The Salvation Army school project gives more than 5,000 Haitian children real prospects for the future.

Insufficient access to school education remains a major obstacle to Haiti’s social and economic development. Almost 30 percent of young people are illiterate. Only a fifth of children are currently able to attend publicly run schools.

The Salvation Army is providing a remedy to this. It runs 47 schools in rural and very poor areas of Haiti. These are attended by more than 10,000 children and make an important contribution to the education of the Haitian population. The Salvation Army Switzerland offers special support to 22 of these schools – attended by over 5,000 children – by constructing and maintaining buildings and providing salaries and further training for teachers as well as learning materials and school books. The Salvation Army Switzerland also supports the remaining 25 schools based on their individual needs.

The Salvation Army’s schools also help ensure boys and girls enjoy equal opportunities, provide targeted courses to strengthen the teaching skills of parents, and promote non-violent relationships. Thanks to this support, students at Salvation Army schools make good academic progress and have real prospects for the future.

The Salvation Army is implementing WASH projects in Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. These projects provide 250,000 people – including more than 33,000 school children – with access to clean water. “WASH” stands for Water, Sanitation and Health.

In the villages now supported by the Salvation Army, people once had to walk many kilometres to obtain water – often of poor quality. The WASH projects provide access to groundwater pumps, equipment to prepare rainwater for consumption, new water reservoirs and distribution systems, and pipelines for food cultivation. The projects also provide villages and schools with a greater number of toilets meeting higher standards of hygiene, as well as offering preventive hygiene education for all.

In doing so, the Salvation Army reduces water poverty, increases hygiene awareness and improves the health of the people whose sustenance it ensures. The projects take into account the interrelation of water, sewage, hygiene, nutrition and health.

The Salvation Army works to provide all children and young people with an education that offers prospects for the future, as well as supporting their integration into society.

Sponsorships allow the Salvation Army to cover the operating costs of its schools and institutions for socially disadvantaged students. Parents are often unable to afford their children’s school fees. Physically disabled children and young people are also given the prospect of a better future thanks to the Salvation Army’s educational offer. The same is true for students at the Salvation Army’s school for the blind in the Republic of Congo.

The Salvation Army’s educational programme complements the state programme, supporting equal opportunities and giving socially marginalised children true hope as well as real prospects for a better future.

A good education allows the children to become part of society and protects them from marginalisation – all thanks to Salvation Army sponsorships.

The Salvation Army works around the world to help children in difficult social circumstances. In addition to this, it also provides families living in poverty with the support they need.

Children are very vulnerable and often require special protection. The most important relationship children and young people have is with their own family, who protect them and support them in their development.

That is why the Salvation Army works around the world to help children in difficult social circumstances, offering them security and supporting them as they develop a healthy personality. A large number of children who can no longer live with their parents, or who no longer have parents, find a home at the many Salvation Army children’s shelters.

In addition to this, the Salvation Army also provides the necessary help for families living in poverty, as well as their children. The parents receive educational and psychological counselling and – in exceptional situations – the financial support they need to offer security to their children. Extracurricular offers and training prepare the children for everyday life. They learn how to behave with other children and strengthen their sense of self-worth.

As a result, the Salvation Army’s offer helps consolidate relationships within families. Broken families harm children’s educations, increase the risk of violence and lead to neglect.