Save the Children and tesa: Looking back on a productive year

"The best investment in the future is to invest in our children's education. With our current donation, we are making our contribution to the crisis management and supporting Save the Children in breaking the cycle of poverty on a sustainable basis, even beyond the time of the pandemic," emphasizes tesa CEO Dr. Norman Goldberg. The large financial support is part of the tesa Covid-19 aid program, for which the company provided five million Euro at the beginning of the pandemic. When children in India were particularly hard hit by further outbreaks in the spring of this year, tesa increased the company's donation volume specifically for India.

"We are thankful to tesa for this great support. The fact that as a company they do not lose sight of the needs of children in need and that they support children all over the world is admirable. On behalf of these children, we would like to thank you for your generous involvement," says Florian Westphal, Managing Director of Save the Children Germany in a letter of thanks to tesa.

Five primary schools with 4,800 pupils participate in the project. Home schooling and teacher trainings are the main topics of this project, as well as better materials, including books and writing devices. Moreover, the courses in schools are not only aimed to encourage pupils to read and write. The caregivers were also brought on board through parenting clubs to support and strengthen them regarding learning at home – and thus to motivate and encourage their children accordingly. In the meantime, 50 useful video and audio clips support the caregivers. 

With the help of the tesa donation, Save the Children has supported the empowerment of children in China in their socio-emotional development and resilience. The project was able to reach more than 100,000 children and their families with psycho-social support. With the concept of "Social and Emotional Learning" (SEL), Save the Children helps kids set and achieve positive goals, make responsible decisions, feel empathy for others, maintain positive relationships and gain more self-confidence.

The project 'Creating Safe Spaces to Go Back to School' supports children and teachers in dealing better with the new situation of homeschooling, thus, in keeping the pace. Depending on the situation, the children's rights organization provides families with digital and analog learning material, for example, a learning diary. Thanks to tesa, Save the Children was able to ensure that caregivers who don’t work from home or who cannot afford private care had access to municipal childcare facilities. The teachers work from home as long as the schools are closed. At best via video calls, e-mails, WhatsApp or phone. It is not uncommon for a teacher to drop by the children's home when communication is not possible via these channels.

In early 2020, the outbreak of the pandemic and the nation-wide school closings presented the project with major challenges. While everyone involved had previously worked on site in the district schools on a regular basis, the experimental workshop now had to be virtualized in next to no time. They succeeded – and in the end it showed once again how important digital competence is today. Together with tesa, Save the Children therefore focused on active and needs-based support for the staff in the project schools in order to support the educational staff and give them the security of being able to independently implement the project idea as a multiplier. Via creative workshops, the teachers and their students were able to discover various digital tools – such as VR, programming, green screen technology, 3D printers and more – and incorporate them into their lesson planning at their own discretion.

Together with strong partners like tesa, Save the Children counteracts educational poverty and school drop-outs in Italy. An important part of this initiative are the 25 training centers "Punto Luce", which are spread over 19 cities in the country. They organize tutoring for disadvantaged boys and girls to catch up on missed learning content, as well as sports activities, art, media skills. These centers are essential support pillars for families in need during this difficult time. An important part of the work includes offering emotional support to children and youngsters as well as their parents through online counseling and personal meetings – a fact that should not be underestimated when dealing with crises. However, a wide range of aid measures is also needed right outside the "front door".