Child's Dream Foundation

Child's Dream Foundation is a charitable not-for-profit organization founded by Daniel Siegfried and Marc Jenni in 2003.[1] The foundation is dedicated to empowering marginalised children, youth and communities in the Mekong Sub-Region of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia.[2] The primary goals of Child's Dream are to enhance the quality of healthcare, to reduce child mortality, construct educational facilities to provide basic education and higher education, and provide scholarship programs and employment opportunities to families and communities.[3] By addressing health, basic education, and higher education, Child's Dream works to minimize poverty by providing socioeconomic opportunities to help improve the future of each person's life. In order to work in different countries, the organization has legal entities in Switzerland, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Hong Kong.[4]

History, Development and Organisation

Siegfried and Jenni worked as private bankers for a global financial services company in Hong Kong and Singapore. While traveling through Asia, they saw firsthand the poverty and inequality that still exists in certain areas and communities. With each trip their desire to take action grew. In 2003 Jenni and Siegfried rented an office in Chiang Mai, Thailand and registered Child's Dream Association as a Swiss charity. Two years later Child's Dream was also registered as a foundation in Thailand.[5] Child's Dream has continued to expand and currently has offices in Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. In 2017 Child’s Dream was officially approved by the Myanmar Government.

With Child's Dream, Jenni and Siegfried focus on underprivileged children in the Mekong Sub-Region, an area formerly known for its opium production, corruption, drug trade, and human trafficking. The people living in this region are often exposed to poverty, disease, sexual exploitation, and political persecution. Additionally, this area is home to many refugees and illegal migrants who have no political rights or access to education and healthcare.[6]

Marc Jenni is head of operations and uses his financial experience to keep the operational costs of Child's Dream as low as possible, while providing maximum transparency to donors. Daniel Siegfried is head of projects and is responsible for project planning and implementation. He is also part of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) which prioritizes potential projects, based on viability, local community support and other factors.[7]

Vision

Empowered people responsibly shaping their communities

Mission

Improving health and education for sustainable development

Strategy

We design, implement, and partner to support interventions for children and young adults. We address current and future needs in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand related to:

  • Basic or essential health
  • Relevant and quality education
  • Responsible leaders and qualified specialists
  • Values of peace and justice
  • Environmental sustainability


Our strategy follows the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Our direct goals

  • 3 - GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
  • 4 - QUALITY EDUCATION
  • 10 - REDUCED INEQUALITIES


Our indirect goals

  • 5 - GENDER EQUALITY
  • 6 - CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
  • 8 - DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
  • 13 - CLIMATE CHANGE
  • 16 - PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
  • 17 - PARTNERSHIPS FOR GOALS



Values

Child’s Dream is driven by these Core Values:

TEAM WORKEncouraging and fostering team work
DEVELOPMENTReflecting on and continually improving our work
TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITYMaintaining full transparency and accountability
DIVERSITYAcknowledging and valuing diversity
EFFICIENCYUsing resources efficiently and effectively
CHILD RIGHTSPromoting and protecting the rights of the child
BENEFICIARIESFocusing on the needs of our beneficiaries
INDEPENDENCEMaintaining our independence and impartiality

Work

Health

In 2017, 14 percent[8] of donations are spent to improve basic health conditions. Children get dewormed, immunized, and given vitamins. These interventions help to reduce childhood mortality, which is high in remote areas. The Children's Medical Fund provides lifesaving operations to hundreds of critically ill children from Myanmar and Laos who are unable to afford treatment. In 2017 alone 5792 Children learned about health and hygiene and 4845 community members received drug and awareness education. As of September 2017 Child’s Dream has provided 1498 live saving operations. The targeted support lies with at least 2000 operations by 2020.

Basic education

Our focus group Basic Education (BE) represents the core competence of our organisation. This group builds educational facilities, such as primary, secondary and high schools, where children can intellectually thrive, and boarding houses for children from far away villages. We also offer high school and vocational scholarships to underprivileged youth with potential, through our High School & Vocational Scholarship Programme.

In addition, we improve our basic education facilities by providing computer laboratories, clean water systems, solar systems, playgrounds, life skills training and other extracurricular activities for teachers and students alike. Reducing dropouts is also an intervention we run.

Higher education

Higher education (HE) accounts for 34 percent[8] of the project budget. It creates opportunities for employment and income generation, knowledge and skills transfer, as well as community capacity building. The group runs a university scholarship programme and several employment centres for young adults. Child's Dream is also the biggest provider of high school education in refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Child's Dream run a social entrepreneurship grant (SEG) scheme that allows graduates of its higher education initiatives to seek funding for social business ventures. So far 2962 young adults have been trained to become future leaders, 4732 students received vocational training and 385 university students were awarded scholarships. The target for 2020 is to benefit 500 or more students.

Media and Press

Newspapers

  • Good-bye to fat pay cheque (thesundaytimes, July 2014)[9]
  • Higher Education: Child’s Dream (Huffington Post, August 2013)[1]
  • Organization in Focus: Child’s Dream (Humaneity Magazine, May 2011)[2]
  • Making Childs Dream come true (Singapore Straits Time, January 2011)[10]
  • Two Men and a Charity (TheEdge Singapore, September 2005)[11]

Television and Film

  • Fourth episode of Wheel2Wheel, which was shown on National Geographic and on the entertainment programme of Cathay Pacific and SBS.[12]
  • Child's Dream – Zwei Banker auf Sinnsuche by Urs Frey aired on Swiss television on 30th December 2012 and 2nd January 2013[13]
  • Aeschbacher interview with Daniel Siegfried and Marc Jenni (December 2015)[14]


References

  1. 1 2 "Huffington Post". Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  2. 1 2 Abdul Rahman, Aisha Binte (May 2011). "Organization in Focus: Child's Dream". Humaneity: 6–11.
  3. ↑ "Giving Back Association". Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  4. ↑ "Child's Dream". Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  5. ↑ "Child's Dream" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  6. ↑ "Great Non-Profits". Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  8. 1 2 "Child's Dream in Numbers". Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  9. ↑ Wong, Kim Hoh (6 July 2014). "Good-bye to fat pay cheque". The Sunday Times Singapore: 41.
  10. ↑ Wong, Kim Hoh (30 January 2011). "Making a Child's Dream come true". Singapore Straits Times.
  11. ↑ Ong, Lawrence (5 September 2005). "Two men and a Charity". The Edge Singapore.
  12. ↑ "Wheel2Wheel". Retrieved 2012-12-18.
  13. ↑ "IMDb". Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  14. ↑ "Aeschbacher SRF". Retrieved 2017-11-07.
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