Africa
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia the Foundation for UNESCO launched a humanitarian crises response in two areas of Afar regional state in cooperation with our local partner. The overall objective of the project is to provide a safe water supply and sanitation services to the needy community in the region through construction of new water supply and sanitation facilities. The duration of the project is 3 years starting officially from 1 Oct 2008. Additionally on 25/9/2008 nine water purification units donated by Siemens Stiftung in cooperation with SkyJuice arrived in Addis Abeba. Our partner received all the purification units from customs after producing duty free exemptions from Afar regional bureau and the federal revenue authority.
Burkina Faso
The UNESCO Children of the Sahel programme has been set up in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries. With the aim of combating the roots of poverty and improving the living standards of children and their parents, literacy and agricultural promotion schemes are being implemented. The parents are being taught modern cultivation methods and are learning to earn money with agriculture, so that they and their families can have an independent livelihood.
Over 5,000 children and 2,000 adults from 20 villages are being directly assisted by this project, while a further 50,000 will benefit indirectly.
Although the government of Burkina Faso has made primary school education its top priority, the country is in no position to meet the demand for primary schools, given that it is fighting a running battle with the current food crisis and desertification. A village without education facilities has been chosen with the generous support of a private donor and as part of successful cooperation with the competent authorities. Over the course of the project a new primary school for 600 boys and girls will be built, with its own vegetable garden, where the children can learn in a fun way about ecological issues – for example, effective user of water in a Sahel country, or the basics of agriculture. After school, the children can pass on their new-found knowledge to their parents. And, best of all: the little school canteen serves lunch to the children who, sadly, all too often suffer from malnutrition. Over 600 children will benefit directly, and a further 20,000 indirectly, from this project.
Namibia
Soon after independence, the Government of the Republic of Namibia began granting San communities special attention, prioritising their land distribution in such a way as to reduce language and cultural barriers, aiding their social inclusion in the Ohangwena Region and West Caprivi. This project, funded by Henkel Schwarzkopf and the "UNESCO Champions for Sport", the Klitschko Brothers, specifically promotes early childhood development by sensitising San communities to the value of education, establishing kindergartens as well as a support system for the basic needs of small children, thereby enabling their inclusion into other language groups and societies in the project area. Early childhood development addressing children's social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth also contributes significantly to better preparing children for formal education and for addressing the situation of San communities in a more sustainable manner.
Senegal
In a developing country, such as Senegal, where the State cannot guarantee basic education for all its children, the UNESCO initiative is highly relevant. In the suburbs of Dakar, poverty reaches a level which forces mothers who do not have the resources to sign their children up for school or support them, to let them stay on the streets and beg. It is not surprising that girls among them get married at an early age and become mothers themselves without means of taking care of their own health or the health of their babies thus multiplying the problems. Public schools lack almost everything and a vast part of the youngest population is excluded from basic education. Childhood as a formative phase of life marks a child's way of approaching others within a society. Basic education is thus a crucial element to enable children to live in a harmonious environment.
The "Suburbs of Dakar IV" project aims at supporting the most vulnerable of these suburbs, addressing the several problems mentioned above. The kindergarten in Baraka will be constructed and equipped and a border wall for the primary school will be built. In Baraka, income-generating activities such as handicraft especially for young women who were forced to leave school or never attended, will be supported.
In Parcelles Assainies, a border wall for the primary school will be built and the kindergarten equipped, including the construction of toilets.
The project also includes sensitisation concerning illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, cholera and malaria. The community centre in Baraka will also be used to organise awareness-raising sessions for parents in order to stress the importance of basic education.
Tanzania
The Njombe diocese in Tanzania is experiencing a growing problem with orphans. Because their parents are infected with HIV, almost 50% of all children are forced to grow up with relatives or in an orphanage. Sadly, many cannot pay school fees. Generally speaking, children have to leave the orphanage between the age of 7-8, to make space for younger children. Often they face working as a “house boy” or “house girl” (a kind of domestic slave) or homelessness and prostitution. To break the vicious circle of illiteracy and to give these children some chance of a future, it is essential that they attend school – a free school for orphans. This Catholic school will teach almost 600 children and will finance itself from the school fees of non-orphans.
Zimbabwe
For many years the UNESCO Foundation has regularly lent its support to the Sr. Maria-Benita Goller C.P.S. Convent Embakwe Mission in Zimbabwe. With our donation, we guarantee the continuation of the St. Francis Academic Technical Secondary School and give the children an educational future.
The school is in a region of dreadful poverty close to the Kalahari Desert. Back in 2006 the school building and the little lab were badly damaged by severe storms. Luckily it was possible to repair the facilities before the rainy season, so that the children could return to school.
Water filter material donation for Africa
The Foundation has received a material donation in the shape of water filters from SIEMENS AG. These have been deployed in various projects in Africa.
