People for people Switzerland

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People for people Switzerland
logo
legal form Foundation, endowment
founding 1989
founder Karlheinz Bohm
Seat Zurich
main emphasis Development cooperation for particularly poor families
method Help for self development
Action space Ethiopia
people Boris Blaser, President of the Board of Trustees; Rolf Knie , honorary president; Kelsang Kone, managing director
Website www.menschenfuermenschen.ch

Menschen für Menschen Switzerland was founded by Karlheinz Böhm (1928–2014) and Rolf Knie in 1989 as the Swiss national organization of the Menschen für Menschen relief organization . The foundation, based in Zurich, works according to Böhm's principle of “helping people to develop themselves” for poor and hungry people in Ethiopia . The foundation's projects support families in particular in needing them to develop life prospects in their home countries. “For a life's work in the service of humanity and peace”, Böhm received the Balzan Prize , endowed with two million francs, in Bern in 2007 . The foundation bears the ZEWO seal of approval .

Principles

“Overcoming the division of the world into rich and poor” was the vision of founder Karlheinz Böhm. Menschen für Menschen Switzerland is committed to a fairer distribution of life prospects. Extremely poor families in Ethiopia should be able to lead a decent life. The projects are located in urban slums as well as in remote rural areas. In order to ensure proximity and efficiency, the projects are carried out in cooperation with local employees from Ethiopian partner organizations. The projects focus on schooling and vocational training, promoting agriculture, drinking water and health care. Because the disadvantage of girls and women is a major obstacle to development, special attention is given to promoting them.

history

From 1989 to 2014 the Swiss foundation Menschen für Menschen cooperated with the other country organizations of Menschen für Menschen in Belgium, Germany and Austria. The cooperation carried out so-called "integrated rural development projects". These aim at a comprehensive fight against poverty by simultaneously promoting agriculture, drinking water supply, schooling, public health and the potential of women. Swiss donors contributed around 30 percent of the total annual expenditure of around 20 million euros. The donations from Switzerland made it possible, among other things, to build 30 schools, eight health stations and 169 wells and spring taps.

In September 2014 Menschen für Menschen Switzerland ended its cooperation with the other country organizations. The foundation expanded its now independent aid projects to include cities. The background is the social change caused by rural exodus and urbanization. According to the aid organization, the impoverishment in slums requires new project approaches in order to reach the poorest of the poor in the growing cities. The rate of urbanization in Ethiopia is 5.4 percent annually.

In line with the Paris Declaration on the Effectiveness of Development Cooperation , the self-development forces in Ethiopia are promoted: Menschen für Menschen Switzerland works with local non-governmental organizations . The foundation employees in the country office in Addis Ababa guide the Ethiopian partners and continuously monitor measures and results.

Current projects

Home economics students in a project in Addis Ababa by Menschen für Menschen Switzerland
School children in Debre Berhan , where Menschen für Menschen Switzerland also improves hygiene at primary schools.

In the city of Debre Berhan , the foundation helps 1000 children from the poorest families with individual support. The children get food, books, school materials and medical care. The parents receive vocational training offers and start-up assistance for setting up a small business.

In the city of Shewarobit , the lack of sanitation is a public health threat. In addition to shared sanitary facilities, Menschen für Menschen Switzerland is building so-called WASH cafés. There, visitors can use toilets and showers. Single women, including former prostitutes, find secure jobs in the cafés.

In Addis Ababa , Menschen für Menschen Switzerland, as the main partner of the philanthropist Abebech Gobena and her organization AGOHELMA, enables the maintenance of a home for 34 orphans. Malnourished toddlers from particularly poor single parents receive food aid. Young women gain prospects through training as cooks and housekeepers. Many of the trainees are returnees from Arabia.

Thanks to irrigation , shepherd families have food security

One of the reasons for the rural exodus is increased droughts due to climate change. The Afar region is particularly hard hit. In 2016 Menschen für Menschen Switzerland provided emergency aid to children under five in the Mille (Woreda) district . In the Subuli settlement area, the foundation has set up an irrigation infrastructure so that herding families can grow grain and vegetables. It makes 300 families independent of dry seasons in the long term.

In the districts Abaya and Gelana in southern Ethiopia, the Foundation leads a project on food security through. Needy families receive seeds and livestock on the basis of fair loans and agricultural training. Farmers' cooperatives are being strengthened in their marketing capacities and value chains are being built up, for example with the construction of warehouses for coffee and slaughterhouses.

transparency

Main channel of an irrigation system in Subuli in Afar

Menschen für Menschen Switzerland implements the projects independently with local non-governmental organizations. These project partners provide quarterly reports on the individual projects. This lists the current status of the work and the budget called up. The quarterly reports serve the Foundation's employees in the country office in Addis Ababa as a basis for checking the progress made on site. In addition to this internal monitoring, external evaluations by independent experts take place after three project years. Menschen für Menschen Schweiz has its annual accounts checked by the auditing company PriceWaterhouseCoopers in St. Gallen. The foundation has had the ZEWO seal of approval since 1999 .

Web links

Commons : People for People Switzerland  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aid organization appoints Rolf Knie as honorary president . In: The Landbote . August 13, 2015 ( landbote.ch [accessed July 19, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Karlheinz Böhm received the Balzan Prize. November 23, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Find certified aid organizations | Donate correctly with Zewo. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Extreme poverty: How do you live on one franc a day? Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Annual report 2018. In: Stiftung Menschen für Menschen. June 17, 2019, accessed on July 19, 2019 (German).
  6. ↑ A look at Africa on women's strike day: More power for women. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Definition: integrated rural development. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Christof Münger: «We were able to break a taboo» . In: Tages-Anzeiger . April 1, 2011, ISSN  1422-9994 ( tagesanzeiger.ch [accessed on July 19, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Our previous successes. In: Foundation People for People. Retrieved on July 19, 2019 (German).
  10. ↑ Menschen für Menschen Switzerland ends cooperation with the German foundation. September 5, 2014, accessed on July 19, 2019 (German).
  11. ↑ Annual report 2014. In: Stiftung Menschen für Menschen. November 4, 2015, accessed on July 19, 2019 (German).
  12. ↑ Why should Ethiopians care about urbanization? Jobs, infrastructure, and formal land and housing. Accessed July 19, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Annual Report 2015 | People for People Switzerland Foundation. In: Foundation People for People. August 17, 2016, accessed on July 19, 2019 (German).
  14. ↑ People for People Foundation: How you can really help Ethiopia. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  15. ↑ A life without prostitution. September 24, 2015, accessed July 19, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Thilo Thielke, Addis Abeba: Ethiopians in Arabia: The dream of a better life . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed July 19, 2019]).
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Pomrehn: Climate change is partly to blame. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Ethiopia - Hardly any help in the worst drought in 50 years. Retrieved on July 19, 2019 (German).
  19. ↑ www 20minuten ch, 20 minutes, 20 min. Www.20min.ch: The goats are the last to die. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Drought catastrophe in Ethiopia: Menschen für Menschen Switzerland starts emergency aid. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Coffee farmers in Ethiopia. In: Foundation People for People. September 18, 2018, accessed on July 19, 2019 (German).
  22. ↑ Annual Report 2015 | People for People Switzerland Foundation. In: Foundation People for People. August 17, 2016, accessed on July 19, 2019 (German).
  23. ↑ Find certified aid organizations | Donate correctly with Zewo. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .