News

Photo: Courtesy of Fe y Alegría del Perú

29.01.2026 | International

Launch of an educational cooperation project in Peru

The Hedwig and Robert Samuel Foundation will be entering into a partnership in a new project country on 1 February 2026: Peru. In the capital city of Lima, the foundation is launching a cooperation project that will give young people without training or employment prospects concrete access to qualified technical training and sustainable employment. Project approach: strengthening employability through practical trainingIn view of the high youth unemployment rate and the prevalence of precarious employment conditions among young people, the foundation's new project focuses specifically on improving the quality of technical education. Together with its Peruvian project partner Fe y Alegría del Perú, two technical training centres in Lima are being modernised with focus on training in the baking trade – a field with realistic employment opportunities and lower barriers to entry. The two bakeries in the training centres are being brought up to the latest technical standards. Building on this, practice-oriented short courses will be developed in which participants are taught all the relevant skills within a short period of time, enabling them to transition into employment or self-employment. Quality and practical relevance as key success factorsIn addition to infrastructure, the project focuses on the educational quality of training. Teachers' methodological and didactic skills are systematically strengthened to ensure modern, practical teaching. In addition, participants gain insights into real work processes in companies and work on practical projects that further deepen their skills. Another important component of the project is the promotion of entrepreneurial skills. Interested participants will be enabled in the course of the project to start their own small business in the baking trade, thereby securing an independent income in the long term. Our experienced local partnerWith Fe y Alegría del Perú, the Samuel Foundation is working with an established and highly recognised organization. For almost 60 years, it has been offering high-quality education to marginalised and low-income groups in Peru. The organisation is active in both, urban and rural areas and provides children, adolescents and young adults with access to free, comprehensive education. In addition, its services are also aimed at adults who wish to catch up on or supplement their school or professional education. Perspective: Sustainable impact and expansion of commitmentThe project will run for one year and has a total budget of around € 64,000. It is co-financed by the Small Projects Fund of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The aim is to successfully prepare a larger number of young people for working life and place them in jobs subject to social insurance contributions by sustainably improving the quality of training. This commitment also marks the start of further activities by the Samuel Foundation in the country. In the future, the experience gained will be used to expand the foundation's educational offerings and give even more young people fair opportunities for a self-determined professional future.

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22.01.2026 | Costa Rica

Municipal partnerships strengthen educational endeavours

Our Centre for Technical Education in San José, Costa Rica, has systematically expanded its cooperation with municipal stakeholders. The focus is on partnerships with municipalities that effectively support our educational work and link our programmes to the local community. An outstanding example of this is the cooperation with the municipality of Goicoechea, the district in which the foundation's training centre is located. As part of this partnership, our students actively participate in social and environmental projects in the district. These include clean-up campaigns in various neighbourhoods, acting as guides in road safety education programmes for children, and helping to repair a public playground. The foundation has been officially recognised by the municipality for its commitment to the local Network for Corporate Social Responsibility. In return, the Goicoechea municipality supports our centre in reaching out to young people and young adults looking for training opportunities. It specifically encourages them to apply, and representatives remain important contacts for students from their neighbourhoods even during their technical education. Another important step is the foundation's participation in the CONECTA MORAVIA network, an initiative of the canton of Moravia to connect community projects, organisations and companies. Within this framework, the foundation was able to present its application process for the 2026–2027 batch. Around 50 interested participants took the opportunity to find out about our educational offerings first-hand and talk to our team. The commitment of the Moravia municipality already had a tangible impact last year: eight young people from the district are part of the current 2025–2026 batch. Representatives of the municipality accompany them throughout their technical education and support them with learning materials, among other things. These municipal alliances make an important contribution to the quality and reach of our educational work in Costa Rica. At the same time, they open up new access to local actors and strengthen the foundation's network on the ground in the long term.

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05.12.2025 | India

105 successful graduates and a special anniversary

At the beginning of November, the Foundation’s Centre in New Delhi held a graduation ceremony for 105 students in Fashion Design and Management. In a colourful setting, the graduates presented their self-designed final project dresses and looked back on 15 intensive months of training together with their families, the Samuel team and invited guests. On the day of their graduation ceremony, 78 of the new graduates had already been placed in permanent employment – a result that impressively confirms the labour market orientation of our programmes. Experience has shown that in India, almost all graduates can be successfully integrated into the primary labour market within a very short time. This year, we welcomed Mr Mohamed Omar Badran, project manager of the Indo-German Green Skills Programme – a cooperation between Germany (GIZ/BMZ) and India (MSDE) to promote vocational training in the field of ‘green’ jobs – as our guest of honour. His presence underlined the importance of sustainable skills development in the Indian labour market. Another highlight of the day was the tribute to Dr Neha Tewari, our Country Director in Delhi, who celebrated her 20th anniversary with the Foundation. It was a pleasure for the team to pay special tribute to her long-standing commitment, outstanding leadership and significant contribution to the successful work of the Samuel Foundation Charitable India Trust in Delhi on this occasion.

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23.07.2025 | India

Empowering Youth with Life-Saving Skills

At Samuel Foundation, we believe that education goes beyond technical knowledge—it’s also about preparing young people to navigate real-life challenges with confidence and responsibility. As part of this commitment, students at our Uttam Nagar and Garhi Centres in Delhi participated in a First Aid and Emergency Medical Preparedness. The training covered a broad range of common medical emergency scenarios, including how to respond to injuries, choking, and unconsciousness, with students actively engaging in hands-on practice of vital techniques such as CPR, bandaging, and the recovery position. Delivered by certified trainers from the Emmanuel Hospital in Delhi, the training aimed to equip students with essential skills that can make a critical difference in emergency situations. The ability to respond effectively in a crisis not only increases personal confidence but also has the potential to save lives. Whether at home, in the workplace, or in public settings, basic first aid knowledge empowers individuals to take immediate and informed action while waiting for professional help. Through this initiative, Samuel Foundation supports the holistic development of its students helping them grow not only as skilled professionals but also as responsible members of their communities—especially in moments when it matters most.

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17.01.2025 | India

Mindset on Point: Mindfulness training for a strong spirit

This topic has been widely covered in the media in recent months. Mental strain and stress symptoms are not only a widespread societal phenomenon but particularly affect children and young people in schools and education worldwide. Our foundation's scholarship holders are no exception. Time for our centres in India to assess needs among students and take action. We have recently started offering daily mindfulness training for our students. The most important training objectives: Participants should not only learn to cope better with the challenges of their technical education, but also develop greater balance and resilience in their private lives. In the morning sessions, students learn how to use various stress management techniques. These include yoga, meditation and breathing exercises, which are specifically designed to build emotional stability and promote the ability to concentrate. The exercise sessions are led by experienced instructors from the Delhi based International Centre for Bio-Remedies. ‘Supporting mental health is crucial for the personal development and success of our students,’ emphasises the Foundation's Country Director in India, Neha Tewari. The initiative is an ideal additional component in the foundation's holistic training concept - it provides young people with valuable tools for a healthy and balanced life. And, most important, the positive feedback from the students encourages us to pursue these endeavours.

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26.08.2024 | Nicaragua

Samuel branch in Managua was shut down

On 11 June 2024, the Samuel Foundation's branch in Nicaragua had its work permit for Nicaragua withdrawn and was forced to cease operations immediately after 35 years of local involvement. At the same time, President Ortega's regime confiscated all of the Foundation's assets in Nicaragua - the Centre for Technical Education, land and inventory. The Foundation condemns this arbitrary and unjustified act and regrets that with the closure of its centre, Nicaragua's youth have been deprived of another important facility for professional education without replacement. How did the shutdown come about?This measure comes in the context of the political crisis that has been ongoing since 2018 and is characterised by human rights violations, the revocation of citizenship, repression against the church and the systematic suppression of any civic engagement. As part of their control measures, the Ortega regime has so far banned more than 5,100 national and international NGOs. The official accusations that have led to the shutdown of our organisation and many others are always the same: failure to properly fulfil reporting obligations to the national supervisory authority for non-governmental organisations and inconsistencies in the financial reports over an extended period of time. These accusations are verifiably unfounded. Until the last month before its forced shutdown, our foundation regularly received its official operating licence from this very authority upon submission of the required documents. For more than three years, every contribution of funds from abroad to an NGO operating in Nicaragua has had to be authorised in advance. These are exclusively granted on the basis of the operating licence, which is renewed monthly. The last of these monthly transfers, which we made for our work in Nicaragua, was approved on May 29th, 2024. Help for affected studentsIn addition to our 25 employees, 237 students at our Centre for Technical Education in Managua are directly affected by the shutdown. As the Nicaraguan government has not offered any alternatives to the young people affected by the shutdowns of the various centres, the foundation has developed an aid concept for its students via its branch in Costa Rica. The students of the batch graduating this November were placed in company apprenticeships by our Costa Rican branch and will also receive their final diploma from there once they have completed their education. The students who just started their technical education this year have been given the opportunity to continue their education at our centre in Costa Rica. A sincere thank youWe would like to express our sincere gratitude to our employees in Managua, who have implemented the foundation’s work with commitment and passion for many years. We wish them all the very best for the future. We would also like to thank all the companies and co-operating partners who have provided us with invaluable help in our work over a long period of time. We wish the more than 3,700 young people who have pursued their professional careers through the completion of the Samuel Foundation's programme in Nicaragua since 1993 every success and all the best, despite the increasingly difficult social conditions. It has been a great honour for us to work for them and with them!

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Solemn graduation ceremony: the wife of the German ambassador in Costa Rica, Petra Kriener (left), and the deputy ambassador, Alexandra Herr (right), with the legal representative of our centre in San José, Wilber Pérez.

06.06.2024 | Costa Rica

Successful project completion: Help for women affected by sexualised violence

In mid-May, our cooperation partner in San José, Fundación Rahab, celebrated the successful completion of vocational training courses as part of its ‘Rehabilitation and social reintegration for women affected by sexual exploitation and violence’ programme. In a festive graduation ceremony, the successful participants in one of the cookery, tailoring, cosmetics or digital skills courses on offer received their certificates. In combination with psycho-social services, the courses are designed to help the women build a new life after their traumatising experiences. Since July 2023, the Hedwig and Robert Samuel Foundation has supported this project to improve the infrastructure, in particular the modernisation of training rooms, workshops and computer systems at Fundación Rahab, and to run the above-mentioned vocational training courses. The graduation ceremony also marked the end of the time-limited cooperation project for our foundation. We are very pleased and grateful to have supported the important work of Fundación Rahab and to have contributed to giving affected women and their children better prospects for their lives. Fundación Rahab has been actively campaigning against human trafficking and all forms of violence and exploitation of women and girls for 25 years. The project was co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development's (BMZ) Small Projects Fund.

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29.05.2024 | Costa Rica

A year as a volunteer in Costa Rica

For ten months Anna, a German volunteer, has been supporting the staff at our Centre for Technical Education in San José | Costa Rica. She helps with administrative tasks and also assists the teacher in English lessons, helping the students to improve their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Anna describes her experiences as a volunteer at our Centre for Technical Education in Costa Rica very pleasantly: "When I make my way to classroom no. 4 for English lessons in the morning, I look into 30 familiar faces of the students who are trained in Administrative Assistance. They spend 21 hours a week in English lessons, which means I know them best of all the students. I immediately hear a cheerful "Hi Anna!" 30 times. I wave briefly and smile as I sit down in the chair next to the English teacher. Today, the students have to write and perform a role play. They push the tables together and start exchanging ideas. I sit down with one group and give them tips on how to formulate the sentences better. Behind me, I hear my name and go to another group who ask me how to pronounce "comprehensive". When the group has finished, I am asked what Germany is like and whether I like Costa Rica. In return, I learn about the students' hobbies and favourite places. The hospitality and warmth of the people were the biggest "culture shocks" - in a positive sense - when I arrived here. Both colleagues and students welcomed me immediately, wanted to find out more about my life and overlooked my Spanish language skills (which were really in need of improvement at the time). Volunteering gives me the opportunity to meet young people my age and learn more about their culture, their lives, and their language. This gives me a very special insight into the country from different perspectives. Outside of my work at the foundation, I love traveling around the country with friends and discovering the cultural differences and way of life in the different regions. With all the memories and encounters over the months of my stay, I can feel Costa Rica slowly but surely becoming a second home for me." We wish Anna many more wonderful experiences during her remaining time in Costa Rica and thank her warmly for her support!

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15.04.2024 | Nicaragua

German Embassy funds new workshop equipment

The German Embassy in Managua has made a generous donation of over 23,000 euros to our local Centre for Technical Education as part of the Federal Foreign Office's small projects fund. Thanks to this donation, we were able to purchase urgently needed technical equipment and materials to ensure the high standard of our education. Now the newly acquired refrigerators, an ice machine, a vehicle front as well as an engine and other materials offer our students specialising in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology and Car Mechanics further opportunities to put their theoretical knowledge into practice. Our sincere thanks go to the German Embassy for their generosity and repeated support of our work! The Foundation's Centre for Technical Education in Nicaragua trains 125 young people every year. We offer 50 scholarships for Car Mechanics, 25 for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology and 25 scholarships each for accounting and Administration with Emphasis on English.

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