With the impulse of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, we are carrying out the support activities foreseen in the Action Plan that was approved at the end of last year and that involves, not only the projects in which we were already active in previous years, but new cooperation activities that we started this year.
We receive many requests from various entities, as cooperation with the most disadvantaged countries is a pressing need in the world. As can be seen, we are diversifying our activity, giving priority as far as possible to training activities, which are the main leitmotif of the Foundation, without discarding other possible assistance within our possibilities.
- The Project “UNILAC-Mahagi”, which we started in 2008, consisting of the construction of a civil and agricultural engineering training school in the city of Mahagi, in the D.R. of Congo, continues with a remarkable degree of fulfilment of the objectives that we set for ourselves. This action is carried out in collaboration with the Catholic diocese of Mahagi-Nioka and the religious order Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), to which funds are transferred for the execution of the works and academic programmes. The training school is included in the so-called UNILAC (Lago Alberto University) which, in 2024, already has a total of 566 students (477 in 2023) of which 250 (213 in 2023) are studying in the technical faculties and are benefiting from the scholarships granted by the Foundation. In addition, we continue to provide support in the form of residence premiums to professors, which reflect in the improvement of the quality of education. New this year, funds have been provided for the mapping of the university’s land with a view to carrying out a plan for the development of new infrastructures, such as the construction of an auditorium to host academic events, currently held outdoors, and which already has allocated funds in the budget for the construction of its first phase. In addition, contributions have been made for the completion of the works and equipping of the university’s administrative building, which is now operational.
- Academically, the Foundation continues to count on the important collaboration of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, whose professors have taught several master classes on-line this year, with the aim of holding them in person in Mahagi as soon as circumstances permit. Likewise, visits have been organised to Madrid for students and professors of UNILAC in the fourth quarter, and books and teaching materials will be sent from French institutions.
- We have started our collaboration with the “Mobile School of Water” project in Benin, to train local technicians in the construction of simple water supply infrastructures in the north of the country, to supply drinking water to different communities. This action is carried out through the Spanish association TADEH (Appropriate Technologies for Human Development) and our colleague Ángel Arquero personally contributes.
- We collaborate with the “Kiseya Flowers” project in Haiti, which consists of the creation of a nursery for single-parent children and a vocational school for refugee mothers in the town of Anse-à-Pitre, near the border with the Dominican Republic. This action is led by the Kiseya Flowers Foundation.
- We continue our collaboration with the project “Adopt a vegetable garden” in Senegal, which aims to provide water infrastructure to communities in the Bassari region, in the eastern part of the country, to improve, in an organised way, production of horticultural products intended for self-consumption and local marketing. This year, a 60 m deep geological survey in the town of Ndebou has commenced. This initiative is promoted by the organisation Yakaar Africa.
- The collaboration of the Foundation with the project “Alive Future”, in the Dominican Republic, through MEXTYPSAs preparation of the innovative secondary school project in the municipality of San Antonio de Guerra, and which has been chosen for this year´s Seville Architecture Biennale. The Foundation intends to allocate funds for its construction next year.
