Voluntary Social Year - Das Freiwillige Soziale Jahr (Short: FSJ)

FSJ is the abbreviation for a voluntary social year. That means:
Young adults voluntarily help in a public-welfare-oriented institution for one year. They do not get paid but may get pocket money and sometimes room and board.
The institution might be a hospital, a kindergarten, a music school or a sports club among other possibilities.
Participants learn how public-welfare-oriented institutions in Germany work.

In the framework of a FSJ you can:

• familiarize yourself with the working routines of different kinds of professions,
• try out which professional tasks and activities fit best for you,
• plan and realize your own projects and events,
• find out which professional training or area of study you would like to choose after the FSJ.
• The FSJ addresses everybody, you don’t have to be German and you don’t have to currently live in Germany to participate.