UBS Christmas Campaign

Focus:

Fighting against clubfoot

Region:

Global south

Description:

Worldwide, more than one million children live with untreated clubfoot and more than 175,000 are born with the disease each year. Without treatment, the condition leads to lifelong disability, stigma, illiteracy and poverty for those affected. MiracleFeet allows partners to fully treat clubfoot for under USD 500 per child. Consequently, these children can be enabled to live an active, healthy and productive life.

Miracle Feet improves access to appropriate treatment for children born with clubfoot in low- and middle-income countries and establishes effective and sustainable clubfoot programs nationwide. The organization works with local providers to offer high-quality treatment according to proven methods in the existing public health system. The long-term goal is to institutionalize the treatment method in the local health care system and to enable the treatment independent of Miracle Feet.

Focus:

Primary Education

Region:

Malawi

Description:

Malawi's education system faces significant challenges, including overcrowded classroom, lack of learning materials, lack of trained teachers, and high student-to-teacher ratio. As a result, only 10% of children achieve literacy by the age of 10 and only 33% of children complete primary school.

Children in grade 1-4 receive one hour per school day of personalized teaching in reading, writing, and algebra via tablet-based learning to meet each child's individual ability level. Each tablet is used by 4-5 students per day. The adaptive software is aligned with the national curriculum. In addition, the progress per student can be tracked via a digital assessment tool on the tablet. The EdTech solution is an addition to the existing face-to-face teaching, does not require internet access and is powered by solar energy.

The design uses existing school structures, so that no new learning spaces need to be built, and is therefore affordable. Rigorous randomized control trials have shown significant learning gains for the children (50% of children improved significantly in reading and writing). Imagine Worldwide empowers Malawi to be the first developing country to scale an EdTech solution nationwide, supporting 3.5 million children per year, and creating a roadmap for other countries to follow.

Focus:

Coastal and marine protection

Region:

Europe and High Seas

Description:

Our oceans are under pressure and yet they are responsible for regulating our climate: acidification, pollution, overfishing, plastic and tourism have a negative impact on the entire ecosystem. This endangers not only the climate and biodiversity, but especially the local population, which depends on the ocean for livelihoods and protein sources. A solution that supports communities and protects ocean biodiversity is urgently needed.

The Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) is a charity dedicated to restoring health of the oceans. BLUE creates marine protected areas, restores habitats and establishes models for sustainable fishing. BLUE works with a combination of impacting legislation and ocean governance and local project development to support on the ground and at the forefront of marine conservation. The goal is to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030 and promote the recovery of endangered species. Currently, more than 4 million km² are protected by the organisation in 21 regions and the successes of marine conservation are scientifically evaluated.