OREANDA-NEWS.    How can the digital networking of the world be used even more effectively for social purposes? Answers to this question are currently being collected by eleven employees of Germany's largest online fund-raising platform, betterplace.org, within the context of the "Lab around the World" project. The Lufthansa Group supports this innovative research project as a cooperation partner.

During the six-week expedition phase, at the digital hotspots on all almost all continents, the experts will be meeting people who have already successfully used virtual media to mobilize others for social engagement. For example, the information network of the active volcano Merapi which, via its Twitter account, @jalin.merapi, organized 6,000 meals at short notice in 2010 for people affected by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. The researchers are subsequently summarizing their analyses and know-how in a global study. It should not only help the social sector in Germany to operate more effectively. It could in future also benefit NGOs all over the world.

The Lufthansa Group's employees' initiative HelpAlliance also makes use of the possibilities of the digital world in order to organize its numerous aid projects even more effectively. In doing so, it also works closely together with betterplace.org. For example, two Lufthansa pilots have recently collected donations online of more than 38,000 Euros with an effective campaign for the acquisition of a solar-powered water pump system for about 1,200 residents of the Gambian village of Jumansar.