Swiss development cooperation organization COMUNDO inaugurated its new offices in Fribourg on 30 September 2016, during which the organization also launched their sensitization campaign, “Development”.

The event was attended by representatives from the diplomatic missions of the beneficiary countries and patrons of the organizations, including Mme. Marie Garnier, President of the Senate of the State of Fribourg. 

Official opening of COMUNDO’s new office in Fribourg (photo courtesy of COMUNDO)

COMUNDO is the leading Swiss organization in the field of personnel development cooperation. Established in 2013 as a result of the merger between Bethlehem Mission Immensee, E-CHANGER, and Inter-Agire, it runs a branch in Luzern, Fribourg, and Bellinzona in Switzerland, and in Rottweil in Germany.  COMUNDO currently has 100 co-workers on assignment in eleven (11) countries: the Philippines, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

COMUNDO’s projects in the Philippines (photos courtesy of COMUNDO) 

In the Philippines, COMUNDO has a long history of supporting projects of its partner organizations, starting with the Missionaries of Bethlehem (SMB) who sent missionaries to the Philippines in 1985 to support the parishes in the Diocese Malaybalay, Bukidnon in Mindanao. The SMB continued their work in the country until 1997.  COMUNDO’s early work in the Philippines was concentrated in the area of pastoral and social development, strongly focusing on environmental, basic health and good governance aspects.

In 2006, COMUNDO opened a coordination office in the Philippines, strengthening its program in the country. Since then, COMUNDO has diversified its partners and works in the Philippines covering areas that include reforestation, income-generating projects and livelihood, primarily supporting the most vulnerable families and children.

“COMUNDO’s objective is to contribute to positive changes on the sociocultural, economic and environmental rights of the most vulnerable groups in Philippine society,” said Ms. Frédérique Sorg Guigma, COMUNDO’s Program Manager for the Philippines.

At present, the organization is assisting three (3) institutions in the country – the Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe, Onesimo Bulilit Foundation, and LinAwa Rehabilitation and Development Center – to which six (6) of the organization’s workers are deployed to assist various projects, four of which aim to provide a stable home and school environment for children in some of the poorest villages in the country.

Four COMUNDO employees – two social workers, a psychologist, and a spatial planner – are working with the Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe in the area of strengthening family unit and values and helping fight corruption. The two social workers and the psychologist are providing psychological counselling service training for teachers under the Vicariate to provide psychological support for children whose parents are working abroad; organizing training programs for youth and adults, particularly on the prevention of domestic violence and child abuse. The spatial planner trains volunteers to monitor construction projects in the Kalinga region to help prevent corruption in the use of public funds.

A Swiss volunteer works with Onesimo Bulilit Foundation’s Residential Center, which caters to abused and abandoned children aged 6-12. The center provides a normal family life environment for the children to help them deal with and overcome their painful experiences, integrate into their foster families and continue their schooling. The Swiss volunteer works with the center to create awareness seminars on topics such as sexual abuse, ill-treatment, the needs of abused children, and counselling techniques.

The occupational therapist deployed at the LinAwa Rehabilitation and Development Center provides capability-building support to strengthen the institution’s capabilities to evaluate their patients, draft rehabilitation plans and, in collaboration with the team, to offer advice, guidance and training to parents, so as to guarantee continuity of treatment at home of disabled children. END