Terre des Hommes | World Hunger Day

At MainAd, we believe our company culture is incomplete without the concern for people in wider societies. Over the years, MainAd has shown compassion for the less privileged, victim to malnutrition and violence in particular; therefore, shining light on our willingness to help those in need, our diverse company culture and honouring our value to build lasting relationships. To do so, we have partnered with Terre des Hommes since 2011.

Terre des Hommes

Terre des Hommes’ activities are centred on promoting the Convention on the Rights of a child. TDH Italy is a small organisation with a focused team of experts and project operators, that assisted more than 1.5 million children and 2.5 million people with 127 projects in 19 countries, in 2016. The organisation is part of the Terre des Hommes International Federation, present in 67 nations and runs 1,207 projects, benefiting over 2 million children.

“Working with MainAd has been a unique chance to improve our work and the service we’re providing to children. A result driven by common values, empathy and the same will to face children’s problems, such as health, malnutrition, education and violence, concretely. Together we’re making the difference in the lives of hundreds of boys and girls and we’re sure that we will reach new goals with the same enthusiasm and professionalism in the future” – Paolo Ferrara, Terre des Hommes Italia.

MainAd’s partnership with TDH has allowed us to have the privilege of enriching the lives of many children in some of the poorest communities around the world. With high illiteracy, early pregnancies and lack of adequate basic amenities and necessities causing problems in youngsters’ lives, we’re proud that our annual donation enables them a higher standard of living.

Why we volunteered to work with TDH Italy

MainAd’s motive to work with them came from knowing the management team well. And of course, a small organisation means that it’s easier to control where the donations are allocated. This inspired our founders to volunteer and initiate the work of ‘Casa del Sole’ – ‘House of Sun’.

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Children’s graduation

On May 28th, World Hunger Day (The Hunger Project), is to many a reminder of those people who suffer from undernutrition in third world countries, and don’t have the luxury of being served a meal 3 times a day. “Malnutrition is a huge problem in the communities where we operate. We make sure that the provision of a good full meal at least once a day is guaranteed for every child at school”, says Marco Cotumaccio, CEO and Co-founder.

“Together with my partners, Marino and Piero, we’ve always been active volunteers. With the growth of MainAd as an international company, it was difficult to invest time personally into humanitarian causes”, says Marco.

“So, we thought it was fitting to share our wealth with a charity that develops niche projects, with the aim for each project to become independent and self-sufficient at the end of its lifespan”. This is to echo our value of developing long-term associations, by listening to, understanding and acting upon issues proactively.

Our work with TDH Italy
TDH-Timeline

Timeline of key events since partnership began

Since 2011, we have actively been supporting local projects in Djibouti, Eritrea and Mozambique, and we continue to support young children with their day-to-day lives and activities. Our desire was, and remains, to help those in need through funding the necessities, which there is a shortage of. Main activities of ‘Casa del Sole’ are to:

  • Rehabilitate the community learning centre and equipment
  • Provide education, sports, cultural and recreational activities
  • Carry out medical check-ups
  • Provide literacy courses (mostly for women)
  • Run an awareness raising campaign on children’s rights, education, health care, sport, and gender issues
  • Train local educators and activists

“It is in the core values of our business to build transparent relationships with every partner. TDH, with the organisation’s responsible manner, fit this belief of ours perfectly, giving us more reasons to invest our resources into more special causes”.

In 2013, we adopted a young girl named Ophelia. Through MainAd’s partnership with TDH, Ophelia, who is now in her early teens, receives all the necessities she needs to live a comfortable life, in her homeland and surrounded by her own culture. We believe it is vital for young children to receive every opportunity possible from early days, to be educated and live a life of ease. Shortly after providing for Ophelia, she could join a school for which she now has the full uniform and feels welcomed. Since being given the opportunity to study, she is determined to carry on studying despite the very low number of females in school in the third world country.

“With every investment of time or money that we make, we bring a child closer to an untroubled life. We seek to make more of these changes in the coming future.”

Ophelia

Education is one of the main shortcomings in the regions. MainAd had the privilege of financing for the construction and opening the House of Sun in Chinonanquila, in 2012, which is now one of the main schools in the area.

Since 2015 we have been following the project ‘Casa del Sole’ in Salinas, Mozambique. The plan is to finish it by the end of this year, with another year of monitoring. Our active involvement with the locals has allowed us to make a tangible difference in the lives of many of the less-fortunate, young children. With the problem of hygiene and a shortage of basic sanitation facilities, MainAd helped to build new toilets inside ‘Casa del Sole’ – separate for boys and girls; improving child safety issues.

At the same time, we have now started to follow another project in India, with TDH Core; an initiative started last year by an Indian entrepreneur who wanted to bring the message of TDH to India.

Founders at ‘Casa del Sole’

Earlier this year Marco Cotumaccio, CEO and Co-founder, and Marino Gualano, General Manager and Co-founder, spent some time in the Indian location.

“It has been a pleasure working with TDH and combining our resources to help those in need. But what we get back from it is far more than what we give. We seek to make more of these changes in the coming future.”

Spread the word

We are proud of sharing our commitment with MainAd teams around the world. Our young and international talents feel deeply about the cause and are often active participants to it. At MainAd we believe corporate responsibility goes beyond the office walls. The outcomes are beneficial to the business itself, especially because they nurture team unity and a sense of belonging.

“We try to spread our learnings of working with TDH, so that we can make a positive change in children’s lives in multiple regions, and leave a positive mark around the globe.”

 

“TDH helps [children] realise their full potential in an ever-changing world.” – Terre des Hommes