We change children's lives.
Our history
Since 1981, ora Kinderhilfe international e. V. has been committed to children's lives without hunger and without poverty - but with education, health, hope and a future. Our Christian roots shape us and our work. We feel particularly committed to the commandment of charity. We see doing good for the poorest and weakest in the world and thus improving children's lives in the long term as both a mission and a task.
"ora"
The word "ora" comes from Latin and means "pray". St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 - 1556) coined the saying: Pray as if everything depended on you. Act as if everything depended on God. In accordance with this saying and the Latin proverb "ora et labora" (pray and work), we use all available means and resources to help children and families lead a self-determined life and bring about lasting change.
Our work
Our first step is always to ensure the necessary basic supplies and thus invest in a successful future for the children right from the start. Sufficient food, a healthy upbringing and regular access to education enable girls and boys to provide for themselves one day and leave poverty behind them.
We also support parents with income-generating measures and offer them seminars and training so that they too have the opportunity to lead their lives independently and on their own responsibility.
We are also involved in disaster relief. We provide quick and uncomplicated help with the basic necessities of life when people are plunged into great misery from one moment to the next. We distribute food, clothing, medicines and hygiene packages and provide reconstruction where we can through further cooperation.
Our visions
ora Kinderhilfe is particularly active in the emerging and developing countries of Africa and Eastern Europe. We are currently active in 12 countries with 40 projects. We always take care of the smallest members of any society: the children. We help them and their families to lead an independent life in dignity - regardless of religion, origin or gender.
We ensure that the children have enough to eat, are adequately clothed, attend school regularly and receive medical treatment. For the parents and especially for the women and mothers, we organize income-generating measures, training and education so that they can provide for their families well and independently. In this way, we create the basis for sustainably eradicating poverty and hunger.
Our focus
Our approach is child-centered and holistic. We always take the children's entire living environment into account and include the family, the village and the region. Together with our local partners, we identify the needs of the girls and boys. In this way, we meet the children and families up close and personally and can help flexibly and spontaneously where we see need. We are convinced that this is the way to break the vicious circle of poverty, hunger and hopelessness in the medium and long term.
Our values
Personal
We are moved by the life situations, fates and stories of the people we work for. We visit the local population during our trips, meet people at eye level and listen to them.
They themselves know best what they need to improve their living conditions. Together, we develop solution strategies that can be implemented by both sides - the local people and us as ora Kinderhilfe.
Our project partners form the bridge: they are exclusively local organizations that know the situation in the respective regions and villages very well - be it language, customs or other non-verbal rules. They are the local experts with whom we have been working together in a spirit of trust for many years.
Close
Being close to the people in Africa, Eastern Europe and the disaster areas where we help is a matter close to our hearts. Only if we know the living conditions well can we help individually and as a whole. We take the time to understand the social structures of the villages and regions and manage our commitment in a targeted and efficient manner.
Authentic
Our encounters with local people are often painful, frequently emotional and always authentic. Their fates touch our hearts. Making better living conditions possible for them is both an incentive and an obligation for us. However, we often come up against the limits of our possibilities.
Our transparency and authenticity are characterized by the fact that we communicate this openly to those affected in the project countries and our supporters and give them a comprehensible insight into our use of funds.
Our club structure
ora Kinderhilfe e. V. is registered as a non-profit organization in the register of associations and is structured as a social enterprise. All available funds serve the charitable purpose of the statutes and all donations are tax-deductible.
Non-profit status
You can trust us! We attach great importance to handling the funds entrusted to us transparently and carefully. You can find all further information and figures on the last financial year in our annual reports.
Our income and expenditure, our balance sheets and transactions are regularly audited by the tax office, the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) and an independent auditor. Our responsible handling of donations has been confirmed annually since 2005 by the DZI donation seal of approval.
As a charitable and non-profit aid organization, ora Kinderhilfe is dependent on donations. The organization is entitled to issue donation receipts for donations made to it for its statutory purposes in accordance with the officially prescribed form and the guidelines of the DZI.
There is hardly a more satisfying feeling than knowing that you can be something for other people.
Our memberships
We belong to the "Association of German Development NGOs" (VENRO) and bear the DZI donation seal of the German Central Institute for Social Issues. We are also a member of the "Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft", "Gemeinsam für Afrika", "Micha Deutschland e. V.", "BER"(Berliner entwicklungspolitsicher Ratschlag - Eine Welt Stadt Berlin) and the "Deutsche Interessengemeinschaft für Erbrecht und Vorsorge e.V."(DIGEV e. V.).
Our impact monitoring ensures our good support results. This is the only way we can change children's lives for the better.
The people in our project countries live in difficult conditions. Our aid is aimed at improving their desolate living conditions in the long term. We regularly review the success and change processes in our projects. In doing so, we always personally gain a differentiated picture of the situation on the ground and analyze the local changes, experiences and conditions as well as the potential of the local population. It is important to us that projects are always implemented in close cooperation with the local people. In long-term sponsorship programs, we take a close look at the overall situation, health development, school attendance and the family situation of the sponsored child.
Transparency and impact monitoring are important to us
Our sponsors, donors and supporters place great trust in us. This places us under a special obligation to handle the money and donations in kind entrusted to us responsibly, proportionately and effectively. Our working methods are transparent and open at all times. The annual DZI donation seal of approval has certified that we have handled donations conscientiously and in accordance with our duties since 2005.
Transparency through information
Our donors and sponsors receive regular newsletters on current topics and progress in our project regions. Twice a year, sponsors receive mail from their sponsored child and find out how he or she is doing and what has been achieved locally thanks to their sponsorship contribution. On the sponsor trips, sponsors and interested parties have the opportunity to meet their sponsored child and see for themselves how the donations and sponsorship money are being put to good use.
