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Dear Donors, Partners, Fr iends and Sponsors,
Since September 2015, the Board and the new Active Members have started to work for P.I .E.C.E.S. I t has been a great year with many improvements!
The new Board has been recently elected. Now, the t ime has come to pass the torch to the future board and to introduce i ts new members! In this newsletter, you wi l l get to know the extremely motivated people who wi l l be in charge of P.I .E.C.E.S ! With their new ideas for P.I .E.C.E.S , I am total ly convinced the associat ion wi l l continue to improve and reach greater professional ism!
Last Winter, P.I .E.C.E.S could organise several projects. In total , s ix could take place. The Project Department has put a lot of work making them possible. This Summer, i t is eight projects which are took place with our updated teaching material !
I t has been a great pleasure to work for P.I .E.C.E.S and al l i ts members! I would l ike to wish good luck and success to al l the future members of the associat ioon! I am sure that P.I .E.C.E.S wi l l continue growing and better ful f i l l ing i ts wonderful mission! Many thanks to al l the people who have worked with P.I .E.C.E.S, al l together we have done a great job!
Eric Büchli, President 2015-2016
Chairman Message
P.I.E.C.E.S is a student-driven social initiative focusing on children’s education in developing countries, with the goal of creating significant opportunities for their future. The name P.I.E.C.E.S stands for creating Possibilities through Inspiration and Empowerment building Character with Education and a Smile, which represents the mission and values of P.I.E.C.E.S.
In 2009, a first group of three students went to Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua to teach as volunteers for the very first time. It was a successful experience and the team decided to keep it going and turn this one-time project into an association that would continue to engage students in such initiatives. Therefore in 2010 the association P.I.E.C.E.S was created. Since then, P.I.E.C.E.S has greatly evolved. It now comprises a board, including department Heads, Active Members, and an Advisory Board guiding and supporting the association.
P.I.E.C.E.S in a nutshell
P.I.E.C.E.S has two reciprocal goals. The first one is to provide education to motivated and enthusiastic kids, all the while imparting them essential values for them to contribute to the sustainable development of their community. We hope to open a path to a better future for them. Our lessons focus on the English language - a field in which we are experienced. Additionally, P.I.E.C.E.S responds to any specific educational need by creating adapted teaching material.
The second goal of P.I.E.C.E.S is to encourage volunteering amongst the students of the University of St. Gallen and foster their personal growth as well as social commitment by offering them an enriching volunteering experience abroad. It is important to us that we foster growth in children, but also in our volunteers. We support them in every way possible to guarantee a successful experience for everybody involved. Our volunteers travel to the country and work directly with the kids.
All things considered, our main goal is to bridge the gap between the need for high quality volunteering in the field of education in developing countries and the abundance of capable and engaged potential volunteers in Switzerland.In contrast with other associations , P.I.E.C.E.S does not commercialize volunteering but supports its volunteers financially through a special scholarship that covers the living expenses at the institutions abroad.
Our goals
Over the last year P.I.E.C.E.S was able to improve and grow further. After an evaluation of all our projects based on the feedback from volunteers, our contact person and the children, we had to make some adjustments. Due to not enough students, the project in Lima had to be canceled. However, a new project in Paraguay in cooperation with the fondacion Paraguay and one in Zambia could be es-tablished. Furthermore, the visa issues for China could be solved so that this very successful project can continue.
The Education Department within PIECES worked very hard on new teaching material for pieces as well as doc-uments and tests for the impact measurement. Both were tested during the winter project and adapted again for the summer projects after having received feedback from the volunteers. We are very happy about the improvements in the teaching material and the impact measurement and are confident that this will support the volunteers and the children.
In order to financially support our increasing number of projects and volunteers, the Finance Department created new fundraising events and increased out attempts to find new sponsors.We are extremely thankful for the continuing support of our sponsors “Stiftung Mercator Schweiz” and “Apfelbaum” as well as our new sponsors Temperatio, Clar-iant and Typotron. We could not fulfill our Mission without their support.
Latest developments
Projects Winter 2016• Nicaragua, Léon• Peru, Lima• Peru, Arequipa
• Lusaka, Zambia• Indonesia, Makassar• Thailand, Nong Chang
Projects Summer 2016• Nicaragua, Léon• Peru, Arequipa• Zambia, Lusaka• Indonesia, Makassar
• Nong Chang, Thailand• China, Yizhou City• Nepal, Parewadada• Paraguay
P.I.E.C.E.S Board 2016-2017
Elsa Nordströ[email protected]+41 78 813 37 55
Marlène SchürchHead of [email protected]+41 79 739 41 19
Fiona KollerVice [email protected]+41 078 846 72 67
Arianna De Los CobosHead of [email protected]+41 78 808 06 85
Niccolò SchluebHead of [email protected]+41 79 397 45 89
Dominic GermannHead of [email protected]+41 79 509 12 77
Our sponsors
Our partners
P.I.E.C.E.S, Dufourstrasse 50, 9000, St. [email protected]
www.ThePIECES.org
Thank you for your support !
And many more!
How to help us?P.I.E.C.E.S encourages volunteering instead of commercializing it. Every semester, P.I.E.C.E.S supports its volunteers with a sponsorship to cover their living costs. In 2015, with a budget of 17’800 CHF P.I.E.C.E.S has enabled 40 volunteers to give more than 3400 hours of classes.
To pay this sponsorship to our volunteers and therefore make our projects possible, P.I.E.C.E.S is supported by the different foundations. In addition to these funds P.I.E.C.E.S strives to raise additional funds, through bake sales, the yearly P.I.E.C.E.S fundraising dinner, and smaller events like a calendar sale or a P.I.E.C.E.S party for students. Seeing as all the P.I.E.C.E.S members are working for free, our internal costs are very low and can be kept under 10% of our total costs. Therefore, almost all the money that we raise goes along with the funds of our sponsors directly into our projects. In order to grow and offer our projects to more volunteers in more schools, we need to find additional sponsors.
If you, as a former member, volunteer or friend of P.I.E.C.E.S, are interested in supporting our projects, please use the bank information below. Each and every donation helps us pursue our vision of making the world a better place, piece by piece.
IBAN: CH18 0025 4254 1661 4240RBANK: UBS AG
BIC / SWIFT: UBSWCHZH80A
