Grundfos Foundation | PDJF

Nyt samarbejde skal forbedre skolegang for børn i Etiopien Etiopien er ramt af flere alvorlige kriser på én gang. Konflikter raserer på tværs af landet. Økonomien er hårdt presset, og klimaforandringer rammer hårdt og skaber tørke, utilregnelig høst og dårlig sundhed. Samtidig lever over 5,5 millioner som flygtninge eller internt fordrevne i Etiopien, og over 60% af dem er børn. Særligt børns skolegang rammes hårdt, når kriser rammer og familier sendes på flugt. Mange børn - særligt piger - tages ud af skolen, kvaliteten af undervisning ofte lav, og lærerne mangler de rigtige redskaber til at skabe et godt og trygt læringsmiljø. I et nyt samarbejde med Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, The LEGO Foundation, Grundfos Foundation | PDJF og UNICEF giver vi børn i 15 skoler i flygtningelejre og de omkringliggende lokalsamfund i Etiopiens Benishangul-Gumuz region bedre adgang til læring ved at skabe et trygt læringsmiljø med involverende undervisning, leg og fokus på klima. 🌍 Vi uddanner lærerne i at bruge leg i klasselokalet til at skabe læring 🌍 Vi integrerer klima ind i undervisningen, så børnene kan forstå og handle på klimaforandringerne omkring dem 🌍 Og så har vi særligt fokus på at sikre pigers adgang til skole, som tit er de første til at miste skolegang, når kriser rammer. Børn skal kunne vokse op trygt, sundt og med adgang til uddannelse, leg og fremtidsmuligheder – også i områder ramt af kriser.

Jonas på 26 år har tidligere haft svært ved at finde sin plads på arbejdsmarkedet. Han var ramt af angst og fik aldrig færdiggjort folkeskolen – og han har forsøgt sig med flere forskellige kommunale tilbud og virksomhedspraktikker uden rigtigt at knække koden til at komme videre. Og Jonas er ikke alene, men én blandt godt 40.000 unge i Danmark, der kæmper for at finde vej til fællesskabet på arbejdsmarkedet eller uddannelsesscenen. Gennem DIF's indsats Startblokken, som er en ny tilgang til at hjælpe borgere på vej, har Jonas nu fundet sin plads. Han har fast arbejde 18 timer om ugen hos Viborg FF, som sammen med Viborg Municipality var de første til at byde en række unge inden for i Startblokken. Det er præcis ét år siden i dag, og resultaterne er gode! Læs mere her: https://lnkd.in/dfej3Pye Foto: Jonas på arbejde i Viborg FF. Startblokken er støttet er af midler fra flere fonde - herunder af midler fra Danmarks Erhvervsfremmebestyrelse og EU. #EUprojekt

Velkommen til 7. udgave af #Fondsbrevkassen 💌 Her kan du stille alle de ubekvemme spørgsmål anonymt til ti fonde. I denne uge hører vi bl.a. fra fondene om, hvorvidt deres metodiske fokus på nytænkning flytter fokus fra direkte støtte til eksisterende indsatser, der virker. Se udklip fra panelisternes svar nedenfor, og klik ind på impactinsider.dk for at læse den fulde version. Mange hilsner fra redaktionen. _______________________________________________ Sine Egede Eskesen: Der er behov for de fondsbevillinger, der direkte støtter organisationer og initiativer. Og jeg vil vove at påstå, at denne type af fondsmidler stadig udgør den største andel af midlerne. Jeg mener også, at der er behov for fonde, der arbejder med systemisk forandring og på nye måder prøver at få knuder til at løsne sig op. Kim Nøhr Skibsted: Det korte svar er, at vi ser et behov for både at dedikere midler til systemforandringer og til direkte støtte til velfungerende eksisterende indsatser [...] Gældende for de vilde problemer og vores samfunds store knuder er der brug for i bredt fællesskab at arbejde systemisk. Men dette skal være, når der en grund til det. _____________________________________________ Tusind tak til hele Impact Insiders fondspanel: Ane Hendriksen, direktør i VELUX FONDEN Esther Nørregård-Nielsen, direktør i Oak Foundation Denmark Heidi Sørensen, direktør i Egmonts Fondssekretariat Henrik Lehmann Andersen, adm. direktør i Nordea-fonden/Tietgenfonden Inge Grønvold, direktør i Lauritzen Fonden Jesper Nygård, adm. direktør i Realdania Kim Nøhr Skibsted, fondsdirektør i Grundfos Foundation | PDJF Laura Thatt, projektchef i Østifterne Peter Giacomello, sekretariatschef i Tuborgfondet Sine Egede Eskesen, udviklingsdirektør i Bikubenfonden

Two million people (10% of the population) have been affected by recent flooding and landslides in Nepal. Let that sink in. But a remarkable water system project is supporting Nepalese communities to stand up to the impacts of climate change. We spoke to our colleague Anjil about the water systems, which are managed by a professional board. When issues arise, the board connects technical staff with local people, allowing for repairs to be carried out quickly and effectively. Their partnership with local government, and funds raised through water tariffs, meant the board could access funds quickly. “Without access to a safe, clean water supply, women must walk long distances at night, and children miss school to access clean water. It can be hazardous. However, when floods recently hit Dhading district and the water supply systems were badly affected, all 21 systems managed by our board were repaired in 5 days while neighbouring rural municipalities were still collecting data” – Anjil This initiative highlights the transformative power of working in partnership to improve access to water. It brought together communities, partners (Focus Nepal, Rural Development Centre, Bagmati Welfare Society Nepal - BWSN, Grundfos Foundation | PDJF, Benighat Rural Municipality, Jwalamukhi Rural Municipality, Haripur Rural Municipality and Rajpur Rural Municipality) working in partnership to offer sustainable water solutions. Find out more about the partnership here: https://lnkd.in/etaUusYJ. This level of systemic change takes time and requires a different approach to partnership. Please contact philanthropy@oxfam.org.uk if you are interested in funding this innovative work.

Two weeks ago, I joined colleagues from Denmark in Kenya and Alliance members (Novo Nordisk Foundation, The LEGO Foundation and Grundfos Foundation | PDJF for a field visit to Lodwar and Kakuma, in Turkana county, Kenya. During the three day visit, colleagues and I embarked on numerous tasks chiefly; meetings with the County Government of Turkana on the implementation of the Inclusive Refugee Response Programme (IRRP) as well as emerging opportunities and challenges thus far, monitoring the implementation of the programme by visiting different projects sites implemented by International Rescue Committee led consortium, Plan International Kenya led consortium, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency . Additionally, I had the pleasure of moderating and facilitating  two meetings; one  with implementing partners under the programme and a programme steering committee of the said programme.   The successful  visit was capped off with a exploratory  workshop on the potential for expanding the programme to Dadaab, Garissa county. The workshop, hosted by Denmark in Kenya  was graced by the participation of the Garissa county government, donors, and NGOs  aimed at capitalising on their extensive programmatic experience in responding to and providing durable solutions to the protracted refugee situations in Dadaab , and doing so whilst concurrently integrating both refugee and  host communities.

With a personal donation of more than €2 million from the Grundfos Foundation | PDJF to Professor Peter Gorm Larsen, Aarhus University is launching a new project on #digitaltwins receiving massive support from industry. "We’ve been conducting research into digital twins since 2019, and we now have a total of 236 companies in our project portfolio. All these companies are actively contributing to the development of the field. With this grant, we can continue as leaders in the development of digital twins, build an even larger environment around the field.” Casper Hansen, CEO of Technicon A/S adds: “It’s important that projects like this are set up to develop competencies and stimulate development and innovation within digital twins. These competencies are much needed by companies because digital twins are absolutely crucial in the global competition.” READ ON via link in comments 👇 The new research project, 'Digital Twin Center for Open Research and #Engineering' or just DT-CORE, will support the development of digital twins and pin Aarhus University to the world map within the field. The project launched on Tuesday the 4th of February and will run for five years. 📸 Pictures from project launch by AU Photo. Brian Vinter, Mikael Bergholz Knudsen, Lukas Esterle, Cláudio Gomes, Daniel Lucani, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University #digidk #dkforsk #digitaltwin #computerengineering

In the beginning of the month I participated in the opening ceremony of a new research center for Digital Twin Research at Aarhus University, DT-CORE, which we have funded from Grundfos Foundation | PDJF. Thanks to Peter Gorm Larsen for a great program with very interesting introductions to the fascinating world of DT research. I am looking forward to following the center the coming years and encourage people in my network to get in touch with Peter and his team if you have good industrial cases for Digital Twin research and ideas for collaborations. https://lnkd.in/dKzZG-4P

ACE Radio School is making waves in Sokoto! With at least 800,000 active listeners, ACE Radio School in partnership with Grundfos Foundation | PDJF has been making waves in Sokoto—so much so that Garkuwa FM took it upon themselves to create a documentary about its impact! We were pleasantly surprised when the station decided to highlight how our radio school is transforming lives. Not only is it providing access to education for children in remote areas, but even students who already attend school tune in to better understand the topics taught in class. Seeing the impact firsthand and knowing that the community recognizes its value fills us with joy. Education is changing lives, and we’re honored to be part of this journey. 🌍📚 #ACECharity #ACERadioSchool #EducationForAll #SokotoStories #BrighterFutures