Onlangs hebben we een 7 jarig jongetje herenigd met zijn ouders en broertje ~ Recently we reunified a 7 year old boy with his family. Read more...
Ons Jaarverslag 2021 staat nu online. Een jaar waarin we weer mooie stappen hebben gezet. Lees verder...
62 Nederlandse stichtingen hebben inmiddels de Dutch NGO pledge #EveryChildAFamily ondertekend. Samen pleiten ze voor een alternatief voor weeshuizen. Lees verder...
Boekje 'Kinderen zonder THUIS' met het voorwoord door onze voorzitter Monique, nu ook in het Engels ~ Booklet 'Children without a HOME' with the preface by our chairman Monique, also available in English.Lees verder...
Onze voorzitter Monique gaf samen met de coördinator van Better Care Network Netherlands, een interview in de podcast van Radio El Mundo. Lees verder...
De laatste tijd zijn we volop in de media om het recht van een kind om op te groeien in een gezin te promoten. Lees verder...
Good news – our support pays off!
Do you know that more and more children live to be five years of age? In 1990 worldwide 90 out of 1000 children died before the age of five. Today the number has dropped to 43. This means that child mortality has been halved over the past 25 years.
In education things have bettered in developing countries, as well. In today’s world 9 out of 10 children attend school. Only in 1970 this figure was 6 out of 10.
Our aid at the construction of wells, a surgery, purchase of equipment, an ambulance/jeep for the St. Anna’s Health Centre in Uwemba and the construction of a kindergarten in Songea has contributed to these fine results. The video on the left gives a nice overview of our projects. More information on our projects is available at the page “Goal and projects”.
With our current project ‘Watoto kwanza’ we also achieve good results. ‘Watoto kwanza’ is Swahili meaning ‘Children first’. Or as we put it: the child’s interest first. This means we focus on children from our most vulnerable group in the Tanzanian society: children who unnecessarily grow up in an orphanage. A child belongs in a (safe) family situation in which it can develop to its full potential.
Do you know that over 80% of the children growing up in an orphanage have at least one living parent? Given the right support this parent might take care of the child. Besides, over 60 years of research has shown that growing up in an orphanage (institutionalisation) is damaging for the cognitive, emotional and social development. Children develop best in a family situation.
In Tanzania we raise awareness on the topic and we support orphanages in their transition from institutionalisation to a family-oriented approach: from an ‘orphan home’ to a ‘family home’ The video on the left side, with the title 'This is why we do what we do' shows one of our succes stories. Read more.
We initiated the pledge #EveryChildAFamily. Through this pledge several Dutch Private Initiatives declare that family is the place for a child to grow up in. We call on other NGOs, companies, churches and schools to invest in family-oriented care. Children deserve a family home and not an orphanage.
The pledge was formalized at the ‘Wilde Ganzen – Partin’ day in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, on 28 of September 2019. At the time 12 foundations participated. Since then the number of signatories has increased. Now 56 private initiatives have signed the pledge.
Why we signed the Dutch NGO pledge #EveryChildAFamily
The video below shows an interview between our chairman Monique Derrez and Marnix Huis Int Veld, founder of Macheo Children's Organization. Marnix explains why Macheo has signed the pledge. He talks about opportunities and challenges from starting as a traditional orphanage in 2005 to shifting the focus to family reunification. Will orphanages ever become redundant? Will there ever be sufficient alternatives that make orphanages superfluous? Is a police cell still the only other alternative for a child if it has been abandoned and found? Watch the interview and you will find out.
Better Care Network Netherlands
Better Care Network Netherlands (BCNN) is a network of organizations in the Netherlands that provide assistance to children without adequate parental care in developing countries. Since 2007 they have been sharing knowledge, experiences and lessons learned with each other and others. Their goal is to increase awareness about alternative care, improve the application of knowledge, stimulate discussion and improve policy. Read more. (only in Dutch)
Or read more on the website of the American Better Care Network.
