Where would you sleep, live, and raise your kids without a safe place to call home? Adequate housing is recognized as a human right. Yet, in Nepal, nearly half of the population lives in substandard housing conditions, hindering their opportunities for social and economic advancement. Like many in her country, 29-year-old Pramila, a devoted mother of two, intimately understands the impact of this challenge.

Affordable Housing & Technology is one of the Hilti Foundation's focus areas. That involves more than the well-known Cement Bamboo Frame Technology, which provides safe and sustainable homes for families in need. The Foundation also supports the development and implementation of other solutions to improve the way families live and build.

This was a dream coming true for the talented young musicians of the Sinfonía por el Perú Youth Orchestra when they crossed the ocean this late summer: Performing together with world-renowned tenor and founder of Sinfonía por el Perú, Juan Diego Flórez, at three of the most prestigious and important classical music venues.

In August 2022, the Academy for Impact through Music (AIM) gathered 40 students, the so called “Firebirds” for the immersive part of their Fellowship journey. Although the second cohort, this residency was the first of its kind, notably including 40 Firebird Young Leaders aged 13-17. This was no normal ‘orchestral music camp’ - teachers from music for social change programs came from Brazil, the Canary Islands, Colombia, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Uganda and the USA, along with young musicians, music program leaders, expert faculty and staff in Lisbon for over 3 weeks to experiment with transformational teaching and learning approaches.

The Hilti Foundation and Habitat for Humanity are working together to scale Cement Bamboo Frame Fechnology in Nepal and the Philippines. This innovative building method was developed by Base Bahay Foundation, an organization founded by the Hilti Foundation. The homes built using this technology are constructed with specially treated bamboo and cement plaster that makes them disaster-resilient and sustainable.

1,200 low-income families have found a new home thanks to Cement Bamboo Frame Technology, a disaster-resilient construction solution developed by the Hilti Foundation.

Salzburg – Gstaad – Lucerne. These are the places where the Youth Orchestra Sinfonía por el Perú will give concerts during the last days of August and the first days of September. They will perform together with the world-famous tenor Juan Diego Flórez, who founded the social music program in Peru in 2011, and the Spanish conductor Roberto González-Monjas.

As a global phenomenon, the housing situation of the poor is dramatic: An estimated 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing, and this number will almost double until 2030. Most of them will end up in so-called informal settlements, starting to build by themselves. In Lima, Peru, like in many other regions of the world, housing construction is a long-lasting process, not a purchase. For low-income families in particular, construction costs are often more critical than quality, which impacts the families’ safety and health.

For decades, Hilti team members have shown great compassion by contributing to the communities they live and work in. As a socially responsible company, Hilti wants to support and encourage team members’ social commitment through the Engaged Beyond Business corporate volunteering program. The program was founded in 2020 together with the Hilti Foundation. The goal is clear: to provide every single Hilti team member worldwide with opportunities to participate in social initiatives beyond business.

Imagine, you are a smart girl with big dreams, but you have to leave school because your family can’t afford to pay tuition. Isn’t that unfair? While talents are equally well distributed all over the world, not everyone gets the opportunity to develop and use them. Agnes Wairimu Kagiri is 34 years old, married, and a mother of three who had to re-define herself and her future several times to live an independent and self-determined life.

To travel abroad and perform at major international festivals is the dream of many young musicians. This dream is now becoming reality for the Youth Orchestra of Sinfonía por el Perú, which is touring Europe for the first time with its founder, the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez.

Habitat for Humanity, a longtime partner organization of the Hilti Foundation, has started to build safe and disaster-resilient homes in Nepal for families in need. Since its inception in 1997, bamboo has been the environmentally friendly and local building material of choice for Habitat Nepal. But the current project is the first in the country to use the Hilti Foundation’s innovative CBFT.

“Side-by-side for a better future” is the motto under which the Academia Filarmónica Iberoamericana, or Iberacademy for short, based in Medellín, Colombia, is embarking on its second tour of Europe. The young musicians of the Iberacademy Orchestra will play impressive programs under the direction of Iberacademy founder Alejandro Posada and Roberto Gonzales-Mónjas, principal conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur, Switzerland.

July is a member of the National Youth Choir in Sinfonía por el Perú. For her, being part of the program has opened a completely new world. Not only did she discover a talent she didn’t know she had, but she has also found her favorite way to express herself and her feelings through music.

Due to the pandemic, many programs in the field of music for social change had to adapt their ways of collaboration.

Globally, an estimated 63 million children are not attending primary school and one in four girls suffer educational disadvantage. Agatha, now in her forties, used to be one of these girls.

The project-based cooperation between the Hilti Foundation and Hand in Hand International started in 2017, when the powerful educational program in rural East Africa was implemented. The training teaches basic entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy as well as best practice on livestock farming.

Globally, an estimated 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing. This has a significant impact not only on their safety and health, but also on their economic opportunities and social integration.

Since 2017, more than 16,000 women and men in Kenya and Tanzania have escaped extreme poverty. Felista now leads a more self-determined life and has already diversified her micro-business to be even more resilient.

Far beyond music education, the programs funded by the Hilti Foundation, aim to empower children and young people to overcome barriers and to grow personally.

The idea of music for social change was born in Venezuela in the 1970s and has since spread globally and inspired other programs.