Dentists without borders

Dentists Without Borders ; (DWLF)
legal form	registered association
founding	2018
founder	Claus Macher
Seat	Nuremberg ( ⊙ coordinates: 49 ° 27 ′ 41.5 ″ N , 11 ° 5 ′ 34.2 ″ E )
main emphasis	dental assistance for the needy
method	Aid missions, reconnaissance
Action space	international
Employees	4th
Volunteers	approx. 2,000
Website	www.dwlf.org

Dentists Without Borders (Engl. Dentists Without Limits Federation) , short DWLF , is an established, profit and charitable club in 2018, with headquarters in Nuremberg . It is the successor organization to the Dentists Without Borders foundation founded in 2004 as the Dr. Claus Macher Foundation .

The association sees itself as an independent organization. He supports dentists , dental technicians and dental assistants in their aid projects so that they can provide humanitarian, voluntary dental aid for the needy in disadvantaged countries in an uncomplicated and legal manner . This basic dental care is provided to needy patients free of charge.

history

chronology

DWLF founder Claus Macher

At the beginning of the 2000s, the orthodontist Claus Macher, who lives and works in Nuremberg, attended a lecture about Nepal . He learned that in Nepal people who live far away from cities have practically no access to basic medical and dental care. Macher then decided to do something in the dental sector for Nepal. In 2004 he founded the private, unincorporated Dr. Claus Macher Foundation with the aim of initiating basic dental care in underserved areas of Nepal. In the year it was founded, the foundation set up four fixed and two mobile dental stations in Nepal and supported initial aid missions, which are free of charge for the needy population.

In 2007, Mongolia was added as the second guest country , initially with the establishment of a permanent dental station in Batsümber . In the same year the foundation set up a permanent dental station in Beruwala , Sri Lanka .

In 2008 the foundation expanded its commitment in Mongolia and for the first time offered free, basic dental care to the nomads with fixed and mobile dental stations . In the same year India was added as a further guest country, with fixed and mobile dental stations in Coonoor , Dharmapuri and Azhagiapandipuram .

In 2009, with the support of the foundation, dentists traveled to an African host country for the first time on relief missions: Zambia . Fixed and mobile dental stations are used in Siavonga . A permanent dental station was also put into operation in Lunca Ilvei in Romania in the same year .

In 2011, the foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Namibian Ministry of Health . In the same year the foundation entered into a cooperation with the Clinica Misional “Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” in Ecuador .

In 2012, the first operations were carried out in northeast Namibia , in Grootfontein and in Bushmanland .

In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018 DWLF organized large-scale operations in Mongolia . The operations in 2013 were accompanied by a film team. A documentary film was made about the work of the foundation and the on-site deployment teams.

In 2015, Memoranda of Understanding were concluded with Cape Verde and the People's Republic of China , and the first missions in Cape Verde took place in the same year.

In 2017 it was recognized that the legal form of a non-incorporated foundation was no longer suitable to cope with the meanwhile sharply increased tasks and business processes. The founder therefore decided to continue the humanitarian work on the basis of a legally competent, registered association.

On January 26, 2018, eleven dentists and dental technicians founded the association Zahnärzte ohne Grenzen eV | Dentists without Limits Federation , which, like the foundation before, is based in Nuremberg .

International designation

The English name of the association was set to Dentists without Limits Federation , DWLF for short. The abbreviation DWLF has become a widely used synonym for the organization and has also found its way into the main domain of the website (www.dwlf.org). The English noun Limits instead of Borders was deliberately chosen, on the one hand to avoid confusion with an existing Canadian NGO , but on the other hand because DWLF is not only active across national borders. Nationality, skin color, language, religious affiliation, political convictions and traditions do not represent any limits for DWLF, because humanitarian aid should have no limits.

Logo of the association

The club's logo was adopted from the previous foundation. It shows a stylized globe with degrees of latitude and longitude, wrapped around by an Aesculapian snake , the symbol for the medical profession. In the middle there are five overlapping rectangles that symbolize the continents and in the middle below a red spot. He points to the first country of deployment, Nepal. The logo is surrounded by the name of the association in English and German.

Organization principles

Leitmotif

"Help so that balanced countries can emerge in a balanced community of countries."

SCIMUS ethics

The SCIMUS ethic is the ethical basis on which the work of DWLF is based. Acceptance and acting according to these principles is a mandatory requirement for every participant. The main maxims of the SCIMUS ethics are:

Absolute neutrality in matters of politics and religion.
The organization is not committed to any country's politics or sponsor. It is only committed to its target group, the needy.
The organization works in a development partnership, both with the health authorities of the host country and with the local medical staff. The cooperation takes place on an equal footing.
The organization strives for sustainable and continuous support in the host countries.

The commitment to the SCIMUS ethics made employment contracts possible in new host countries.

Organizational structure

The founding president of the association is the Munich dentist Stefan Rohr. When the association was founded in 2018, he succeeded the former foundation president Claus Macher . The president and his board members have an office with four employees at their side to manage the operative business.

For each country in which DWLF operates, two volunteer project managers are usually appointed: a "Project Manager Europe" (PME) and a "Project Manager Host Country" (PMG). The project manager Europe is the first point of contact for the participants in the respective host country. He is responsible for the condition of the dental stations, the equipment and the procurement of materials.

Project managers in the host country (PMG) are usually dentists in the host country who know the conditions and basic characteristics of their home country well. You organize the areas of application on site, e.g. B. the mobile dental stations, and ensure that the needy population is informed about the free treatment options (radio, press, posters).

The participants who can use the services of DWLF are dentists, dental technicians and dental assistants from Europe. They work with local helpers on site. DWLF takes on all the necessary bureaucratic preparatory work and provides the necessary equipment so that the emergency teams can devote themselves exclusively to their humanitarian projects.

method

Development partnership in pacified countries

DWLF is only active in pacified countries and in which there is no or insufficient basic dental care for larger population groups. Great importance is attached to a development partnership on an equal footing with the host countries.

Prerequisite: Memorandum of Understanding

In order, on the one hand, to guarantee the mission teams a legal basis for their work in the host country and, on the other hand, to ensure that every mission is carried out with the consent and support of the host country, the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the respective government is an imperative for DWLF. In this contract, the conditions, place, time and scope of the assignments are coordinated and agreed in detail.

Fixed and mobile dental stations

For on-site operations, DWLF, together with the host countries, either organizes permanent dental clinics (e.g. in clinics, schools, other public buildings) or provides so-called “Mobile DWLF Dental Clinics” for operations - especially in areas far from cities “(MDDC) available. MDDC are small, case-shaped dental treatment units and accompanying, compact, mobile treatment chairs.

DWLF takes care of the procurement of the operational equipment and the instruments as well as the import into the host country with customs treatment so that the teams on site remain unencumbered.

Emergency teams

The teams, usually two dentists and two dental assistants, are not employees of the association, but are independent, resident or employed dentists and assistants.

Tasks of the task force

Dental work in remote parts of the country that are cut off from any infrastructure and therefore have no access to dental care.
Establishment of prophylaxis, d. H. Regular check-ups, distribution of toothbrushes and toothpaste in schools, boarding schools, SOS Children's Villages, etc.
Knowledge and skills transfer to the specialist staff on site by showing, learning, helping and organizing workshops.

Mission structures

DWLF sees itself as a supportive service point for dental aid missions of individual dentists and helpers who want to do humanitarian work in countries in need. The missions themselves are independent projects of the teams, not the association. DWLF's work aims to provide administrative and logistical support for the deployment teams. A prerequisite for a project is that the deployment teams undertake to plan and carry out their assignments in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the organization.

This means that the deployment participants plan and finance their deployments themselves and are also responsible for them. They also book their means of travel, accommodation, rental cars, etc. independently. DWLF supports them from their wealth of experience, but is not allowed to take on the tasks of a tour operator.

DWLF supports - depending on the resources available - the emergency teams with grants, ensures legal working conditions in the host country and the necessary equipment on site.

Performance profile

The club essentially describes its performance profile as follows:

Removal of bureaucratic hurdles for relief operations,
Ensure legal work opportunities for the helpers by concluding specific agreements with the governments of the host countries (so-called Memorandum of Understanding , MoU for short ),
Advising the deployment teams and passing on experience,
Organization of briefings and agreement of deployment dates with the host countries,
DWLF provides the emergency teams with instruments and medication and takes over the customs measures for imports into the host country,
provides either fixed dental stations or mobile treatment units on site,
provides the deployment teams with non-binding advice on optimal insurance cover,
and addresses of interpreters on site,
it reminds those interested in action to find out more about the conditions in the intended host country,
DWLF collects aids (instruments, anesthetics and filling materials, toothbrushes and pastes, glasses, spectacle frames, hearing aids, etc.) which are urgently needed in the host countries to take with you to the areas of operation ,
For the non-working time, DWLF gives the teams non-binding tips on how to organize their free time on site.

Areas of application

Host countries supervised so far

People's Republic of China
Germany (together with the road ambulances)
Ecuador (only placement of dentists for an NGO on site)
India
Israel
Cape Verde
Mongolia
Namibia
Nepal
Romania
Zambia
Sri Lanka
Togo (since 2017)
West Bank (only placement of dentists for an NGO on site)

Awards

In 2011 the " Mongolian National University for Medicine " in Ulaanbaatar awarded the foundation president Claus Macher and his wife Tuul Macher the title of Professor hc (honorary professor) in recognition of their services together with DWLF.

2014 Award of the “Nairamdal Order” by the President of Mongolia, Tsachiagiin Elbegdordsch , to Claus Macher, on behalf of DWLF. The Nairamdal Order (Friendship Medal ) is the highest distinction Mongolia can bestow on foreigners.

In 2018, the Association for the Development of Mongolian Women in Europe ( ADMWE for short ) honored the Mongolian-born DWLF managing director Tuul Macher as Women of the Year (Best Women in Humanitarian Work 2018).

documentary

In 2013 a film team shot the 30-minute documentary "Dentists Without Borders - Mongolia" as part of a large-scale operation in Mongolia. The film shows an example of how DWLF and its helpers organize the operations.