Children’s
Education and Social Welfare Fund of Intercoop Ltd.
Overview
The Children’s Education and Social Welfare Fund of Intercoop
Ltd. was founded in 1997. The aim was to be proactive in
enhancing the primary education possibilities for children in
the Far
East. A major set up criteria was also to complement the
ethics code of the Intercoop Ltd. The ethics code deals with
issues
of ethical behavior, fair labor practices as well as safe
and fair working environment.
Set up
Realizing that the way from poverty to prosperity
is through education an idea of enhancing primary education
possibilities
rouse among several persons connected to Intercoop. Acknowledging
the fact of having a large bundle of underprivileged children
in the Far East, without possibilities to primary education
catalyzed the creation of the trust fund. Set up procedures
where initiated
by the board of Intercoop Ltd. at the end of 1996, resulting
to a tax exempted trust fund approved by the Hongkong authorities
in September 1997.
Trustees
The trustees of the fund have so far been related
to one of the owner organizations of Intercoop or Intercoop
itself. Even that
being the case the trust fund operates totally independently
of any buying or procurement commitments Intercoop Ltd. or
the owner organizations might have. The only link to the buying
patterns
is that the Trust fund only donates to local projects in the
Far East, where procurement through Intercoop Ltd. is conducted.
Donation guidelines
The set guidelines by the trustees for donations are the following:
1. Donations will be made only in the areas that Intercoop
Ltd. is conducting business.
2. Donations are in principle given directly to local projects,
i.e. without the involvement of global charity agents, church
or local government agencies.
3. Only a maximum of 5 percent of the donation value should be
earmarked in general administration work of the project.
4. The aim for all donations is to enhance the elementary education
of needy children.
5. A main criterion in selecting projects for donation is for
the fund to become a major contributor to that project
Funding
The funding of the trust fund has so far being provided
by Intercoop Ltd. or through the owner organization. Additional
funding is welcomed subject to trustee approval. A set aim
for the fund is to become self-financing within a period of
10 years from set up. Self-financing is defined as an annual
donation while still keeping the principal adjusted with EU
inflation factor. During the period of building the needed
capital to become self-financing, the donation guidelines are
set to donate approximately 40 percent of the annual income.
Projects
The fund has so far been involved in 5 projects since
the start up. The trustees have approved all these projects.
They have
been located in different areas where Intercoop Ltd. does their
procurement activities.
Sunbeam Children’s Foundation
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The project is situated in Guandong province
in Baiwan, a remote mountainous area. The aim for the project
was to educate and house children by building up dormitory
facilities for children from poor background, as they live
so far away from the school that they can not commute daily.
Later donations were given towards the running of the school
activities. |
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| The committee of the
B.M.A. Public welfare voluntary service |
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This
project dealt with vocational training and development
of poor and problematic
children from broken
homes in Bangkok, Thailand. The aim was to train young female
children to get occupational skill and avoid ending in prostitution.
The target group of the project was females from 12 to 16
years of age. The location was in Soontarometta secondary
school
in Prathumthani province. The committee of the Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration Public |
| Welfare Voluntary
Service administrated the project. |
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| Bangkikan
schools |
| This project dealt
with helping to improve the school facilities and further paying
school fees for some 65 children. The project location was
near Surabaya in Indonesia. |
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| Chuntra
school project |
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This project is situated in
Northeast India and deals with educating mainly Tibetan children
from the remote areas in Arunachal Pradesh. The school serves
as a home and a place of education for several hundred children
and provides basic language education, mathematics and even
basic IT training for these children. |
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| Gopolgonj
Development project |
The
project deals with education opportunities for under privileged
children.
It is situated in a remote area in Bangladesh. The aim for
the project is to build 6 schools and educate 180 children
during 5 years. The fund approved to finance this project
with annual payments according to the presented budget. In
order
to monitor the project the secretary of the fund also appointed
Intercoop Ltd. Bangladesh country manager to the supervising
board of the project.
In 2002 based on the request of the administrator the trustees
approved an additional set up of two schools for infants. |
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| Vietnam
Long Binh 3 project |
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Long Binh 3 primary school,
located in Long Binh ward, Go Cong Tay Dist., Tien Giang province,
South West of Vietnam, 160 km from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC),
was built in 1950 in the area of 6,000 m2.
This area is near the sea (River mouth) and suffers from salted
water and a lot of whirlwind frequently. The original school
included 4 rows of classrooms, 1 row had collapsed, 1 row was
in ruins and 2 were in old and dangerous condition. Thus only
6 rooms were in usable condition (4 classrooms and 2 rooms
for teachers, administration and a library rooms).
In end 2003 the fund entered in an agreement with Tien Giang
Education and Training Service was signed, in order to finance
the building of a new school. The project started in January
2004 and was finished in December 2004, resulting to a new
school building housing classrooms and other staff and teaching
facilities for 720 pupils. |
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| Future projects |
The fund recently agreed to sponsor 2 projects.
The first project is in Pakistan. This project deals with the building of a school for needy children in order to enhance their basic educational level. The location is in an industrial area where the parents work and live and which offers very limited education possibilities. Once the school is ready it will be a 2 floor building with classrooms, canteen, teacher’s room, library, computer lab. etc. Inauguration of the school is expected to be in March 2007.
Another project is in Bangladesh. This project is the continuation of Gopolgoni Development Project (GDS) but it will be run by another organization named “Coop Benedict Memorial Society?(CBMS) and the Country Manager of Intercoop Ltd. Bangladesh office will be one of the Directors of this society. CBMS will take care of the school building and also to run informal School up to grade 5 of 180 students from preparatory. The fund has received and approved the 5 year budget frames for running the projects, including both the old school project as well as the new project. The school is expected to be opened in April 2007.
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Summary
The fund has so far donated a significant sum of money which
has provided education for thousands of children and improved
their future possibilities and options in life.
The fund operates by informing of its existence through business
contacts in all areas in which Intercoop Ltd. is operating.
The fund is also actively encouraging feasible projects to
come up with donation requests.
It is realized that the vast problem of inadequate education
cannot be solved by the fund alone, but that a contribution
will at least help some children get a better start. You can send donation requests with short descriptions of the
project to:
Children’s Education and Social Welfare Fund
of Intercoop Ltd.
C/O Intercoop Ltd.
Mr. Christian Jakobsson
20/F., Tower 2, Grand Century Place, 193 Prince Edward Road West,
Mongkok, Kowloon, Hongkong
On behalf of the fund
Christian Jakobsson
Secretary of the fund |
