World Childhood Foundation

Queen Silvia of Sweden and Xuxa , in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in Brasília .

The World Childhood Foundation (dt. World Childhood Foundation ), also abbreviated Childhood , was founded in 1999 by Queen Silvia of Sweden founded with the purpose of achieving and children worldwide support. The foundation's focus is on protecting children from sexual abuse , as well as supporting those who have already been victims - with a focus on girls and young mothers. The goals are formulated as follows:

“Every child has the right to a safe and happy childhood, to access to education and to protection from physical or emotional violence. ... Since then, the foundation has been committed to defending children's rights and improving the living conditions of vulnerable, needy and exploited girls and boys around the world. This should give all children the chance to develop into self-confident and responsible adults. You have a right to a free, carefree childhood and security from attacks on your personality. "

The organization currently supports over 100 projects in 17 countries worldwide. These include Brazil , the People's Republic of China , Germany , Estonia , Cambodia , Latvia , Lithuania , Moldova , Nepal , Poland , Russia , Sweden , South Africa , Thailand , Ukraine , the USA and Belarus . The foundation is also actively committed to protecting children's rights and providing information about the exploitation of children that is taking place around the world. Childhood has offices in São Paulo (Brazil), New York (USA), and in Stuttgart for Germany. The head office is in Stockholm . General Secretary there is Paula Guillet de Monthoux. The chairman of the board of the World Childhood Foundation (Germany) is Anka Wittenberg, the managing director is Dr. Astrid Helling-Bakki.

Childhood was started by a group of so-called "co-founders," each of whom donated $ 1 million. The following companies and persons belonged to it: ABB, Axel Johnson Group, Charles B. Wang Foundation, Curtis L. Carlson Family Foundation, Daimler Corporation Fund, Family Barbro E. Heinz, Family Jan H. Stenbeck, Family Jane and Dan Olsson, Family Sven Philip-Sörensen, Heimbold Foundation, Oriflame - af Jochnick Foundation, SAP AG , Skandia , TeliaSonera AB. This gave the foundation a stable financial foundation. The group of co-founders closed in 2005.

The foundation points out on its website that “Social engagement or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strengthens the bond between companies and employees”. There is now a long list of sponsoring companies that support Childhood with direct donations and use them in their advertising and branding strategy. So-called corporate partners are u. a. SAP AG, Volvo and Commercial Banks, Sweden. The sister projects in Brazil, USA and Sweden work in a similar way.

Childhood spent over $ 60 million on over 600 projects through 2009.

On the occasion of the state visit of the Swedish royal couple in Germany in October 2016, Queen Silvia attended a symposium of the foundation in Leipzig , at which it was announced that there would be a first so-called barnahus in Germany from 2018 in cooperation with the Leipzig University Clinic ; In Sweden there are already over 30 of these facilities, which enable interdisciplinary and child-friendly care for abused children by a team of police officers, psychologists, doctors and others.