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How we work

Our work

The struggle against poverty in Central and Eastern Europe is the central point of our work. Our motto is “help to promote self-help”, and we therefore support our fosterlings to lead a sustainably independent live. We especially focus on social and educational projects for women and children, as they belong to the most vulnerable groups of persons and educational measures in childhood promise the greatest benefit in the long term. We place great emphasis on promoting access to education for girls and young women in order for them to better shape their children's perspectives with a proper educational formation.

 

Cooperation with project partners and volunteers

Cooperation with local and international organizations and voluntary helpers characterizes our daily work. It is based on mutual trust and marked by open communication and transparency.

All our projects are executed in cooperation with other non-governmental organizations, both large international ones like Caritas, Franz Hilf! or Diakonie Austria, from whose wealth of experience we benefit immensely, as well as smaller local organizations. Especially the latter often draw our attention to local deficiencies, thereby helping us achieve our goal of delivering our help to where it is needed most. In return, our local partners benefit from our long-term experience in project management as well as from the specific know-how of those RB staff members volunteering for us.

All our projects are run by RBI-employees in Vienna and the Raiffeisen network. Knowledge from various specialists is pooled that way, and the projects are operated efficiently in administrative, financial and legal matters. Furthermore, our administrative costs are reduced to a minimum, and all donations go directly into the projects and to our fosterlings.

 

Project process

We pay constant attention to every single one of our projects through its whole life cycle in order to be able to respond to individual requirements or unplanned developments. We thereby make sure that our projects meet our high standards and our resources are used sustainably and in the best possible way. The implementation of a project follows a number of predefined steps:

Assessment

Basically, every NGO may hand in a project proposal to the Charity as long as it is in line with the latter's scope of activities. Any proposal is vetted whether it is financially viable, sustainable and can be executed within a reasonable timeframe. We do not cover any administrative costs, but only expenses that directly benefit our projects. Furthermore, we have strict content requirements in place for our projects to safeguard the integrity of our work and to ensure that donations reach their intended purpose in full and are sustainable. This is why every project proposal has to pass an extensive compliance check.

Start

After approval by the Charity's Executive Boar, a voluntary project manager takes over the project's realization together with the project partner.

Support

Our project managers are in regular contact with the local managers in order to be informed timely about all developments and to be able to respond early to any unexpected challenge. By this, we guarantee a successful project progress.

Colleagues from RBI's network regularly commit themselves regarding our projects within Corporate Volunteering-activities such as collection campaigns, Christmas initiatives or by providing support to the Charity office, e.g. regarding research activities or specific tax issues. Furthermore, the Charity is supported by the RBI Managing Board, e.g. by taking over patronages.

Completion

All realized results and progresses have to be contained in a report upon the project's completion. This provides the basis for the decision whether a sustainable extension of the project, if necessary with adaptions, is possible and useful. In general, we are very interested in a long-term cooperation with our partners and therefore rather continue to develop existing initiatives before taking over new projects.

 

Documentation and reporting

The definition of a project's objectives takes place already during its assessment in cooperation with the partner. Furthermore, the use of funds is defined precisely. During the project term, our partners have to inform us regularly about current developments.

Likewise, informing our members and supporters is a high priority for us. We regularly report by newsletter and inform about our projects and initiatives on our website.

 

Contact

Stepic CEE Charity
Am Stadtpark 9
1030 Vienna

info@stepicceecharity.org