The Human Safety Net turned six, and if you are following our work, you know we are just out of our early development years. A child's brain is 90-95% fully formed when they are six years old. For this reason, it's vital the effort to get the right start in the early years.
Ever since Germany joined our movement as the first country in 2017, to Chile, which joined in 2023, we grew together. Our partners are part of our movement, and we agreed with each to make a tangible impact and transform lives through one or both of our programme pillars.
Since 2017, we have transformed 325,000 lives through our work with refugees and families. In the last six years, we have built a community with 77 partners in 26 countries in Europe, Asia and South America. All this would be impossible without the thousands of volunteers and experts working tirelessly in all the countries.
We are active in over 400 locations worldwide. We are on the ground, exactly where we are needed. But we also have a beautiful home to amplify our message. The Procuratie Vecchie, The Home of The Human Safety Net, located on St Mark's Square in Venice, is a hub for social innovation. If you are ever there come and see us.
It is not our style to make self-celebratory pieces. We prefer the words of our beneficiaries. Today, we want to share two stories from each of our programmes.
The first story is Rosa’s, a mother who realised that she needed support at a specific moment of her life and found it with our For Families partner in Italy, L'Albero dell Vita.
Their counselling and support have helped me accomplish things I never thought possible. L'Albero della Vita has helped me change. I'm not afraid anymore.
The other story we want to talk about is told by Leen, a refugee living in Paris who decided to start her own business when finding employment was too difficult.
I was afraid; I did not know where to start. People who have big companies say that this happened because of 50% hard work and 50% luck. Actually, it is true […] I got help from very good organisations. They helped me understand what being entrepreneurial and being entrepreneurial in France means.
