Culture Goes Europe Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V.

Internationality, diversity, constant renewal – these are words often muttered, praised and celebrated among the open-minded and yet, even among NGOs, CGE stands as a rare example for and true incarnation of these descriptors.

While happily located in Erfurt, Thuringia, our roots in internationalism go deeper than our connection to the idiosyncrasies of the free state’s capital city. Originally founded by chairman Markus Rebitschek and other members of Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2005, the organization has since expanded significantly: Today, our managing director Zafar Saydaliev is Uzbek, and the office is currently crewed by people from Bosnia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Portugal, Ukraine and, yes, one German. When last we checked, activists from 13 countries on 4 continents were involved in ongoing projects of our organization.
Throughout its life, nothing has been as much a part of CGE as change, both in terms of the trainings, youth exchanges and other opportunities we offer and the teams that provide them. An official host organization in the European Voluntary Service/European Solidarity Corps since 2010, we have a long history of giving our newest members a welcoming environment and the guidance needed to settle in.