The German Children and Youth Foundation is a “joint initiative for youth and future.” It promotes programmes and projects that help young people learn and experience initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, active participation, shared responsibility as well as a democratic political culture.

Mercator Foundation

The Mercator Foundation is looking for projects using innovative ideas to make lasting contributions in terms of broadening horizons in the lives and experiences of children and young people. To this end, the emphasis is on practically relevant research, but also on developing fundamental scientific questions. The Foundation aims to develop models that will, after a successful trial period, provide significant impulses for their respective audiences and deliver measurable results for improving children’s living and learning worlds.

O2 (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG

O2 (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG, a subsidiary of Telefónica O2 Europe plc and part of the Spanish telecommunications group Telefónica S.A., offers its customers in Germany postpaid and prepaid mobile products as well as innovative mobile data services based on GPRS and UMTS technology. As an integrated communication provider, the company also offers fixed-network DSL telephony and high-speed Internet. Telefónica O2 Europe plc has more than 40 million mobile and fixed-network customers in the UK, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.

O2 Germany bears responsibility not only for sustainable corporate management but also for the social environment in which we operate. We strive for sustained development in the economic, ecological and social dimensions. In keeping with this vision is O2 Germany’s commitment to corporate responsibility. As well as our staff involvement and activities in the environmental field, we support children and young people with groundbreaking projects to encourage their media skills. Thus O2 works closely with the German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS), with which we introduced the Internet-based learning and information system SCHOLA-21 in 2003. This initiative gives children at different stages of their education the opportunity to collaborate on projects in order to step up their learning, build up valuable networks with their peers at home and abroad, and improve their skills in information and communication technology. Since 2005, the DKJS and O2 have been establishing partner schools throughout Germany. O2 staff can actively participate in the children’s projects by contributing their know-how as mentors or experts. An important function of the project learning platform is to prepare pupils for the working world. Skills in IT and communication technology are crucial for the development of the German job market and to fulfil the needs of companies like O2 in the future.

To find out more about O2 Germany and our commitment to the community, especially through media skills and youth protection, visit www.de.o2.com/cr.