Make Me Smile International
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Mission Statement
We help people to help themselves, for the benefit of the children, because we believe in everybody’s potential
About This Cause
Make Me Smile International is a non-profit association, which was founded in Austria in 2008 and is also active in Germany and Switzerland since 2020 and in Luxembourg since 2021. Since 2012 Make Me Smile International holds the certificate for tax deductibility in Austria (according to § 4a Abs. 2 Z. 3 lit. a to c EStG) and in 2020 the non-profit status/tax exemption was also granted for Germany and Switzerland. In cooperation with local partner organizations Make Me Smile International is active in Kenya, Austria, and Colombia. Our focus lies in Kenya though, where our partner organization Make Me Smile Kenya is active. The expertise and focus of the organization cover the areas of child and youth welfare by strengthening families, health, gender equality, environmental protection, refugee support programs and the promotion of development awareness. Our partner Make Me Smile Kenya is an NGO with a holistic approach to sustainable development and was founded in 2008 in Kisumu, Western Kenya. To guarantee the sustainability of our work, we involve the structures of the government as well as all relevant actors. This enables the beneficiaries to provide for themselves and their children independently and to represent their rights for themselves. This is being achieved in three focus areas: 1. Child and youth welfare through strengthening families In 2008 we founded the Children’s home Miwani, where 10 girls orphaned by HIV/AIDS find a loving home. In 2012, our cooperation with USAID began and with it the support of 3,200 children through 60 Child and Youth Care workers. Since 2020, over 34,000 children are regularly visited and cared for by one of our 600 Child and Youth Care workers. The children are either affected by extreme poverty, suffer from a serious chronic disease (especially HIV) or/and have lost one or both parents. Through the promotion of education, health and psychosocial support services, awareness raising, the protection of children's rights as well as projects for economic strengthening and innovative agriculture, the children are supported holistically and the families are accompanied into independence and self-sufficiency in the long run. As an economic strengthening initiative, we have been founding village savings and loaning clubs since 2012, which meanwhile have more than 2000 members who gained access to microcredits and the possibility to receive interest on their savings. 2. Gender Equality IIn the DREAMS project (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe women) we are training and supporting up to 16,000 girls and young women in the areas of entrepreneurship and reproductive health. Since 2017, we have been working closely with the Austrian Development Agency to promote gender equality and counter gender-based violence through a wide range of interventions. So far 24,500 people have been reached and the program was extended for another 3 years from September 2020-2023. Through trainings, adolescents, men, women, village elders and police officers are informed about women's rights and integrated into an intervention program. The training of paralegals enables us to accompany victims in the region through the stages of appeal, to support them professionally and thus help them achieve justice. 3. Health In order to improve medical care, Make Me Smile has built a health center in the region, which is now run in cooperation with the government. Since 2019, up to 100 people are counselled and treated daily. Since 2017 (and till 2023 ) we are implementing a program in cooperation with the Austrian Development Agency with a special focus on reproductive health, family planning, contraception, safe motherhood and HIV prevention. Community Health Workers, teachers and students, Male Champions, Youth Advocates as well as health care professionals for youth friendly centres and hospitals are trained to educate people in their respective communities and induce necessary structural social changes. In schools, we provide young people with a comprehensive understanding of reproductive health, contraception and HIV prevention at an early age through the training of health teachers and participatory educative theatre plays. Two youth friendly centres were established by us to provide young people with anonymous and free access to contraceptives and counseling from trained nurses on reproductive health. In political workshops, people are informed about their rights in order to articulate their demands in dialogues with political representatives. Next to these, several small-scale projects are being run on the side.