This poster will present the concept of a research project on the acquisition of key competencies for sustainable development by volunteering in sustainability groups.

Informal learning has to be differentiated from formal and non-formal education. It is “any activity involving the pursuit of understanding, knowledge or skill which occurs without the presence of externally imposed curricular criteria” (Livingstone, 2001, p. 4). Informal learning in all its forms, but particularly experiential learning, contributes to developing competencies, because it is integrated in activities. Experiential learning especially facilitates the development of action competencies; e.g. in the context of volunteering.

The future research project will analyse which sustainability-relevant key competencies are developed by volunteering in sustainability groups. Furthermore, it will examine the impacts of different socio-political and cultural contexts for informal competence development. Therefore, the informal competence development of volunteers of sustainability groups in Ecuador and Germany will be compared.

The poster will describe the background, research question, methodological design and expected results of the future research project.

Poster