Many people we have talked to during our campaign have agreed that volunteering can make the world better. And yet not all of them have volunteered.
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This does not mean that they are bad people that don’t care about their environment while we who actually do volunteer are practically holy -No.
It just means that volunteering does not fit in their life, that they maybe do not have the necessary resources which can also be “just” time and that for some reason they do not take the initiative.

To explain why some people show altruistic behavior while others don’t, psychology has a number of theories. One of them is the five step decision model by Darley and Latané. It was initially designed to explain the existing or not existing assistance in case of an emergency like for example a car accident but I will try to transfer it to volunteering.
 
The first step that they propose is awareness. The subject has to be aware of the emergency or in our case of a problem in the world that could be solved or at least bettered by volunteering. However, this awareness can be prevented if the subject is lacking time or occupied with its own problems. 

If the person noticed the matter they have to actually perceive the matter as a problem and not just as a random circumstance that does not need fixing. This should be relatively easy but there is a psychological phenomenon, namely pluralistic ignorance, which can make it harder. If many people ignore something you are most likely going to assume that this is normal and the right way to deal with it. So if you have many people in your environment who don’t think a topic is relevant you might think so as well. This is where media and organizations like Praxis play a big role. Tough it cannot always change already formed opinions, it is still important to try and reach people who might not be searching actively for this topic to give them a consciousness for what actually is a problem.
 
If you noticed a problem and also categorized it as a problem, you still have to take responsibility to solve it. Again there is a psychological phenomenon that can hinder this: diffusion of responsibility. The more people are involved in a matter, the more each person hopes consciously or unconsciously that another person is going to work it out. Th problem is that often this hope is false. We cannot always wait for others to fix societal problems but take initiative.

The 4th step is about competence. If you have the necessary competence to volunteer maybe even studied something helpful you are more likely to help. If we make it easier to require new skills you need for volunteering, maybe more people will feel confident enough in their abilities to make a change.
 
Finally, if we can cross of all the steps before and say: Yes, there is a problem, I am responsible and competent. Then we still do a cost-benefit calculation. Which negative consequences would it have for you not to help? Contrary to car accidents were you are bound to help, in case of worldwide problems like violence against women there are mostly no legal restrictions for not helping. A negative effect could be also a bad conscience.
As a benefit you could for example count the gratitude of the people you help.
 
Some people may be shocked now: What? People don’t only help for the sake of helping? We have to say goodbye to this idealistic and frankly unworldly view, accept that there are things that influence our willingness to help and use this knowledge actively.

JULIA FÉAUX DE LACROIX​

​Julia is a German Volunteer involved in the International Volunteer Day.

Volunteering Abroad: A popular option that thousands of young people choose each year. But why is volunteering abroad so popular among students?  After all, you don't get paid and still have to reckon with a lot of work per week.  Why do so many people look back with longing on their time as volunteers in crisis areas abroad?  How do you benefit personally and at the same time can you help people, animals or the environment in emergency situations?  Whether and how volunteer work abroad should be organized is often unclear until shortly before departure - there are many reasons why one should opt for the life experience.
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Learn and perfect a foreign language
While you may not learn Spanish, French or Portuguese at an academic level, you lose all fear and barriers to spontaneous speeches in your environment when dealing with locals.  This means that you will learn far beyond your school and university foreign language skills.  Vocabulary, eloquence and, last but not least, grammatical rules are incorporated while you work on projects and are constantly in contact with people.

New contacts - friends and networks that often last for decades
Every new environment is a chance to meet people with whom you may remain friends for a lifetime.  Especially during the volunteer work time, they show completely new perspectives and unknown insights into foreign cultures and ways of life.  But often the contact persists beyond the period of the volunteer work, which creates interesting opportunities.  For example, there can be visits, or you are invited yourself and have a contact person or even a place to stay in a country that you might want to visit again and again.

Better job and training opportunities through volunteering
Of course, you won't automatically become CEO of a company just because you've volunteered in the past.  In fact, volunteering is an underestimated factor that can make a big difference.  It signals characteristics that many employers expect from their employees.  That is primarily the motivation to do more than the minimum in order to maintain one's standard of living.  On the other hand, volunteering abroad shows empathy towards other people, animals and the environment.
Last but not least, volunteering abroad is attractive to universities.  If you can prove voluntary work in your résumé, this has a significant bonus point compared to candidates who lack any voluntary or charitable work.  Even with excellent grades and otherwise impeccable performance, volunteering abroad is an additional plus point at many universities, which can make the difference between acceptance and rejection.​

​Parents are often shocked when someone tells them that pediatricians think it's a bad idea for children to watch TV or use mobile apps before the age 18, because most toddlers already have. Surveys tell us that 92.2% of 1-year olds have already used a mobile device, some starting as young as age 4 months. In fact, the human brain experiences the highest growth rate of our entire lifetime between the ages of birth and 3 years. Furthermore, according to surveys, a child who watched two hours of TV a day before the age of three would be twenty percents more likelz to have attention problems compared to a child who watches none.
 
Personally I remember that I was not allowed to watch Television as often as I wished. Thats why I was very excited for Christmas holidays because during this time we watched a lot of Christmas movies together. Usually I was allowed to watch TV before going to bed but maximum for one hour. Also I remember was fully against an own TV in my room. With years I recognize that it is the right decision. I really dislike it when I see toddlers and young children in restaurants being occupied with watching something on the tablet.
 
In order to prevent children from having attention problems it is recommended stimulate the child with cognitive stimulations, such as reading, singing, going to the museum etc. In fact, each hour of cognitive stimulation reduces the chances of attention problems by about 30%.

Last Friday December 10 we celebrated the International Day of Human Rights, but what are the Human Rights?

According to the United Nations these are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status and include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.

It was a long way until we stablished thirty articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 in order to protect these rights. From the first human rights declaration in the year 539 b.C, through the Magna Carta in 1215, the petition of rights in 1628, the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen during the French Revolution in 1789, we have tried to defend and regulate them. However, we still have a long way to go, since these articles are being violated every day in multiple parts of the world.

And we may think these violations only happen in undeveloped countries, but the truth is they happen everywhere including Europe, we just blind ourselves if they do not affect us directly.

For this reason, we prepared different educational activities and content to impact the mindset of developed countries.

We prepared a Instagram series of each article being violated that we released daily during the week, did a radio broadcast on the topic the day before, asked people on the street what three things would they take with them if they had to leave their country and everything they had immediately, created some debate about values and beliefs depending on cultural backgrounds and finally taught how to do origami peace cranes to refugees.

The result was surprisingly good. The proposed activities were welcomed, and we realised we made, especially the teenagers, start to think about topics they usually did not take into consideration or just did not question the way they are.

Of course, there is still a lot of work to do, and we will keep working on this matter in the nearby future, but like Mother Teresa said, if we did not give our drop to the ocean, the ocean would be missing something. However, it is not a matter of one, so it is your time to give as well your drop to the ocean and
work to uphold the rights that protect us.

​Due to movements like the #metoo, many people have accepted that we have a problem with violence against women. But many people have no clue what they should do to change this besides maybe not raping anyone.
I often feel helpless and wonder if it is pointless to try and change something because the structures that lead to violence against women have existed for so many years and are rooted deep in our culture.
So, what can we actually do? In this topic everything starts and ends with eduction. And when I say education I don’t only mean sit-in-school-and-listen-to-your-teacher-education, though that certainIy plays a part, I mean all the places where you knowingly or mostly unknowingly learn things.
We have to make sure movies don’t romantazise violence against women as so many do (Yes Twilight, looking at you) because they can influence people to think violence is actually romantic. We have to call out sexism where we see it and have unpleasant discussions.
We have to pay attention to the little things. Because they never do stay little.
The problem is firstly that this influences almost every part of our lifes as sexism does so we have to look everywhere. And secondly that this process of relearning will take a long time.
So ultimately, we have to be patient and persistent  in our efforts and accept that the world does not just change from today to tomorrow.