About US
The Johannes Beese Foundation is a charitable, independent and non-profit foundation under civil law based in Unna. It was established by Johann Peter Schnitger and his wife Christa Schnitger and recognised as a foundation with legal capacity by the regional council in Arnsberg on 25 September 2002.
Johannes Beese is the founder's grandfather, who laid the basis for the founder's economic upswing at the beginning of the last century by establishing the Beese timber trade in Unna. The foundation is named after him.
The original purpose of the foundation is to promote child and youth welfare as well as upbringing and education. Supporting children and young people who have been victims of violence of any kind, whether through armed conflict or violence within the family, was also an initial focus of the foundation.
After the first funding projects were launched in Germany and other European countries, funding activities were focused more strongly on the African continent from 2006 onwards. Funding projects were launched in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi.
Between 2006 and 2012, the foundation supported a large number of different projects in various countries, which was a huge and highly complex task.
Building on a diverse range of experiences in politically and socially unstable countries, the foundation decided in 2011 to focus future project work on peaceful and secure countries in Africa that are among the poorest in the world. The firm believe that education, especially in the world's poorest countries, is the key to a better future for children and families, and therefore for society as a whole, has always been a major driving force for the foundation. Especially in countries with inadequate school coverage and high illiteracy rates, education is the key success factor in escaping the prevailing poverty and leading a better life.
Since 2011, the foundation has been heavily involved in the field of education, in particular the construction of secondary schools in remote rural areas South-East African countries of Malawi and Zambia.
