Youth development

We support youth development, and our programmes aim to help young people develop self-esteem and leadership skills.

Coca-Cola Junior Rangers

Adventure, fun and increasing the awareness for nature and the environment are at the center of the training as a Coca-Cola junior ranger. Together with the Hohe Tauern National Park, Coca-Cola each year offers 15 teenagers the chance to become junior rangers.

This theoretical and practical adventure lasts two weeks. First, the junior rangers acquire valuable knowledge about the national park, the flora and fauna and the tasks of a national park ranger. In the second week, the acquired knowledge is put into practice together with “mentoring rangers” in the Hohe Tauern National Park.

The successful partnership of Coca-Cola Austria and the Hohe Tauern National Park has existed since 2003. The goal of the program is to show young people how to embrace their responsibility towards nature and to impart knowledge that will be valuable to them also later in life.

The junior rangers of the past years also participate in the upcoming events and accompany the new rangers on tours, help with the preparation of the children’s program or independently attend to information points in the Hohe Tauern National Park.

Partnership for the youth accommodations for SOS Children’s Villages

In particular, we support young people who are in some way disadvantaged.

In Austria, the company has entered a partnership for the youth accommodations for SOS Children’s Villages. What’s special about this partnership that started in 1999 is that besides financial support – in the form of a “house partnership” – Coca-Cola offers the youths unique opportunities that promote their personal development.

A living partnership

While staying at these youth houses, the children are prepared for an independent and self-dependent life; the children who live there are 12 or older. Coca-Cola sponsored the houses for all youth accommodation in Austria. But the personal meetings and the unique experiences for the youths, which only Coca-Cola can make possible, are an equally important part of this "living partnership".

 

Since October 2006, there is also a youth group that lives in Strebersdorf, Vienna, where 12 children have found a new home. The location of the accommodation not only offers them the rich diversity of a big city, but also the opportunity to get some fresh air at the nearby Danube Island, the Marchfeld canal and other green spaces in the vicinity. The children are strongly integrated into the neighborhood; workshops with the families living in the area are organized on a regular basis. 

We place great value on personal contact. Throughout the year, the company is in close contact with the youths and “lives” the motto of the SOS youth accommodation. “Provide stability, let go and remain close.”

Making dreams come true

The youths of the SOS Children’s Villages are included in the activities of Coca-Cola – e.g. in sports events, concert visits or the Coca-Cola Junior Ranger project. Coca-Cola regularly surprises the children and offers them unique experiences. Experiences that only Coca-Cola can make possible and that give them strength and boost their self-confidence. E.g. a girl was given the chance to carry the Olympic torch at the Olympic Games of Salt Lake City, another girl visited the original places where the Harry Potter movies were shot.

www.sos-kinderdorf.at

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