Overview

New: terre des hommes Annual Report 2009 (PDF file, 2.22MB)

New: Child Labour: Stop Exploitation – Empower Children (PDF file, 666 KB)

The French wording »terre des hommes« means »Earth of Humanity«. How humanitarian a society is, shows in the way it treats its children. Because children suffer most from war, hunger and poverty.

terre des hommes is and international development policy based children’s aid organisation. The foundation of the German division of terre des hommes in 1967 was closely linked to the terrible news from the Vietnam War. A group of dedicated people no longer wanted to simply stand on the sidelines and watch the children bear the misery and distress of this war. The first relief programme of the newly founded association terre des hommes was the organisation of emergency flights for injured children from Vietnam, who were then treated in Germany in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.

Today, terre des hommes has a voluntary workforce of more than 1,500 working in 147 locations. terre des hommes supports about 400 projects for children in need in 29 project countries. Native partner organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin America that help children in need are supported and the self-initiative of the people strengthened.

terre des hommes helps street children, abandoned and working children, looks after children that have become victims of war and violence and ensures their education. terre des hommes supports boys and girls whose families have died of AIDS, supports the cause of maintaining biological and cultural diversity and of protecting the rights of discriminated population groups

The terre des hommes staff in the coordination offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America accompanies the projects in the respective regions and is involved in close dialogue with local partner organisations. This ensures that the project work can flexibly react to regional requirements and new development. The partner organisations explicitly encourage the participation of children and adolescents in the formulation of the project aims and support their campaigns and activities for the exertion of their rights.

In Germany, terre des hommes is active in politics as attorney for children’s rights. terre des hommes is independent of governments, economy, religious communities and political parties and takes up a clear but critical stand when political decisions, economic interests or the behaviour of individuals are directed against children and their rights.

»After more than 40 years, we can look back on successes that encourage us to go on«, chairwoman Ursula Pattberg draws a balance. »But there are still so many children suffering from poverty and violence, working in conditions detrimental to their health and who have no chance of school education. This is the reason why our work must continue.«

Introduction

Dear Reader,

terre des hommes works for children suffering from poverty, exploitation or violence in 29 countries. Along with our local project partners we seek solutions when children live in the street, work under inhuman conditions or have to prostitute themselves, and when a war has destroyed their health or their homes. We support women, families and communities in caring for their children and we help young people to build a future beyond violence and poverty.

Such direct-help projects are very important. But they do not suffice in themselves: terre des hommes has therefore always tried to understand and tackle the root-causes of poverty, exploitation and violence. Other campaign goals therefore include respect for children's rights worldwide, more justice in international economic relations or a consistent anti-poverty policy. And we show what consumers in the North can do, for example about child labour or child prostitution.

Many people join forces in terre des hommes: our project partners all over the world, the voluntary action groups located in many parts of Germany, and the head office with its professional staff. We hold regular discussions about how to optimise our activity. And we seek ways of reaching our common goal: a »terre des hommes«, an earth of humanity giving a future to children everywhere.

Ursula Pattberg
Chairperson of Terre des Hommes

History

1966/67 About 40 women and men meet in Stuttgart at the initiative of the typesetter Lutz Beisel. They organise relief flights and medical treatment for child war victims from Vietnam. They call their project Terre des Hommes - earth of humanity - from the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. On 8 January 1967 Terre des Hommes Germany is registered as a charity.

1968 Terre des Hommes Germany works for the victims of the war between Nigeria and the separatists in Biafra. It begins to bring Vietnamese orphans to Germany for adoption.

1970 Terre des Hommes sets up an aid programme for orphans in Vietnam. It founds a social medical centre in Saigon in which over a hundred malnourished and sick children are treated daily.

1971 Terre des Hommes opens the German centre for the rehabilitation of child victims of the Vietnam war. Aid programmes in Bolivia and Colombia begin. At the beginning of the 70s there are heated arguments about liberation struggles in the Third World and the supposed opposition between »political struggle« and »direct assistance«. Terre des Hommes declares: »There the present is sacrificed to the future, while here the future is sacrificed to the present. Instead of ideological either-or arguments we advocate a pragmatic policy of both-and…«

1973 The intercultural childcare centre in Wiesbaden is founded, the first of several Terre des Hommes projects in Germany for the benefit of children from refugee and migrant families.

1982 Terre des Hommes supports projects in 26 countries. However, its statutes stipulate that the underlying causes of poverty and oppression be explored.

1990 Terre des Hommes starts campaigning against the use of children working in the Indian carpet industry in co-operation with the church agencies Brot für die Welt and Misereor. Five years later the Rugmark label is introduced to mark carpets made without child labour.

1991 Launching of the campaign against child prostitution in connection with tourism.

1994 Terre des Hommes General Assembly decides no longer to arrange adoptions abroad. Abandoned children should be helped more in the context of local projects. Yet the 3.000 children adopted by German families are still followed up - they mostly come from Vietnam, Korea, India, Colombia, and the Philippines.

1996 Volunteers and staff members meet members of partner organisations from all over the world to discuss the principles of cooperation and how to stimulate it. An ongoing dialogue with partners is to inspire and stimulate the development policy of Terre des Hommes. Moreover, they are to participate in decision-making.

1999 Foundation of the non-independent Terre des Hommes Foundation.

2000 Child prostitution, child labour, children in armed conflicts and child trafficking are the main campaign areas.

Street-Children, Child-Prostituion, Child-Labour/ Education, Income Campaigns

Home is a piece of cardboard or an old blanket, and life for them is poverty and violence, drugs and crime. There are an estimated hundred million street children worldwide. To feed themselves they guard car-parks or wash cars, sell cigarettes or sweets, beg or steal.

They live close up to those boys and girls who prostitute themselves or are forced to do so by pimps. Often they cannot protect themselves from HIV and if AIDS breaks out they mostly have no one to look after them.

The street is also home to many working children. Often fatherless, they try to earn or improve the income of their families - through selling small items, shining shoes or guarding cars. Other children toil in plantations, private homes or the carpet industry - often under most exploitative conditions, that destroy their childhood and their prospects for life.

Both - childhood and prospects for life - are what Terre des Hommes seeks to preserve for girls and boys. That is why it mounts projects in the field of prevention: children at risk and their families are shown alternatives to the life of the streets selling things or their bodies. These focus on providing educational opportunities and seeking alternative livelihoods.

Projects also aim to support street children, child labourers and under-age prostitutes in tackling practical problems, and opening up a dignified future for them.

In Germany Terre des Hommes tries to get companies to observe social and ecological standards in their international branches as well. This is achieved through the power of argument and pressure from consumers who are encouraged to buy goods produced in fair working conditions and through fair trade. For example, a label was introduced for carpets manufactured without child labour. The flower campaign tries to convince people to buy flowers with the label »Flowers from humanly and environmentally sound production«.

Through the campaign against child prostitution in tourism Terre des Hommes succeeded in getting German tour operators not to allow the sexual exploitation of children in their contract hotels. The organisation produced a video warning tourists against engaging in sex with children, which is screened during the flight to destinations where this problem is widespread.

Health and Nutrition

Healthcare is part of many projects supported by Terre des Hommes: Street children often have drug problems or infections, child labourers suffer from industrial diseases like asthma or tuberculosis, children from very poor families often are under- or malnourished. Through its partners, Terre des Hommes provides medical care, meals or advice on health and hygiene.

Some initiatives concentrating on health and nutrition are also sponsored. These do not primarily use imported medicine but take advantage of the knowledge and potential of local culture.

For example, Terre des Hommes supports centres in Burkina Faso which feed up malnourished children. The staff also ride their mopeds into the villages to examine girls and boys and advise their mothers about how to prepare healthy food for children.

Rural Projects/ Indigenous People

Huge slums, high unemployment, crime - the problem of rapidly growing cities in the poor countries is practically unmanageable. But life in the village is frequently more characterised by deprivation than that in the slums: If you have to walk three kilometres to fetch your water from the river then even one tap for 300 people is an improvement. The consequence is that people leave the villages for the cities.

Terre des Hommes supports rural projects in order to give people in the villages hope for a better future. Because the rural population is frequently identical with the indigenous population these projects are often promoting simultaneously the culture of indigenous people.

For example, in India the Adivasi are assisted in their efforts to gain land ownership titles. Schools and health services are set up in their villages and the women learn to grow healthy vegetables.

Or in Peru: Here the knowledge of the highland Indigenous People about their traditional Andean agriculture and their enormous biodiversity is defended against the encroachment of »progress«.

Women

Terre des Hommes supports empowerment projects for women to increase their financial independence, health and self-esteem. This helps them to plan the future for themselves and their children.

In Cochabamba in Bolivia, for example, it supports a house where abused women and their children can take refuge and find assistance and advice.

Terre des Hommes also supports the Bolivian trade union of domestic workers. Through campaigns, lobbying and membership training this group advocates for a minimum wage, Sundays off and at least two weeks annual leave.

Children and War / Human Rights

Millions of children suffer from wars and armed conflicts: because their families were massacred, they have lost their homes and had to flee, because they stepped on a mine and are now mutilated, or because they themselves had to take part in armed conflicts as child soldiers.

Helping these children and countering the culture of violence with a culture of peace and democracy - that is the concern of Terre des Hommes. In Colombia, for example, it supports projects for refugee children, a lawyer's office that files legal cases especially against violations of children's rights, and supports campaigns for peace and human rights. In other countries Terre des Hommes promotes projects to assist victims of landmines or provides psychological help for children traumatised by war.

Political demands for which Terre des hommes seeks to lobby and raise awareness, in cooperation with other agencies, include the banning of all types of landmines and of the recruitment of minors.

Lobbying, Publicity, Projects in Germany

Anyone committed to an »earth of humanity« has to put forward his positions in places where political decisions are made that can change people’s lives. Terre des Hommes therefore tries to promote children's interests through influencing policy-making at the national and international levels. Project partners advocating for children's rights in their own countries are also supported in this.

Terre des Hommes' publicity department keeps donors and other interested persons informed about the causes of hardship and oppression, about the situation of the children in the respective countries and the work in the projects. It prepares materials which children and young people can use at school and takes positions on economic and development policies.

In Germany Terre des Hommes supports projects involving migrant and refugee children. It stands by their families in their often difficult dealings with the authorities and promotes a culture of racial tolerance and democracy.

How to submit your application

1. Initiative

People join together to help assert the rights of girls and boys. Only there is a lack of money to guarantee the launching or continuation of an activity. The initiative turns to a Terre des Hommes regional office or to the national coordinator.

2. Application

The group informs Terre des Hommes in detail about the aims and purpose of their work and about how much money is needed in order to employ staff and/or buy the necessary equipment. It presents a work plan and a timetable.

3. Examination

The regional office, the national coordinator and the desk officer of the region concerned at the head office check on whether the application meets the project criteria of Terre des Hommes. A group of experts decides on approval. The finance department transfers the funds approved in individual instalments.

4. Beginning of work

The project group begins work as planned and reports regularly on progress and problems. The national coordinator, the regional desk and regional offices keep in contact with the initiative, give advice and check whether the money has been spent as planned.

Donation development

Income...

Terre des Hommes finances 80 % of its work from donations. In addition it receives public subsidies, e.g. from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) or the European Union. This »cofinancing« constitutes approximately 18 % of total income. The residual income of the organisation is made by the sale of Terre des Hommes products.

...and expenditure

About 75 % of funds are available for project activity. Approximately 9 % are used for information and education in Germany, 4 % for fund-raising and 3.5 % for general administrative costs. Further expenditure is due to the production of materials for sale and to savings in order to secure the project work in case of decrease of donations.

Terre des Hommes Project Countries

 

More information

• Annual Report 2008 as PDF file
• Annual Report 2006 as PDF file
• Annual Report 2005 as PDF file