Project details

• Number of volunteers:  3 to 4
• Duration: September to August (changes possible)
• Topics: Agriculture, Inclusion – Equity, Access for Disadvantaged People
• Contact: karla.zweier@aha.or.at
• Hosting Organisation: Sunnahof Lebenshilfe Vorarlberg GmbH, Göfis, Austria
• Supporting/Coordination organisation: aha – Jugendinformationszentrum Vorarlberg Dornbirn, Austria

Our general principle is “people need people”, no matter if you have a disability or not. Our work focuses on the uniqueness of each human being and the belief that society depends on each individual person, and each individual person depends on society.

Sunnahof is an organisation for people with light intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems from the age of 16 until retirement. Our core objective is to prepare this target group for the regular employment market. Therefore, Sunnahof provides four biodynamic working areas with naturalistic working conditions.

Those four working areas are:

• Agriculture
• Plant nursery
• Carpentry
• Gastronomy

All together we engage over 60 people with light intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. Furthermore, Sunnahof offers a housing service for around 20 people with disabilities, which includes different possibilities of assistance.

Our staff is educationally and subject-specifically trained, a basic requirement for our concept. It enables us on the one hand to handle a farm with 60 hectare of arable land and a lot of animals, to produce a variety of wooden products exclusively per order, to receive about 5 000 visitors per year in our Café and shop and to grow and sell 500 different species of plants.

On the other hand, it qualifies us to accompany people with disabilities on their way to the regular employment market.

In terms of learning opportunities, the volunteer will have a varied role and therefore gain invaluable experience and skills for working with people with light intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. On that course, they will learn a lot about their way of life as well as about disability issues and issues facing the local community.

They will also learn how to work with people with disabilities and how to increase their skills and promote their independence. Furthermore, they will gain access to the work as a farmer, carpenter, gardener and in the café/shop.

The role of the volunteer will be to work with our employees and people with intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems.

There are many different things to learn as a volunteer at Sunnahof. Every working area has its learning possibilities and challenges.

Apart from the working area, the volunteer will be involved in attending people with intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. That’s the core area of the project.

One weekend a month, all volunteers will have the duty to take care of the animals at the agriculture area. For this task, the volunteers can take their two free consecutive days off during the week. 

The Supporting/Coordinating Organisation will hold a monthly evaluation meeting with all volunteers in Vorarlberg. At the end of the project, we will together with the volunteer evaluate the project, what s*he has learned and which competences s*he has gained and as a result fill out the Youthpass. Furthermore, there will be a final personal evaluation meeting with the Supporting/Coordinating Organisation.