Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
The HSBC Global Education Trust has launched 'Future First', a global USD10 million, 5-year initiative (2007-2012) collaborating with SOS Children's Villages - the world's largest NGO for orphans - and with local charitable organisations in countries where HSBC has a presence, to provide education, healthcare, counselling and shelter to hundreds of thousands of street children, children in care and foster children.
Future First projects will be identified globally through an annual bidding process conducted by HSBC Country Coordinators globally. These coordinators will collaborate with local charitable organisations to submit a street children/children in need project for consideration by the programme secretariat in Mumbai, India. Countries will also be encouraged to submit separate bids for a local SOS Children's Village project from amongst the 47 countries where SOS Children's Villages and HSBC have a common presence. All bids will be reviewed by the secretariat in Mumbai for consideration by trustees of the HSBC Global Education Trust in the UK three times per year.
Dame Mary Richardson, Chief Executive of the HSBC Global Education Trust said,"We think this is going to make a measurable difference in the lives of some of the most marginalised and impoverished members of society. HSBC believes financial institutions have a role to play in helping to integrate youth from disadvantaged backgrounds into the fabric of society, not only to improve the quality of their lives, but also so they can be fully active citizens who contribute to the economic prosperity of their local communities."
According to UNICEF, every year over half of all births in the developing world (excluding China) go unregistered, denying more than 50 million children a basic birthright: recognition as a citizen. UNICEF and WHO estimates show that 100 million children spend a large portion of their lives on the streets, where they are exposed to abuse and exploitation. An estimated 171 million children are working in hazardous conditions and with dangerous machinery, including in factories, mines and agriculture. Some 8.4 million children work in the worst forms of child labour, including prostitution and debt bondage, where children are exploited in slave-like conditions to pay off a debt.
In the United Kingdom alone, according to the Department for Education and Skills, there are some 60,000 children in care at any one time. Only 11% of children in care attained five good GCSEs in 2005 compared with 56% of all children, and similar performance gaps exist at all ages both before and after Key Stage 4 (secondary school). The long-term outcomes of children in care are also shocking. They are over-represented in a range of vulnerable groups including those not in education, employment or training post-16, teenage parents, young offenders, drug users and prisoners.
Helmut Kutin, President, SOS Children's Villages International said, "The establishment of a long-term partnership with HSBC is an exceptionally proud and exciting landmark for SOS Children's Villages and one which I am sure will create substantial improvements to vulnerable lives around the world.
"Working together over the next five years, SOS Children's Villages and HSBC will support some of the world's most vulnerable orphaned and abandoned children and their communities. By providing an education, vocational skills and basic but vital support through difficult times, HSBC will assist SOS in ensuring a secure future for these children and their families for generations to come."
Malini Thadani, Head of Public Affairs for HSBC in India, who will lead the initiative for the HSBC Global Education Trust, said: "Education for some is the three 'Rs' [reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic]. For street children, education is the acquisition of a life skill that can help to provide them with a livelihood, a chance to enter the mainstream of society and to become useful and valuable members of their communities".
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HSBC Global Education Trust
The HSBC Global Education Trust, led by Dame Mary Richardson, was established in January 2001 to provide a focus for the HSBC Group's educational projects. It seeks to open doors of opportunity for young people by raising standards of education and focusing on:
-- primary and secondary education programmes for children or schools in disadvantaged areas
-- language programmes (particularly Mandarin)
-- programmes to promote international understanding among young people
-- programmes that encourage greater understanding of business and finance
-- attitudinal education
The HSBC Education Trust works with schools and communities to enhance young people's educational experience in and out of the classroom. For more information, visit http://www.hsbc.com/csr
HSBC Holdings plc
The HSBC Group is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. The Group has around 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, serves over 125 million customers and has assets of US$1,738 billion as at 30 June 2006.
SOS Children's Villages
SOS Children's Villages provides family homes for children who have no one else to care for them. We currently care directly for 60,000 orphaned or abandoned children in 444 unique children's villages in 124 countries around the world. Almost one million people also benefit from SOS outreach programmes, which include nurseries, schools, vocational training as well as medical centres and community development programmes. SOS Children's Villages also runs emergency relief programmes in situations of crisis and disaster and continues to support families in Pakistan and tsunami-affected countries.
Rajesh Joshi, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), + 91 (022) 2268 1695 rajeshjoshi@hsbc.co.in
Neha Hora, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), + 91 (022) 2268 5337 nehahora@hsbc.co.in
Source: Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) (Business Wire India)
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