Annual Report 2020
Introduction
Dear Friends of the PBF
It is a great pleasure for me to report to you about our experiences, challenges and progress. Since our humble beginnings in 1994, we have seen our mission as empowering marginalised groups in society to address causes of poverty, deprivation, exploitation and abuse, which hinder the enjoyment of civil and human rights and violate human dignity. Particularly among people in remote villages, we continue to see signs of change. These are taking concrete shape, especially when our local leaders approach their tasks with renewed vigour. This annual report describes some progress.
The well-known problems of climate change, water scarcity, water cleanliness, drought and natural disasters are increasing. Food shortages and hunger remain a serious threat to people already living in poverty. In this context of unequal distribution of opportunities, we are in close contact with directly affected people. We want to encourage and enable them to effectively exercise their rights, opportunities and abilities.
Focal points
We support and advise individuals only selectively. Our main focus is on community projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Benin, Gambia, Senegal, South Sudan and Sri Lanka. Such projects were continued or newly realised. In 2020, they increased significantly, especially in favour of young people and women.
In concrete terms, this involves access to clean water, hygiene, sanitation, education, respect, recognition for women and girls, protection and care for the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities, participation in the community, health care, environmental protection, micro-financing, land cultivation and plant breeding, and food security.
The holistic approach is important to us:
Our approach is always adapted to local challenges and cultural opportunities. This includes three basic guidelines at PBF:
– Women are key agents for change.
– Engaging communities for empowerment.
– Promoting effective links with local authorities.
Effectiveness and success
In 2020, for example, we funded a “Bee and Tree – laudato si -Project” to sustain and use local resources in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to strengthen ecological balance and bring about sustainable livelihoods through beekeeping and tree planting.
Such progress could not be reported were it not for the tireless support of friends, donors and supporters. Within the framework of our PBF Foundation, compassionate, committed people contribute a great deal each year to positive change in very concrete places with very concrete steps. We therefore take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks.
2020 was a special year for PBF. We celebrated the silver anniversary of the foundation with two thanksgiving services in Kloten and Wallisellen (Switzerland). These anniversaries as occasions of thanksgiving (“Assessed backwards – lived forwards”) remain significant for our work. For despite the effects of the worldwide Corona pandemic, the PBF was able to record a very good year, also in financial terms, thanks to our circle of donors and the sparingly considered use of funds on the ground.
Now, more than a quarter of a century after Peter Bachmann founded the foundation, we honour both our donors and beneficiaries on the ground with energy, passion and appreciation. In 2020, the Foundation has continued to work boldly and strategically to critically sharpen the angle and perspective of its approach to charity. The main beneficiaries of our projects are the poorest of the poor, the main focus is sustainability of aid.
Whenever and wherever possible, we tend to focus our involvement on hard-to-reach places in rural areas or on the fringes of urban centres. We have learned over decades in Kenya and Ethiopia that more people can be reached there with greater efficiency and impact. When we get to know an area and the local people well through our trusted local people, often in daily contact, long-term aid is well invested.
When we fund a project, we work with carefully selected local experts. They have community-oriented, cultural competence, good reporting skills and a comprehensive understanding of sustainability.
Highlights 2020
Project Manager:
Dan Amolo (Freiburg i. B.) is the new responsible project manager at PBF.
Ethiopia:
- Community health care for old, sick and disabled people (conclusion of a national health insurance) in Lalibela. Review of our list of poor people, some of whom we have been supporting monthly for many years.
- Overview and more precise knowledge about our students. Mohamed Mushaga in Addis Ababa is the new coordinator for the students in Ethiopia.
- New training centre for the bee and tree project in Lalibela. Young people, farmers, unemployed people receive instruction there on beekeeping and tree planting. As budding entrepreneurs and producers, environmental protection is a matter close to their hearts. We have extended this project to the south of Ethiopia. Abebe Zewdu from Lalibela is responsible for the coordination.
- A primary school in remote Bilbala/Lalibela receives desks and chairs.
- The Emanuel Clinic in the remote Gashena will be equipped with another well, a vehicle and a generator.
Kenya:
- Previous projects will be expanded: support for schoolchildren and students, hygiene measures/ lady’s pads for teenage girls in the mega slum of Mathare in Nairobi, school meals and sports.
- After the purchase of a plot of land outside Nairobi, a school made of containers will be built in January 2021. The children will be driven to class from Mathare in a school bus purchased by PBF.
- Medical care will be provided regularly at weekends by a professional team.
- The bee and tree project has also started in Kitui and Mbuye.
In West Uganda, in the Kasese district, existing projects such as fish farming could be expanded. The Bee and Tree project was also established in this area.
—
The Foundation Board: Dr. Peter Bachmann, President; Thomas Aepli, Webmaster; Elisabeth Weber;
Dr. Luigi Pedrocchi; Vic Eugster
Other staff members: Dr. Thomas Sutter, Foundation Secretary; Roland Fürst, Accounting; Dubler Treuhand, Auditing; Prof. Dr. Hans Peter Hutter, Consultant
Report: Dan Amolo, MA, European Social Work, Freiburg i. B.