Our Aim and Policy
The aim of Foundation Het Bosje (Stichting Het Bosje) is to support projects and activities for underprivileged children in developing countries.
The Foundation arose from the “Sint-Luciagesticht” in Rotterdam, an institution founded in 1866. The revenue from the sale of buildings in 1983 were put in the bank and proceeds are used to finance those projects whereby we can contribute to the development of the approach and implementation of projects to support children. In 1985 Foundation Het Bosje started with international support to the nursery school of Sister Tarcisius in the village called Sengerema, in Tanzania. In the years that followed, financial support was given to various projects in Tanzania and Ghana, and later also in Uganda, Brazil, Armenia, Indonesia, Nepal and Botswana. The projects range from the construction of primary schools, secondary schools, hostels for pupils and multifunctional buildings, to financial support for surgery of children with congenital anomalies, setting up community development and primary health care projects, efforts to improve and expand pre-school learning and occasionally for individual training.
The members of the board have long and positive experience with a wide variety of projects for children in low-income countries. On this basis, the board chooses to continue the current policy of support for projects for those young children in its policy plan 2021-2025. We do this by working together with reliable local partners and looking for sufficient local support and oversight capacity. Furthermore, the board of Foundation Het Bosje wants to contribute as much as possible to the design and implementation of a project through its involvement.
Our policy means that we:
– make a distinction between long-term projects and short-term projects. As short-term project for example: to explore possible further cooperation.
– enable occasional support for the development of individuals, preferably within one of the current or previously supported projects.
– pay particular attention in our projects to monitoring and evaluation, in order to gain an impression of the effectiveness of our contribution.
We will continue the constructive (and mostly long-term) cooperation with the current four local organizations in Asia (Armenia and Nepal) and Africa (Uganda and Botswana). In view of the fairly limited amount that we can spend each year, we aim for the near future at two or three longer-term projects with an exit strategy, in order to limit fragmentation of our efforts. With new applications within this long-term collaboration, we look at the desirability and options for applying more focus. We do this also by making proposals on our own initiative, especially in response to matters that strike us during visits to those projects. Support may include equipment, means of transport, educational materials for schools, facilities for clean drinking water or (contributions to studies for the improvement of) healthy indoor air at cooking places in schools and in home situations.
Our ability to provide support depends on available funds that arise from the invested capital of the foundation. This means that we let the expenditure for projects depend on the actual income from this basic capital.
Main Current Projects
Uganda Rural Development and Training (URDT), Kibaale District, Uganda
Foundation Het Bosje has been involved in various projects of URDT in Kagadi, Kibaale District, Uganda (www.urdt.net), since 2002: supporting primary and secondary school education for underprivileged girls through construction of hostels for the URDT Girls Schools and providing funds for running another primary school at Kanywamiyaga. Under the URDT programme girls are trained in a boarding school approach to become the future leaders of further developments in this rural area. The implementation of development projects at home, in the places of origin of the students, in close collaboration with their parents (the two-generation approach), forms an important part of their education.
In 2007, after careful consideration, Foundation Het Bosje decided to support the establishment of a rural women’s university, another brainchild of the inspirational leader of URDT, Mwalimu Musheshe. The African Rural University (ARU) was founded in 2009 and since 2013 ARU has been producing highly motivated women with degrees in management, sustainable agriculture and community development. URDT calls them Epicentre Managers. They function as advisors to local governments in more than 50 districts and sub-districts. There they have also supported the roll out of the recently closed (end 2023) Pupil Managed School Farm Project by URDT. We are currently awaiting any applications by Epicentre Managers for funding small projects in 2024.
Karuna Foundation, Nepal
Originated in the Netherlands, Karuna Foundation NL and Karuna Foundation Nepal focus through a comprehensive community development approach (Inspire2Care) on quality of life, equal rights and opportunities for children and adults with disabilities. In addition to this and importantly so, they pay attention to prevention of disabilities. In 2016 we decided to initially support the programme in one village (Naya Bazar) in the Ilam District in the East of Nepal, with a view of supporting a second village. Later that same year representatives of Foundation Het Bosje visited two of the projects for orientation. After evaluation of the first reports and in consultation with the rest of the board, we decided in 2017 to also finance activities in a second village (Shree Antu). At the end of 2019, a delegation from the board visited Nepal again to see with their own eyes that the project had been rolled out across Ilam District and that the local and central government had become very interested and involved. On the spot, a contribution was made to thinking about indicators to measure “prevention of disabilities”. Money was also pledged for 2020 to improve monitoring and evaluation (M&E) throughout the district.
As the project was being rolled out throughout the whole of Koshi Province (previous Province One), with financing by government and several other donors, Foundation Het Bosje was asked to support the development of a Karuna training institute that aims to educate Government and Karuna workers to run the project, also through e-learning. A further specified proposal for what is now called the Knowledge and Evidence Lab is being awaited.
Alvan Tsarik, Gyumri, Armenia
Foundation Het Bosje supports the activities of alvan tsarik (https://alvantsarik.org/) since 2018. We contributed initially to the purchase and furnishing of a building for a kindergarten and community centre in the city of Gyumri, in the North Western part of Armenia. The building hosts a kindergarten that is meant to be an example for the region. The activities of Alvan Tsarik in Armenia mainly consist of offering a teaching method with an emphasis on more responsibility for the independent learning and thinking of pupils in the so-called pre-school age. This is in addition to ensuring adequate teaching materials and computers, as well as equipping classrooms with furniture.
In the following years further financial support was provided to obtain an additional neighbouring building to provide office room as well as a kitchen and dining facility for the pre-school children.
In 2021 the local organisation in Gyumri, Alvan Tsaghik has been formalised as an NGO with strong links to the mother organisation in The Netherlands. This to guarantee the correct use of buildings and materials according the mission of the organisation.
When during the Covid epidemic a waiting list had to be introduced, the decision was taken in 2021 to build an extension on the Mayakowski building to create more classrooms. This made it possible to bring the outdoor steps to the first level indoors, more sheltered for the extreme harsh climate in winter. The extension could also offer some room for music education and for the implementation of Technasium in the centre and in Armenia. The building activities started enthusiastically but due to administrative problems the building activities still have to be finished.
In 2024 support was provided to the building of a connection between the two buildings. In this way there is a save passage for the children to visit the dining facility. In the new connection is also the main entrance foreseen.
StartUp4Kids, Maun, Botswana
The StartUp4Kids Foundation strives for a world in which all children have the opportunity to develop themselves so that they can organize their lives on their own strength and at their own discretion with care for their community and the planet. StartUp4Kids wants to offer socially disadvantaged children, teenagers and mothers worldwide extra education. Through intensive cooperation with local partners and schools in disadvantaged areas, Aflatoun’s social and financial education programmes are offered in combination with extra attention to the environment. StartUp4Kids has currently projects in some seven countries in Africa, Asia and South and Central America.
At the end of 2020, we received a formal request from StartUp4Kids to support their project “A better future for children, teenagers and mothers in Botswana” for the period March 2021 – January 2022. The M&E aspect of StartUp4Kids is strong, with accountability for the course of the activities, the financial expenditures and the planning for the coming period. If implementation or spending deviates from the planning, the necessary adjustments are discussed. That is why we decided at the beginning of 2021 to support some parts of the Botswana programme, namely the purchase of educational materials for children (Aflatoun, environment), the creation of school gardens and the “Week of the Environment” including tree planting activities. Delayed by Covid-19 restrictions and school closures, the activities were still carried out.
In 2023, we made a limited contribution, to be spent on children’s education in general, supervision of trainers and volunteers, and on drawing up a well-thought-out and carefully prepared M&E plan and data collection.
You can find more about this Botswana project on the StartUp4Kids website.
Earthquake relief, Jajarkot, Nepal
At the end of 2023, we received a request for financial support from western Nepal, following the earthquake in November. With our contribution, several hundred children were provided with warm clothing and school materials at the beginning of 2024.
For a pictorial overview of each of these ongoing projects, please refer to the respective Dutch pages.