Christmas cookies of another kind: Take motivated talents, helpful politicians, and an enterprise which believes in making our world a better place wherever it can. .

Five years ago Lynda N and Obrein T. were selected as possible candidates for scholarships from Aiducation. They were in need of financial assistance and had ranked among the top 5% of their peers in the final exams of primary school. (Background information on school system)
Obrein, whose parents supported a family of eight with occasional jobs, wrote in his application that he wanted to become a Neurosurgeon. After working in that profession he wanted to eventually go into politics to help improve his country’s healthcare system (Link to Obrein’s application).
Lynda also wanted to become a doctor. To ensure that their two daughters could at least go to school, her parents had sold their small house. “I will serve my fellow humans, no matter what skin color they have or what ethnicity they belong to”. In addition, the positive girl felt responsible for fighting for the rights of young women and was particularly good when it came to the domain of science. (Link to Lynda’s application)

Both had worked very hard in primary school and had received excellent grades. The stroke of luck arrived when both received a scholarship for four years of secondary school. An aidumaker-couple from Dresden and a Service Club were convinced by the two applicants.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Andrea-and-Nadine-Meyer-Science Prize, an award for the best male and female AiduFellow student in the study of biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. The winners for 2014 are George J. and Lucy M. We are fortunate to have a video of Lucy receiving her award and she was holding back tears as she accepted the prize of 40’000 KES (400 CHF) from our CEO Jeremiah Kambi. Jeremiah asked Lucy to share advice with her fellow AiduFellows and her feelings about receiving the award. “No matter where you come from, your dreams are valued. It’s just great,” Lucy replied. You can watch the award ceremony and her reaction in the following video.

written by Shorena Messerli

On November 1st, 2018 the fifth Impact Dinner of Aiducation International brought together over 120 partner/donor organizations and individual supporters to share experiences and talk about their work in education.

The evening was opened by Ms Carolina Müller-Möhl, Swiss investor and philanthropist who is highly committed to address socio-political causes, and brings her efforts under the Müller-Möhl Foundation, founded in 2012. „[I am] a privileged Swiss woman. I had a choice of school, further education and profession. The state, the society and my parents supported me throughout my life. I am enjoying, as most of you in this room enjoy, these privileges. Privileges, the ones we want to support tonight, do not have. Their states do not support higher school education and their parents have no financial means to allow their children to be in school longer than required by their government,” said Ms Müller-Möhl in highlighting the importance and challenged of education in Switzerland and abroad.

As studies suggest education reduces poverty, promotes economic grow, improves health and empowers women. „By supporting the educational system in the respective country, Aiducation does not provide “the fish to the hungry fisherman” but provides funding for him to learn how to find the fish. All in the spirit of Pestalozzi: “help for self-help,” she added.

The past two general elections in Kenya, 2012 and 2017, have seen presidential aspirants promise the possibility to initiate subsidized school fees and eventually free secondary school education in the country. The most recent statement by President Uhuru Kenyatta in his 2017 election manifesto was to possibly kick start this off by 2019. This has since been met with widespread local and international mixed criticism of how realistic and feasible this project would be. How “free of charge” would it be? And what would it take to be free of charge? Jeremiah Kambi, co-founder and CEO Aiducation Kenya shares his thoughts on this discussion here:

“Kenya’s debt has passed 5 trillion shillings. The government’s attempts to raise more funds from fuel are being resisted by all and could eventually be barred. It would take the current government a critical strategic decision to stop all development projects and borrow more funds to implement free secondary school education. This would be seemingly dangerous for the already overburdened economy – we are already below 5% growth. In such a developing country as Kenya with widespread poverty, hunger and major terror threats from the Al Shabab, this policy change might take time. My feeling is we may realize this in the next four to five years, as the Kenyan government reassesses its strategy and comes up with funds to implement it.

In my opinion, this promise was pure political strategy. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government already has a Big Four agenda which is a grand action plan with focus on food security, affordable housing, manufacturing, and affordable healthcare for all. If the current government achieves any of the big four, chances for reelection will still remain high. I don’t therefore think there is any political pressure to offer free secondary school education. Forty percent of Kenyans would rather pay for quality education than just a free of charge public secondary school. However, the government can pull the carpet under us by abolishing boarding school. If this is done, then the era of free secondary school education will have downed on Kenya. Personally, I will support the abolishing of boarding schools for free secondary schools. But, even if it were done – where are the class rooms? Where are the teachers? Where is the equipment and supplies? I think it’s going to be after 2022 that this debate will come again and will take the easiest way as always for the elected government.”

If you are interested in more information please read more here.

What do a mechanical engineering company, an advertising agency, and a consulting company have in common? All three support talented engineers or lawyers in Kenya and journalists in the Philippines. In Aiducation International, companies like Ase Technik, Werbekontor and Synpulse have discovered the perfect partner for their social involvement. Supporting talented Kenyan and Filipino students through merit-based scholarships is in their opinion the best way to change things on a global scale.

Social engagement is a priority for these companies. They all were looking for a partner organisation whose objectives they can identify with, which they can trust, and where reciprocity is the key. In Aiducation International, which makes an impact and sustainable difference by supporting Kenyan and Filipino High Potentials, they found the perfect match. Michel Kleisli, CEO of AseTechnik explains «I value Aiducation’s focus on performance and their levels of transparency. Being able to support a future engineer means a lot to us, and the exchange with other corporate partners is rewarding». Thanks to the scholarship of AseTechnik, Benson, a young man and future engineer is attending High school in Kenya, in the hopes that he will help revolutionize the Kenyan transport system one day.

Meaningful Christmas gifts
One of Aiducation International’s more than 1500 supported students is Lydia, whose dream it is to become a successful lawyer and fight for the rights of people with disabilities. On her path to fulfil her goals she is supported by a 4-year High school scholarship, sponsored by Werbekontor. «Instead of giving away calories for Christmas, we prefer to invest in the future of a talented and ambitious young person.» says T. Schaich, Partner & Senior Consultant. Werbekontor will be repeating this meaningful Christmas tradition also this year and will say “Thank you!” to clients by supporting another student in his or her education.

Running for a good cause
A communal experience to empower employees and have a social impact. This was the objective of Synpulse Management Consulting. In order to enable young talents in Kenya and the Philippines to overcome local challenges by way of education, Synpulse’ employees went the extra mile. «For Aiducation, our employees chose to overcome physical obstacles.» Dr. Christoph Nützenadel, CEO. Working with Aiducation, Synpulse offers its employees a variety of activities to engage as a team.

Companies like these mentioned here no longer measure their success with hard numbers alone, but also consider the impact they are having with their actions. The objective of their social engagement is to maximize the value of their support. Thanks to the partnership with Aiducation International, which stands out among organisations because of its focus on education alone and a unique impact concept, they make significant contributions. Thanks to their support, future leadership personalities can realize their full potential. Social engagement for Aiducation can be realised in many ways, and we pride ourselves in offering numerous, customized opportunities to support. The unique characteristic these companies all have in common is that they all are committed to changing the life of young talents in Kenya and the Philippines by 180°. With this Impact, they significantly contribute to the sustainable development of societies.