2.2003 - Samuel

Hedwig and Robert Samuel
2
THE SAMUEL FOUNDATION AT A GLANCE
WHO WE ARE:
The Hedwig and Robert Samuel Foundation is a private charitable foundation with its head office in Düsseldorf, Germany. It
was established in the year 1932 as stated in the last will of the businessman Robert Samuel and his wife Hedwig.
OUR ASSIGNMENT:
According to the Foundation's statutes, our purpose is to help people in need world-wide. We focus our work on the support
of socially disadvantaged children and youths in the developing countries. We obtain the necessary financial means
through revenues from the foundation's assets, through co-financings and through donations.
OUR MISSION:
From the large group of the underprivileged, we promote those young people who by virtue of their intelligence and their
personality are able to live a life in dignity and self-determination with the basic support provided by the Samuel Foundation.
MAIN FOCUS OF OUR WORK:
The main focus of our work is the support of children and youths in the areas of education and vocational training. In our
own centres, we offer training programmes for craftsman and technical trades as well as for the service industry, to young
people from the social and economically disadvantaged levels of society. By this, they get the chance to obtain a job in their
respective profession and to master their life self-responsibly. Furthermore, the Samuel Foundation supports projects of
health promotion and health precaution as well as of humanitarian aid.
OUR PROJECTS:
■ In India, currently 100 young people per year, who come from the poor quarters of New Delhi, are being trained in dress
designing.
■ In Nicaragua, we offer trainings in car mechanics and construction as well as in administration and office communication
for 850 young people at the time.
■ In Costa Rica, we offer training in four different trades of refrigeration and air conditioning as well as the possibility of attaining
the high school diploma through evening classes, for actually 180 students per year.
■ In Cuba, we are supporting a vocational training centre in Havanna since 1998.
■ In Thailand, since the beginning of 2002 the Samuel Foundation cares for more than 70 pupils from the region of Lampang
in the north of the country, and supports them in their school education. In addition, we support the home for hilltribe
children.
■ In Germany, we provide help for violence-stricken children as co-founders and associates of the KID "Kind in Duesseldorf
gGmbH" (organisation "Child in Düsseldorf").
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRAINING:
■ The participants of the courses in our training centres are selected in a selection process which has been developed especially
for our needs.
■ The selection of trades is based on market surveys that reliably identify which practically-orientated professions provide
best opportunities on the local labour market.
■ The offered training programmes consist of fulltime courses with a maximum duration of at present 19 months, evening
classes for the already employed as well as Saturday courses for special retrainings.
■ Complementary activities to encourage the development of the students' personality are fixed components of our training.
These activities include seminars and round tables about youth-specific interests in co-operation with local institutions,
a comprehensive psychological support of students and parents, but also social work which takes place in public and private
complexes in the neighbourhood as well as on the Foundation's premises.
■ The diplomas are officially recognized, whenever possible and reasonable. Depending on the requirements of the training,
the graduates receive certificates which prove their qualification as workers, skilled workers or skilled workers with specific
know-how.
INTERNATIONAL FIELDS OF ACTION:
■ Developing and running of training centres for young people, with integrated workshops where it is possible and reasonable.
■ Promoting and operational support of local self-help groups and initiatives.
■ Placement of graduates of the Samuel Foundation in enterprises and companies.
■ Support of the social and productive infrastructure of the rural area.
NATIONAL FIELDS OF ACTION:
■ Protection, care and support of children and youths from socially and economically disadvantaged families.
■ Support for the integration and care of foreign children.