Sustainable development cooperation usually follows the motto “Helping people help themselves”. But what does that mean? How do you get a project to a point where it works stably and independently?
As an international aid organization, we understand “helping people to help themselves” as a long-term investment in the development of our aid projects. We continuously accompany our projects beyond the initial buildup phase. Our activities are tailored to country-specific conditions and individual needs.
Medical aid on site is organized by our partners on their own responsibility. In our project countries, local doctors, therapists and project coordinators ensure the care and medical treatment of patients. In times of Corona, this philosophy proved to be particularly effective. Organizations whose aid relies on foreign doctors often had to suspend their activities due to travel restrictions. Thanks to our local teams, we can continue providing treatments despite the pandemic.
The structures in our project countries vary. In the larger cities, we have permanent project sites in partner clinics. To care for the many children with cleft lip and palate who live in remote rural areas and have no access to qualified treatment, regular surgical missions are carried out in surrounding provincial hospitals. Each project has a lead surgeon with a team of anesthesiologists and nurses at his side.
Wherever the medical infrastructure allows, the children receive comprehensive care. The core teams are then expanded to include speech therapists, orthodontists, dentists and psychologists.