Social commitment
GFA’s overall mission is to foster the creation, protection, and distribution of wealth, as well as to promote social justice, the protection of natural resources, and the fight against poverty around the world. To this end, GFA implements development projects for public sector clients. The social commitment of the company, and of its employees, is thus deeply anchored in the company’s core business and corporate values. GFA has been supporting voluntary activities of its employees in local projects (GFA BRIDGES) and at its location in Hamburg-Volksdorf for many years. This social commitment is systematically embedded in GFA’s sustainability strategy, adopted in January 2018, and is one of the five key areas of action aimed at strengthening social and environmental sustainability. The goal is to align the measures towards sustainability consistently and in line with the overall corporate goal based on verifiable indicators, and to communicate these internally and externally. Each of the measures is supervised by an employee of GFA, who is also the contact person.
2023
SYRIA: EMERGENCY RELIEF PROJECT FOR THE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY THE TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKES
Year: 2023
The Syrian relief organization Shafak implemented the emergency project in Syria with a donation of EUR 12,000 from GFA. Following the initial response of EUR 4,000 from GFA BRIDGES in February 2023, the GFA BRIDGES team organized a fundraising campaign for all GFA employees with an overwhelming response of 68 staff members donating EUR 6,935.
[...]
CAMEROON: SUPPORT TO THE ORPHANAGE POO KWE´N
Year: 2023
Thanks to the GFA grant, the POO KWE‘NI orphanage in Bafang, Cameroon was able to purchase furniture to furnish the rooms and bedrooms, as well as paint.
[...]2022
UKRAINE: PROFESSIONAL INITIATIVE FOR THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF WAR
Year: 2022
In 2022 and 2023, GFA management donated EUR 41,807 for emergency projects in Ukraine. GFA BRIDGES supported a professional initiative for the psycho-social support of victims of war.
[...]2021
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: THE “LISANGA YASIKA" TENNIS-SCHOOL PROJECT FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
Year: 2021
During October 2021, GFA Bridges launched a project to improve the situation of vulnerable children in Kinshasa by creating the opportunity of learning to play tennis as well as to participate in further extracurricular support programs
[...]
UGANDA: LIKIDO COMMUNITY CHAPEL HALL REHABILITATION PROJECT FOR THE NATIONAL AND REFUGEE COMMUNITY
Year: 2021
The Likido village is host to part of almost 925,000 South Sudanese refugees living in Uganda and forms part of the Imvepi Refugee Settlement
[...]
TANZANIA: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PRORAM – TENNIS LESSONS FOR COVID-19 RECOVERY
Year: 2021
The Youth Development Program (YDP), aims to use sport, especially tennis, as a tool to empower disadvantaged and vulnerable youths
[...]
TOGO: CONSTRUCTION OF A WELL-EQUIPPED AUTOMATIC WATER STATION FOR THE VILLAGE OF KOVETO
Year: 2021
In partnership with the NGO Action Charité et Développement (ACDev), a GFA BRIDGES project completed the construction of a borehole with an autonomous water station in the community of Koveto
[...]2019
Colombia: Entrepreneurial Amazonia
Year: 2019
AISO, the Academy for Innovation and Sustainability, bought a 30 hectare piece of land in Colombia in the Florencia-Caquetá Department, and called it Amazonía Emprendedora
[...]
Kenya: Water supply in five villages
Year: 2019
The Southwest Sakwa Community Water Project is a community initiative 400 km northwest of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, which provides sustainable water supply solutions
[...]
Guatemala: Support of a school for people with disabilities
Year: 2019
The public school Semillita de Esperanza (Little Seed of Hope) located in Petén, Guatemala was founded in 2009
[...]
Burkina Faso: Construction of a classroom and an administrative building
Year: 2019
The non-profit association Wir für Burkina e.V. was founded in 2007 to promote local education in Douroula, a small municipality in western Burkina Faso
[...]2018
Vietnam: Total School Sanitation
Year: 2018
GFA Bridges supports a middle school in Vinh City, Central Vietnam to achieve Total School Sanitation, a concept including the construction and maintenance of hygienic sanitary
[...]
Reception capacity of the Arnaud Orphanage in Madagascar improved
Year: 2018
La Maison d’Arnaud or Arnaud Orphanage is a center receiving orphans, homeless and malnourished children, as well as babies or children of women imprisoned at Diego Suarez’s jail
[...]
Ultimate Frisbee with vulnerable youth in Lebanon
Year: 2018
GFA BRIDGES has financed a project to introduce Ultimate Frisbee trainings for refugees, orphans and vulnerable children and youth at two informal education centers
[...]
Supporting an elementary school near Guayaquil in Ecuador
Year: 2018
n 2018, GFA BRIDGES supports the Ojalá e.V. association, which runs the Jesús de Nazareth primary school in a poor community on the outskirts of Guayaquil in Ecuador
[...]2017
Brazil: Football for development
Year: 2017
In October 2017, GFA Bridges launched a project to improve the social and emotional development of children and young people in Ceilândia using the Social Training methodology developed by GIZ together with Brazilian and German football organizations.
[...]
Rwanda/Burundi: iKonekt - ICT trainings for Burundian refugees
Year: 2017
Since the outbreak of the political crisis in Burundi in April 2015, more than 400,000 Burundians have fled their country and sought shelter in neighboring countries. The Mahama refugee camp in Eastern Rwanda is currently hosting more than 50,000 Burundian refugees.
[...]
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Improvement of an orphanage
Year: 2017
In October 2017 GFA Bridges launched a project to support the only orphanage in Madimba, a town about 100 kilometers far from the capital city of Kinshasa. The project aims at improving the equipment and infrastructure of the orphanage originally established in 2007.
[...]
Madagascar: Rural electrification in the village of Ambatoharanana
Year: 2017
In October 2017, GFA Bridges launched a rural electrification project through the installation of solar energy kits in each of the six hamlets making up the village of Ambatoharanana, in Madagascar.
[...]
India: Promoting local livelihoods and gender-sensitive sustainable forest management
Year: 2017
In 2017, GFA Bridges supports a project aiming at promoting local livelihoods and gender-sensitive sustainable forest management by supporting sustainable harvesting and marketing of NTFPs and by strengthening capacities of women and community-based organizations in the Sirsi landscape.
[...]2016
Cameroon: Support of the Ivoirian immigrants
Year: 2016
Members of the Association of Ivorians in Cameroon have diverse backgrounds. Some settled as craftsmen to earn their living and others are just passing through the country with Angola, Gabon or Equatorial Guinea as their final destination for work in the oil fields.
[...]
Afghanistan: Extending of digging the drinking water well of Neeswan Bentulhoda high school
Year: 2016
Everyone knows about the war in Afghanistan, but few know about the water difficulty in the country. Afghanistan was once a flourishing country with beautiful panoramas and plentiful food and water supplies
[...]
Madagascar: Improvement of water supply
Year: 2016
In October 2016, GFA Bridges launched a project to improve the water supply, sanitation and public hygiene in the village of Amboniarivo. The village is located in the rural area of Tulear, about 240 km south-west of Antananarivo.
[...]
Russian Federation: Waste separation and collection in the village of Pasha
Year: 2016
GFA Bridges has financed a project related to separate waste collection in the village of Pasha, which has about 4,000 inhabitants and is located 175 km away from St. Petersburg in Russia.
[...]2015
Nepal: Earthquake relief for people of Damadhunga
Year: 2015
Damadhunga is a three hours drive to the west of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. Due to the two earthquakes on 25 April and 12 May 2015, most of the Damadhunga villagers lost their houses and family members.
[...]
Ruanda: Four rain water tanks for a new primary school in Masaka
Year: 2015
After the genozide in Ruanda in 1994, the Makasa community established Project Ruanda which is supported by the Pallottine Missionary Sisters from Poland, who have been involved in the country for 30 years.
[...]
Uganda: Keep a girl in school
Year: 2015
In October 2015, GFA BRIDGES launched the Keep a Girl in School program to promote girl child education along with menstrual hygiene management. The project aims a positive impact on the school attendance of girls within the urban setting who are facing challenges of how to handle menstruation in a way that does not affect their studies.
[...]
Burkina Faso: Construction of the public primary school Loungo
Year: 2015
In October 2015, GFA Bridges approved the primary school construction in Loungo in the Passoré Province. The construction was delayed due to the insecure situation in Burkina Faso. Recently, the community confirmed to be able to implement the project.
[...]2014
Burundi: Football for all kids
Year: 2014
Burundi’s population still suffers from the civil war in the 1990s. Tensions between different ethnic groups remain high. The Rutegama Football Club was founded to allow children and young people enjoying sports together irrespective of ethnic lines. GFA BRIDGES supports the newly founded club with necessary basic sports equipment.
[...]
Afghanistan: School completion in Palij village
Year: 2014
In war-torn Afghanistan, many children in remote areas have no chance to go to school at all. The school project supported by GFA is located about 400 kilometers west of Kabul. It improves the learning environment of about 2,000 children in Palij village. The school building will be completed in January 2015.
[...]
Egypt: Mini Medina allows children to create their own versions of society
Year: 2014
Mini Medina is a not for profit social enterprise that aims at helping children and teenagers aged 7-15 create their own learning experiences. Playfully developing their own version of society in a mostly adult-free environment, they experience civil engagement and social responsibility in their imagined city.
Moldova: School for autistic children
Year: 2014
The SOS school for autistic children in Moldova has a good reputation for its high quality care. The state does not support it financially so that the school’s sanitary facilities are in a deplorable state. The BRIDGES project aims at renovating the sanitary wing in order to prevent the school’s closure and to safeguard its services for autistic children.
[...]
Cameroon: Improving the lives of hearing-impaired children
Year: 2014
Northern Cameroon suffers from a very poor public health system. Hearing-impaired people, particularly newborn and pre-school children, have no access to audiology services and hearing aids. GFA supports the project by purchasing a screening device for the audiological assessment of difficult-to-test patients such as newborn and small children.
[...]2013
Madagascar: School Kits for Street Children
Year: 2013
In Madagascar many poor children are deprived of the right to education. GFA BRIDGES supports a small day-care centre and school for street kids and other poor children with 2,300 Euros to purchase 300 school kits and other essential school supplies so that 300 non-privileged children aged 3 to 17 can start or continue their education.
[...]
India: A Marketplace for Entrepreneurs
Year: 2013
World Volunteer plans to build a common marketplace in India to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic development between rural communities and urban trading centers. The marketplace will be built in collaboration with entrepreneur associations and the local municipality.
[...]
Moldova: Auxilliary School No. 6
Year: 2013
The Republic of Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. Since the fall of communism, social infrastructure has collapsed. Mentally or physically handicapped children are suffering the most.
[...]
China: Nomad School Project in Tibetan Highlands
Year: 2013
Students of an international school in Beijing support a primary school for Nomad children in the Qinghai Province of the Tibetan highlands. They collected funds for winter clothing and to improve the school’s sanitation facilities, kitchen and dormitory. GFA complemented these efforts by financing solar water heaters and training material on individual hygiene.
[...]
Yemen: Home Gardens for Food Security
Year: 2013
The project aims at assisting 60-80 poor rural households in villages of the Hodeidah Governorate with locally available vitamin and mineral rich vegetable seeds to establish home gardens
[...]2012
Lebanon: Traditional Sewing as a Source of Income among Women
Year: 2012
In the Lebanese region of Minieh, sewing arts are part of a long tradition practiced by the area’s women. The preservation and transmission of these arts and crafts is part of a project promoting the cause of women in the region.
[...]
Azerbaijan: Scouts Teach Disadvantaged Young People
Year: 2012
Scouts in the Zagatala region of Azerbaijan set out to help disadvantaged young people come to grips with computers and a foreign language: English. In order to do so, a suitable classroom needed to be found and equipped.
[...]
Laos: ECO Bungalow Project in Ban Long Lao Mai
Year: 2012
The region of Ban Long Lao Mai lies in the vicinity of Luang Prabang. This region is increasingly visited by tourists passing though. The presence of ever increasing numbers of tourists gave rise to the idea of beginning a project to build an ECO bungalow that can be used by groups of tourists for overnight stays.
[...]
Vietnam: Swim for Life - Swim Lessons for Schoolchildren
Year: 2012
GFA BRIDGES is donating €4,000 in support of an initiative, started by a GFA employee that aims to teach "survival swimming skills" to school children in Vietnam and to educate them in first-aid and resuscitation.
[...]