About us - Solidarität konkret e.V.
Our Mission
Our central concern is the concrete, solidarity-based cooperation of people and initiatives in the Global South and the Global North who are working for a just and sustainable future.
As Solidarität konkret e.V., we support people in implementing their ideas locally for a better life for themselves.
Our partners are grassroots initiatives and local projects in Togo. We support them in solidarity with their work for positive changes in the local community. To this end, we not only provide financial support, but also bring the concerns of our partners to the public.
We see the work of our association as a contribution to overcoming multi-layered injustices and problems. We are convinced that structural problems require many solutions: on global, regional and local level. Our focus is on local approaches.
At the center of our work is the enforcement of human rights, especially the right to education, as well as the empowerment of disadvantaged groups and environmental protection.
Even here in the Global North, changes are necessary to enable positive developments in the Global South. Therefore, we report on the complexity of problems in the project regions and show historical, political, economic and social connections between the project regions and Germany and would like to encourage forms of active solidarity.
We see our commitment as a contribution to a way of life based on solidarity.
Our Partners
Our partners are people who have joined together to form initiatives, associations or networks and are committed to sustainable and fair living conditions and to help disadvantaged people. We support them in using their competencies for sustainable solutions on site and in realizing their ideas.
We support initiatives and organizations that:
work for the realization of human rights – especially the right to education
are committed to empowering the disadvantaged – especially women and girls
advocate for environmental protection and sustainable lifestyles
We focus on regions where we are well connected. This applies to parts of West Africa, and especially the south of Togo.
We strive for an equal cooperation with our partners and are at the same time aware of our position of power as a money-giving organization from the north. Therefore, the self-determined development and implementation of the projects by our partners, as well as a transparent, trusting cooperation are important to us. This enables a reliable and need-based support and creates opportunities to learn from each other.
By helping people to help themselfes, we aim to ensure long-term independence of the partner initiatives from funding through Solidarität konkret e.V.
The funding of our work
Our work is enabled by private donors who, together with us, support the work of our partners. This guarantees a high degree of flexibility and independence.
We handle donations responsibly and transparently. Donations are passed on to the projects in full and without deduction. This is possible because all members of the association work on a voluntary basis and the low administrative costs are financed entirely by membership fees.
We adhere to defined criteria for needs-based, transparent and efficient use of funds, which we have described in our guidelines for project funding and solidarity-based cooperation.
The association is recognized as a non-profit organization and issues donation receipts for donations upon request.
Our goal is to convince interested parties of our commitment and the work of our partners, to strengthen their willingness to donate and to encourage them to act in solidarity.
Transparency and Communication
We inform our donors regularly, comprehensibly and honestly. We want to convey an as concrete and full image of the local projects and situations as possible. We present complex issues in a way that is easy to understand.
The aim of our communication is also to communicate the concerns of our partners to the public. That is why, in addition to the projects we support, we also report on the conditions under which our partners in the Global South live and work. We want to make the public in Germany aware to problems in the project regions and highlight historical, political, economic and social connections between the project regions and Germany, as well as make solidarity-based actions visible.
We respond to the information needs of donors. We send newsletters to donors and interested parties and publish project documentation and reports on our website.
We also publish annual reports that include information on projects that have been implemented and those that are in the planning stage, as well as a breakdown of the association’s costs.
In our communication, we follow ethical standards and avoid stereotyping, exoticizing or racist formulations and depictions. We are guided by the checklist of the Berlin Development Policy Council (see Checklist BER e.V.).
As a signatory to the initiative “Transparnt Civil Society” (Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft), which was launched by Transparency International Deutschland e. V. and others, we have committed ourselves to disclosing what goals we pursue, where our funds come from, how they are used, and who makes decisions about them (see our Nonprofit & Transparency page, currently only in german).
OurTeam
There are many dedicated people behind the association. The current elected board members are:
Aimo Hindriks
Board member
Lea Kliem
Board member & treasurer
Gerlinde Hindriks
Board member
Niklas Ahlrichs
Webdesign
The origin of Solidarität konkret e.V.
The origins of Solidarität konkret e.V. go back to 2012, 7 years before the official founding of the association in the fall of 2019. Over the course of several immersive visits of a few months each, Aimo Hindriks developed close connections with commited people and grassroots initiatives on the ground in Togo. Over the years, a support structure developed in which people in Germany collected money with which grassroots initiatives were supported in an uncomplicated and concrete way in the implementation of their projects. As the scope of the projects increased over time, the decision was made to found an association that would strengthen the network that had been created and provide concrete, solidarity-based support for initiatives in Togo.