3. Four Vienna Shapers launched and developed „Land der Bildung“ (Country of Education), a movement aimed at encouraging people to drive change and improvement within the current Austrian education system. Steph started off with a hitchhiking tour through Austria on a zero budget with the goal to tour cities, towns, families and schools, in order to collect ideas on education and ask people about what they would change. The people that hosted her were asked to take her to places, where in their opinion education takes place. Steph managed to talk to 173 people about the meanings of education and their experiences in the current system. The project drew high media attention and jump-started a new wave of voices for educational reform.
A follow-up offline initiative called „Hub goes Grätzl“ gives people the opportunity to explore education projects and schools located in their own city district in an interactive and participative way. PROJECT #1: LAND DER BILDUNG
4. InShape was developed as a platform that allows all Shapers in Vienna to coach each other in the implementation of their projects. It aims at using the collective brainpower, skills and experiences of the hub's members to tackle specific challenges faced by the Shapers in their projects and help them advance.
This is achieved through a structured, defined process. The actual coaching is integrated into the regular Shapers meetings.
The website "Shapedia" (based on Google sites) provides an updated overview on previous and upcoming InShape sessions.
It is planned also to include Shapers from other hubs as well as other WEF communities. Eventually, we want to offer InShape as a format to local NGOs and Social Businesses, as a way to receive a free project coaching and idea generation session. PROJECT #2: InSHAPE
5. PROJECT #3: FINANCIAL LITERACY
In March, the Financial Education Mobile Game CURE Runners was launched in Austria by one of our Shapers. During the launch weeks, Michael and Katharina joined forces to take the game to local schools and youth centers. They toured around the country, spread the word about the need for financial education and hung out with teenagers of al social backgrounds to chat about financial literacy.
6. In June 2014, three Vienna Shapers (Steph, Michael and Mathias) organized the first Austrian TEDx conference targeted specifially at people under 30.
The conference addressed young and proactive changemakers, provided a platform for exchange of ideas and sought to motivate the community to take action.
Under the motto Waltzing Wild Waters, TEDxDonauinsel 2014 celebrated the vitality and readiness of the generation under 30, and brought together diverse speakers such as Paralympics swimmer Andreas Onea, musician Joni Sheila, who financed her first album via crowd-funding, or Ekaterina Kabasheva, who developed the smartphone app Jourvie in support of people with eating disorders. A follow-up event in 2015 is already in development. PROJECT #4: TEDX YOUTH
7. PROJECT #5: SHAPING EU POLITICS
Our hub wants to see more young political talent to represent our country in the EU. There is a severe lack of representation for young people in the European Parliament, as only 4 out of 766 MEPs are under the age of 30. Therefore, we encouraged and supported our fellow Shaper Stefan to run for a seat in the EU parliament. Stefan reflected the Shapers‘ mission in his campaign, which was focused on the necessity of having young people in the EP to fight against youth unemployment and for a better funding for European educational programs and startup funds.
Unfortunately, by only 1% of the total vote, Stefan missed the opportunity to become the youngest member of the Parliament. However, the story is not over for the Vienna Shapers and we are already planning new activities around this key political issue.
8. NEW PROJECT: CYBER MOBBING
Following a conversation at the ACM 2014, our hub got inspired by a 13-year old, who made us aware of the fact that cyber mobbing is one of the greatest challenges teenangers in Austria face in growing up, developing their self-esteem, and becoming strong and ethical members of our society.
Today (Sept 2014), every 7th teenager in Austria and Germany is a victim of cyber mobbing. Girls are more affected, than boys.
While the project is still under development, we know that it will be our hub‘s next big project. We have to and will take action on this issue!!
9. OUR SHAPERS IN THE NEWS
The Vienna Shapers strategically work on placing topics in the news that reflect our values and mission. Among others, we have succeeded in covering the following topics in the media and in public events (conferences, panels):
- Impact Investment
- Social Innovation
- Entrepreneurship
- Financial Literacy
- New Educational Models
- Young people in politics
- Youth unemployment
- Holistic ways of working
- Social Media for good
- Educational Gaming
