Together for the future of all children
The foundation has been committed to building educationinfrastructure for many years, even before the UN adopted its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In 2002, the PATRIZIA Foundation joined forces with the Missionary Benedictines Benedictinesand opened a children’s ward in Peramiho, in the southwest of Tanzania.
The facility represents an important measure of the PATRIZIA Foundation in supporting SDG 3, thus safeguarding the healthand well-being of children and young people on their journey through education.
The foundation also supports children’s health in Germany, through facilities such as PATRIZIA AftercareHamburg , PATRIZIA Aftercare Municha centre for animal-assisted therapy (PATRIZIA Child Therapy Augsburg).
„Education should help all children, wherever they are in the world, to find their own way to become self-sufficient in life. This is a goal we apply to everything we have.”
Wolfgang Egger
Founder of the PATRIZIA Foundation
A key priority: high-quality education worldwide
The focus of the foundation lies firmly in SDG 4, which revolves around education. Its aim: to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
An important tool in achieving the educational goals of SDG 4 is good infrastructure, especially school buildings and equipment. But it also requires measures to be taken to ensure that once set up, educational facilities can continue operating effectively in the future. To make this so, the foundation forms long-term alliances with local partner organisations. This includes a commitment to run each facility for at least 25 years.
The teaching offered at PATRIZIA facilities ranges from high-quality nursery-level education (PATRIZIA Child Care Western Cape in South Africa and PATRIZIA Child Care Augsburg in Germany) to offering young children access to primary education (e.g. in Kenya and Nepal), secondary schools (e.g. the senior school for girls in Peramiho) and vocational schools for older children and young adults (PATRIZIA Vocational Training Center Alego in Kenya and PATRIZIA Vocational Training Center Ntarama in Rwanda). The projects of the foundation thus relate directly to four sub-goals of SDG 4.
Emergency aid for children’s homes in times of crisis
The long period of school closures due to the coronavirus pandemic prevented many children and young people from attending classes. Our relief fund launched in April 2022 (Corona Fund Education Healthcare) has enabled the PATRIZIA Foundation to offer quick help to facilities in need, without being hampered by red tape. The fund made it possible to keep important systems up and running, also preparing schools for reopening by introducing measures aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19.
Education standards: preparing for the future
A key aspect of SDG 4 is of course the quality of education. This is a factor the PATRIZIA Foundation has gone to particular lengths to concentrate on since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, also launching a digital transformation initiative to make it possible to keep offering lessons during the crisis. It’s also important that schoolchildren and teachers are shown how to apply digital media and learning methods.
Going by the motto Ready for the Future, the foundation was supported by the education expert Beatrice Rutishauser Ramm in developing an adaptive education method based on the Essence of Learning (EoL) – a teaching philosophy that centres closely on the actual needs of children. Using simple and extremely efficient methods, EoL promotes a self-sufficient approach to taking personal responsibility – a fundamental prerequisite for making good use of digital learning options. The project is initially being implemented in three pilot countries: Cameroon, Nepal and Rwanda. Later the Ready for the Future concept will, if possible, be applied across the board in all PATRIZIA Foundation facilities.
The Ready for the Future initiative has already kicked off in Cameroon with a teacher training session. To read more about the project, see our Foundation Magazine.
Clean drinking water and other sustainable development goals
In addition to the education goal, the foundation also supports other UN Sustainable Development Goals such as SDG 6: in order to learn properly, not only do children need good classrooms, they should also have access to clean drinking water and sanitary facilities. Accordingly, the foundation bought four water tanks for PATRIZIA School Buyamba in Uganda, each with a capacity of 10,000 litres, as well as 15 new hand basins. The school in Syangeni (Kenya) also received urgently needed water tanks.
By building education infrastructure, the focus of the PATRIZIA Foundation always lies in the same long-term goal of helping communities to become independent. This is also why the foundation works closely with local partners, organisations and workers to build and operate its facilities, also drawing on local products when setting up facilities. In so doing, the foundation supports two other development goals: “decent work and economic growth” (SDG 8) and “build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation” (SDG 9).
The role of partnershipin achieving all goals
Sustainable development is only possible by working together on a global scale. This is a fundamental principle of SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals). This approach to partnership has been enshrined in the philosophy of the PATRIZIA Foundation since it was established. Not only do we believe in working with organisations on the ground, we also join forces with donors. This is because financial support from third parties is pivotal to the work of the foundation. Among others, these include our CSR Partners and the members of the IMPACT CIRCLE.
