Events leading up to the establishment of the Consortium

Since 2006 UEF had been promoting and supporting the development of a movement, based on a vision of ‘Education by All for the Well-being of Children’ (which has now evolved to ‘Learning for Well-Being’). It did this both through its own work internationally and in building a partnership with other foundations under the umbrella of the European Foundations Centre. In November 2008, 21 representatives from ten foundations in Europe and the Middle East met in Berlin for a workshop endorsed by the EFC. It was convened by UEF and hosted by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. In preparation for the workshop, a survey of 12 foundations was carried out between August and October 2008 to form a shared baseline of information and understanding about how each other’s work contributes to children’s and young people’s well-being. In Berlin, the foundations discussed how to work together within the initiative to further it strategically through coordinated and concrete actions.



The foundations who participated were: ACEV (Turkey), Bertelsmann Stiftung (Germany), Evens Foundation (Belgium), Freudenberg Stiftung (Germany), Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace (UK), Makhzoumi Foundation (Lebanon), Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), Türkiye Eitim Gönüllüleri Vakfı (Turkey), Universal Education Foundation (France), Welfare Association (Jordan).