Goals & Vision
Our goals and vision at Go Ahead!
Young people in Germany voluntarily campaign for young people in southern Africa. That is - in simple words - Go Ahead!. We use the energy, the enthusiasm and the motivation of young adults, to create sustainable future prospects in southern Africa by supporting educational projects for children and teenagers.
Who we are and what we stand for
The open organisational structure of Go Ahead!, the self-determined and simultaneously coordinated commitment of each individual, and the tools of social networking have created a web of engaged young people across Germany who share our vision. Go Ahead! has developed into a new platform on which young people can voluntarily campaign for a fairer world. Each person has the opportunity to implement their ideas. Go Ahead! sets no limits to personal engagement. On the contrary, anyone who contacts Go Ahead! with an idea is supported with words, deeds, information and contacts.
The focus of our engagement lies in educational work and intercultural exchange. In contrast to many traditional aid organisations, Go Ahead! does not regard development collaboration to be a one-way street. Global educational work begins, therefore, in Germany, for example with school workshops on development policy. The university groups founded in many German cities encourage young people to take on global responsibility through their campaigns. In southern Africa, our concept of intercultural exchange is implemented within the scope of various volunteer programmes.
The most important principle of our work is the implementation of joint educational projects on equal footing with our partner organisations. With the aim of working to combat worldwide inequality, Go Ahead! can be regarded as an intermediary between Germany and South Africa. We exclusively support non-governmental organisations that work in the corresponding local communities. We are not focussed on creating new structures, but on supporting the innovative concepts of local organisations. Go Ahead! guarantees that 100% of every donation is received by our project partners in southern Africa.
Internet, email and telephone are the most important tools of our trade, because Go Ahead! has a decentralised organisational structure. The seven members of the managing committee, and around 40 staff and professional mentors, live and study in different locations in Germany and around the world. They communicate with each other almost exclusively through the internet. We assure coordination through strategy plans, performance reports, intranet communication and weekly telephone conferences. In addition, we hold annual general meetings as well as semi-annual board meetings, and staff meet each other at different locations within our national network.