This was a dream coming true for the talented young musicians of the Sinfonía por el Perú Youth Orchestra when they crossed the ocean this late summer: Performing together with world-renowned tenor and founder of Sinfonía por el Perú, Juan Diego Flórez, at three of the most prestigious and important classical music venues.

July is a member of the National Youth Choir in Sinfonía por el Perú. For her, being part of the program has opened a completely new world. Not only did she discover a talent she didn’t know she had, but she has also found her favorite way to express herself and her feelings through music.

In 2011, together with its long-standing partner organization Swisscontact, the Hilti Foundation launched Construya, a qualification program for the informal construction sector in Colombia. Construya has developed training modules, in cooperation with state vocational training institutions, that teach better construction practices for the informal sector.

Globally, an estimated 63 million children are not attending primary school and one in four girls suffer educational disadvantage. Agatha, now in her forties, used to be one of these girls.

The global pandemic has caused a major setback in the fight against poverty. Although the COVID-19 restrictions have affected the Hilti Foundation’s work to some extent, we stayed the course in our programs.

Since 2017, more than 16,000 women and men in Kenya and Tanzania have escaped extreme poverty. Felista now leads a more self-determined life and has already diversified her micro-business to be even more resilient.

In January 2021, BASE inaugurated the BASE Innovation Center (BIC), a comprehensive research and testing facility for safe, affordable, green and sustainable housing technologies.

Ten years ago, the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez founded the social music programme"Sinfonía por el Perú". Based on the basic idea of the Venezuelan programme "El Sistema", music schools, so-called "Núcleos" were established in the hotspot neighbourhoods of Lima, and soon in the most vulnerable regions of the whole country.

In January 2021, the BASE Bahay Foundation opened its BASE Innovation Center (BIC), a research and testing center for bamboo construction and other alternative building materials in Manila, Philippines.

Through our focus area of Economic Empowerment, we are enabling people in need to become economically independent.

Marissa, 47, is one of the so-called urban poor who are most strongly affected by the pandemic and its economic consequences. Marissa works as a garbage collector in Payatas, a neighborhood in Metro Manila, Philippines which is home to the country’s largest waste site.

Jahan’s schedule is always busy. He dreams of an international education and a career as an orchestra musician and teacher. A comprehensive, internationally networked music program, supported by the Hilti Foundation, makes this possible.

Mary is a seamstress in a rural community in Kenya. Her husband works as a carpenter in Nairobi. Nevertheless, the money they earn together is not enough to enable even one of their three children to progress beyond elementary school and learn a trade.