Project Facts
Location
Austria
Applied Financing Solutions
Grants, Private Equity, Public-Private Partnership, Public Revenues, Private Donations
Project Dates
Start: 2021
The Story
The non-profit social enterprise Acker (established 2024 in Berlin) uses it’s year-round educational programs AckerRacker and VegetableAckerdemie (GemüseAckerdemie) for kindergardens and schools to work effectively at the interface between education, agriculture, nature, nutrition and social issues with a unique train-the-trainer approach. The children sow, tend and harvest their vegetables in their own vegetable garden. They experience in the open air, directly and with all their senses, where the food on our plates comes from and what effect their actions have on nature and their own social environment. Farming together promotes important social and core skills. Students deal with the ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainability. The children experience the social dimension of sustainability by learning how much work goes into organically growing up to 30 types of vegetables. Thus they acquire knowledge and skills that go beyond the standard learning environment and gain awareness of a sustainable way of life. Acker’s vision is that every child in Austria, Germany and Switzerland to be able to practically experience nature and sustainability in their gardens by 2030.
Success Factor | Hero Moment
Children and educators are the focus of all activities right from the start and are always addressed directly. Students take responsibility for individual beds or sections of the field for which they are responsible throughout the season. Acker empowers educators on site and thereby make itself superfluous. Acker gets to the root of the challenges and works for society rather than itself. in 2024 around 70 000 children have been benefitting from the work of Acker in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Submitter
Acker Austria, Austria
Contact Mail
oesterreich@acker.co
Website
www.acker.co/Oesterreich
