchereien sind 559 Personen tätig, in anderen Bibliotheken sind weitere 1.024 Personen im Ehrenamt aktiv.

Die Begriffe „Ehrenamt“ und „Bürgerschaftliches Engagement“ werden oft als Synonyme benutzt. Das Ehrenamt ist im Kern eine bürgerliche Einrichtung des 19. Jahrhunderts, um angesehenen und gut situierten Bürgern öffentliche Aufgaben ohne Honorar für das Gemeinwohl zu übertragen (vgl. Freiwilligenarbeit und private Wohlfahrtskultur in historischer Perspektive, in: A. Zimmer u.a.: Engagierte Bürgerschaft. Traditionen und Perspektiven. Opladen 2000). Bürgerschaftliches Engagement ist hingegen ein Überbegriff und benennt die Gesamtheit freiwilligen Engagements für oder auch gegen etwas.

This thesis explores the drivers of the commitment of volunteers that support migrants. It aims at investigating the reasons that lead people to decide to get involved in solidarity action with migrants through the case study of Grenoble and the Isère department, in France. Through qualitative interviews with volunteers and coordinators from solidarity organizations in the geographical area, this ethnographically inspired research identifies factors participating to the birth of solidarity action. Beyond finding that there is never one reason for people to get involved, the study identifies internal and external drivers of the commitment and the mechanisms within which they operate. It concludes that a combination of internal and external factors resulted in the volunteers getting involved physically in helping migrants. Additionally, it contributed to the discussion on solidarity, including its political dimension, and generated findings about motives for volunteering that may benefit civil society actors supporting migrants.

This study investigated the motivations and experiences of international volunteers’ who recently worked to support Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The study was particularly interested in exploring volunteers’ individual retrospective accounts, and what role the phenomenon of identity played before, during, and after volunteering. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the study made use of Richard Jenkin’s (2014) theory on social identity. The study found the motivations to support Ukrainian refugees in Poland were influenced by an intertwining of individual and collective identification processes. It found that the interviewees’ self-identifications, whilst volunteering, were constructed based on the principles of similarities and differences, as well as on interactions. In addition, the study found that struggles concerning identity in the post-volunteering period were linked to collective identification and senses of guilt. The study aimed to complement the existing literature by adding a qualitative study about the displacement crisis from an international volunteer lens.

The purpose of this study was to discover what families perceive as the benefits of participating in family volunteering; specifically service missions and the substantive impact the experience had on the families. A grounded theory approached was used. Five families were identified through a criteria-based snowball sampling technique. The data were analyzed using constant comparison. Based on the data analysis a core category emerged that encapsulated the result of the family service experience. The core category was coined, "family deepening." Family deepening encompassed the essence of the process the families in this study experienced. In order to achieve family deepening the participants in this study participated in a purposive, unique, shared, interactive, and challenging experience. Additionally, they experienced sacrifice. All these attributes appeared to contribute to the process of achieving a family deepening experience.

The two research questions presented in this study are: (1) What factors motivate cities to include volunteer service in strategies designed to address local challenges? and (2) How do cities describe the impact of initiatives that rely on volunteer service to address local challenges? This constructivist grounded theory study (Charmaz, 2006) uses the data coding technique proposed by Corbin and Strauss (2008). Themes in the data are uncovered through the coding process, which includes open coding, axial coding, and selective coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). The triangulated data for this study derives from two types of sources: extant texts and key informant interview transcripts from the 39 key informant interviews conducted for this study. The criterion-based purposive sample (Patton, 2002) for this study includes 39 cities belonging to the Cities of Service coalition as of June 2012 that participated in key informant interviews through elected or appointed officials. The Cities of Service coalition is made up of over 100 cities that have subscribed to a Declaration of Service resolving and committing to engage citizens in strategies to address local challenges (Cities of Service, 2010). The Cities of Service initiative specifically promotes the use of volunteer service in addressing local challenges. This study makes a theoretical contribution to the scholarship on volunteering by proposing a grounded theory model for volunteer service demand. The findings of this study suggest that the motivational bases for local governments to engage volunteers in iii strategies to address local challenges are economic motivation, aspirational motivation, and need-based motivation. Additionally, certain feasibility considerations bear on volunteer service demand by local governments. Those feasibility considerations relate to the liability climate, skilled volunteer supply, partnership opportunities, manageability, measurability of impact, and resources. Using data from city organizational charts and 2010 U.S. Census data, the researcher explored whether differences existed as to motivational bases for volunteer service demand relative to city size, mayoral political affiliation, and form of government. No statistically significant differences existed with respect to city size or mayoral political affiliation. The data for this study suggest that cities organized according to the council-manager form of government are less likely to report aspirational motivations for volunteer service demand than cities organized according to the strong mayor-council or weak mayor-council form of government (χ2 =14.36; df=2; p-value=0.007). Additionally, as to need-driven motivations, cities organized according to the council-manager form of government were less likely to be motivated to include volunteers in strategies to address local challenges based on citizen need than cities with the strong mayor-council or weak mayor-council forms of government (χ2 =6.59; df=2; p-value=0.036). According to the findings in this study relative to the second research question, cities assess the impact of service in a variety of ways. Specifically, cities report assessing the impact of volunteer service initiatives in three ways: (1) by creating metrics; (2) by measuring outcomes; and (3) by telling qualitative stories. Notably, two cities report that iv they applying a mix of methods to assessing the impact of volunteer service. The grounded theory model for volunteer service demand and the coded data presented in this study were used to create a generalized logic model for assessing the impact of volunteer service as a strategy to address pressing local issues. Additional findings were made on the data. In particular, a typology for citizen service for cities grounded in the data for this study is presented as an additional finding. The typology identifies four ways citizens serve cities through volunteerism: (1) by serving as ambassadors; (2) by giving money; (3) by supporting city function; and (4) by delivering services. Differences between cities with respect to citywide volunteer coordination based on city size, mayoral political affiliation, and form of government were also explored. A statistically significant difference was observed between small and large cities with respect to the existence of citywide volunteer coordination (χ2 =5.68; df=1; p value=0.007). No statistically significant relationships between mayoral political affiliation or form of government and citywide volunteer coordination were found in this study. Finally, nonthematic observations on the data are presented. These non-thematic observations are comprised of data that did not emerge as a core category of data with respect to the research questions. In sum, cities drive demand for volunteer service, and that demand can be explained through certain motivational bases—economic, aspirational, and need-based—together with various feasibility considerations. Citizens meet the demand for volunteer service in a variety of ways, as the typology offered in this study suggests. The impact of this service v demanded by cities and supplied by citizens can be assessed in a multitude of ways. This study shows that, while assessing the impact of volunteer service as a strategy to address local challenges may be inherently difficult, employing a logic model may be useful to effectively communicate the impact of volunteer service as a strategy to address local challenges.

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Sammanfattning Hemlöshet är ett socialt problem världen över och på Irland kämpar regeringen, tillsammans med olika samhällsorganisationer, för att tillsammans möta en nationell kris på över 13 500 hemlösa människor i landet med kontinuerligt stigande siffror. En av stödinsatserna är olika volontärsprogram reglerat på nationell nivå, som fortlöpande på fem-årig strategisk plan syftar till att uppmärksamma, stötta och förespråka volontärers bidrag och värde för det irländska samhället och välbefinnandet i landet. Regeringens strategi är att fortsätta strävan efter en gemensam ambitiös vision om en starkare, hållbar och mer inkluderande nation. Studiens övergripande syfte är att undersöka volontärers upplevelser inom socialt arbete riktat mot hemlöshet på Irland och kartlägga samt problematisera landets hemlössituation. För att besvara studien har vi valt att använda oss utav kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem individer som arbetar som internationella heltidsvolontärer på Irland. Resultatet från intervjuerna visar att volontärsarbete inom det sociala arbetet med hemlöshet är en lärorik och betydelsefull resa. Genom att hjälpa andra kan det skapa positiva känslor såsom glädje, tillfredställelse och tillhörighet, vilket i sin tur kan bidra till att öka självkänslan hos volontärerna. Oavsett om volontärsarbetet sker genom formellt arbete i organisationer, informellt, eller genom vardagliga handlingar av välvilja, så är viljan att göra gott och bidra till andra en drivande motivation för många individer. / Abstract Homelessness is a social issue worldwide and in Ireland, the government along with various community organizations is striving to collectively address a national crisis with over 13,500 homless individuals in the country, a number that continues to rise. One of the support initiatives is various volunteer programs regulated at national level, which as part of an ongoing five-year strategic plan, aim to recognize, support, and advocate for the contributions and value of volunteers to Irish society and the well-being of the country. The government's strategy is to continue pursuing a common ambitious vision of a stronger, more sustainable, and inclusive nation. The overall aim of the study is to examine volunteers' experiences in social work aimed at homelessness in Ireland and to map and problematize the country's homelessness situation. To answer the study, we have chosen to use qualitative semistructured interviews with five individuals working as full-time international volunteers in Ireland. The results from the interviews show that volunteer work in social work with homelessness is a rewarding and significant journey. By helping others, it can create positive emotions such as joy, satisfaction, and a sense of belonging, which in turn can contribute to increasing volunteers' self-esteem. Whether volunteer work is formal within organizations, informal, or through everyday acts of kindness, the willingness to do good and contribute to others is a driving motivation for many individuals. / <p>Granskningsseminarier examensarbeten i Socialt arbete</p>