Christian Röser

I have carried this influence over into all areas of my professional life to this day. I started at the "International Education Center Witzenhausen - IBZW", founded by Michael Glamayer, and have been drawn to educational work ever since. Back then, we trained international European volunteers on campus for their voluntary year in Germany. Not only did my career as an education officer begin in this small town in northern Hesse, which led me through several stages to the founding of my own education center, but I also discovered my love of international cooperation there. It was not for nothing that I chose international agricultural economics for my main course of study.

The pivotal point in my development was the founding of Starkmacher e.V. with friends in 2006. It coincided with the acquisition of my diploma. We wanted to do something ourselves to empower young people through their skills and talents and harness their potential for social development. Today, as Managing Director, I work in a growing ecosystem of commitment and partnerships. Holding the reins of our actions in our own hands has become a central motivating factor for us beyond the target groups. The Starkmacher is something like a platform for realizing visions. We determine the topics. Combined with our expertise in applying for funding, especially from the EU, this results in an effective mix. Throughout Europe, we are constantly addressing new topics that we ourselves are concerned about and that we want to shape. I use this opportunity to live out my passion for agriculture and rural areas. This also gives me the chance to work with friends I made during my studies and stay connected across national borders. Combined with my love for Latin America, projects have been created beyond Europe, such as projects to strengthen democracy through renewable energies in Argentina and addiction prevention projects as well as social entrepreneurship projects through coffee and cocoa in Brazil and Bolivia. The special spirit from the time of my studies has always guided me and the approach of organic farming has given me an important inner orientation.

When I started studying in Witzenhausen, to be honest, I wasn't taken seriously by my peers in my social environment at the time. Agriculture, and organic farming at that, was not yet a topic for science and society in 1999. Anyone who studied it was considered an outsider. Today, I can see that teachers and students were pioneers back then and were thinking ahead of social developments such as sustainability and ecology, which dominate thinking today. In addition, the diversity of lifestyles and opinions in Witzenhausen had a positive influence on me. We all got along well and respectfully on campus. The great strength of the degree course was to create a field of tension from the diversity of approaches and opinions, which brought us forward.

In Witzenhausen, I was trained to be a critically thinking, grounded person who can bring the holistic approach of organic farming into his working life far beyond the topic of agriculture. This has made me the person I am today and has had a decisive and positive influence on my career path. I am still grateful to my professors at the time and my fellow students today.