2003
2023
20 Years Anniversary –Turning a Dream into Reality

THE STORY OF
CHILD’S DREAM

CONTENTS
2003 - 2005

Turning a
Dream into
Reality102

OUR JOURNEY

2006 - 20092010 - 20142015 - 2020

Local
Growing-up
empowerment

Help us write
the futureChild’s Dreamin Numbers

26

34

52

56

Transformation Expansion for
more impact
182020 - 2023

42

OUR JOURNEY

3

INTRODUCTION

out of the status quo but simultaneously, I had no idea what could come next. For Daniel it
was different; he recognized that banking was not his true calling and a more meaningful
path awaited him. Perhaps the recent promotion to senior management, just days before
his resignation, served as an additional catalyst for this decisive leap. A mere 24 years old,
serving as the then youngest director of UBS worldwide, he had achieved more than manyof his more senior peers. From the vantage point of success, Daniel began to search for his
next endeavor outside of the confines of his banking career.
For Daniel, the steps seemed very easy. He was always an adventurer, a dreamer and neverswam with the flow but for me, it was different. I’m a more conservative person, pay more
attention to what others might think of me and felt a fair amount of ‘status anxiety’.

Marc Thomas Jenni
Co - Founder of Child’s Dream

Early May 2003, UBS office, Suntec City, Tower 5, 10th floor, Singapore. This is where it all
began. This is where the two of us made the life-changing decision to ‘jump ship’. But
why did we decide to leave our promising banking careers behind, abandoning a familiarand comfortable lifestyle? It was a uniquely inopportune moment to leave the industry,
amidst a flourishing financial landscape post Asian crisis, where prosperity seemed to reach
new heights. It was in this environment that I had to make a deliberate and conscious
decision. After nearly 20 years in banking, I was looking for a new challenge and to break

4

OUR JOURNEY

The clarity Daniel had,
I did not. I remember that
I felt intrigued to just ‘jump
out of the window’ into theunknown. Risk something,experience something.
Today, I confidently
recommend everybody to‘jump’; you will find outthat you can fly.
OUR JOURNEY

5

It still is, and always was, our ultimate goal to get out ofbusiness and to have sustainably solved educational andhealth problems for the communities we work in, thereby
creating a more fair and just society.

6

OUR JOURNEY

20 years have passed since our humble
beginnings. Not in our wildest dreams
would we have imagined the path that lay
ahead of us. Having grown Child’s Dream
from a two men show into a highly impactfuland efficient development organisation
was not just challenging and demanding,but also hugely rewarding. It is not thepersonal reward which counts, though it
feels good to have achieved somethingin life, it’s the tremendous positive impact
on our over 1.2 million beneficiaries wehave created over the years. Well over
1,200 projects and programmes have
either been completed or are still ongoing.
Working in countries such as Myanmar,
Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand comeswith quite a set of challenges but together
with our over 70 colleagues strong team,
we can ‘move mountains’. Having such a
dedicated team at our side is a constantmotivation to keep going, and keep going
we will. Our impact evaluation teamshows us day by day how much value wascreated for our beneficiaries and this is thefuel we need to carry us forward for the
next 20 years.

It still is, and always was, our ultimate goal to
get out of business and to have sustainably
solved educational and health problems
for the communities we work in, thereby
creating a more fair and just society.
Although a lofty goal, our experiences andachievements over the past 20 years give
us enough confidence to believe in it.

OUR JOURNEY

7

We inspire each other.

WHO
WE
ARE

We are committed to maintaining a culturethat is friendly, caring, supportive, empathetic,
appreciative and encouraging, based on
mutual trust, respect and understanding for
one another.
We value open and honest communication,
having different perspectives, where everyone
can speak their mind and seek clarification
freely without any fear of being judged.

We enjoy and believein what we do.

VISION

Educated and empowered people responsibly shaping and sustaining fair, just andhealthy societies for generations to come.

MISSION

We exist to ensure that children and young adults in the Mekong Sub-Region, affectedby inequality, grow up to be healthy and have access to quality education and better
employment opportunities. Everything we do enables them to live empowered andself-determined lives as equal and active members of society, with the potential to become
responsible leaders of change.

While we care for one another, we also strive
to bring high standards of professionalism andobjectivity into our work.
We take personal pride and ownership inwhat we do and are fully aware that our work
is interconnected and we are all role models
for each other.

8

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY

9

2003 -2005
TURNING A DREAM
INTO REALITY

Daniel Macro Siegfried
Co - Founder of Child’s Dream10

OUR JOURNEY

Knowing that banking would not be able to make me happy and fulfilled for much longer,
I had started my soul searching mission a while ago. As part of this mission I was visiting
various charitable organisations in South East Asia. After a heart touching visit to a children’s
shelter in the North of Thailand, I returned to my office at UBS in Singapore and was greetedby an unhappy compliance officer, who complained that the text size of the disclaimer in
our latest sales prospectus was too small. With my mind still in the project in Thailand, all of asudden everything became crystal clear. It was the perfect constellation allowing my heartand soul to overpower my rationale mind. I started my computer and wrote my resignation
letter, and this was the end of my soul searching mission. I knew what I wanted to do.

OUR JOURNEY

11

We decided that Child’s Dream
would be the ideal name because
we wanted to give vulnerable
children the opportunity to not
only have a dream but also beable to fulfill it.
After volunteering for a short while with anestablished NGO, which taught me how
not to run an organisation, I wanted toestablish my own foundation so that I
could channel my energy to causes I felt
passionate about. At the same time Marc
also resigned from UBS and I invited him
to come to Chiang Mai. It took quite a
bit of convincing but eventually he agreed
to help me start ‘our’ Child’s Dream.
We decided that Child’s Dream would be theideal name because we wanted to give vulnerable
children the opportunity to not only have a dream
but also be able to fulfil it. Child’s Dream was officiallyborn as a charitable association in Switzerland on 22
October 2003, which was also my 25th birthday. This
was the best birthday present ever!
12

OUR JOURNEY

We spent the next two years building the foundation of ourorganisation. We needed bank accounts, tax-exemption
status, donors and a website. We also moved into our first homeoffice and purchased our first project car – our beloved 1970
VW bus called Noki, which stands for ‘bird’ in Thai. However,
the most important milestone back then was the hiring of our
first staff member. Charuwan Phaisantham (nicknamed Tai)joined us in June 2004 and has ever since been vital to thesuccess of Child’s Dream. One of her first tasks was to help
us register Child’s Dream as a Thai Foundation, which was
accomplished in November 2005. This was an important step,
giving us legitimacy to work in the country. Almost 20 years
later, she holds the position of Country Director for Thailand
and is also the President of our Thai Foundation.
OUR JOURNEY

13With the support from loyal friends,
some former clients of Marc and
the Swiss Embassy in Bangkok wewere able to implement our first
couple of projects. For the firsttwo years, Child’s Dream mostly
supported existing children’sorganisations in the area of theinfamous Golden Triangle. These
organisations were caring forchildren at risk such as orphans,street children, child labourers,
substance-abusing children andchildren affected by HIV/AIDS.
Child’s Dream helped theseorganisations to improve theliving and hygiene conditions aswell as the learning environments
for these children.

14

OUR JOURNEY

When we listened to children’s individual
stories, we found many similarities. Most ofthem were not able to attend school, camefrom broken families and suffered frompoverty. This made us rethink our strategy…

Over time, we saw that more and more children
were seeking protection and shelter at theseorganisations in Thailand. Although we felt that it
was important to help these children to integrateback into society, we realised that we were notaddressing the root causes of the problems andtherefore our work was not as effective andsustainable as we had hoped. When we listened
to children’s individual stories, we found many
similarities. Most of them were not able to attend
school, came from broken families and sufferedfrom poverty. This made us rethink our strategy…

OUR JOURNEY

15

2003 -2005

TURNING A DREAM
INTO REALITY
2004
First project is initiated:a drinking water system
for a project caring forstreet children called“Child life”.

2003
Child’s Dream
Association isestablished asa tax-exempt
charitableoragnisation
under Swiss law on

22nd
October.
16

OUR JOURNEY

2004

2004

Charuwan Phaisantham(Nickname: Tai), our first
employee is hired and she isstill with Child’s Dream.

We decided to extend ourscope from the Golden
triangle to the Mekong
Sub-Region.

2005

2005

Child’s Dream Foundation
is officially approvedby the Royal Thai
Government.

Second office is found on
Muandam Phrakot Road,
Chiang Mai & the first
Project in Cambodia isapproved.

OUR JOURNEY

17

20062009
Transformation from Children’s Charity

to Development Organisation

TRANSFORMATION
Daniel Macro Siegfried
Co - Founder of Child’s Dream

After listening to the beneficiaries in our early projects, we realized that weneed to change our strategy and approach in order to address some of
the root causes why children run away from their homes; extreme poverty,
domestic violence, broken families and a lack of education opportunities.
We decided to focus our work on providing education to the children andyouth in the most disadvantaged communities.
18

OUR JOURNEY

We realized that we need to change our strategy
and approach in order to address some of the root
causes why children run away from their homes;
extreme poverty, domestic violence, broken families
and a lack of education opportunities.

Child’s Dream matured from a typical children’s charity
to a development organisation focusing on education.
Our vision is to empower the next generation byequipping them with knowledge and skills so that they
can lead self-determined lives back home.

To achieve this, we had to expand ourmandate from the Golden Triangle to the
Mekong Sub-Region. We wanted to bringeducation to the children and youth intheir home communities, so that they could
live and grow up with their families andrelatives. Child’s Dream matured from atypical children’s charity to a development
organisation focusing on education. Our
vision is to empower the next generation byequipping them with knowledge and skills
so that they can lead self-determined lives
back home. Soon after we changed ourmandate, we undertook extensive needs
assessment trips to Lao PDR, Cambodia andalong the Thai- Myanmar border. Only a few
months later, we started to construct our firstschools in Cambodia and Lao PDR.
20OUR JOURNEY

We also realised that education needs to be accompanied with basic health care andhygiene. Without good health and hygiene children’s education, and therefore theirpotential, will be limited. Besides establishing our own Children’s Medical Fund to provide
life-savings operations for children from Myanmar and Lao PDR, we also engaged withhealth partners to provide basic health care for children.

Inspired by our new vision to empower the next generation
we started to support highly motivated, but marginalised,
youth to advance their education. In 2006 we took overthe funding for some university scholarship students from
Myanmar studying in Thailand. At the same time, we also
engaged with post-high school programmes in the refugee
camps along the Thai – Myanmar border.

Thanks to the growing support from ourdonors, especially from Japan, we wereable to not only expand our work for
migrant children from Myanmar, but also
strengthen our organisation. Since wewere also receiving more donations from
Hong Kong, we decided to incorporate
Child’s Dream under Hong Kong law
and get tax exemption. We also agreed
to open our first field office in Siem Reap
in order to be closer to our projects in
Cambodia. Yem Khlok joined us in August
2009 and has been our country director
for Cambodia ever since.
22

OUR JOURNEY

As our team expanded, our second
rented office in Chiang Mai proved
inadequate so we embarked on the
search for a permanent home for Child’s
Dream. After a construction period of
six months we could move into our new
office in October 2008 - just in time forour 5-year anniversary.

With a growing headcount, it became
impossible for me to coach and supervise
all my colleagues directly. We neededa new organisational structure…

Inspired by our new vision to empower
the next generation we started to support
highly motivated, but marginalised, youth
to advance their education.

2008
The first regional workshop
held in Kao Yai National Park.

2006

2009

Children’s Medical Fundis established providing
life-saving operations.

We moved away from acountry-specific structure toa focus group organisation.

2006
University
Scholarship
Programme islaunched for
Burmese students.

TRANSFORMATION24

OUR JOURNEY

Basic Education,
Higher Education& Health

2008
Our new permanent officeis opened with a big bangon 22nd October 2008.

OUR JOURNEY

25

2010 2014
EXPANSION FOR
MORE IMPACT
Daniel Macro Siegfried
Co - Founder of Child’s Dream
In 2008 and 2009, Child’s Dream was growing in terms of staff and donations received,
as well as projects, so there was a need to restructure the organisation. It was no longer
possible for me to directly lead, coach and monitor the entire staff in the project team.
We urgently needed a middle management level. We decided to promote some of ourmost experienced staff to become the leaders of the following three departments also
called Focus Groups: Health, Basic Education and Higher Education. Each Focus Groupwas specialised in its own field and worked across all four countries.
26

OUR JOURNEY

We decided to promote some of our mostexperienced staff to become the leaders of
the following three departments also called Focus
Groups: Health, Basic Education and Higher Education.
OUR JOURNEY

27

Having a new and robust
structure in place, we could
focus on expanding our work
according to these three Focus
Groups. Each Focus Group
Head was also a member ofthe newly formed Proposal
Evaluation Committee (PEC),
which would review external
and internal proposals.

Thomas Brittner, who joined us in February 2008, became the Focus Group Head‘Higher Education’. Under his leadership Child’s Dream not only built up a vast network
in Myanmar but also supported many higher education programme throughout thecountry. Tai became the Focus Group Head ‘Basic Education’ and worked closelywith her team to increase the number of schools constructed and initiated our basic
education scholarship programme. Suchada Kokanot (nicknamed Mong), who joined
us in May 2009, became the Focus Group Head ‘Health’ and increased our support tohealth partners along the Thai – Myanmar border.

28

OUR JOURNEY

In September 2011 the filming of the Swiss
TV documentary ‘Child’s Dream– Two Bankers
on Their Quest for Meaning’ started. It was
finally aired in December 2012 and triggered
an incredible positive response.

Besides our traditional work, Marc and I
started a social entrepreneurship grant(SEG) programme to support young
entrepreneurs, who have a promisingsocial business idea. In 2010 we supported
the establishment of Akha Ama, which
is a social coffee business in the Northof Thailand under the leadership of Lee
Ayu Chuepa – a previous staff memberof Child’s Dream. Two years later wecollaborated with Youth Connect, apartner in Mae Sot, to build a social
enterprise guesthouse.

Not only were we increasing our projectwork, but we were also improving
the publicity of Child’s Dream. In
September 2011 the filming of the Swiss
TV documentary ‘Child’s Dream– Two
Bankers on Their Quest for Meaning’
started. It was finally aired in December
2012 and triggered an incredible positive
response. The documentary helped us
spread the word of Child’s Dream andopened some doors that would haveotherwise remained closed.

OUR JOURNEY

29

Another milestone was our 10-year
anniversary in October 2013. We brought
the whole team to Koh Chang, a beautiful
island in the Gulf of Thailand, to celebrate.
We also hosted a wonderful event for ourfriends and donors at our office in Chiang
Mai. We were overwhelmed by the kindness
and generosity of our donors.

But Child’s Dream was not only growing in terms of headcount and projects, but also interms of complexity. At that time Child’s Dream was managed by MDM, which meantMarc, Daniel and Manuela Bianchia, who joined us back in January 2007 to help with ouruniversity scholarship programme as well as look after our HR needs. We needed a new
management structure to reduce the dependency on Marc and myself and to make ourdecision making more inclusive…
30

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY

31

2010 -2014

EXPANSION
FOR IMPACT

2014

Awarded the Cross of
Friendship Medal by thePrime Minister of Lao PDR.

2010
We launched ofour high school
scholarshipprogramme.

2013Child’s Dream 10-Year
Anniversary.

2012

2010
The establishment ofChild’s Dream
Organisation (CDCO).

32

OUR JOURNEY

2011
The filming of “Child’s Dream
Documentary” for Swiss TV.

Opening of our social
enterprise called ‘thePicturebook Guesthouse’
in Mae Sot, Thailand.

2014
We open our office inYangon, Myanmar.

OUR JOURNEY

33

2015
2020

LOCAL
EMPOWERMENT
Daniel Macro Siegfried
Co - Founder of Child’s Dream34

OUR JOURNEY

We wanted to achieve an even higher identification of our seniorcolleagues with the organisation and further reduce operational
dependency on Marc and myself. As a result, we introduced a
new Management Committee (MC), which was responsible for
operational decisions on processes, policies, guidelines, etc.
OUR JOURNEY

35

After the first free and fair elections in Myanmar in 2015 we decided to register ourselves as Child’s
Dream Myanmar Association (CDMA) and officially opened an office in Yangon. This helped us tofurther expand our work in Myanmar. Besides working in partnerships with locally based organisations,
we also started to collaborate with the Ministry of Education at district and township levels to build
schools. After the sanctions were lifted, many large international organisations opened their offices
which allowed us to hand over most of our health programs to them. In return, we started to focus
on providing school health education and health screening.

At the beginning of 2015 we started a new era of Child’s Dream, which so far had
been managed by MDM – Marc, Daniel and Manuela. MDM was useful in building up
the organisation and in growing trust among our donors, but we reached a level ofcomplexity which required a wider consensus in decision-making. At the same time,
we wanted to achieve an even higher identification of our senior colleagues withthe organisation and further reduce operational dependency on Marc andmyself. As a result, we introduced a new Management Committee (MC),which was responsible for operational decisions on processes, policies,
guidelines, etc. This Management Committee united our experienced
Focus Group Heads from the project side with three senior team members
from the operational side. Besides creating the MC, we also hired Christin
Reinhardt-Riedinger to grow into the role of Regional Director Operations.
This freed up some of Marc’s and my time and we could focus on visioning,strategy, donor management and fundraising.

36

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY

37

We could also expand our work in Lao PDR and Cambodia thanks to the loyal support ofour donors and our stable and experienced teams. We made a lot of progress to ensurethat children even in the most remote and isolated communities could access education
but we became increasingly concerned about the quality of education. As a result,
we started our first teacher training programme in Lao PDR and in Cambodia. We alsosought new partnerships in the area of teacher training and curriculum development.

With our growing field offices in Myanmar and Cambodia,
our matrix organisation structure with all three Focus
Group Heads being based in Chiang Mai but with the local
supervision of our Country Directors became increasingly
difficult to manage and led to confusion among
the employees. We urgently needed a new structure tofurther empower the local offices…

As our management committee gained
more experience in running Child’s
Dream operationally, Marc and I decided
in 2018 to further empower them bydelegating additional responsibilities
and greater financial decision making
power. We not only changed the namefrom Management Committee toManagement Team but also formalised
their roles and responsibilities.

38

OUR JOURNEY

With our growing field offices in Myanmar
and Cambodia, our matrix organisation
structure with all three Focus Group
Heads being based in Chiang Mai butwith the local supervision of our Country
Directors became increasingly difficult
to manage and led to confusion among
the employees. We urgently needed a
new structure to further empower the
local offices…

OUR JOURNEY

39

2017
New vision, mission &strategy goals for 2021.

2018
Child’s Dream
15th Anniversary
Celebration.

2015
We launched our
newly designed
website.

2017Child’s Dream Myanmar
is approved by the
Myanmar Government.

2020
We changed ourorganizational structure toempower our country offices.

2019
Initial conclusions
from impact
evaluation
produced.

LOCAL
EMPOWERMENT40

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY

41

2020 - 2023

GROWING-UP
Daniel Macro Siegfried
Co - Founder of Child’s DreamIn December 2019, Marc and I started to work with the
management team to discuss a new structure with theobjectives of: empowering our local offices, reducing
complexity in reporting lines, increasing synergies among
teams in each location, developing more customised countryspecific strategies and better utilising the organisation’s vast
knowledge, experience and competencies.
42

OUR JOURNEY

In December 2019, Marc and I started to work with the management team to discuss a
new structure with the objectives of: empowering our local offices, reducing complexity
in reporting lines, increasing synergies among teams in each location, developing
more customised country-specific strategies and better utilising the organisation’s vast
knowledge, experience and competencies. After a series of online workshops due to
Covid-19, we decided to structure Child’s Dream according to three geographical areas
with a respective Country Director in each: Myanmar with our office in Yangon under theleadership of Dr. Tint Maw; Cambodia with our office in Siem Reap under the leadershipof Yem; and Thailand and Lao PDR with our office in Chiang Mai under the leadership ofTai. These three offices and staff are responsible for the implementation of our strategies
in their respective countries. If needed, they are supported by staff with functional andtechnical expertise based in our regional HQ in Chiang Mai.

OUR JOURNEY

43

The last three years have been the most challenging
ever because of Covid-19 and the military coup andits short-term impact on our programmes but evenmore so the long-term impact on our beneficiaries.
In Myanmar we started to provide emergency relief
to internally displaced people due to the post-coup
violence. Due to increased security concerns, we hadno option but to close our office in Yangon in May
2021 and relocate the team to our newly opened
office in Mae Sot along the Thai – Myanmar border.

The last three years have been
the most challenging ever
because of Covid-19 and themilitary coup and its short-term
impact on our programmes but
even more so the long-term
impact on our beneficiaries.

44

OUR JOURNEY

In 2022, we also reviewed the vision, mission and strategy
of Child’s Dream. Although our work has not fundamentallychanged, there is a stronger focus on directing our support tovulnerable groups impacted by inequality.

In 2022, we also reviewed thevision, mission and strategy ofChild’s Dream. Although ourwork has not fundamentallychanged, there is a stronger
focus on directing our support
to vulnerable groups impacted
by inequality. We identified
eight strategic goals that
we will follow for the next six
years. We also reviewed andupdated our values that will
guide us in our daily work.
OUR JOURNEY

45

Child’s Dream is now in the ‘Growing Up Phase’, which has been focusing on thedevelopment of our own organisational capacity both from an operational and programme
implementation point of view. Despite Covid-19 and the military coup in Myanmar, we
decided to go ahead and work on a new tool that will assist us in managing our programmes
and partnerships. We proudly call this tool the Child’s Dream Programme Management
Cycle (PMC). It was designed to lead our staff through all the steps needed to strategicallyplan, manage and review programmes implemented by us or our partners. An importantpart of the PMC is our Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) process, ensuring that our programmes
yield the intended positive change in the lives of our beneficiaries. The main objective of
our impact evaluation is to improve our work for our beneficiaries.

Child’s Dream is now in the‘Growing Up Phase’, which
has been focusing on thedevelopment of our own
organisational capacity bothfrom an operational andprogramme implementation
point of view.
46

OUR JOURNEY

We have a new strategy that guides our work, a new set ofvalues that guide us as a team and a new approach that will
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our work. All weneed now to make this possible is the loyalty and trust of ourdonors, friends and supporters. Thank you very much!
A few months after we had to close ouroffice in Yangon, our Lao PDR team under
the leadership of Supathra Matakoon(nicknamed Koy) requested to open an
office in Lao PDR. After careful considerationand planning we decided to have our new
country office for Lao PDR in Luang Prabang.
In May 2023 the first Laotian staff moved from
Chiang Mai back to their home country.
As we have just recently celebrated our 20
year anniversary in October 2023, we are
reinvigorated to tackle the next 20 years
as we feel more prepared than ever. We
have a new strategy that guides our work,a new set of values that guide us as a teamand a new approach that will improve theefficiency and effectiveness of our work. All
we need now to make this possible is theloyalty and trust of our donors, friends andsupporters. Thank you very much!
OUR JOURNEY

47

2020 -2023

GROWING-UP
2022

1 million+

2020
We changed ourorganizational
structure toempower ourcountry offices.

2022

Direct beneficiaries reached byour current and past interventions.

New vision, mission &strategy for 2022.

2022

2023

We move awayfrom a focus grouporganization backto a countryspecific structure.

Child’s Dream 20 Years
Anniversary.

2022
Our first in-person annual
workshop experience since
the pandemic started.

2022
INGO registration in
Thailand.

2023
Opening of our office inLuang Prabang, Lao PDR.

48

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY

49

20 Years Anniversary Celebration

50

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY51

HELP US
WRITE
THE

FUTURE52

OUR JOURNEY

We anticipate that the challenging circumstances in Myanmar and Lao PDR will persist for
the foreseeable future. The military in Myanmar will keep committing crimes against thecivilian populace which is likely to result in further displacement, affecting not only individuals
within Myanmar, but also potentially leading to an influx of refugees and asylum seekers
into neighbouring countries such as India and Thailand. We are therefore getting ready toprovide education to more migrants and refugees from Myanmar on Thai soil. The economy
in Myanmar will continue to deteriorate as it becomes a failed state, driving more people
to look for opportunities abroad. The military-run school system will not function outside ofurban areas with tens of thousands of teachers and professors joining the civil disobedience
movement. Thus alternative, non-traditional education will become increasingly vital.

It is expected that the Ministry of Education and Sport in Lao PDR will continue to havefinancial difficulties in supporting its education system. Thousands of volunteer teachers, who
had been waiting up to seven years for a paid teaching post, have decided to pursue othercareers as retiring teachers are no longer replaced. This leaves many schools understaffed,
particularly rural primary schools. The struggle of high school or even university graduates tosecure decent employment in Lao PDR is another issue that has an impact on education.
This is likely to continue in 2024 until the economy hopefully starts to revive. As for Child’s
Dream, after close to two decades of work in the country, we finally made the decision to
open an office in the northern Laotian city of Luang Prabang in 2023. This will enable us tomore effectively address the persisting issues faced in the country.

OUR JOURNEY53

Looking ahead, it is crucial to cultivate a greater number of young,educated, and responsible leaders within the region. These leaders
will play a pivotal role in dismantling economic and social obstacles,
while actively building societies that are fair, inclusive, and healthy.

The situations in Cambodia and Thailand are expected to berelatively stable. We anticipate that Cambodia will continue tomake progress in the field of education; however, a particularchallenge lies in maintaining the interest of male students,
especially at the secondary education level. Efforts will beneeded to address this issue and ensure that male students areactively engaged in their education.
Across the region, there is a need to improve access to
education by creating better learning environmentsthat effectively cater to the needs of students bymaking learning more interesting and relevant for them.
We also aim to provide more soft skill training to better
prepare graduating students for the employment market
and link them with potential employers through internshipopportunities. Looking ahead, it is crucial to cultivate a greaternumber of young, educated, and responsible leaders within
the region. These leaders will play a pivotal role in dismantling
economic and social obstacles, while actively building societiesthat are fair, inclusive, and healthy.
54

OUR JOURNEY

As for Child’s Dream we will try to address the changing needs of our beneficiaries. Besides
growing our local country offices, we also plan to expand our partnerships to achieve
this in the most efficient and effective way possible. Furthermore, we want to deepen therelationships with our partners by focusing more on impact, sustainability and organizational
development. At the same time, we want to further empower our staff and partners to takeon even more ownership of the needs and the services that we help to provide.
Please join us in our mission to ensure that children and young adults in the Mekong SubRegion, affected by inequality, grow up to be healthy and have access to quality education
and better employment opportunities.

Please join us in our mission to ensure that children andyoung adults in the Mekong Sub- Region, affected byinequality, grow up to be healthy and have access to quality
education and better employment opportunities.
OUR JOURNEY

55

CHILD’S DREAM

IN NUMBERS

37%
MYANMAR1%
REGIONAL

7%
THAI

13%

MYANMAR (DAISPLACED,MIGRANTS, REFUGEES)

CHF

8,145,857
IN 2022BY BENEFICIARY GROUP

12%

PROJECT
EXPENDITURE

LAOTIAN30%

CAMBODIAN

38%

MYANMARCHF

8,145,857
IN 202230%

CAMBODIA

43%

BASIC EDUCATION

1%BY COUNTRY

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

20%

THAILAND

12%

LAO PDR56

OUR JOURNEY

14%
HEALTH42%

CHF

8,145,857
IN 2022

BY FOCUS GROUPHIGHER EDUCATION& EMERGENCY RELIEFOUR JOURNEY57

DONATION VOLUME

ORIGIN OF
DONATIONS(M CHF) VS. ADMIN. COSTS (%)

CHF

9,582,321

IN 2022

9.6
9.6

10
8.7
7.8

8

MILLION CHF

6.0

6

5.8

80%

GERMANY

9%

8.1

7.0

7

SWITZERLAND

6.1

60%

5.4

5
3.8

4
2.7

3

3.0

4.0

40%

3.2
*AVERAGE ADMIN COST OF ZEWO-APPROVED (SWISS) NGOS
(SOURCE STUDY BY ZEWO 2020)

2
1
0

0.9

6%
2006

3%
2007

5%

5%

7%

8%

7%

6%

7%

6%

6%

6%

6%

6%

6%

5%

CHILD’S DREAM AVERAGE ADMIN
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

19% 20%0%

TYPE OFDONORS

9%SINGAPORE

7%

2%

LIECHTENSTEIN

NGO

6%

OTHER

5%

JAPAN

6%
2022

ADMIN COST %

9

9.0

55%

100%

2%

OTHER

TRUST

4%

USA

21%

9,582,321
IN 2022

6%

COMPANY

11%

HONG KONG SAR

3%

CHF

58%
FOUNDATIONPRIVATE DONOR

2%THAILAND58

OUR JOURNEYOUR JOURNEY59

ADMINISTRATION COST

6.4%

OF 2022 TOTALDONATIONS73%

PERSONNEL COSTS

CHF

614,180
IN 2022

14%

ADMIN, IT, LEGAL, & TRAVELS

65

11%

DEPRECIATION & PROVISION

2%FINANCIALS & OTHER COSTS
1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

6 15 16 17

PAID
EMPLOYEESMYANMAROUR VOLUNTEERS
In 2022, 16 unpaid volunteers worked for the organisation. The volunteers stayed with
us for different periods of time and contributed:

60

1,920

2.96

TOTAL NUMBER OFFREE HOURS WORKED BY
OUR VOLUNTEERS IN 2022

MAN-YEAR IN 2022

OUR JOURNEYEMPLOYEEBY NATIONALITY

THAI
CAMBODIAN
LAOTIAN12SWISSNATIONALITIESITALIANAVERAGE AGE AS 36
YEARS OF END 2022

FILIPINOGERMANAMERICANIRISHBRITISHINDIANOUR JOURNEY

61

childsdream.org