UBS Optimus World

The UBS Optimus Foundation Magazine
December 2006
UBS Optimus World
Street children
Expression of social injustices
Brazil
A street children project strengthens
girls against violence
Vietnam
Hammocks against Malaria
Ab
Portrait
UBS Optimus Foundation
A shared commitment to the future
The UBS Optimus Foundation is a charitable organization
founded by UBS in 1999. It offers UBS clients a broad range
of opportunities to contribute to humanitarian projects
around the world in the following two core areas:
Children & Talents
– Educational projects which open up life chances
– Protection from violence and sexual abuse
Medical & Biological Research
– Child survival
– Tropical diseases
– Supporting young researchers from developing
and emerging countries
The projects, which are selected according to strict criteria
and are reviewed regularly, provide help mainly to countries
in the southern hemisphere. The partner organizations selected by the Foundation have a high level of technical expertise and spotless reputations.
UBS bears all administrative costs for the UBS Optimus
Foundation so that all donations go in full to the Foundation’s projects.
You can find more information about the UBS Optimus
Foundation and the projects it supports at:
www.ubs.com/optimus.
Globally active: the current projects.
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UBS Optimus World December 2006
Contents
Contents
Struggle
Portrait
The commitment of
the UBS Optimus Foundation
Day after day, year after year. For water.
For food. For the survival of children.
News
Information about new projects
BEST prACTices: Fundraising
For the 44 percent of Africa’s people
south of the Sahara who have to manage
on less than one US dollar per day, that is
a deplorable state of affairs. Also for hundreds of millions of street children, each
day is a struggle for survival.
“With so much poverty every bit of help is
just a drop in the ocean,” a successful entrepreneur explained to me last week.
What was he fighting for then, I asked
him. “For clean air. For a good income.
Against superfluous regulations.”
Are there more or less important goals for
which people struggle? A question that is
too quick to judge. It would be better to
ask: Do I have a chance of winning the
fight? Who can support me with advice,
action, money and commitment? The
UBS Optimus Foundation aims to be more
than purely a charitable foundation. We
strengthen our partner organizations
from the South with targeted training
seminars, this year on the topic of
fundraising. And we accompany many
partners in working out sustainable
strategies. This makes sure that the daily
dedication of our project partners will
have more effect than “just a drop in the
ocean,” namely real opportunities for the
future of thousands of children.
Support us and our 52 project partners in
our joint struggle, because: “Although he
who fights can lose, he who does not
fight has already lost.”
Christoph Schmocker
Managing Director
02
04
05
Insights
Against looking away:
06
Helping street children to their rights
06
08
14
Focus
Learning to dream:
Strengthening girls against abuse
08
Children
Madagascar:
A future thanks to school
12
Research
Hammocks against malaria
13
People
David Carrington:
“More than just fundraising”
14
Participate
Friends of the
UBS Optimus Foundation
15
Imprint
Publisher: UBS Optimus Foundation, P.O. Box, 8098 Zurich
Editor: Franziska Reich von Ins, [email protected]
Contributing Editors: Myriam Chuard, Daniela Friedli, Susanna Hausmann
Photos: João Ripper (Cover, p. 8 to 11), ThirdSector (p.14), all other
pictures owned by the UBS Optimus Foundation or its project partners.
Concept & design: Yesway AG, Zurich
Lithography & printing: Neidhart + Schön Group AG, Zurich
Printed on 100 % chlorine-free bleached paper.
Frequency: published twice yearly in German, English and French
The UBS Optimus Foundation is a legally independent charitable
foundation and does not provide financial services of any kind.
UBS Optimus World December 2006
3
News
New Projects Children & Talents
Needs-oriented school system to
give Guatemalan children from rural
regions a future
The low number of pupils finishing school in the rural regions of
Guatemala is alarming. Because the learning content is not adapted to
the needs of children in rural areas, parents often do not even send
their children to school, or they migrate from the country to the city.
This leads to under-development of the rural regions and to the formation of more slums in the city. The ICEP – Institute for Cooperation
in Development Projects has set itself the goal of improving the quality
of education in schools and of adapting the learning content to the
needs of the rural regions. Teachers are being trained accordingly and
the parents of school-age children are being actively incorporated into
the management of the schools. In this way, the project is creating
prospects for numerous children in the country and preventing them
from ending up as street children in the slums. The project is supported with an annual contribution of CHF 100,000.
Best possible start in life
for pre-school children in
Myanmar
Economic, ecological and political problems characterize the everyday life of people in Myanmar. These conditions make it
more difficult for pre-school children to
have a happy start in life, and holistic and
age-appropriate developmental promotion
of small children is still lacking to a great
extent. The Swiss development organization SWISSAID is making it possible together with the local organization Yinthway Foundation for boys and girls up
to the age of eight to have a play-filled education suitable for children. The project is
directed at teachers, caregivers and parents, and offers them appropriate training.
Around 200 communities can benefit from
this, and more than 4,000 children are thus
being given the best possible start in life.
The project is supported with an annual contribution of CHF 100,000.
Protection for abused
children in Pakistan
Pakistan is a young country – children
make up almost half the population. Although there are many, many cases of
physical and sexual abuse, child kidnapping and neglect, projects that grant children protection and aid are for the most
part unknown. The development of an aid
system for abused children is therefore urgently necessary. The Child Rights and
Abuse Committee – Pakistan Pediatric Association now intends to develop a network in order to be able to care for mistreated children in an optimum manner.
Medical personnel, teachers and social
workers are being trained accordingly so
that cases of child abuse can be recognized earlier and children can be helped as
quickly as possible. In addition, the public
is to be informed about the rights of children. The project is supported with an
annual contribution of CHF 200,000.
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UBS Optimus World December 2006
New Projects
Medical & Biological Research
“It smells like tuberculosis here!” –
Electronic nose recognizes illness
Researchers at the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands have
proven what sounds impossible: The life-threatening illness tuberculosis can be recognized by means of an “electronic nose.” This revolutionary technology is now to be refined. Scientists at the University of
Stellenbosch, South Africa, are further developing an already existing
device that, if successful, can be used by healthcare personnel to recognize tuberculosis. The illness can be controlled better through simpler and more targeted recognition. In future, the electronic nose will
be able to save thousands of lives. The project is supported with an
annual contribution of CHF 200,000.
News
International fundraising
in grant foundations
The second BEST prACTices Symposium
created a welcome platform for learning
and exchange between partner organizations and charitable foundations
The donations market is highly contested; more and more aid organizations are courting a stagnating number
of potential donors. If you cannot
come up with innovative ideas and creative approaches, if you do not know
the market and do not plan specifically
for your target group, you hardly have
a chance at all.
Keeping up in such an environment is
extremely difficult for local, smaller aid
organizations in the South. Precisely in
those countries that need donations
most urgently, there is neither a local
donations market nor fundraising training. But if local aid organizations want
access to sources of money, they have
to get involved in international fundraising. However, due to the competi-
tion and lack of market know-how,
they are at a definite disadvantage. This
is really unfortunate, since it is the aid
projects of local organizations that are
often very effective, because they gear
themselves very strongly to the needs
of the people on site.
Strengthening organizations
of the South
It is this problem the UBS Optimus
Foundation wanted to counteract with
its symposium. Around fifty representatives from partner organizations from
all over the world had the opportunity
in November during two intensive days
in Ermatingen on Lake Constance to
let themselves be introduced to the
high art of fundraising by internationally recognized luminaries and to ex-
change experiences with each other.
Since other grant foundations had also
been invited, it resulted in good opportunities for making new, promising contacts with potential donors and for truly discussing mutual expectations (read
the interview with David Carrington,
page 14, on this topic).
In interactive workshops, plenary sessions and practical exercises, participants learned how to develop fundraising strategies, how to negotiate
with international grant foundations
and how to write and present applications.
Nonetheless: as in corporate marketing, strategy and systematics are also
crucial in fundraising, but not sufficient. It is not until they are coupled
with passion, emotionalism, creativity,
courage and innovation that they really promise success, as fundraising guru
Tony Elischer made rousingly clear in
his talk. Motivated and inspired to such
a degree, participants returned home
with a whole backpack full of ideas,
ready to turn what they had learned
into action.
UBS Optimus Foundation – more than
a grant foundation
With the second BEST prACTices Symposium, the UBS Optimus Foundation solidified its position as a charitable foundation that does more than
just hand out money. The symposium strived to strengthen knowledge
about fundraising in particular among local partner organizations of the
South, to offer a platform for international and cross-disciplinary networking and to bring aid organizations together with other charitable
foundations.
The participants displayed their enthusiasm for this active form of knowledge transfer also relevant in practice. They are convinced that the
North-South dialog has thus been promoted, the reciprocal understanding of donors and recipients has been deepened and that the event has
made new, promising partnerships possible.
UBS Optimus World December 2006
5
Insights
Street children all over the world are the conspicuous
witnesses of dire social circumstances. But they too are
subject to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Against
looking away
They have no home, sleep on cardboard boxes and their very short lives
are characterized by fear, hunger and
violence. They enter into service as day
laborers or are forced to beg, steal
or prostitute themselves. Despised and
forgotten by society, they are threatened, hunted and even lynched. It used
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UBS Optimus World December 2006
to be they were mostly in the metropolises of Latin America or Asia; today
they are also everywhere in Africa and
in the eastern states of Europe: street
children.
When does a child start to be considered a “street child”? The United Na-
tions defines them as children who live
or work on the street and are not sufficiently cared for by an adult. The
boundaries to other endangered groups
are unclear. This and the fact that many
street children are not registered makes
statistical surveys difficult. UNICEF believes that there are around one hundred million such children worldwide;
other estimates stand at two hundred
million. One thing is for sure: There are
too many! In many places they are so
numerous that people deny their very
existence and close their eyes to the
fact that behind each individual street
child is a person with feelings and their
own tragic story.
The reasons
Despite all the individual and regional
differences, it is known which factors
Insights
cause and foster the drifting off of children to the street. The first and foremost culprit is poverty and the growing global divide between poor and
rich. For families who live on the land,
a lack of prospects forces them to flee
to the slums of the big cities, where,
once they arrive, their hopes are shattered. Hopelessness and frustration
can lead to alcohol and drug abuse in
the parents, which again can lead to
neglect and domestic violence. Due to
AIDS, millions of children lose one or
both parents, and in regions with war
and armed conflicts families are forced
to flee and are torn asunder.
The individual factors often crop up
closely interwoven, but each one contributes to the downfall of family structures. In this way children lose their
safety net and their social stability.
The consequences
Once the children are on the street,
this social vacuum is filled by their organizing into gangs. While this does
create a certain protection for them,
the pecking order within and between
the groups is often cruel. In addition,
they are living in an environment of
violence and crime – circles that often
force the children into drug dealing,
prostitution and theft. Often, drugs offer the children the only way out of the
pain, hunger and suffering. Attending
school is hardly possible anymore.
Such a life has grave consequences for
the physical and psychological health
of the children: Self-esteem is destroyed
bit by bit, violence and sexual abuse
leave behind emotional scars and trauma. Their health is severely affected by
drug abuse, untreated illnesses, insufficient hygiene and poor nourishment,
and unwanted and early pregnancies
without medical care endanger the
lives of the girls and create a new generation of children without hope.
The longer children remain on the
street, the deeper the scars and the
more difficult it is to help them and to
reintegrate them into society.
Rights for street children too
By now 192 countries have signed the
UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child. The Convention is the first legally binding international instrument
to incorporate the full range of human rights – civil, cultural, economic,
political and social rights. The UNICEF
has summarized the agreement in the
“ten basic rights for children.” However, for the hundreds of millions of street
children, this means nothing; they are
still denied almost all rights.
If one wants to help these children to
gain their rights, offer them aid and
give them prospects and at the same
time prevent even more children from
landing on the street in the future, that
is a gigantic task. It cannot be overcome by governments or by non-governmental organizations alone, but
rather calls for a joint, targeted commitment and involvement from all actors and communities.
Further information:
UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child: www.unicef.org/crc
Book tip: Successful author Henning
Mankell in his novel “Chronicler of the
Winds” impressively and sensitively
describes the story of the short life of
Nelio, a street boy from Mozambique.
These former street children from Brazil,
Mozambique and Bolivia were successfully
helped.
Help – but how?
As the reasons and consequences of this deplorable state of social affairs
are so complex, the selection of the projects has great significance. To be
sure, purely charitable aid such as handing out food and offering places to
sleep have their undeniable place, but such programs are not likely to
solve the problem in the long term. “Based on many studies, we know the
success factors, and we orient ourselves to them when selecting a project,”
emphasizes Boia Efraime Jr., Head of the core area “Children & Talents”
at the UBS Optimus Foundation. In summary, they are the following:
– Close networking with state and non-governmental organizations, in
order to increase efficiency and to create synergies
– Holistic aid that comprises medical, psychological, social-pedagogical
and educational offerings
– Supportive measures to educate the public
– Focus on integration into family, school and in the workplace. Close
cooperation with these places
– Inclusion of other socially endangered children to prevent them ending
up on the streets
– Build on children’s existing resources and encourage and promote their
active participation
The UBS Optimus Foundation currently supports street children projects
in Mozambique, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia and Russia.
More about these projects can be found at www.ubs.com/optimus.
UBS Optimus World December 2006
7
Focus
Highlight of the art course: an outing to the museum.
Learning to dream
Strengthening girls against violence:
The UBS Optimus Foundation supports an innovative project
in Brazil that offers aid to socially endangered girls and gives
them prospects for life.
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UBS Optimus World December 2006
Focus
most efficient and sustainable manner
possible, Welthaus Bielefeld is cooperating with a local partner organization
that has profound knowledge and many years of experience in psycho-social
work with street children: the Comunidade dos Pequenos Profetas, or CPP
for short.
For over twenty years, Demetrius Demetrio, founder and head of the institution, has looked after the weakest of
the weak in the capital city of the federal state of Pernambuco. He is active
on two levels: He performs PR and
educational work in Brazil as well as in
Europe. He continues to fight in his
country by submitting reports to the
police and devising education campaigns to prevent street children and
the crimes that are committed against
them from being forgotten and going
unpunished. “Every day we hear reports about the victims of the death
squads or other violent crimes in the
media. This deadens the feelings of
people,” he explains. Thanks to the
consistent development of an international network of prominent personalities, over the course of the years he
has gained influence where it matters.
“Também somos Brasileiros” – we are
Brazilians too, is in large print on the
colorfully painted house that serves as
a daycare center for those who otherwise have nowhere to go. It is by no
means a given for the street children of
Recife that they, too, are full citizens of
Brazil. They live on the extreme edge
of a society that at best ignores them,
at worst eliminates them by means of
death squads.
Only those who dream can
develop prospects
Besides the publicity work, Demetrio’s
entire commitment is dedicated to
the children’s work. Together with his
team of social workers, psychologists,
cooks, caretakers and volunteers, he
offers the street children of Recife a
center where they can rest during the
day within a protected context, be fed,
wash, play and be educated. In this
daycare center, which is sought out voluntarily, the children find an environment where they are taken seriously
and where they encounter others who
treat them lovingly. For many of the
children, this is something they experience for the first time in their lives.
”First of all, trust has to be built. The
children have to feel that they can
open up without danger and learn to
trust themselves and others. This is the
foundation upon which they develop
dreams for the future. Only when they
can dream, can they develop prospects,” Demetrio explains his approach
more precisely.
The Welthaus Bielefeld, a non-profit
development agency registered in Germany, wants to do something about
this. In order to be able to help in the
A lot of patience required
The daily work with the children demands a lot of patience from the wellexperienced and highly motivated team.
The everyday life of the children, characterized by violence, hunger, fear, arbitrariness and drugs, leaves behind
deep-seated scars. Life on the street is
particularly hard for the girls.
“Machismo in Brazil is very pronounced. Girls who live on the street embody the lowest level of the social hierarchy. They are almost like free game
and are defenselessly subjected to sexual attacks and physical and verbal
abuse, not least by the police. And while in years gone by the killing of women and girls was still taboo, today it
Brazil
With 8,511,996 km2 and with a population of over 187 million, Brazil is the fifth
largest and the fifth most populous
country on Earth. In scarcely any other
country are the social differences as great
as they are in Brazil. One percent of the
population earns more than the bottom
fifty percent put together. Eight percent
of the population live on less than one
dollar per day. Northeastern Brazil is particularly characterized by poverty. Many
people of African origin live there, who –
despite the country’s multicultural identity – experience major discrimination.
Recife is the capital city of the federal
state of Pernambuco in the northeast of
Brazil. Recife itself has around 1.5 million
inhabitants. Sixty percent of the population in the metropolitan area of Recife
(three million inhabitants) live below the
poverty line.
UBS Optimus World December 2006
9
Focus
find themselves in difficult life situations, are the target group. The girls
have to agree to participate in all the
project courses on a regular basis for six
months and at the same time attend
public school. The latter is regularly
checked by social workers, who also
maintain contact with the families.
The main goal of the project is to
strengthen the self-esteem of the girls
in such a way that they are better able
to assert and protect themselves in this
world and to help them work through
the experiences of violence they had to
endure either at home or on the street.
Attending the project is designed to
make it possible for the street girls to
reintegrate into society and to prevent
girls living in the favelas from drifting
onto the streets.
The girls are proud of their creations.
“When a society allows its children to
be murdered, the suicide of this society
has begun.”
Herbert de Souza (Betinho)
is part of everyday life. Last year alone,
260 women in Recife were killed,“
Demetrio points out.
Strengthening girls against abuse
In the year 2005, together with the
Welthaus Bielefeld, these circumstances caused him to start a project for
girls, focused on their specific experiences and processing strategies. 12 to
18-year-old girls who live on the street
or in the favelas, the poor districts, and
The offer is very much in demand
among the girls because the courses
deal with topics that interest them and
relate directly to their lives.
Changing one’s thinking thanks
to music
Brega music is very popular in northeastern Brazil. Young girls love it and
dance to it fervently. What they often
do not notice: the lyrics of the songs
are bristling with misogynistic comments. In this course they work through
the lyrics and rewrite them. In a playful
manner, they learn about their own
feelings, think about their values and
rights as women. The crowning con-
Project success
Project partner
The project is still in its initial stage, but it has begun very
promisingly: Ninety girls have already benefited from it. Parallel
to this, in cooperation with the University of Pernambuco, a
study was conducted on the situation of girls on the street, the
results of which are now available and are flowing into the
shape and form of the practical work. CPP intends to establish
itself as a reference center in Recife for the psycho-social care of
socially endangered girls, and by the year 2008 another three
hundred girls are to be given the opportunity to benefit from
this offer.
The project is led by Welthaus Bielefeld and executed by local
partner CPP (Comunidade dos pequenos profetas, Recife, Brazil).
The UBS Optimus Foundation supports this project with an annual contribution of CHF 200,000 for three years.
10
This is achieved with courses, workshops, individual and group therapy, as
well as care given by social workers to
the girls and their families.
UBS Optimus World December 2006
www.welthaus.de
www.pequenosprofetas.org.br
Focus
clusion is the performance of the newly
written songs: the Brazilian joie de vivre escalates, the girls become stars of
the moment.
A life for the street children:
Demetrius Demetrio with a class
from the girls project.
Back to their own roots with
handicrafts and art
The art course is led by two artists,
Fábio and Jacaré, and skillfully links
craft skills with pedagogically valuable
contents. Only recycled materials are
used. “That’s to show the girls that you
can be creative even with the simplest
of materials,” Jacaré explains. Using
old newspapers and PET bottles, the
girls form feminine goddesses from
Candomblé.
Although this religion has been banned
by the Catholic Church, and even criminalized by some governments, Candomblé expanded considerably after
the end of slavery in late 1800s. It
is now a major religion with followers
from all social classes. Candomblé worships a number of deities, the so-called
Orixàs, which have individual personalities, skills, and ritual preferences. Within this pantheon are also very strong
female goddesses. The artwork in the
class together with the surrounding
discussions on these goddesses supports the analysis with positive feminine identification figures, their historical Afro-Brazilian roots and thus their
own identities. On the other hand, the
often very distracted girls learn to concentrate and work in a team.
Therapy and knowledge transfer
In addition to the courses, the girls
have the opportunity to attend individual and group therapy sessions with
psychologists – an offer that is briskly
used. Informational events by outside
individuals inform the girls about legal issues, contraception and AIDS prevention.
Claudia Molina, Head of the police office for crimes against women for the
federal state of Pernambuco, spoke
about the topic of violence and the respective legal situation. She displayed
her depth of emotion upon meeting
with the girls and the commitment of
CPP. “Ever since this experience, I have
no longer been the same. The enthusiasm and the professionalism with
which the employees of CPP improve
the lives of the children, who have
been so affected by injustice, obliges
me to live and defend this ideal with
the same commitment.“
UBS Optimus World December 2006
11
Children
In Madagascar parents are helping to
create holistic educational opportunities
for their children.
edge, they also need social skills that
can be learned by playing together
and through sport. This also requires a
suitable infrastructure.
Key to success:
inclusion of the local population
What makes the work of Aide et Action
so special and successful is the inclusion of the local population, and in
particular the parents. For example, it
allowed the parents to buy a stone for
a small amount of money and to bring
it to make part of the wall of the new
schoolhouse. While the children proudly
point to their stone, the parents identify more with the school and champion
its interests: One may be active in the
neighborhood committee, another in
the school kitchen and another who
may be financially better off contributes towards the costs of the measures planned.
The French organization Aide et Action
is erecting schools, youth and culture
centers and sports clubs in the autonomously functioning city districts as
well as centers for reintegration into
school. Up to today, Aide et Action
has successfully implemented these
institutions into seven districts. They
are improving the quality of education
by training teaching personnel. Their
method of approach includes working
with the local offices and neighborhood committees to analyze their needs
Aide et Action is not only making a
large contribution to educational opportunities with the funds they invest
in Antananarivo. Rather, with the manner in which they are doing it, they
are bringing the neighborhood, the
teachers and the parents into the design of their district, helping them to
get active. This is to the benefit of the
many children coming from poorer circumstances. And so Malandy also has
good opportunities to be able to enjoy
an education in his district.
A future thanks
to school
Malandy is five years old, has four
siblings and lives in Antananarivo, the
capital city of Madagascar. Normally,
he would soon be attending school,
but for him that remains a dream: The
opportunity for schooling is scant, and
his parents live in poor conditions.
The population of the spice island just
off the East African coast mostly still
lives from agriculture. But the service
sector is showing strong growth, which
can be especially felt in the capital city
of Antananarivo. Particularly now, a
school education would be more necessary than ever for children in order
to secure them a future. But children
need more than just school knowl-
A dream come true – a place at school!
Project success
In 2005, 36,727 individuals in eight
districts benefited from the measures.
This includes school children, preschool
children, teachers and parents.
169 teachers were trained in innovative teaching methods. In all schools
supported by Aide et Action, the success rate of elementary school graduates improved by seven percent and the
rate of pupils who were able to move
up to the next class by fifteen percent.
Project partner
The French organization Aide et Action defends the basic rights of children to an education. With various
partners it sees to the needs of projects in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
www.aide-et-action.org
12
UBS Optimus World December 2006
and to develop individual school and
education concepts.
Research
the open sky, or in poorly equipped
huts. Malaria mosquitoes, which are
predominantly active in the evenings
and at night, bite unprotected, sleeping people.
Protected sleep in insecticide impregnated hammocks.
First results of a study indicate there
may be hope in the form of an inexpensive
and effective protection.
Hammocks
against malaria
Mainly during the rainy season, the
families of the Raglai – or “forest people”, an ethnic minority of Vietnam –
move with kith and kin to the remote
forest areas. In the forests of Vietnam,
the soil is fertile, the families till their
maize and cassava fields, the women
gather wild fruits and the men go
hunting.
Malaria mosquitoes bite
sleeping people
But a danger lurks in the forests: malaria. Whereas as a result of intensive
campaigns malaria could be widely
controlled on the planes and in densely populated areas, in the mountainous
forests with difficult access, the disease
is still rampant. In a few regions, every
second person falls ill with malaria at
least once a year. Most affected are
ethnic minorities, such as the Raglai.
They rely on working on the fields,
away from civilization and exposed to
malaria. A family father recounts: “We
had a house in the village but we had
no land to work, so my family moved
to the mountain field.” The Raglai often sleep in hammocks, outside under
Success with an innovative idea
Umberto d’Alessandro, the project leader of the hammock project, says,
”Bednets cannot be used in the forest.
But hammocks treated with insecticide
are easy to carry and can be hung up
in the forest. They can hopefully reduce
the risk of getting malaria.” This is
precisely what the researchers of the
Belgian Prince Leopold Institute of
Tropical Medicine are investigating, in
collaboration with the National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and
Entomology in Hanoi and the provincial
malaria control unit. In the study, over
18,000 people are tested for malaria at
regular intervals in order to find out
whether those who use hammocks are
less likely to contract malaria than those
who sleep unprotected.
First results are very promising. “There
has been a decrease in malaria prevalence in the intervention group. We
still need to analyze blood samples
to find out if the antibodies against
malaria have also decreased. If so, this
would indicate a lower risk of contracting a malarial infection,” explains Dr.
D’Alessandro.
If the results still outstanding confirm
the effectiveness of the intervention,
hammocks could also be used in other
countries such as Cambodia or Laos,
or in the Amazon region of Latin
America.
Project success
18,644 people were regularly tested for malaria and treated when ill, 6,500 people
have received a hammock impregnated with insecticide. The project is very promising.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health as well as the World Health Organization are anxiously awaiting the last, decisive results, available in about eight months. Hammocks
could be implemented on a large scale where classical prevention strategies are not
adapted to the local situation.
The UBS Optimus Foundation is supporting the project for four years with CHF 180,000
per year.
Project partner
The Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine is a leading European research institute in the area of tropical diseases.
www.itg.be
UBS Optimus World December 2006
13
People
“Go beyond
fundraising”
Interview with David Carrington
Have you noticed changes over the past few years in
the area of foundations? Yes. I can see many changes.
For example, in the past foundations were set up “in perpetuity” – to last for many generations. Some of the new ones
and the new philanthropists want their money to have full
impact during their own lifetime. This is a very different and,
I think, potentially exciting approach. But it is still unusual.
A change which has become common is that many new
philanthropists and foundations would like to know more
about the goals, the milestones, the achievements and the
outcomes. They want to get to know the processes in more
detail and direct their energies in a more targeted and more
involved manner.
Does this affect the work of charity organizations? Of
course. For them it means having to work out clear visions,
missions, values and methods and having to know exactly
what their goals are and how to implement them.
Do you see that as a positive development that can
enrich the work on both sides? Mostly, yes. But there is
also a certain threat of weakening a charitable organization
through for example an excess of conditions or compliance
reporting and with performance measurement requirements which are intended to provide comfort to foundation
trustees. Remember what Einstein said: “Not everything that
can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can
be counted.” So it is important that foundations keep an
eye on the systems and processes they use, and that there is
a realistic relation between the grant and the achievements
the receiving partner has to fulfill. The NGOs are expected
to tackle long term problems with short term money. No
one can do that. So foundations should think this over and
go beyond short-term grants.
How can charity organizations cope with the situation
of receiving only short-term grants? I think they must
go beyond orthodox fundraising and start thinking about a
diversification of their income sources to make themselves
less dependent on donors. This could be for example with
selling products or services, with asset development, loans
or mission-related investments. So seen, fundraising would
become a kind of business development. This thinking demands courage for many charities and NGOs, because it
might be new for them. But finally the dependency on just
one or a few income sources is much riskier than to try out
new innovative ways of generating income.
14
UBS Optimus World December 2006
David Carrington is an independent consultant working with charities, companies and
the government on the funding and governance of charities and social enterprises.
He has a governance training joint venture
with the UK’s leading charity law firm and he
works as a “mentor advisor” for senior staff
of several charities. He has been Chief Executive of three foundations and is Chair of Allavida and of ”engage,” a trustee of the National
Foundation for Youth Music and the National
Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and a member of the Social Investment Task Force and
the Commission on Unclaimed Assets.
David Carrington was one of the speakers at
the BEST prACTices Symposium (see page 5).
www.davidcarrington.net
Participate
Lay a solid foundation together with us.
Friends of the UBS
Optimus Foundation
Who are the Friends of the
UBS Optimus Foundation?
The Friends of the UBS Optimus Foundation represent the actual fundamental basis of our foundation. They are
the donors who particularly identify
with our philosophy and our goals.
As a Friend you donate a fixed amount
annually to the UBS Optimus Foundation, whereby you can choose from
among the following possibilities:
Bonus
CHF 1,000
Melior
CHF 2,500
Optimus CHF 10,000
What does it mean to be a Friend
of the UBS Optimus Foundation?
As a Friend you are beginning a responsible involvement with your regular donation and are making a lasting
contribution to the long-term financial
security of supported projects. Once a
year you have the opportunity to find
out more about philanthropic topics at
an exclusive event and to come into
direct contact with specialists. In addition, you regularly receive background
information about the foundation and
its current projects.
Would you like to become a friend
of the UBS Optimus Foundation?
You conclude a donation agreement
with the UBS Optimus Foundation.
Your client advisor will be happy to
help you fill out the application form,
which ensures that your donation is
automatically transferred each year. As
soon as we have received your registration, we will deliver your personal
certificate to you.
Certificate
This is to certify that
is a
Friend of the UBS Optimus Foundation
Through your commitment to the good cause you make a significant and sustainable
contribution to the success of the projects supported by the UBS Optimus Foundation.
Hand in hand we work together for a brighter future for the children of this world.
UBS Optimus Foundation
Marcel Ospel
Chairman
Christoph Schmocker
Managing Director
A certificate seals the friendship.
Contact your client advisor or the UBS
Optimus Foundation directly for more
information:
Phone +41 44 2372787
[email protected]
www.ubs.com/optimus
Ways you can support the UBS Optimus Foundation
A classic direct donation, bequest or personal foundation
allows you to choose where your money goes: if you donate
CHF 1,000 or more, you can choose which core area and/or subarea your money goes to. Donate CHF 5,000 or more, and you
can choose the region as well.
A regular, annual donation of CHF 1,000, CHF 2,500 or
CHF 10,000 makes you a Friend of the UBS Optimus Foundation,
giving you an exclusive invitation to our yearly information event.
The investment fund UBS Strategy Fund – Balanced C offers
you the opportunity to combine attractive portfolio performance with humanitarian commitment. When taking out a UBS
Life Funds life insurance policy, meanwhile, you can select this
fund as one of your investments. In addition, you can name
the UBS Optimus Foundation as the beneficiary of any life insurance policy.
Every time you use the UBS Optimus Foundation Charity Card,
you benefit from the advantages of a normal credit card and
perform a good deed at the same time. This is because UBS
transfers 0.5 percent of your total credit card spending every
year to the UBS Optimus Foundation. UBS also pays a share of
the annual card fee to the Foundation.
If you are a member of UBS KeyClub, you can also donate your
points to the Foundation.
Talk to your client advisor, who will be happy to explain all the
options and help you choose the one that suits you best.
Alternatively, you can contact the UBS Optimus
Foundation directly be telephone on +41 44 237 27 87,
via e-mail at [email protected]
or on the Internet at www.ubs.com/optimus
Please note that this fund is not authorized for (public) sale or distribution in all countries. Units of the fund may not be offered or sold in the United States. The fund details
provided on this page do not constitute an offer. They are intended for general information purposes only.
UBS Optimus World December 2006
15
UBS Optimus Foundation Charity Card.
The credit card in a good cause.
Whenever you use the new UBS Optimus Foundation Charity Card, you benefit from the advantages of a
normal credit card and perform a good deed at the same time. This is because UBS pays a percentage of
the annual fee and of the amount you spend on your card to the UBS Optimus Foundation, a charitable foundation whose activities are focused on the welfare of children. Every time you use your card, you help more
children receive access to education and medical care. For further information and a card application, visit
www.ubs.com/cards
www.ubs.com/optimus