A legacy with impact

TSF’s history has been linked to religious communities since its founding more than 40 years ago. In 1981, the Brothers of Christian Instruction (FIC) decided to create an organization that would initially support their educational activities with young people in the Haut-Uele region of what was then Zaire.

Over time, TSF has joined forces with various partners while developing links with other religious communities. Our relationship with the world that saw us come into being continues to this day. The values that guided the FIC in founding TSF so many years ago are still evident in our intervention model.

Our sustainable development projects, humanitarian aid interventions, and volunteer cooperation program are based on principles that have been passed down to us by these religious communities.

TSF works with religious communities in several ways, including the following:

Management support
TSF assists local partners through needs assessments and capacity building for staff and volunteers, helping to ensure the smooth operations of schools, health centers, market gardens, and entrepreneurship and accounting management training.

Program Implementation
TSF collaborates with religious communities to carry out their projects in education, health, sustainable agriculture and vocational training. By participating in both planning and implementation, TSF promotes local ownership and the sustainability of results.

Fund Transfer and Oversight
TSF ensures the transfer of funds from religious communities in Canada to developing countries, while ensuring, to donors and provincial and federal authorities, the sound financial management and effective implementation of supported projects.

Volunteer Engagement
TSF deploys professionals – dentists, optometrists, managers and others – to work with Southern partners, strengthening local capacities and supporting projects’ continuity.

Empowering local initiatives

Mali

Sahel 21-TSF works in partnership with the Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis as part of its Local Initiative Empowerment Program (PAIL in French).

We provide financial support and knowledge transfer to the Sisters in their work with women in the peri-urban area of Bamako.

Through this support, we have built and equipped a women’s empowerment center, created an organic teaching farm, and strengthened their administrative and management capacities.

A peaceful haven for children

Haiti

TSF is a partner of the Daughters of Mary Queen Immaculate in the child development center, Maison de l’Avenir Jacqueline Lessard, which continues, despite difficulties, to welcome young people from disadvantaged areas, particularly Cité-Soleil.

In addition to this group, more than 200 children and adolescents from different communities receive primary education.  

On Île-à-Vache, in partnership with the Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi, TSF works to improve the living conditions of children, including some 30 young people living with a severe disability.

Improving the lives of young people

Tanzania

To help children with disabilities, particularly those with albinism, a poultry farming project was set up between TSF and the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas.

This project has developed practical skills in modern poultry farming, entrepreneurship, and business and project management among the student population. It has also helped improve the nutrition of young people, which increases their concentration at school.

Sound governance

Haiti

A program was carried out with the Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis in Haiti. The TSF team, assisted by Normand Rochon, volunteer cooperant and head of mission, implemented a standard accounting management system in the community’s schools.

Over a period of three years, some thirty CPAs traveled to Haiti to implement the accounting system and train the sisters in its use.

A national partnership

Senegal

TSF collaborates with the National Association of Catholic Health Institutions and Structures in Senegal (ANESCS in French). This national NGO has been active in the health sector since 1967 through health posts located in most regions of the country.

Since the beginning of its partnership, TSF has collaborated with ANESCS by sending volunteer cooperants, providing capacity building, and purchasing equipment.

Support for education

East and Central Africa

The founding community of TSF, the Brothers of Christian Instruction are active with young people through formal and informal education. They have founded a number of primary and secondary schools in Central and East Africa. With their logistical support, three Sisters of Providence, Sr. Emma Mudrik, Sr. Louise Touchette, and Sr. Céline Tremblay, founded the Providence Technical School in Nebbi, Uganda, in 2014. The school brings together young boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 25, with little or no schooling, who come to seek technical training that will give them the tools for a better future.