Hannah Kooren
The top performer of the month is Hannah. Everyone who knows Join for Joy, knows Hannah. What started with a dream has grown into Join for Joy and Hannah has had a really important role in it. We enjoyed her energy, big motivation and admire her enormous perseverance. She will now take a step back but fortunately she will not leave us completely. We are very proud of you Hannah and we hope we will still enjoy your energy for a long time!
Message from Hannah:
After eight great years as co-founder and managing director of Join for Joy, I left the office since the 1st of July 2019 and transferred my activities to my team .
On March 17, 2011, alongside Michiel Schul, Michiel Löwenberg, Gugi van de Velden and Minke van Geen, I signed for the official establishment of Join for Joy. With an enormous dedication, passion and slight ignorance for what was to come, we embarked on a special adventure. The purpose of Join for Joy; “Contributing to the quality of life for children in developing countries through sport and play” was clear. This mission has since been tightened up somewhat, but the core is still standing
Looking back on the past 8 years, I am incredibly proud. It was not always easy, but we always worked with an intrinsically motivated team and took enormous steps towards the professionalization of Join for Joy. Within the organization and within our strategy and projects. Last year we received our first subsidy from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we were awarded the CBF quality mark. A number of “milestones” that I only dared to dream of in 2011. But even more important; we started with the “Monitoring and Evaluation” program, whereby the results of our program can now be made measurable. Sports and play contribute to fewer dropouts at school and make boys and girls more resilient to the major challenges they face every day. Learning through play makes school a happy and safe place for children. These results have always been an important incentive for my work.
Today, Join for Joy, led by Minke van Geen, still consists of a very solid and ambitious team, in the Netherlands but also in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and recently Malawi. As the mother of 3 very young children, this also feels like the right time to say goodbye as managing director and make the move to a position as chairman within the board of directors of Join for Joy. A role that currently fits better with my current personal situation and the great growth of Join for Joy.
I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank a number of people. In the first place Minke van Geen and Martine Beijerman with whom I have worked incredibly hard and with great pleasure for so many years to realize a big dream. In addition, the current board led by co-founder Michiel Schul, who literally acts day and night voluntarily as the right hand of our team. But also all donors, large and small, who not only make a financial contribution but also often act as an advisory body and with whom discussions regularly lead to valuable brainstorming sessions. And finally our partners Macheo in Kenya, Caritas in Uganda and Sport in Action in Zambia. Without these partners we are nowhere. The coordinators on site who guide the schools in their training process are the true “top performers” of Join for Joy and do fantastic work, each in their own way!
I am really looking forward to my new role as chairman of the board of Join for Joy.
Sincerely,
Hannah Kooren
