Project support
Creatively engaged
The AKB Foundation is supporting social projects by Göttingen students with its “Creativity in Studying” program.
The idea was born as part of the 275th anniversary of the Georg August University in Göttingen in 2012: “The brothers Michael and Andreas J. Büchting have close ties to our university, which is barely forty kilometers from Einbeck. They specifically want to encourage student’s social engagement,” states Meike Gottschlich. As Head of Teaching and Learning Ideas and Complaint Management at the university, she is responsible for the “Creativity in Studying” program.
Since 2013, students can apply twice a year. The AKB Foundation supports ideas with up to 5,000 euros. “Creativity in Studying” has so far enabled a total of more than 200 projects with over 300 students or student teams. There are about five times as many applications, meaning a committee has to choose which ones to fund. Most of them arrive “on the dot by the 11:59 p.m. deadline,” says Gottschlich, who is pleased about every single one and closely accompanies the students.
“‘Creativity in Studying’ preferentially supports projects that have an impact on society,” says Gottschlich, adding that its breadth is unique in Lower Saxony, even Germany. If someone shows that they’re passionate about a non-profit cause and the project plan is persuasive, then we can fund it. We help leverage its potential.”
The AKB Foundation supports numerous projects by engaged students, for example the construction of a greenhouse in Kabul.
Sample project
The topics range from a teddy bear hospital to a reading club. Sometimes it’s printing a brochure, sometimes a trip abroad for a good cause. For example, thanks to the AKB Foundation, one student documented remote cultural sites in Ethiopia, traveling by mule to them. Others have built a greenhouse in Kabul or helped support sports therapy in pediatric oncology.
Gottschlich has particularly fond memories of one of the first rounds. Two students (not from the medical faculty) launched a project that is still being run today by a non-governmental organization. The initial situation: People in Bolivia like to drink a lot tea with sugar in it. That attacks the teeth. The solution: The female students from Göttingen developed a children’s book with a tooth monster, organized toothbrushes as a donation from a drugstore chain, and taught children at Bolivian integrated schools the importance of practical dental hygiene. “We have small, but excellent local projects, in addition to ones that address international topics,” says Gottschlich. Current examples she can cite are a large number of podcasts that apply for small amounts of funding. |
Information
The AKB Foundation
The AKB Foundation was established in 1998 by Carl-Ernst Büchting (1915–2010), the long-standing Chairman of the Executive Board and later of the Supervisory Board at KWS. Its work centers on the Southern Lower Saxony region, specifically Einbeck, and on Klein Wanzleben (Saxony-Anhalt), the place where KWS was founded. The foundation’s values are steeped in the concepts of sustainability, humanity and future viability. The foundation promotes charitable goals and offers funding in five categories: “the church, Christian faith and ecumenism,” “art and culture,” “education and social welfare,” “science and research,” and “protection of the environment, countryside and nature.” More information: www.akb-stiftung.de |
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