What We Do
The FOTIS team is made up of a Geneva-based group of experienced volunteers, committed to enabling universal access to secondary education. To ensure that we can maintain a close overview of our students we work with partner organisations with strong infrastructure in the field. The partner organisations helps us to select the students and provide us with regular reports so that we can see their progress. We are constantly looking out for new partner organisations in different parts of the world seeking to extend the reach of our support.
A significant part of the FOTIS team’s work is to raise funds. We organise interesting fund-raising events, which are our primary source of income. The events also have the goal to raise awareness of the problems of access to secondary education.
Our Story
FOTIS, Friends of the International Schools, was founded and is run by a small group of Geneva-based philanthropists with the mission to support secondary education or vocational training for students in developing countries.
FOTIS works in partnership with well-established non-governmental organizations or locally based mentors. Since its creation in 2008, 120 students in nine countries have graduated, gone to university or found good jobs.
Up until now, FOTIS has sponsored more than 300 students for their entire secondary education. This year, FOTIS is funding 135 students in seven countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, covering all costs of their education, from tuition and books to boarding, meals and uniforms.
The initial event to launch FOTIS in March 2008 was a fundraising concert in Geneva of a specially commissioned composition by the London musician Scott Stroman. Since then fundraising events have been held almost every year. FOTIS depends entirely on these fundraising activities supported by the donations of individuals and the sponsorship of companies.
In March 2008 the Friends of the International Schools, FOTIS, was launched with a fundraising concert of a specially commissioned composition by Scott Stroman.
Since 2009 over 120 students in high school or vocational training have graduated thanks to FOTIS support.
Fundraising via a number of activities is carried on yearly since FOTIS depends solely on the donations of individuals or companies.
Today FOTIS supports 135 students in seven countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Our Team
Siobhan Bussetil
Vice-President
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Siobhan has been a member of FOTIS since 2008. We are a small but committed group, mindful of the challenges faced by so many young people across the world. In spite of the increasing demands made on our generous donors in these troubled times, they continue to support our vital work and for that we are most grateful. Our aim is to spread the word and enlist even more support so that we can commit to sponsoring many more students in the future.
Emma Antonatos
Board Member
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Emma is an experienced fund-raiser, volunteer and event organiser. She has been an active member of many volunteer groups and sat on the Board of several Philanthropic organisations. She is British, married to a Greek and has lived in Geneva for many years. Her energy, enthusiasm, humour and fine organisational skills are an essential asset to FOTIS.
Dorothy Baddeley Latsis
Board Member
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Julie-anne Braddock
Treasurer
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Julie-Anne is an English chartered accountant with significant international experience working for Price Waterhouse Coopers . She lived in Geneva for 30 years and is married with 2 children. She has wide- ranging interests including cooking, traveling and all sports. Julie.Anne is an invaluable member of the FOTIS team giving her time, knowledge and energy to grow the secondary education of young people everywhere
Vivien Hollis
Secretary
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Vivien is British and a trained as a nurse, specialising in women’s and children’s health. She worked in UK and Africa and has lived and worked in the Geneva region for 30 years.
Barbara Levy
Board Member
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Barbara Levy was born and educated in the United States. She moved to Switzerland in 1977 and has been a permanent resident since that time.
From 1975 – 1985 she worked as a CPA and auditor for Price Waterhouse and Chase Manhatten Bank. After having raised a family, Barbara has worked as a volunteer in several organisations in Geneva, among those the Fondation pour Genève and the American International Women’s Club of Geneva. Barbara has chaired the FOTIS Board and has been instrumental in growing the reach of our work.
Donatella Pascolini
President
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Donatela Pascolini is a physicist whose research interests led to the field of biophysics at universities in the USA and Europe. At the World Health Organization, Donatella worked on issues relating to public health, in particular, the prevention of blindness and deafness, as well as on the elimination of blinding diseases in poor countries.
Helena Lewis
Board Member
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Helena is British and is proud to have been associated with FOTIS since 2017. During her time in Asia and US she has been involved in organising fundraising events and activities for several charitable foundations.
We are recruiting volunteers!
Do you have a couple of hours free a month to devote to a unique and volunteer-run cause? We are looking for new committee members willing to contribute to our mission. FOTIS is a small charity that fills a crucial gap, providing direct support for secondary and vocational education in the developing world. Since 2009 we have supported over 300 children to complete their education, with many of our alumni going on to university and giving back to their communities. We currently have projects active in seven countries.
Come and join the team to help further the goals of FOTIS.
Our work is extremely rewarding, because the results are clear.
Send us an email at: contact@fotis.ch
Our Partners
FOTIS operates in partnership with well-established, non-governmental organisations or locally based mentors. Partners have local offices and staff in the country where the students are sponsored. The partners are familiar with the students, their family situations and also with the local culture and customs. Having staff in close contact with the students and their families allows FOTIS to act quickly for special needs and circumstances. FOTIS receives regular reports from its partners on the progress of the students.
Current Partners
ConnectSwiss “Swiss Support Changing Africa” – Kenya
ConnectSwiss is a Swiss Registered Association that works with Community Outreach Centres, a Kenyan registered non-government organisation with the goal to helping the poor in Western Kenya. Among their projects is the International Village School that the FOTIS supported students attend.
Parikrma Humanity Foundation – India
Parikrma Humanity Foundation, under Registrar of Companies, Government of Karnataka, runs 4 schools within the limits of Bangalore City, Karnataka, for over 2000 children from slum communities: many attend secondary school.
Association du Project Veerni – India
An Initiative to support secondary and higher education for girls and young women in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The Projet Veerni is registered in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, as a national NGO called “Veerni Sansthan”. The Association du Project Veerni, based in Switzerland, is the funder of the Veerni Sansthan.
Educate2Envision International – Honduras
Educate2Envision International is a California-based non-profit organization founded in 2010 with operations throughout Honduras. It is the only organization in rural Honduras to start secondary schools in areas where they previously have not existed: E2E currently supports 7 schools.
Rwanda Girls Initiative – Republic of Rwanda
In 2009, Rwanda Girls Initiative received authorization from the Ministry of Education of Rwanda to open the Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology, an upper-secondary girls’ boarding school located in Bugesera District an hour south of the capital city of Kigali attended by around 100 students.
Ecole Secondaire de Kidaho and College George Fox de Butano – Republic of Rwanda
Both secondary schools are in Northern Rwanda and their locally based mentor is Mr. Bidobo Abraham.
Education for All
Founded by Martine Coppens in a rural area of Sierra Leone provides access to primary and secondary education in the Western Area to students in the neighborhood of Mansantagie and in Mangeh Bureh.
Colegio Cristiano Integral, Colombia
Founded in 2000 in Santa Marta, Colombia, provides primary education and bilingual secondary education, focusing on excellence of teaching and Christian values.
Asociacion Cristiana Deportiva, Colombia
Located in a poor area of Bogotà, Colombia, provides secondary education together with sport and music programs.
Saigon Children’s Charity “Eliminating Poverty through Education” – Viet Nam
SCC is a Registered charity in England that operates in Ho Chi Minh City providing scholarships in 6 Provinces of Viet Nam to 2200 children of all ages including secondary and vocation schools.
Past Partners Supported
The Ethiopian Children’s Appeal
The Ethiopian Children’s Appeal is a non-government organisation registered in the USA and operating in Addis Ababa with local mentors that supports students in high school.
WATU People’s Participation in Education – Republic of Tanzania
WATU is a small NGO registered in the Republic of Tanzania and operating in the Kilimanjaro Region. The secondary school, located outside Moshi, consists of 150 students.
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