NETJETS US VOLUME 9 2019

Imagine rows and rows of white tents, as
far as the eye can see, side by side. Each
may have ten to fifteen family members
living together in the same space. It is
their only world.”
Domitille Lagourgue, Director of Mission
Enfance, who has just returned from Iraq,
is describing the multitudes of displaced
refugees living on Iraqi soil, among them
more than 16,000 in the camp of Sharya,
in Iraqi Kurdistan. “They cannot remain in
these camps indefinitely because their entire
family structure is destabilized,” she says.
“The father, who might be a farmer, loses his
paternal authority, his role as the breadwinner.
All he has is a meal ticket.”
Which is why the French and Monégasque
organization Mission Enfance has a deepseated
commitment that goes beyond giving
aid to devastated, war-torn areas. “Our
leitmotif has always been rehabilitation. We
Children at a
Colombian school,
that has benefitted
from Mission
Enfance’s aid
encourage people to wait out the conflict
instead of fleeing and try to help them return
to the place where they were born,” says
Lagourgue. “Of course, we can’t send villagers
back to a dangerous place under bombardment.
But once they’re able to return to their homes
– which are often in very remote places – we
give them access to food, medical treatment
and, most importantly, we build schools.”
Lagourgue, an engaging, energetic
woman with lively eyes and mellifluous
voice, sits behind a wooden desk piled with
papers, notebooks, and Post-it Notes stuck
to the computer screen. Here and there are
framed photos of her with a team, visiting
construction sites or talking to children.
It is almost hard to imagine how so many
complex international projects originate from
this modest office, hidden away in Monaco’s
modern district, Fontvieille.
“School is a center of life, a place where
a terrorized child, who may have lost his
parents or his home, will be distracted. We try
to open their minds and bring them beyond
their suffering, so that they can experience
their childhood.”
The plight of refugees is, in fact, nothing
new to Lagourgue. In 1986, along with
her husband, Edouard, and their two small
daughters, she moved from Paris to live for
two years in Peshawar, Pakistan, near the
Afghan border. “It was during the political
unrest of the Soviet-Afghan war,” she
explains. “At the time, we were based at the
French humanitarian refugee camp staffed by
organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières.
We made incursions into Afghan territory,
even though the borders were closed.”
Working as a journalist for French
publications including L’Express and La
Croix, Lagourgue witnessed the migration of
millions of Afghans who fled to Pakistan or
Iran. “Every day, we saw caravans of camels
with families, carrying all their belongings,”
she recalls. “It was massive.”
In 1991, she relocated to Monaco, teaming
up with a Monégasque priest, Father Stéphane
Aumonier, who co-founded Mission
Enfance. “At the time, Prince Rainier III was
looking to expand humanitarian associations.
It gave us an opportunity to continue what
we’d already begun in Afghanistan and to
pursue an ideal that we believed in.”
Combining this association with
Lagourgue’s widespread network, the
small-scale organization quickly achieved
impressive results. To date, Mission Enfance
helps children who would otherwise never
have the possibility to attend school in places
including Afghanistan, Armenia, Burkina
Faso, Colombia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Laos,
Lebanon, Syria, and Vietnam.
In contrast with other humanitarian
organizations with more substantial budgets,
Mission Enfance focuses on projects in
isolated areas in the desert or the countryside
where larger NGOs don’t often venture.
“With €1.5 million, we build ten new schools
each year,” Lagourgue says. “In 28 years,
we have educated more than 1 million and
taught them to read and write.”
Their annual budget also covers a variety
of community programs: Among them, the
creation of ten educational centers with game
and toy libraries, six orphanages, a nursery,
and ten health clinics.
These days, under the Honorary Presidency
of HSH Prince Albert II, the Principality
of Monaco finances 80% of the charity’s
operations, while private donors contribute
the remaining 20% of the funding. With only
three permanent employees, 50 local workers
in the field and approximately 35 volunteers,
the low cost for internal operations is clearly
significant. “For a donation of €100, we send
€99.40 to the project area and take out next
to nothing,” affirms Lagourgue with a smile.
“We have 4,000 private donors, mostly in
France and Monaco. They know that their
money is going directly to the field.”
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“School is a centre of life,
a place where a terrorised
child will be distracted”
11 NetJets