Sandrine Platteau, Belgian ambassador to Benin, visits our projects

“Limited resources, big impact”: that’s how Sandrine Platteau described the Hubi & Vinciane Foundation after visiting our projects in Benin. Our local team in Benin had put together an extensive and intensive program to perfection for the ambassador. For three days, she discovered the different areas where the Foundation aims to make a difference through its projects.

In the health field, they visited the two partner hospitals; at the Saint-Martin de Papané hospital, they were guided by director Emile Kouthon, who emphasized that almost all the infrastructure had been financed by the Foundation. The delegation stopped momentarily before the commemorative stele erected in honour of Hubi & Vinciane.

At the St. Jean de Dieu hospital, the ambassador was able to see for herself the significant shortage of beds in the maternity ward, with some forty women about to give birth admitted every day.

In agriculture and entrepreneurship, Madame Platteau visited one of the newly-created community vegetable gardens and the Sokounon educational farm. We also met the Rector of the University of Parakou and visited the research site of the Aquaponie project financed by the Foundation.

In the field of balanced nutrition, she was able to taste the preparations of a cooking workshop organized by one of our local employees in one of the villages and was explained the inclusive approach to the fight against malnutrition and the screening and monitoring of babies and young children.

During a visit to the Bonsi Elementary School, the ambassador saw that we promote healthy, balanced nutrition in schools. The school’s vegetable garden, created with the support of our agricultural experts, enables children to enjoy a vegetable-rich lunch. The ambassador also met the FANs (Filles Ambassadrices de Nutrition), who try to convince their classmates and schoolmates of the importance of good hygiene and healthy eating.

Sandrine Platteau was surprised to see the positive impact our Foundation is having on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people with relatively limited resources compared to other organizations.

She also greatly appreciated our cross-functional, integrated approach to malnutrition issues. We don’t limit our projects to nutrition but actively invest in related fields such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, education, health, and ecology.

For the future, Sandrine Platteau hopes that our projects will become more autonomous, with sustainable and structural funding to reach other regions of Benin.

The Beninese and Belgian teams were delighted and honoured by the ambassador’s visit to our projects.

Bekijk hier het filmpje dat gemaakt werd van haar werkbezoek aan de Stichting