5 / 25
A N N U A L A C T I V I T I E S R E P O R T 2 0 1 5 | 5
2015 Annual
Activities Report
This year the Foundation celebrated ten years of existence and we’ve been excited to reflect on the rewarding
achievements reached over this time: over 3,500 underprivileged children reached, 45 infrastructure projects
completed, 398 students have completed their long term education culminating in Professional School, over 32
village communities impacted, and over 70,000 indirect beneficiaries have benefitted from our work. All this had
been achieved with a spending of only 500,00 CHF per year, with overhead costs not surpassing 3.5% of budget on
average per year, leveraging on the work of countless volunteers and of partner organizations worldwide. We celebrate
our results and the work of tens of volunteers worldwide who have worked selflessly on the field as well as running
our administrative and fundraising activities at our volunteer chapters. Likewise, we would like to thank our Board
Members who have provided precious guidance, contributions in time and skills, and support throughout the years.
Our motto “On the way to school, on the way to life” has been
a dream come true for thousands of children and for our
Foundation to witness, we did it!
2015 has been yet another year of very positive results for the Foundation’s projects and programs. Overall, we have
continued to support the education of all our former students in need on scholarships programs. The number of growing
success stories in terms of students completing their high school diplomas and families in communities coming out of poverty
has strengthened our resolution to continue our work, our confirmation of the effectiveness of our holistic village approach
and scholarship program, and our conviction in the power of education to transform lives and communities for the better.
Our Challenges
According to UNESCO, today there are 124 million children and adolescents who do not attend school and the number is rising.
International aid is “grossly insufficient to meet new education targets to achieve universal primary and secondary education.”
According to UNICEF, “children who are poor, have minimal education, lack vocational skills or have few prospects
for job opportunities are most at risk of being trafficked.” With 1.2 million children trafficked yearly and 85 million
forced into child labor (World Vision), emowering children with education also means helping to prevent inhuman
forms of exploitation and abuse.
Our Mission
Our mission is to improve the living conditions of children in the poorest communities and where there is the greatest
need, with a focus on education. Since our founding, our non-profit organization has been able to extend scholarships
to over 4,000 children and 398 students have completed a professional school diploma.
Our Village Approach
Fully aware that the barriers to education are multidimensional, our Scholarship Program approach also ensures that
every child gains access to quality education as well as to basic nutrition and basic health care. In addition, we are
deeply convinced, as existing research studies confirm, that adolescence is a very critical age for underprivileged
children and it is often the time when underprivileged students are most likely to abandon their studies: adolescents are
twice as likely to be out of school than children under 12 years of age. Studies also show that obtaining a high school
diploma and vocational or professional school diploma is key for a young person’s inclusion in society and to escape
the traps of exploitation. Our focus is not only on literacy or primary school education, we strive to ensure that every
child we support is able to continue through to high school and Professional School to be competitive in the job market
with skills that are highly sought after in their country.