Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the mission of Terre des Hommes?

The mission of the Terre des Hommes organisations (TDH) is to work for the rights of the child and equitable development, without racial, religious, political, cultural or gender-based discrimination. To this end, they support and implement development and humanitarian aid projects designed to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged children, their families and their communities. The Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes the conceptual framework guiding the activities of the TDH organisations.

In their own countries and regions, the TDH organisations bring to the attention of the public, including children and young people, their experience with respect to how to address the causes of underdevelopment and implement the rights of the child worldwide. This is achieved mainly through information campaigns rooted in field experience. They also try to mobilise political will and advocate appropriate national policies. They undertake fund raising activities to achieve their objectives.

At an international level, the Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF) works in collaboration with relevant international and regional bodies (through its consultative status with the UN/ECOSOC, the ILO, UNICEF and the Council of Europe), the European Union and national governments to promote and implement the rights of the child, and to advocate people-centred and equitable development. The TDHIF collaborates with other NGOs pursuing similar aims.

2. How was Terre des Hommes founded?

TDH was founded in 1960 by Edmond Kaiser, a Swiss and French citizen selling pharmaceutical products. The organisation was born in response to events taking place in Algeria at the time, in order to provide direct help to children in need. Its first operation was to bring Algerian children suffering from tuberculosis to Switzerland for health care. Having experienced difficulties in obtaining visas for the sick children to come to Switzerland, Edmond Kaiser called a press conference to provide information about the situation and about groups in Germany, the Netherlands and France that were also mobilised to take care of the children. In 1966 these groups joined together to form the Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF).

TDH is still faithful to its original objective - to act for the rights of children most in need - and works to protect children from extreme poverty, economic and sexual exploitation, and violence.

For over 40 years, TDH has assisted hundreds of thousands of children to have access to their right to live a decent life. They have been provided with health care, education, means of living, and protection against abuse, exploitation and violence. TDH has fought to promote human rights, positive change, and a concept of the child as a person whose dignity should be fully respected.

TDH has also been active in empowering its local partners and making their voices heard at a national and international level. At first, TDH acted as a channel to convey its partners’ concerns, and as a field reality within international decision-making processes. More recently, TDH has also provided financial and technical support for the direct involvement of partner organisations in global negotiations affecting the plight of children.

3. What are the principal activities of Terre des Hommes?

The TDH organisations support or run about 1207 development and humanitarian aid program to improve living conditions for the most underprivileged children and their families in 67 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Programs are run in close collaboration with the beneficiaries.

TDH also runs national and international information campaigns on child rights, which complement local programmatic responses with the search for global solutions.

On October 29, 2001, TDH launched its new international campaign to stop child trafficking. The objectives of the campaign are to reduce child trafficking in the countries where TDH works, and to make the public and decision makers aware of the complexity of the problem. The campaign also works to reverse child trafficking through concrete programs such as the one whereby trafficked children are repatriated from Greece to Albania.

4. Who are the beneficiaries of the Terre des Hommes programs?

The programs of TDH provide assistance to about 300,000 children each year in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Special emphasis is placed on protecting children from all forms of discrimination, exploitation and violence.

5. What is the budget of Terre des Hommes?

The global budget of the Terre des Hommes organisations in 2008 was Euros 109'883'231 (USD 161'575'058). On average 67% of the global budget comes from private funding.

6. Does the work of Terre des Hommes have a long-term impact?

Through its programs TDH strives to achieve long-term impact as opposed to immediate relief. While emergency relief operations help to rebuild basic social infrastructure, TDH links these with its ongoing development work. Below are three examples of projects that have generated structural changes.

The Maurice Sixto Home is a program designed for domestic child workers in Haiti. It provides them with education and offers a warm atmosphere and the family-like relationships that they so desperately need. The staff at the Maurice Sixto Home have tried as far as possible to reunite domestic child workers with their families. They have raised awareness among rural populations about the dangers of sending children to urban areas for domestic work. The Home also cooperates with the political authorities and is regularly contacted when domestic child workers are found by the police. The work of the Maurice Sixto Home has helped to publicise the plight of domestic child workers in Haiti and abroad, and to prevent the phenomenon. In addition, about 4000 domestic child workers have been provided with education and care.

In Guinea, TDH held a seminar for professionals (magistrates, police, prison staff) in Conakry, and visits to prisons in the country made it possible to assess young detainees’ needs. A team of lawyers and social workers has been established to pay visits to imprisoned minors and assist with their social reintegration on release, while at the same time suggesting alternative sentences for less serious offences to the authorities. TDH has signed an agreement with the government of Guinea to allow systematic visits to prisons throughout the country.

On the Ivory Cost TDH runs an informal education program for children of slum areas. The aim of the project is to reintegrate children into the formal education system. Having identified that one of the reasons why children are excluded from the education system is the lack of a birth certificate, the project also aims to collaborate with the authorities to improve the birth registration system.

TDH is also active in the field of advocacy in order to complement local programmatic responses with global action. The work of TDH is rooted in reality, and lessons learned from managing field programs are used as a basis for advocacy. In Italy, for example, the work of TDH with the government resulted in legislation to better protect children from trafficking and to raise the minimum age for recruitment into the armed forces.

TDH is active at a European level in order to ensure the maintenance of an adequate level of development aid. At an international level, TDH has participated in UN and NGO efforts to draft adequate international instruments for the protection of children, such as the ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. These international instruments provide an internationally agreed framework for action.

The work of TDH on behalf of child soldiers, in its role as a member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, has led to long-term improvements such as a global consensus that it is unacceptable to use children to fight adult’s wars and the effective demobilisation and reintegration of thousands of child soldiers.

7. How is Terre des Hommes structured?

Terre des Hommes has set up a structural model of autonomous organisations working together to achieve shared goals in accordance with common values and principles. The TDHIF is a “family network” with members sharing the same name, using similar methods, and collaborating together as and when this adds value to their actions.

The TDHIF is composed of eleven member organisations that have headquarters in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland (the Terre des Hommes Foundation in Lausanne and Terre des Hommes-Switzerland), and Syria.

It functions through an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and in January 2002 it opened a European Union Liaison Office in Brussels. The International Secretariat ensures coordination among the Terre des Hommes organisations, and representation at an international and European level.

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body. It elects an International Board, which is responsible for implementing General Assembly strategies and supervising the work of the International Secretariat offices in Geneva and Brussels. The TDHIF President is elected by the TDHIF General Assembly, and the Vice-President and Treasurer are appointed by the International Board.

8. Who are the International Board Members of the TDHIF?

The International Board of the TDHIF is composed of five member organisations. Each member organisation is represented by a delegate and an alternate. At present the TDHIF International Board Members are as follows:

Raffaele K. Salinari, President

Ron van Huizen, Vice-President
Representative of TDH Netherlands
Deputy : Hans Guyt

Jean-Luc Pittet, Treasurer
Representative of TDH Switzerland
Deputy : Franziska Lauper

Peter Brey
Representative of the TDH Foundation/Lausanne (Switzerland)
Deputy: Ignacio Packer

Danuta Sacher
Representative of TDH Germany
Deputy : Ursula Pattberg

Bruno Neri
Representative of TDH Italy
Deputy : Donatella Vergari

9. How many staff work with Terre des Hommes?

In total the TDH organisations have 329 paid employees at headquarters and more than 1550 working in field operations (not including partners).

The TDHIF International Secretariat employs three permanent staff : a Coordinator, an Administrative Officer and an European Liaison Officer. It benefits as well, on a regular basis and without additional costs, from the collaboration of interns, as well as from people with short-term contracts seconded by the Swiss Authorities or by other TdH organisations also.

10. Does Terre des Hommes work with volunteers and what are their activities?

Around 6650 volunteers support the work of the TDH organisations. They have all sorts of responsibilities including project management, fund raising, translation, communication, organisation of events, and administrative tasks.
Some of the national TDH organisations, such as the one in Denmark, are entirely run by volunteers. Others have up to 80 staff at their headquarters.

11. Does Terre des Hommes run regional offices?

Certain countries operate regional structures that are located in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

TDH-Germany runs 6 regional offices that depend upon headquarters and co-ordinate support for partners’ projects in the region.

TDH-Switzerland has 8 regional co-ordinators that depend upon headquarters and co-ordinate support for partners’ projects in the region.

The TDH Foundation in Lausanne runs 32 national delegations that depend upon headquarters and manage the projects of the TDH Foundation in the countries in which they are located.

TDH-Italy runs 18 national delegations that depend upon headquarters and manage the projects of TDH-Italy in the countries in which they are located.

TDH-Netherlands runs 4 regional offices that depend upon headquarters and co-ordinate support for partners’ projects in the region.

12. Are there any organisations with which Terre des Hommes has a collaborative or partnership relationship?

The TDHIF is a founding member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and is currently a member of its Steering Committee. Steering Committee members are involved in management, support of national coalitions, research and public information.

The TDHIF is a founding member of CONCORD, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development.

The TDHIF is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the largest world network of child rights NGOs.

TDH is also an ECHO partner (Emergencies Commission for Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission). TDH-Italy and the TDH Foundation in Lausanne have a framework agreement with ECHO to develop emergency projects.

13. Has Terre des Hommes received any notable awards and honours?

Member organisations of the TDHIF have received different awards in their own countries, for example :
The TDH Foundation in Lausanne received the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic in 2002 for a program to counter child trafficking between Albania and Greece.
TDH-Germany received the Theodor Heuss Prize for human rights, the Moeser Medal from the City of Osnabrück and the Grand Award of the United Nations Department of Public Information for communications work to prevent child sex tourism.
TDH-Italy received a special grant from the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy for its humanitarian commitment and activity in favour of children.
The TDH Foundation in Lausanne received the International Civil Golden Award for its work in Nepal in 2004.

14. What about future plans?

TDH intends to continue developing its projects to protect children against discrimination, exploitation and violence.
TDH is committed to continually making better use of existing resources in order to provide high quality work. Efforts are being made to reinforce links between planning, implementation and evaluation of operations, and therefore improve the choice of interventions. The aim is to develop effectiveness (attaining objectives), efficiency (attaining them at a lesser cost), relevance (in terms of the needs and expectations of the beneficiaries) and impact (long-term impact on their situation).

TDH also searches for new solutions to changing forms of exploitation affecting children, such as large-scale child trafficking.