We support projects in which we can see great potential for impact of helping others to help themselves.  We see training and education as one of the most effective ways of self-help:

  • (Vocational) training and further education for disadvantaged people
  • Capacity Building in agriculture and nutrition
  • Effective observation of fundamental human rights

Priority is given to the following countries: Switzerland, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Namibia, Peru, South Africa and Tanzania.

Deadlines for the submission of projects:

  • 1 April
  • 1 October

To applications from organisations and for projects

Processing of applications takes 3 to 4 months (after expiry of deadline).

What applicants can expect from us

  • Forging of a long-term partnership, personal contact and support with know-how and connections
  • Simple application procedure, simple reporting; no unnecessary formalities
  • We appreciate and encourage personal commitment
  • We also support organisations with contributions unrelated to a project

What applicants should not expect from us

  • Support for projects or organisations outside of our priority areas
  • Such a large amount of funding that an organisation becomes financially dependent on us
  • Sponsorship of large aid organisations and their projects
  • Funding of events or publications
  • Sponsorship of projects with no “helping others to help themselves” element

What we expect from our applicants

  • Transparency and proactive communication before / during / after support
  • Meaningful, reliable reporting (incl. report after completion of sponsorship with presentation of benefits – how was “helping others to help themselves” achieved?)

Examples of organisations and projects we are currently sponsoring:

Asia / Middle East
Latin America
Africa
Supraregional
Switzerland / Europe

 

Child's Dream Foundation, Myanmar
Child's Dream was founded by two former bankers in 2003. The aim of Child’s Dream is to support disadvantaged children, young people and communities in the Mekong Sub-region (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia) so they can help shape their societies in a competent and responsible manner. Child’s Dream focuses on the areas of health and education. The atDta Foundation supports a number of Child’s Dream schemes in Myanmar.
www.childsdream.org

Edelgive Foundation, India
Edelgive Foundation is an Indian foundation that organises various aid projects for children and women. The atDta-Foundation supports the project "Milaan-Building a movement of Girl Leaders". 
www.edelgive.org

Usthi Foundation, India
This aid organisation, founded in 1977 in Rapperswil, is committed to helping underprivileged children and young people in India. The atDta-Foundation supports their professional training centre in Hyderabad.
www.usthi.ch

 

 

 

 

Choba Choba Foundation, Peru
Choba Choba is the first Swiss chocolate brand owned by cocoa farmers. With Choba Choba, cocoa farmers are no longer “just” suppliers of the raw materials but are directly involved in the company’s decision-making and in its success. The Choba Choba Foundation is part of the Choba Choba AG social entrepreneurship, whose aim is to improve the living conditions of the farming families in Peru who sell chocolate to the Choba Choba AG, and to preserve their ecosystems through agroecological approaches.
www.chobachoba.com

Vision Guatemala, Guatemala
Vision Guatemala is an NGO aiming to achieve lasting improvement in the quality of life of indigenous populations in the Lake Atitlàn region of Guatemala though the empowerment of women and children and health projects. These include educational and support programmes for (future) small businesses, grants and support programmes for children to promote school attendance and qualifications, etc.
www.vision-guatemala.org

 

 

Aiducation International, Kenya
Aiducation International supports and encourages gifted and underprivileged students with college scholarships. After college, the state of Kenya funds the best 10% of graduates with a loan for their university studies. There is no funding to bridge the gap between basic education and university. Students receiving a scholarship from Aiducation International have all completed free basic education with excellent marks but cannot afford the college fees without a scholarship.
www.aiducation.org

Amani - Support African Children, Kenya
Amani – Support African Children is an association domiciled in Bern, which aims to improve the lives of the Maasai children in the Loitokitok region of southern Kenya. Amani provides access to education for some 4000 children. It runs projects promoting self-sufficiency and the improved use of water resources, as well as health projects.
www.amani.ch

B360 education partnerships, southern Africa
B360 is a Swiss association whose aim is to promote the exchange of expertise between European experts and students in Namibia, Zambia and South Africa. B360 experts teach on a voluntary basis in higher education institutions, while African students have the opportunity of completing an internship in a Swiss company.
www.b360-education-partnerships.ch

Biovision, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia
The Foundation was founded in 1998 by the Swiss winner of the World Food Prize and Alternative Nobel Prize, Dr Hans Rudolf Herren, with the aim of sustainably improving life for people in Africa while conserving the environment as the basis for all life. The atDta’s contribution supports the farmer communication programme.
www.biovision.ch

CO:OPERAID, Kenia
The Swiss organisation is committed to the education of children and young people in Africa and Asia. The atDta Foundation supports its project "Ujuzi Kwa Vijana" - reintegration and vocational training for young people from the slums of Kitale, Nairobi.
www.co-operaid.ch

Kiptere.ch, Kenya
Since 2012, the organisation has been helping farmers who cannot afford to pay their children’s school fees. The aim of the family project is to enable farmers to grow, process and sell high-quality coffee in the future, without external support. The revenue will help pay their children’s education costs.
www.kiptere.ch

Knysna Initiative for Learning and Teaching - KILT, South Africa
The initiative was founded in 2017 by the South African Gill Marcus and aims to ensure that every child can attend school and have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The atDta-Foundation supports the "Afternoon Study Club" and "Lego Robotics Club", two talent development programs for disadvantaged young people from the townships.
www.kilt.org.za

Solafrica, Ethiopia and Kenya
Together with other Swiss foundations, the atDta Foundation is funding the training of young people in solar technology and entrepreneurship in Ethiopia, Kenya and in Switzerland. After successfully completing their training, they will be able to help provide people with improved access to solar power. 
www.solafrica.ch

Sozialwerke Stiftung (social work foundation) Peter Bachmann, Ethiopia and Kenya
This Swiss association was founded in 1994 and runs projects in Africa and Asia in the fields of education, agriculture and healthcare as well as micro-credit programs. The association’s main objective is help to self-help in order to promote self-responsibility and independence. The atDta Foundation supports the education projects in Ethiopia and Kenya.
www.bachmann-foundation.org

Foundation Tuwapende Watato, Tansania
The Swiss foundation runs a children's home, a school and a vocational training centre in Dar es Salaam. The atDta Foundation supports Tuwapende Watato in building and expanding the vocational training centre.
www.tuwapende-watoto.org


 

 

 

Aqua Alimenta, worldwide

Aqua Alimenta is a Swiss charity founded in 1998. With agroecology and appropriate small-scale irrigation, they are committed, together with local partners in West Africa, Madagascar, Guatemala and India, to ensuring that small farmers and their families can enjoy a balanced diet all year round and secure their livelihoods. For many years, the initial activities of Aqua Alimenta were the production and distribution of the Swiss-PEP pedal pump (a reliable water pump that is easy to repair, developed by ETH engineers).
www.aqua-alimenta.ch

Reintegration in the country of origin, worldwide
This Swiss association, founded in 2009, promotes the reintegration of migrants without permanent status in Switzerland who must leave the country. The association helps these people to leave Switzerland with prospects and to return to their country of origin with a concrete plan. Support is provided in cooperation with the International Social Service and its network of partners in over 140 countries.
www.reintegrationproject.ch

 

Allianz Chance+ - ChagAll, Zurich
ChagAll is an educational development programme for young migrants enrolled at the Unterstrasse high school in Zurich. This successful scheme has inspired other similar programmes in Swiss schools. In 2021, the Allianz Chance+ was created, a nationwide association of development programmes committed to equal opportunities in education. The aim of the association is to support existing projects and create new ones, but especially to ensure that the structural and political frameworks are systematically improved so that fundamental advances can be made in equal opportunities in education.
www.chanceplus.ch

Arche, Kreuzlingen
Apart from a child and youth club, the association offers among other things a lunch table, vacation and leisure activities as well as a homework assistance for disadvantaged children and young people. The atDta-Foundation supports the project "apprenticeship search".
www.die-arche.ch

Caritas, icluso project, Zurich
To promote equal opportunities on the apprenticeship market, incluso puts young people with a migration background (mentees) in contact with employed persons (mentors) who give them advice and support on a voluntary basis during their last year at school.
www.caritas-zuerich.ch

frac - Information Center, Biel
frac is a bilingual (French and German) low-threshold information and advisory centre for the Biel, Seeland and Bernese Jura region. frac is a non-profit, tax-exempt association. Since 1999 frac has been providing advice, training places in the primary labour market and courses for both men and women (in particular for migrants), so they can benefit from equal opportunities in their personal and professional choices regardless of their social and cultural backgrounds and are free to make choices and find their own way through life.
www.frac.ch

LernAtelier, Lucerne
This association offers German and mathematics lessons free of charge to asylum seekers and refugees in the canton of Lucerne. The aim is to make better use of refugees’ time while they are awaiting an asylum decision, so that they can be quickly integrated into continuing education and training and/or the labour market once a decision has been made.
www.lernatelierluzern.ch

Ombuds office children’s rights Switzerland
The Ombuds office children’s rights Switzerland foundation came into being from the Child Advocacy project “Child-friendly Justice 2020”. The aim of this project was to implement the Council of Europe’s guidelines on child-friendly justice in Switzerland by 2020 in all the relevant courts and authorities, the juvenile justice system, the Office of the Public Prosecutor and the police. The foundation aims to run an independent, national and low-threshold ombudsman’s office to reinforce children’s rights.
www.ombudsstelle-kinderrechte-schweiz.ch

Solidaritätsnetz, Eastern Switzerland
With different projects such as German lessons, free lunches and public and political events, the Solidarity Network and Aussersihl Church help to improve the living conditions of refugees and undocumented migrants, increasing public awareness of their situation.
www.solidaritaetsnetz.ch

Solidarity network, Zurich / Lunch for refugees, Aussersihl Church, Zurich
With various projects such as German courses and lunches, public campaigns and political events, the Solidarity network Zurich and the Aussersihl Church contribute to improving the living conditions of refugees and undocumented migrants while raising public awareness of their situation.
www.solinetz-zh.ch

Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Bern
The atDta-Foundation is involved in the “2nd chance for 1st professional training” pilot project run by the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation and the Department of Education for the canton of Bern. More than 400,000 people in Switzerland aged between 25 and 54 have no professional qualifications, making it very difficult for them to find work on the Swiss labour market. The project offers people from the canton of Bern the possibility of obtaining qualifications.
www.johnsonstiftung.ch