The Deutsche Stiftung Verbraucherschutz champions projects that teach essential everyday skills, especially to younger people. Luise Will, the foundation's acting managing director, offers insights into its project work and explains just how important financial backers like quirion are to it.
When people hear the word consumer protection, they tend to think of exposing wrongdoing – with electricity or insurance contracts, for example. What exactly does the Deutsche Stiftung Verbraucherschutz do?
The Deutsche Stiftung Verbraucherschutz was founded in 2010 by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations and its member organisations. Our goal is to promote consumer education – because consumer education is preventive consumer protection. The projects we fund or manage are aimed above all at younger people, but also at vulnerable groups such as refugees. The main focus is on finances, nutrition and health, dealing with the media, and sustainable consumption. Everyday life is full of pitfalls in these areas that you can easily stumble over. And when it comes to teaching skills in these fields, Germany has a lot of catching up to do.
How do you help?
On the one hand, we fund projects initiated by the consumer advice centres and the member associations of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations. On the other, we organise our own. One example of this interplay is the financial-education app „Budget+plus“. It all began with a funding project run by the consumer advice centres of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland. Young people themselves designed the prototype of a digital budget book that meets their needs. Once the project was complete, we had it developed into an app – primarily as a teaching tool for use in schools.
„Budget+plus“ helps young people keep track of their own finances. In the app you can, for instance, record income and expenses, set spending limits or define savings goals. Because financial education doesn't happen in a textbook – it happens through hands-on, real-life dealings with your own money. What makes Budget+plus special is its financial glossary: as you go, the app explains important basic „vocabulary“ from the world of finance. Alongside the app, we also provide schools with additional teaching materials.
Is the offering catching on?
More than 800 schools have already used the app in class. The „Materialkompass“, which assesses the quality of teaching materials, rates it as „good“. We're delighted about that, but we want to achieve even more. We've since set up a circle of experts that includes quirion, among others. This circle supports us with its expertise. Right now we're facing a decision about which direction to take the app in: keeping the current focus on classroom use, or leaning more towards private, everyday use. On top of that, we're planning a new project for next year that will focus specifically on financial education for socially disadvantaged people. We can imagine „Budget+plus“ playing a role there too.
Finances are one focus of your work, but not the only one. Which other projects are especially close to your heart at the moment?
They're all close to my heart. But one that certainly belongs on the list is a project by the consumer advice centre of Schleswig-Holstein, which launched in April. It's about inspiring primary-school pupils to consume more sustainably and consciously. Children have plenty of wishes – from sweets to smartphones. The project aims to convey the consequences of consumption decisions in a distinctive way. To do so, the pupils themselves are developing a learning game. They're supported in this by committed experts, both pedagogically and professionally. How it will ultimately take shape is still completely open. The project is designed to run for two years, but I'm already excited to see the results. At the end of the process, the game will be available to schools all across Germany.
In January, the application period for the German Consumer Protection Award (Bundespreis Verbraucherschutz) also opens again. Every two years, this award honours people and initiatives whose commitment to consumer protection inspires others. It's important that good ideas for consumer protection and consumer education get even more attention.
So does consumer education get too little attention?
There are many who get involved – with their know-how or with financial support. But we also see that consumer education isn't a very emotionally charged topic. The projects are usually designed to run over longer periods, so results aren't immediately visible. That sometimes makes it hard to get the attention you'd ideally hope for. We're very grateful for the support of companies like quirion. Without it, we simply couldn't carry out many of our projects. We'd love to see even more companies commit to consumer education. Equipping young people for everyday challenges – whether managing their finances, using the media or making consumption decisions – is genuinely important. Consumer education absolutely pays off!
