SPAC
Sabine Plattner African Charities
To preserve our planet for future generations, the Hasso Plattner Foundation supports environmental conservation and educational projects through the Sabine Plattner African Charities (SPAC), founded by Mrs. Sabine Plattner.
Now, as one of the Foundation’s charitable subsidiaries, SPAC combines education and scientific research for a sustainable approach to conservation. It focuses on the protection of nature through education and community engagement. Mrs. Sabine Plattner advocates for significantly higher levels of awareness of the connection between human actions and our impact on our planet’s rapidly depleting natural resources. Her resolve is to nurture this awareness primarily amongst teachers and academics, who are the multipliers of education, with the ultimate goal of enabling the youth to make informed decisions for the future of the planet.
With its various projects running from preschool to tertiary levels, SPAC’s footprint covers several countries across the continent, with particular focus on the rainforests in the Congo Basin. SPAC’s projects contributed to the conservation of 1.3 million hectares of rainforest in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park. In September 2023, UNESCO inscribed the Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua on its World Heritage List, emphasizing the significance of this incredible ecosystem and the need for its preservation.Â
SPAC’s flagship projects are:
Early Childhood Development (ECD)
The ECD program is based in the Republic of Congo. With its flagship and satellite ECD centers located in the periphery of the Odzala Kokoua National Park and the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, the program provides holistic pre-school education, using localized conservation-enriched content, for children from three to six years old.
The EduConservation Program
Operating in six African countries, EduConservation aims to increase environmental conservation awareness by integrating Africa-centric conservation resources into the formal curricula of the African education system. The program provides training and Teacher Toolkits that are locally adapted and designed to support the reality of rural classrooms. As these teachers will go on to teach thousands of children, the aim is to inspire ever more young people to live in harmony with nature.
Conservation and Research Network
The Conservation and Research program operates from the Field Station at the Ngaga Camp, located at the border of the Odzala Kokoua National Park. It develops multidisciplinary research at the tertiary level in the Congo Basin regions and internationally.
EduConservation, Senegal
Conservation and Research program, Ngaga Camp