Patronage

The special task of SozialMarie active patrons is the accompaniment and/or support of one of the prize-winning or nominated projects over the year following their awarding. Every year during the award ceremony on May 1 inspiring personalities overtake the active patronage for those countries which are part of SozialMarie's submission area: Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia.

Barbara van Melle

Barbara van Melle

Austria 2023

I have a long history with SozialMarie. For many years, I served as a member of the jury and as a moderator of the award ceremony, which gave me the opportunity to personally meet great projects and the people who support them. I remember many poignant and inspiring moments that made it clear how important the commitment of each and every individual is. The SozialMarie shows how much positive things can happen when people get involved, actively focus their attention on existing social problems and then sometimes find completely new approaches to solving them.

Barbara van Melle is an entrepreneur and author of successful bread baking books. In 2018, she founded "Kruste&Krume GmbH" and has since been running the first Viennese Bread Baking School with her team, a special shop for flours and a YouTube channel that regularly delivers bread baking videos. She worked for ORF for 25 years as a journalist and presenter, created and hosted numerous TV formats. She became an activist through her activities for the international non-profit organisation "Slow Food", which opposes fast food and fast life. For 12 years, she worked in many national and international projects for the goals of the movement.

 

Photo: Lukas Lorenz

Davorka Vidović

Davorka Vidović

Croatia 2023

Every social innovation is important because it shows how it is possible to do things in a different way, in a more humane way, respecting others and the nature of which we are an inseparable part. Each such initiative is like a new lit light in the joint creation of a better world for everyone.

Davorka Vidović is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, where she teaches courses on Sustainable Development and Social Innovations, as well as Sociology of Croatian Society. Her pioneering sociological study on social entrepreneurship in Croatia, for which she obtained her PhD in 2012, has been widely recognized. Since then, she has conducted numerous studies on social entrepreneurship, social economy, and social innovations. She regularly collaborates with organizations and networks such as CIRIEC, EURICSE, EMES, EUCLID, as well as with local social enterprises and NGOs. She was engaged as an expert in many studies and policy reports for the EC, OECD and others.

Petr Machálek

Petr Machálek

Czech Republic 2023

Social innovations can and do bring new ways of solving a range of social problems, improving the quality of life of many people, filling gaps in social services, helping to protect the environment and much more. I am therefore honoured to take on the role of Patron of the SocialMarie Award.

Petr Machálek is a consultant, lecturer, facilitator and collaborator of the OSF Foundation Advocacy Forum. He focuses on advocacy work and systems change, fundraising and organizational development. He works for NGOs in the Czech Republic and abroad. Petr focuses on strengthening advocacy skills of NGOs and civic initiatives, facilitates strategic planning, lectures at workshops and teaches externally at the Faculty of Social Studies in Brno. He cooperates with a lot of Czech foundations. He worked as a director of the Hnutí DUHA - Friends of the Earth Czech republic and held the position of deputy mayor of Brno-Žabovřesky.

Ildikó Simon

Ildikó Simon

Hungary 2023

I first encountered the term social innovation in 1987, when I was 17. Of course, at that time we didn't call it like that, we simply felt that something had to be done about social exclusion, substance abuse, homelessness. I started working as a peer helper in a youth counselling centre, and from 1995, as a trainer for leaders and staff of the at the time very young NGO sector. Throughout my professional life I have worked on the invention, implementation and development of social initiatives, sometimes as a trainer, sometimes as an activist. I really belive in the power of community initiatives, cross-sectoral collaboration and solutions based on the active participation of citizens. To this day, I actively support other people's projects and work to find meaningful and effective social solutions.

Ildikó Simon is the president of the Hungarian Cromo Foundation, owner of Victum Training and Consulting, trainer, coach. She graduated from the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at ELTE in 1998, where she also worked as a lecturer. Between 1995 and 2000 she was Programme Director of the Civil Society Development Foundation and previously she was a grant evaluator for several Hungarian public foundations. Currently she is leads training and organisational development projects for enterprises and works as a researcher, trainer and project manager in European Union projects.

Jozef Ondáš

Jozef Ondáš

Slovakia 2023

Social innovations are innovations whose goal is to fulfill urgent social needs, bring measurable added value in solving social problems and thus promote positive social changes. Inspired by models from the business environment, together with our DEDO Foundation, we have been searching for, proposing and supporting social innovations that have the potential for systemic change for over 25 years, because this way we can also ensure their sustainability.

From 1990 until 2011 Jozef Ondáš participated in founding and management of IBM Slovakia, SAP Slovakia, and T-Systems Slovakia. He was at the birth of the Košice IT Valley cluster, which significantly contributed to the development of the IT industry in Košice. His lifelong priority is to support creation and development of companies in the ICT industry in the region of Eastern Slovakia. He worked for a long time on the design and implementation of organization management systems (production, finance, controlling, etc.). His strong competence is change and crisis management. He is also involved in the field of education in order to create, through a systemic approach to change, the conditions for every child to experience joy and enthusiasm in learning and building his unique potential.

Milan Hosta

Milan Hosta

Slovenia 2023

"The movement of every living being is motivated by the interaction of its environment. Balancing the inner with the outer and adjusting the outer to meet the needs arising from within. This is how the meaning of social innovation is found. We are designed to create a meaningful and flourishing society."

Milan has worked internationally in academia, private business, and NGO’s. Moreover, he has first and second-hand experience in organisational development, change management, cause marketing, human resource development, training of trainers, lobbying, and formal and informal leadership. In the 20+ years of providing educational, health, and wellness services, workshops, managing CSR initiatives and projects, leadership, and start-up innovation, Milan has chosen to focused particularly on coaching and consultancy support. Milan holds a degree in physical education & sport science and a PhD in philosophy.

Previous patronages