Volunteering is a great way to get to know people and become more involved in your local community. It can also be an opportunity to practice your Danish.  

You can contribute during cultural activities or help at the local sports club. Many volunteer workers also engage in social, health and humanitarian work.

Different types of volunteering

Roughly speaking you can divide volunteering into social and cultural activities. 

Volunteer at cultural activities or events

Within the cultural field you can for instance help at the local sports club, join the volunteer crew at larger events or lend a hand at a theater show.  The tasks can include anything from accounting to painting or creative contributions. The sky is the limit. 

Social volunteering

Within the field of social volunteering, you can for instance be a voluntary visitor for elderly citizens, help out at a drop-in centers for socially vulnerable people or at the local patients' associations. The voluntary contributions support the existing public support system. 

About volunteer work in Denmark

Denmark has a strong tradition for volunteer organizations, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark estimates that 35 per cent of the Danes over 16 years do volunteer work. In Denmark you will find around 100.000 volunteer organizations, and in Esbjerg Municipality you have a wide selection of all sorts of volunteer work. 

Historically there has been a focus in Denmark on the necessity of volunteer work for the benefit of the greater society. But the many organizations have also been part of the democratic project. The volunteer work, negotiations within the organizations and their advocacy in relation to the government and administration have been a way for people to “practice democracy”.