IAPCO Legacy
Gobica kindergarten, Slovenia
2024
Floods in Slovenia heavily damaged schools and kindergartens, disrupting the education of hundreds of children. The Gobica kindergarten near Ljubljana was particularly affected, losing classrooms, kitchens, and essential equipment. IAPCO’s 2024 meeting in Ljubljana aimed to bring back a sense of normalcy by donating toys to the affected kindergartens. This initiative highlights the importance of education and fostering joy for the future generation impacted by the disaster.
SAHI, Israel
2023
The IAPCO 2023 Annual Meeting in Jerusalem prioritised community engagement by partnering with SAHI (the Hebrew acronym for Special Grace Unit), to offer a volunteering opportunity for attendees. SAHI, operating across Israel, involves youth aged 13 to 18 who meet weekly to collect and distribute food, dedicating two days a week to help the less fortunate. Attendees were invited to join a unique volunteering activity, creating a meaningful connection with SAHI’s youth members as they prepared and distributed goods to those in need, emphasizing the conference’s commitment to fostering collaboration and community engagement.
Dynamo Camp and Equoevento, Italy
2022
Dynamo Camp, Italy’s first recreational therapy camp for sick children, was spotlighted at the IAPCO Annual Meeting in Rome. The camp, offering various activities from sports to theatre, provides free holidays for children in therapy. Serena Porcari, Managing Director of Dynamo Foundation, showcased the camp’s work. Additionally, EquoEvento, focused on reducing food waste, collected excess food from the meeting for local charities, emphasizing sustainability. A dedicated webpage for donations to Dynamo Camp and Equoevento was launched during the event, connecting the IAPCO community with charitable initiatives.
Everyone’s Library in Sendai
2018
IAPCO members, from all over the world, kindly donated over 90 children’s picture books during the Tokyo Annual Meeting & General Assembly in 2018. The books were sent to Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture where they were divided, with the majority going to ‘Everyone’s Library’ a prefabricated structure and the rest were donated to the nearby JR Station. Reports have been received that the children very much appreciate and enjoy reading the books, as pictured.
Bubanza Hostpital, Burundi
2012 – 2017
The Bubanza Hospital, supported by FIMAC, International Foundation of Doctors for Central Africa, is a major institution dedicated to the health of the local community. IAPCO is endorsing and supporting FIMAC’s work at this hospital contributing to the management and care cost of hospital beds. In addition, as part of the strategy to improve healthcare and wellbeing, a basketball court was built, funded by IAPCO members, and completed in 2017.
Samora Machel, South Africa
2016
IAPCO member took part in a CSR activity in Cape Town’s Samora Machel Township, during the Annual Meeting in 2016. The group created 6 wicking garden beds, which would be water-efficient and create a self-sustaining garden for the community. In 2017 IAPCO members donated further funds to the Samora Machel township supporting the Happy Cousins project whereby students were assigned to a garden bed to oversee propagation, harvest and replant.
40 Trees for 40 Years, New Zealand
2008
Following on from an intense session on the Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility, at the Auckland Annual Meeting in 2008, the occasion of IAPCO’s 40th Annivsersary, 40 IAPCO members, as part of a scrubland rejuvenation programme, created their own ‘IAPCO Copse’ and planted 40 trees. “The scrubland was ready for replanting and this was an excellent opportunity for IAPCO to do something positive as well as fun” said host Jan Tonkin of The Conference Company.