A word of the CEO

A word of the CEO

For Terre des hommes, 2010 was a year of cruel paradoxes. We celebrated our 50th anniversary whilst bringing aid to the children of Haiti who had escaped one of the worst earthquakes in history. In the midst of this work in the field, we also had to plan the strategies we want to follow up to 2015.

Let's mention Haiti first of all, because many people have wanted to criticise the humanitarian aid given there. From the very beginning, our teams mobilised their forces, and reinforcements set out. More than 80,000 disaster-stricken people were given shelters, vital commodities, water points. Our colleagues brought services – in particular sanitation – to the outlying regions, to save the families there making a new exodus to the major roads and to the overcrowded camps. Visits made to and good relationships with some fifty orphanages and schools made it possible to protect a thousand youngsters better against exploitation and trafficking.

In parallel, together we decided on our strategy plan for over thirty countries for the five years ahead. Faced with growing inequality, with climatic instability and natural disasters, faced with disregard for children, Tdh sets up the most sustainable outcome possible. We focus our activities in eight domains for children and their communities. From now on we will be advocating six causes, chosen from our experience and know-how. Our simplified strategic plan is available in the three Swiss national languages and in English, Arabian and Spanish.

Nearly seventy events marked our 50th anniversary celebrations, in Switzerland and abroad. Donors, volunteers, Tdh employees – once more they made all the difference: all of them contributed to changing the everyday life of 1.4 million children and their families, and we are more than grateful to them.

Peter Brey CEO