Fund Isaan

Fund Isaan is a non-profit organization established in 2008 and managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. Fund Isaan started as a corporate social responsibility program at Deloitte Belgium, a commercial consulting firm. After projects in Indonesia and Morocco Deloitte Belgium decided in early 2007 to invest in a school building project in the North East of Thailand, in the province of Surin, near the border of Cambodja, 450 kilometers away from Bangkok.

 

Besides the construction of a school hall the company sponsored the set-up of a computer class. During the coordination of the project, the responsible partner, Rony Wuytjens, was confronted with the many needs of the region. Kids leave school at a very early age because their parents can’t effort to pay for their education. They start working in the fields or look for a better paid job in a big city, often hundreds of kilometers away from home. Most of them end up as low paid workers for building companies, as maids in rich households or, even worse, in the sex industry. Language teachers in the region often don’t have the necessary skills to learn the children a proper pronunciation. The computer class Deloitte had invested in became a big success, but there were so many other schools with similar needs. That’s why we decided to set up a legal structure that could invest in a long term strategy.

 

In June 2008 Fund Isaan was officially established as a fund managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. Its founder is Mr. Rony Wuytjens, the partner that initiated and coordinated the above mentioned project for Deloitte. Its president is Mr. Jocelyn Timmermans, consul for Thailand in Flanders. The King Baudouin Foundation is represented by Mr. Luc Tayart de Borms, President of the King Baudouin Foundation.

 

The official protocol stipulates that our aim is to organize and support initiatives in “left behind” regions in South-East Asia, more specific but not exclusively, in Isaan, Thailand. The Fund focuses on the improvement of Education and the support of Micro-economic initiatives. To that purpose the Fund puts volunteers at the disposal of local schools. Furthermore the fund raises scholarships for thoroughly selected and screened children and invests in IT solutions. The fund is allowed to use all means it deems useful to achieve its aim. In accordance with the philosophy of the King Baudouin Foundation the fund will support initiatives that aim to achieve a multiplication effect. The fund can act on its own or together with other organizations.

(Source: Rony Wuytjens – Founder)

For more information you can visit: Fund Isaan