NGO & Vision

Our History
Heartbeats was founded at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Ludwigsburg. Characterised by stays abroad in the Global South, some students joined forces to work on a common vision and contribute to a fairer world through their own experiences. What began as small events and campaigns at the university became something even bigger. The Heartbeats NGO is in its starting blocks and is officially founded in 2008. Becoming active in a global context is the focus of the association's founders. The contacts established through stays abroad are expanded and partnerships and projects are created. A lot of emphasis is placed on mutual exchange and shared learning. Family and friends were able to collect donations and generate new members, who still make the work of the organisation possible today. Due to changes in the Executive Board, new projects were constantly being added, while some were also successfully completed. At the same time, the origin, the educational work at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Ludwigsburg, was never disregarded, which enabled an optimal networking of international and national perspectives. To this day, the board consists of former students of the University Ludwigsburg, which makes us a small personal community in which everyone is welcome, despite our international perspectives. During the restrictions caused by Corona and the limited social participation, the association was about to be dissolved due to time capacities, but fortunately some new board members were found to continue the association. We are therefore always happy to hear about your commitment!

Vision
We strive for a society that focusses on social justice and community coexistence as well as the observance and promotion of human rights. Above all, this requires post-colonial perspectives that critically scrutinise power structures and open up new perspectives. This also involves reflecting on international practices and reorganising them. With this in mind, we strive for international exchange, which primarily takes the form of mutual inspiration and shared learning. We also see multi-perspective, inclusive educational work as an important part of a reflective society. By this we mean making marginalised social groups and individuals in this world audible, as well as including all people in educational work. Because all people are valuable and can express their potential through fair education, participation and the shifting of power. 

In terms of our international work, this can be categorised into 3 areas:

1. exchange/meeting/networking
-> We want to promote international exchange, especially through personal contact with our partners. To this end, Heartbeats Connect, our networking platform, should also enable our partner organisations to exchange ideas with each other.

2. sustainability/permanent cooperation
-> By providing selective support to partners, we want to help our partner organisations to better tap into resources in their environment in the future. We are also interested in long-term cooperation.

3. independence/empowerment
-> By helping our partner organisations to generate a fair income, we contribute to their own independence and to greater social justice in their communities. Our project partners have full control over their projects and are able to realise them. Heartbeats intervenes in this process as a start-up aid so that the projects become independent and autonomous after 2-3 years.

This international perspective should also be reflected in our educational work in Germany. In order to achieve truly just change in the world, a large number of critical voices that adopt post-colonial perspectives are needed, particularly in the Global North. We want to play our part in this and, together with our international partners, create new perspectives for people in Germany.


Here you can find more about our work!