Annual Report 2010 - Knorr-Bremse AG.

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A new approach
Then as now, the basic approach taken by Knorr-Bremse Global Care e. V. differed from that of other
aid organizations. It is not just funding that is provided – volunteers, including members of the company’s
management, also act as sponsors for individual projects, monitoring their progress closely.
Their input ranges from visits to the regions concerned to collaboration with local partners over drawing
up plans for hospitals or schools. Their close involvement with the projects ensures a high degree
of commitment to the people at local level.
The aim is always to provide sustainable, long-term support and the most important criterion when
selecting projects is therefore an emphasis on helping people to help themselves. Project funding is
intended as an investment in an economically independent future for the people concerned.
Expansion of activities
In 2006, Global Care expanded its activities to include Africa, where it funded a number of school projects
in a bid to help improve the often catastrophic situation of education in that part of the world. Since 2007,
Knorr-Bremse sites around the world have also become increasingly involved in projects – around half of
Global Care projects now benefit from the involvement of local Knorr-Bremse employees.
2008 and 2009 saw the organization continue its work in these two regions and also become involved in
Central America. Other areas of focus were emergency aid and reconstruction projects in the aftermath of
the cyclone in Burma, the earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan and the cholera epidemic in
Zimbabwe. At the same time, Global Care intensified its involvement in educational projects.
The basic emphasis is on long-term projects that enable people to support themselves and determine
their own lives. In 2010 a total of 35 projects in 24 countries were funded, with more than EUR 1,100,000
donated and over 65,000 people provided with assistance and support. For example Global Care joined
forces with the aid organization Jnana Pradodhini to construct a three-story building with five apartments
per floor to house divorced or widowed women in the rural district of Harali, India. Global Care also decided
during 2010 to build and equip two learning centers in the Sabeh region of Borneo. A floating
classroom was also created for teaching children who live in such remote locations that they cannot otherwise
attend school on a daily basis. During the year Knorr-Bremse Global Care e. V. also ran five emergency
aid projects in Haiti, Chile, Pakistan, the Czech Republic and Hungary.