Our approach
Unity Foundation exists because of its commitment to promote the well-being of people of all walks of life, regardless of their beliefs or background. We work within a network of local development agencies, whose work consists in building capacity amongst populations to take charge of their own material, social, intellectual and moral development. Founded in 1980, Unity Foundation was recognized in 1991 as an organization of public utility and granted the official status as a non-governmental organization (NGO) by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg. Since its inception, Unity Foundation has supported development projects of various kinds and over the years, a central theme emerged as a result of a constant learning process: empowering communities through education.
In parallel, awareness-raising activities on the themes of education and development have gradually emerged in Luxembourg, in order to provide spaces for reflection and exchange on the role of each individual in being a protagonist of social progress.
"Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom."
Together with its local partners, Unity Foundation has adopted a vision of development that guides and influences the way projects are carried out. At the heart of this framework are beliefs and principles that are Baha’i-inspired and universal in nature:
Every human being is endowed with inherent potentialities that can be revealed through adequate education.
According to this vision, the populations we work with are not seen as helpless victims or as passive recipients of external aid. Rather, our development efforts seek to tap into the vast reservoir of capacity of local populations and empower them to become the protagonists of their own development.
Development has a material and a moral dimension, and these two aspects must progress coherently.
For development projects to achieve their objective of increasing a people’s prosperity, they cannot simply define material goals such as building infrastructure or increasing people’s income. As important as these objectives may be, the progress and well-being of a population can only be achieved and sustained if individuals develop qualities and attitudes such as altruism, honesty and perseverance, and if communities learn to work together in unity. Thus, the educational programs we support are not only about providing instruction to children or imparting knowledge and skills to young people and adults; they also enable those who take part in them to acquire a virtuous and upright character, to reflect on the moral implications of their daily choices and to learn to create environments of unity based on diversity in their communities.
Achieving equality between women and men is a prerequisite for prosperity.
For a community to develop, women must have the same opportunities to access education and to flourish as men, so that men and women can collaborate on an equal footing in all areas of human activity.
Some frequent questions
All of our local partner agencies emerged in an organic fashion starting as grassroots initiatives, evolving gradually to become sustained projects, and finally acquiring the structure of an NGO. At this higher level of complexity, the organization diversifies its lines of action and reaches increasingly wide segments of populations. We only work in collaboration with local NGOs that have reached such a level of maturity and have acquired administrative and financial skills to effectively manage external funds.
Such organizations are recommended to us by our long-time partner, the Baha’i International Development Organization (founded in 1983 as OSED – Office of Social and Economic Development). BIDO’s mission is to facilitate learning in the field of development on all continents in the context of Baha’i-inspired projects, by fostering and supporting action, reflection on action, study, consultation, the gathering and systematization of experience, conceptualization, and training. Its collaboration with many organizations around the world puts BIDO in an ideal position to recommend us those that have the maturity and institutional capacity to benefit from our support.
- The responsibility of implementing the development project rests solely with the local organization.
- UF assumes the role of a representative of the local organization, acting as its advocate before our donors.
- UF would not offer technical assistance or other advisory input unless specifically requested by the local organization.
- The provision of money is in no way conditional on technical assistance. This autonomy is central to the sustainable growth of the development organization.
We channel financial resources to support local organizations in their development work, without the least trace of paternalism and in a way that empowers communities in the recipient countries. We have the responsibility to exercise a degree of control and accountability to meet the expectancy of the donors, but this is done while respecting the autonomy of the development organization.
Development activities emerge within local communities and therefore belong to the people and institutions that implement them. Development is not seen as a package that so-called “developed” countries deliver to “developing” countries, but as the building of the capacity of individuals, communities and institutions to take charge of their own development at increasingly higher levels of complexity and effectiveness.
The term community does not refer to a homogeneous ethnic or religious group. A community is a manageable geographic area – an entire village, a small town, or a neighborhood of a large city – in which people live, interact and carry out the different activities that make up their social life.
