Credit: SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde

Luxembourg non-profit organisation SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde has announced that the Franklin Templeton International Services Sàrl (FTIS) team recently presented it with a cheque of €1,600.

During a solidarity walk which took place in September 2023, employees managed to collect €800, a sum which was doubled by the company.

Visiting the FTIS premises for an exchange around the supported project, Lisa Forrler and Anne Schweizer from SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde discussed the challenges of education in the Androy region in the deep south of Madagascar: too few classrooms, disparities in access to education and a lack of sanitation facilities for students. Although the number of children in school has increased over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents do not attend school, especially the most vulnerable, the non-profit organisation stressed.

SOS Children's Villages World noted it has been involved in Madagascar since 2020 and is currently financing the construction of two classrooms and a toilet block and supporting the distribution of school supplies in Tanandava in the Androy region. The project is part of an integrated approach oriented towards community development aiming to strengthen the resilience of the population. The construction work was carried out by members of the most vulnerable families in the Tanandava community, which has offered them temporary access to employment and training in the mason profession. The basic needs of these families will thus be ensured during the lean period.

“This cheque presentation marks nine years of partnership and solidarity actions,” said Craig Blair, Managing Director of FTIS, adding: “This is long-term support from our company and its employees. We already have plans and ideas for future events.”

Katarzyna Majchrzak, Business & Operations Director, added: “Our team is very happy to contribute to improving the situation of vulnerable children around the world to ensure them a better future by supporting SOS Children's Villages Monde projects.”

The Luxembourg association expressed its gratitude to the FTIS team and announced that the official inauguration of the classrooms of the Tanandava primary school in Madagascar took place on Tuesday 23 January 2024.