NGOs & Organizations
07.04.2018

Digital activism: NGO portrait "RESET.org"

Our first associations with "Reset" were new beginnings and a fresh start. What does the NGO name mean to you? How did it come about?

In fact, that's exactly what we had in mind when we chose the name - a new beginning and a fresh start in terms of sustainable digital activism. Ten years ago, that didn't even exist. For us, it was also about a new start with the medium, about the opportunity to get involved digitally. The term "reset" is mainly used in the technical field - it fits very well with us and our information and action platform for a sustainable and future-proof world.

How is RESET.org come into being?

RESET was founded in 2007 by Uta and Bodo as a not-for-profit organization. Uta studied environmental and political sciences, later professionalized herself in the direction of digital media and decided to use her manpower only for social and ecological added value. However, there was nothing in this field that inspired her, and the relevant organizations were often rather "old school". So they decided to found their own! And Bodo has been actively supporting RESET ever since with his valuable experience from over 25 years of project management for IT and telecommunications companies.

At RESET.org there are lots of exciting articles. What topics can you find articles on? Do you have a particular focus?

When we launched a decade ago, we were one of the very first platforms to put the two topics of environmental and development policy into context. With the aim of solution-oriented, constructive journalism, we created specific approaches to ecological and humanitarian issues: Climate Protection, Energy, Urbanity, Nature and Species, New Economy, Green Everyday Life, Development for a Just World, Peace, Opportunities, Health and Responsibility. Within this range of topics, we focus on digital-social and green innovations for sustainable development.

What are you particularly proud of?

We are particularly proud of our international multi-author team! This gives us an extremely broad range of expertise and specialist know-how. It's also great that we are bilingual - in German and English. This also allows us to make an impact internationally. And, of course, we are proud that we have been working for a sustainable world for more than ten years - and that this is recognized and respected. RESET has already received several awards, including from UNESCO, the GreenTec Awards and the Land of Ideas.

Founder Uta Mühleis on stage at the 10th anniversary of RESET (Image rights: RESET.org)

If our users are interested in your platform, how can they get involved? Do you offer internships or paid jobs?

Of course, we like it best when users receive suggestions via our platform and then implement them in their everyday lives, become active themselves for a sustainable world and share their commitment with other people - and of course, as an NGO, we are always happy to receive support in the form of donations.

At the moment, we are in the fortunate position that our multi-author team is very well established. However, we are always open to committed people who would like to do an internship in our editorial team. The prerequisite for this is previous journalistic experience or a background in ecological and humanitarian issues. We look forward to receiving applications!

The RESET team at the taz journalists' salon on constructive journalism (Image rights: Thaisa Mezzavilla / memo factory)

Accepted, RESET.org has three wishes. What do you wish for?

That the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are achieved in the coming decades! These are the 17 goals for sustainable development and therefore actually 17 wishes.

And for RESET, we hope that we will continue to succeed in constantly developing and reinventing ourselves.

Links

NGOs in Germany (NGO directory of NGOJobs.eu)