Fondation Rolf Schnyder.

Digital literacy has become as fundamental as reading or arithmetic. The ability to think computationally — to break a problem down, spot patterns, and reason through to a solution — now underpins nearly every field a child might grow into, from healthcare and agriculture to engineering and design. That’s why building that capacity early, especially for children who might otherwise be left out of the digital economy, sits at the center of our work today. It’s also led us into a newer question: how children learn to work thoughtfully with AI, through our HAIL™ (Human-Centred AI for Learning) framework and initiatives like Kids: Bits & Bytes™.

But this isn’t a new direction for us — it’s simply the newest chapter of something that began over a decade ago. We were established in 2012 at the wish of the late Rolf W. Schnyder — the visionary behind Ulysse Nardin and husband of our founder, Chai Schnyder — to leave the world a little better than he found it. (Known until 2014 as Fondation Rolf Schnyder – Ulysse Nardin.)

From the beginning, education has been the throughline of everything we do — the conviction that lifting a child’s ability to learn lifts an entire family, and in time, a community. Over more than a decade across eight countries, that conviction has taken whatever shape each community needed most. In Myanmar, we helped fund two community clinics that together treat tens of thousands of patients a year, and a children’s home for young patients needing ongoing medical care. In Mexico, we funded four new classrooms at a school built to educate girls from low-income households. In the Philippines, we funded a self-sustaining aquaponics program at a residential school for children who once lived on the street. In other communities, that same conviction has taken a different shape — sustainable microfinance initiatives, WASH infrastructure in schools, nutrition security programs, inclusive programs for children with disabilities, and community-led child protection systems, each built around what was needed most and designed to last.

All of it traces back to one person. Our founder, Datin Chai Schnyder, leads with conviction, strength, and vision. She built this work on the belief that individual effort matters, and that education is the surest way to give a child a real chance at a different future. That same conviction, strength, and vision still shape the heart of every initiative we run today.