“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.”
Our Mission
We improve the English skills of kids in the communities we support, while imparting them essential knowledge and values that can contribute to the sustainable development of their community. By providing them with inspiration and a broader perspective, we strive to open them a path to a better future.
Our Vision
Our ambition is to make a lasting impact on our partner communities by providing generations of children with English skills and inspiration using continually improved teaching methods.
Our Impact in Numbers
We aim to provide the best possible help to our pupils and thus privilege the quality of our teaching over the number of pupils we reach. We take pride in making the most of the means at our disposal.
400
Children reached in 2022
40
Volunteers sent in 2022
##%
Of our budget devoted to onsite project expenses
Our Impact in Stories
Our carefully selected student volunteers travel to the country and work directly with the children to improve their English skills, triggering an exchange of cultures and values. The volunteers ultimately also transmit essential knowledge which they have as committed HSG students, and support the children in becoming capable leaders in their societies.
Viola, Volunteer (São Paulo)
My impact on the children in the Brazilian favela is best perceived in terms of having inspired and motivated them to learn.
While educational systems in western countries have been improved, this is not necessarily the case for developing countries.
It is possible to help developing countries improve their educational system in many ways: by spending money, participating in fundraising events or even just by raising awareness . However, as I experienced on my volunteering trip with PIECES in São Paulo, Brazil, the impact is different if one engages directly with the children. It is less about the specific language skills transferred in an English lesson, but more about inspiration. When children see that a person is actually able to learn another language and then teach it to them, they realize that they can do it as well. In addition, the direct interaction with another person from another culture shows them that there are other cultures than their own and that learning languages, especially English, can help them to communicate with other people. Thus, my impact on the children in the Brazilian favela is best perceived in terms of having inspired and motivated them to learn.
Viola, Volunteer (São Paulo)
My impact on the children in the Brazilian favela is best perceived in terms of having inspired and motivated them to learn.
While educational systems in western countries have been improved, this is not necessarily the case for developing countries.
It is possible to help developing countries improve their educational system in many ways: by spending money, participating in fundraising events or even just by raising awareness . However, as I experienced on my volunteering trip with PIECES in São Paulo, Brazil, the impact is different if one engages directly with the children. It is less about the specific language skills transferred in an English lesson, but more about inspiration. When children see that a person is actually able to learn another language and then teach it to them, they realize that they can do it as well. In addition, the direct interaction with another person from another culture shows them that there are other cultures than their own and that learning languages, especially English, can help them to communicate with other people. Thus, my impact on the children in the Brazilian favela is best perceived in terms of having inspired and motivated them to learn.
Viola, Volunteer (São Paulo)
Read
My impact on the children in the Brazilian favela is best perceived in terms of having inspired and motivated them to learn.
While educational systems in western countries have been improved, this is not necessarily the case for developing countries.
It is possible to help developing countries improve their educational system in many ways: by spending money, participating in fundraising events or even just by raising awareness . However, as I experienced on my volunteering trip with PIECES in São Paulo, Brazil, the impact is different if one engages directly with the children. It is less about the specific language skills transferred in an English lesson, but more about inspiration. When children see that a person is actually able to learn another language and then teach it to them, they realize that they can do it as well. In addition, the direct interaction with another person from another culture shows them that there are other cultures than their own and that learning languages, especially English, can help them to communicate with other people. Thus, my impact on the children in the Brazilian favela is best perceived in terms of having inspired and motivated them to learn.
Insights from volunteers - Zambia
Volunteer, winter 2022
"Generally, I can sum this experience up as just amazing. I think we were able to have an impact and in addition I learned a lot myself. I can only recommend doing this one in a lifetime out of
comfort zone experience."
Volunteer, summer 2022
"Teaching little kids in a primary school, living with locals and getting to know their culture, food and thus being able to deep dive into their way of life has been an absolutely marking, thought-provoking and eye-opening experience that I am beyond grateful to have had."
Volunteer, winter 2023
"What impressed me the most was the will to learn. The children are very eager to learn and motivated to participate in class, they collaborate and even ask for more homework" [...] "The four of us [volunteers] got pretty emotional when the whole school thanked us with a song at the end of our stay."
Insights from volunteers - Brazil
Volunteer, winter 2022
“My conclusion about this trip: Discovering a new culture, teaching teenagers, taking care of toddlers, observing the all-day life in a favela and traveling around Brazil with volunteers that you didn’t know before but turn out to be very good friends are all must-do experiences"
Volunteer, summer 2022
"The moments of exchange are sincere, diverse, and heartwarming. The goodbyes were not easy. Even though we do not have much in common with the children from the favela, it is incredible how we easily established friendships
with them. I realized that some feelings do not need a shared language to be fully lived."
Volunteer, winter 2023
"If I had to describe Arco [, the school,] in one word, I would use "magical". I forgot my sense of time here and enjoyed every moment with the children, the staff, the caregivers and the other helpers. Every single smile and hug after a couple of hours spent together is immortalised in my mind. These are the little moments that I will carry in my heart forever"
Our
Story
The Past and the Present
PIECES was founded in 2009 by students of the University of St. Gallen within the SIM Master’s program. As part of its curriculum, the SIM (Strategy and International Management) requires students to get involved in a social project. This is how a first group of three students went to Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua to teach as volunteers for the very first time. The experience was a huge success so the team decided to keep it going and turned this one-time project into an organisation, PIECES, that would continue to engage students in such initiatives. Since then, PIECES has greatly evolved and is currently organised with a board counting the heads of departments, active members, and an advisory board including the founding members and others, for them to guide and support the organisation at the university.