Non-Governmental Organization

Verdens Skove is an environmental organisation working to promote sustainable use of the World’s forests, particularly the rainforests of Latin America and the native Danish forests. For more than 25 years we have been working to preserve forest resources for the benefit of nature and of local and global communities alike.

Forests of the World promotes sustainable tourism and forestry practices through innovative projects with local forest dependent communities in several Latin American countries.

The indigenous peoples of Latin America who have called the forests their home for generations have inalienable rights to those forests. In Forests of the World we know that forest conservation is not likely to be effective or sustainable, or even fair, if it happens at the expense of local, forest dependent communities. Our projects are carried out in close cooperation with indigenous peoples and local environmental organisations.

A substantive part of our work, in Denmark as well as internationally, consists of advocacy and campaigning. In Denmark, much of our work is carried out by our network of volunteers and supporters.

For over 14 years, our mission is to accompany refugees, to provide services and to advocate for their cause. We provide holistic (social and legal assistance, education, cultural and educational activities, financial support and accomodation, advocacy and lobbying, research, studies and surveys, training and seminars, awareness campaigns and information) through various types of projects that we develop (11 projects in 2013).

We assist all categories of refugees and migrants (people with a form of protection in Romania, relocated people, asylum seekers, people in detention, refugees marginalized, tolerated, migrants coming to work or study and others). We are present in all centers opened in country as well as in detention centers (8 centers in total).

JRS Romania has a night shelter in Bucharest named “Pedro Arrupe Center” and also a Multifunctional and Cultural Center named “MyPlace”.

Over 1.500 refugees have been assisted in areas such as association and economic exclusion, detention, integration and acceptance conditions. About 20 specialists work constantly in order to accomplish our mission, supported by many enthusiastic volunteers of all ages and in all fields.

Indienhilfe was founded in 1980 as a non-profit association located at Herrschingen (Germany). Since 1998 it has been included in the list of recommended charities of the German institute for social affairs (DZI).

The organization's targets are to tackle poverty in India through different projects, to promote fair trade, to establish partnerships between German and Indian communities and schools as well as to promote education and global learning. Indienhilfe offers:

• a one-world media center which provides books, topic lists, slides, movies, teaching materials about India and many other countries, as well as about global learning, world religions, the Agenda 21 and fair trade (consultation and rental service at arranged times);
• consultation and assistance to organize projects in schools and kindergartens;
• search for partner schools in West Bengal and assistance in the relations between German and Bengalese partners. At the moment four Bavarian schools are cooperating with Indian ones, helped by the Indienhilfe team in Germany and an Indian team in Calcutta, who try to solve their problems of mutual understanding so that they can meet each other's expectations and communicate successfully;
• help in the organization of travel to West Bengal. Meetings with Bengalese counterparts are very important for maintaining successful partnerships. Indienhilfe can assist interested schools on the basis of its extensive experience in managing group travels as well as the necessary preparations.

With these initiatives, Indienhilfe aims at making people aware of different local and global realities and making them feel closer to distant communities. A further objective is to promote a greater sense of responsibility for social matters and to promote solidarity. Opening up our minds, meeting people from other countries and establishing relations with them are preconditions for the mutual understanding between different cultures, for eliminating prejudices and reflecting on our own lifestyle.