Lots to celebrate at Berlin’s “Straßenkinder” association: its “Digital Coaching – Not Only in Times of Crisis” project was awarded a special coronavirus-related prize at the 2020 Smart Hero Awards in late September. The “Digital Chancen” Foundation and Facebook give their Smart Hero Awards to projects in several categories that use social media for good causes. The special prizes worth € 7,500 each also honour outstanding commitment in our coronavirus era this year.

Feeding cows, building an insect hotel or tilling your own vegetable patch: at the Schwalbennest (Swallow’s Nest) kindergarten farm on Lake Constance, there’s never a dull moment. The activity-based educational programme that is close to nature has now received an award as part of the UN Decade of Biological Diversity.

Strengthening children, encouraging adolescents and supporting families: that is the aim of the “füreinander” association founded in Erkrath in 2012. In the borough of Sandheide, which is considered a socially deprived area, the initiative campaigns with full-time and volunteer workers for disadvantaged children and young people. The “MOSAIK” youth club and the “cube” café have been created as places with a familiar environment.

A learning and experiential field for the senses that is close to nature: in the southern Baden municipality of Binzen, “Die Gartenkinder” (= The Farm Kindergarten Children) sow, reap and process food with their own hands. The Farm Kindergarten, of the same name, cooperates closely with a local Demeter market garden, and in that way lays the foundation for sustainable environmental education.

The “familY“ program of the educational organization “EDUCATION Y” focuses on families as the key component of the educational system. This is why it assists parents in providing support to their children as they proceed from kindergarten to elementary school – which is a key prerequisite for continued success in learning. Since 2017 the International Family Center in Frankfurt am Main (Internationales Familienzentrum) has seen positive results with that, too.

Artistic and creative activities have been shown to have a positive effect on health – this is the conclusion reached in a report presented by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in November 2019. Prof Harald Gruber and Prof Sabine Koch from Alanus University in Alfter explain in an interview what a welcome boost these results mean for their work at the Research Institute for Artistic Therapies.