About selfm.aid
«selfm.aid» is a grassroots non-profit organisation, founded in September 2020, registered in Switzerland and Greece. Our NGO's goal is to fight humanitarian crises and social grievances by encouraging those affected to produce aid independently and from local resources. Therefore, the NGO combines social work with handicraft.
What's behind it?
We are currently facing a multitude of complex challenges—the refugee crisis and climate change are only two of many. We have identified limitless consumption of goods, the destruction of nature, and the exploitation of labor as the driving causes. The world is out of balance.
Over the last several decades, the production of essential goods has been gradually outsourced and distanced from our consciousness. As consumers, we no longer have the opportunity to connect to the people who create the goods we use and to the natural resources that are used. Consequently, these products and the professions behind them have become increasingly undervalued and under-appreciated in our society. A large part of the traditional knowledge of how and with what one can produce goods has been lost.
Time to rethink
We believe it is time to fundamentally rethink: We have to remember the ways of life from the past in order to develop innovative solutions for the future. We have to again be able to know for ourselves, to act ourselves and to produce ourselves, without relying on large corporations.
Our solution:
The NGO «selfm.aid» combines social work and handicraft: Wherever people suffer from existential hardship and basic needs can no longer be met, we encourage those affected to help themselves by producing the necessary goods that significantly improve their current living situation - independently and from local resources. This is how we break the vicious cycle of dependency and hopelessness.
Manual activities and crafting enable relationship building and foster collaboration between one another and the immediate surroundings. Innovative solutions are developed together and bridges are built between people, cultures and languages. These connections are crucial, because only as a strong, local community are we able to address the great global challenges of the present and especially of the future.
Our vision is to assist in creating a strong local community which is able to fight humanitarian crisis and social grievances independently through the use of existing local, human and natural resources.
VISION
MISSION
WE FACILITATE
With our projects, we provide attractive workplaces where interested parties from the entire community can freely discover and develop their manual skills.
WE EMPOWER
We encourage and support our participants in taking responsibility for the workshops and improving living conditions on their own.
WE PRODUCE
We produce and repair essential products for everyday basic needs independently and from natural materials from the region.
WE CONNECT
The shared interest in craft activities promotes meeting and working at eye level. People from diverse cultures and life situations work as peers to solve existing problems.
WE PROMOTE
We promote the potential of people on the move as well as the future and appreciation of traditional crafts, both of which we regard as elementary pillars of our society and economy.
VALUES
Respect for people and the environment
Is at the heart of everything we do.
Resource-oriented
We recognize and promote the potential of every person.
Participatory
Our programs and products are de-termined, developed and evaluated by the participants.
Local and seasonal
We use products and natural resources directly from our surroundings.
Creative and innovative
The only way to break through previous patterns and develop new solutions together.