The AGYO at the Federal President’s “Citizens’ Festival”

Every year, as summer draws to an end, Germany’s Federal President hosts a Citizens’ Festival at Schlosspark Bellevue. The event is designed with two aims in mind: to honour people from across Germany who engage in voluntary work and to give members of the public an opportunity to visit the President’s official residence. This year, the African-German Youth Organisation (AGYO) was among the participants and had the pleasure of welcoming Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze.

The photo shows a group of people in a white gazebo with the words “Deutsch-Afrikanisches Jugendwerk, Engagement Global” written across the top. The two people in the middle at the front are Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner and Elke Büdenbender visiting the AGYO stall.

The festival invites selected non-profit organisations, initiatives and businesses to take part in a showcase of their work. This year’s event, from 13 to 14 September, was the first to have a partner country from outside Europe – Kenya. So the AGYO team were particularly delighted to receive a letter from the Office of the Federal President inviting them to be a partner at the festival, the theme of which was “Pamoja – Stronger together”.

In keeping with the theme, we brought along our magnetic Africa jigsaw puzzle, large-format photos featuring statements by participants on the two AGYO programmes, Teams up! and Team works!, BtE world maps and SDG cube cushions to sit on. For particularly committed puzzlers, there were rainbow pencils with sage seeds or SDG glasses cloths to take home – the stall had something for everyone, whatever their age. Employees from Engagement Global and the Senior Expert Service (SES), with which the AGYO runs the Team works! programme, were also on hand to support the AGYO team as well as current and past Team works! participants from Tanzania, Uganda and Germany.

  • The photo shows a group of six people in the AGYO gazebo at the Federal President’s Citizens’ Festival. One of them is the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze. The rest of the group are members of the AGYO team.
    The team were delighted when Development Minister Svenja Schulze paid them a visit too on Friday evening.
  • This photo shows three people in front of a dark blue background with a colourful flower on it. The three people are talking and looking at each other. Two of them have a small microphone in their hand.
    Jonas and Lucienne, former Team works! participants, in the photo booth for an interview with “Afrofluencer” Bruder Stève.
  • This photo shows seven people chatting in the AGYO gazebo at the Federal President’s Citizens’ Festival. Two of them are Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner and Elke Büdenbender. The rest are members of the AGYO team.
    Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Elke Büdenbender chatting to Team works! participants Jackson from Tanzania and Joseph from Uganda. Jackson did his football coaching internship at the Borussia Mönchengladbach and Fortuna Düsseldorf clubs. Joseph, a cobbler, did his at an orthopaedic business in Kassel.
  • The photo shows five people in front of the AGYO gazebo at the Federal President’s Citizens’ Festival. The gazebo has the words “Deutsch-Afrikanisches Jugendwerk, Engagement Global” written across the top. All of the people are members of the AGYO team an
    Ready for a rush of visitors: the AGYO at the Citizens’ Festival at Schlosspark Bellevue.
  • The photo shows a group of six people in the AGYO gazebo at the Federal President’s Citizens’ Festival. One of them is the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze. The rest of the group are members of the AGYO team.
    The team were delighted when Development Minister Svenja Schulze paid them a visit too on Friday evening.
  • This photo shows three people in front of a dark blue background with a colourful flower on it. The three people are talking and looking at each other. Two of them have a small microphone in their hand.
    Jonas and Lucienne, former Team works! participants, in the photo booth for an interview with “Afrofluencer” Bruder Stève.
  • This photo shows seven people chatting in the AGYO gazebo at the Federal President’s Citizens’ Festival. Two of them are Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner and Elke Büdenbender. The rest are members of the AGYO team.
    Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Elke Büdenbender chatting to Team works! participants Jackson from Tanzania and Joseph from Uganda. Jackson did his football coaching internship at the Borussia Mönchengladbach and Fortuna Düsseldorf clubs. Joseph, a cobbler, did his at an orthopaedic business in Kassel.
  • The photo shows five people in front of the AGYO gazebo at the Federal President’s Citizens’ Festival. The gazebo has the words “Deutsch-Afrikanisches Jugendwerk, Engagement Global” written across the top. All of the people are members of the AGYO team an
    Ready for a rush of visitors: the AGYO at the Citizens’ Festival at Schlosspark Bellevue.

VIP visitors: the Federal President and the Federal Development Minister

Among the highlights were definitely the visits to our stall by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, and Federal Minister Svenja Schulze. As well as taking the time to welcome each of the team members in person, they showed a great deal of interest in the AGYO’s work.

The weekend of the Citizens’ Festival gave the AGYO a fantastic opportunity to present its activities in a special setting, full of people and organisations committed to voluntary and civil society work. Lots of people came to our stall for a chat and we hope we were able to instil an interest in what the AGYO does.

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