Our activities 
Our working method
Funding
Contact

Children's aid organisation Terre des Hommes is passionately dedicated to helping children all over the world, taking a goal and result-oriented approach. For this reason, Terre des Hommes supports over three hundred projects, which are developed, established and implemented by local project partners, which means that the projects can be geared closely to the practical requirements of the local population.

The four regional offices in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Bolivia are responsible for directly supervising the projects and help the project partners improve their professionalism. Additionally, Terre des Hommes pursues a children's rights campaign at national and international level consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted in 1989, both independently and in collaboration with local project partners, which further strengthen its position.

How it all started

Named after the book Terre des Hommes (English: Wind, Sand and Stars) by progressive French writer and WWII pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Terre des Hommes Netherlands was founded in 1965.  The organisation's values are based on his ideas regarding human dignity, responsibility and solidarity.
 
The Swiss Edmund Kaiser chose the ideologies advocated by De Saint-Exupéry as the moral basis for the aid organisation, which was to help children in need all over the world and in 1965, volunteers in the Netherlands also joined in the effort.

Our activities 

Terre des Hommes supports over 300 projects worldwide in the area of education, health care and independence. Children who are victims of serious exploitation, suffer from HIV/AIDS or are disabled receive special attention.

Field of activity

Terre des Hommes' projects are carried out in the following areas:

• South America
• East Africa
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia

The local project partners always play the leading role in these initiatives. They are aware of the current conditions and problems and know to ensure that underprivileged children receive the help they need. Therefore, they are the ones who come up with and implement the programmes. Terre des Hommes assists them by providing expert advice, personal supervision and funding.

Programmes

The projects carried out by the various local project partners fall within the six programme areas which Terre des Hommes supports:

• Education
• Health Care
• Independence 
• Initiatives to End Exploitation
• HIV/AIDS
• Aid for the Disabled

Terre des Hommes also carries out emergency aid projects in the same countries served by the organisation's other programmes.  Thanks to the local project partners, Terre des Hommes is in a position to provide fast and effective emergency aid.

Our working method

Terre des Hommes' headquarters is located in The Hague. To facilitate successful and effective cooperation with the local project partners, Terre des Hommes also has offices in the areas where it is active:

• Jakarta (Indonesia)
• Colombo (Sri Lanka) 
• Nairobi (Kenya) 
• Cochabamba (Bolivia)

Every office employs a regional representative and local staff, which directly supervise all projects.

Result-oriented

Terre des Hommes' work is aimed at results. That is why we make very concrete agreements with local project partners as to what we want to achieve, how this should be done and when. The staff in our regional offices visit the projects at least twice a year, so they can see the progress with their own eyes. We also subject our projects to external reviews to give outside parties a clear an understanding of our work as possible and to ensure the best possible results.

Funding

We would like to share some information on our spending and income. For a complete itemisation of the annual accounts, see the download version of the 2007 annual report. The download version also includes the financial board report, as well as key figures regarding the staff.

Terre des Hommes depends largely on private donations, which we appropriate with the greatest of care. As much as possible of each euro received go toward helping the children. In 2007, for example, 84% was spent on aid.

Once every two years, Terre des Hommes conducts internal audits at all of its regional offices. During these operational audits, the staff of the headquarters carry out a thorough review of the regional offices. Employees also pay random visits to a number of projects in the region. In this way, we can monitor precisely whether project partners are spending funds appropriately.

We choose to provide our donors transparent information by telling them where their donations are going and the status of the projects. We also inform them when the projects are not going as well as hoped. After all, providing aid to children means working with people, so it requires a flexible approach.

Contact

We would be happy to provide more information

Would you like to find out more about Terre des Hommes?

Contact data

Stichting Terre des Hommes Netherlands
Zoutmanstraat 42-44
2518 GS The Hague
telephone: +31 (0)70 310 5000
fax: +31 (0)70 310 5001
fax: info@tdh.nl

Giro account no.: 25 25 25