By Samantha Carty, Momentum
Social Impact Manager (SIM) partners from Austria joined forces to host the SIM Education Training programme in Vienna throughout August.
Plattform für berufsbezogene Erwachsenenbildung, which promotes the importance of vocational adult education for personal, entrepreneurial and economic development, partnered with the education and training company, die Berater, to deliver the module-based programme and a hackathon on 28th August.
The Erasmus+ funded SIM training programme connects Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with Community Development and provides hands-on knowledge that can be directly applied in real projects. SIMs become experts who strategically advance sustainability and social innovation within companies. As bridge-builders between business and society, SIMs develop impactful projects that strengthen companies, stakeholders, and local communities alike.
During the day-long hackathon motivated future Social Impact Managers developed creative and sustainable project ideas that generate real social value by working on real-world challenges. The hackathon demonstrated the power of collaboration: in group sessions, organisations were analysed, social challenges identified, and innovative approaches for Community Engagement Projects were designed. For many participants, it was a powerful realisation of how strongly teamwork fuels creativity and leads to bold new ideas.
Some of the concepts developed in Vienna will be further explored in Paris this November. After the national programmes in Austria, Greece, Italy, Croatia, and France conclude, selected participants will attend the International SIM School in Paris, hosted by Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. This three-day event will bring SIM students together to exchange knowledge, share best practices, and build valuable networks.
A special thank you to all the SIM participants for their commitment, ideas, and the positive energy that they brought to our five training programmes. We look forward to seeing how their ideas continue to grow and create impact across Europe.