Education and safety combine in Philippines sponsorship
Swiss Re partners with Gawad Kalinga to build a pre-school/ community emergency centre in the Philippines.
Swiss Re has a long-standing record of community involvement in the Philippines and has funded diverse activities such as the building of homes, tree-planting and now the construction of a pre-school/emergency relief centre.
Since 2003, Swiss Re has had an ongoing collaboration with Gawad Kalinga, a non-governmental organisation that seeks to alleviate poverty and raise awareness of some of the major issues faced by poor Filipinos. The organisation has built many homes for the poor and Swiss Re’s past donations and involvement have contributed to house-building activities as well as tree-planting in the watershed areas around Manila.
Swiss Re’s latest contribution is to sponsor the building of a pre-school/emergency relief centre in Napikos, Pasig City within Metro Manila. Due for completion in June 2008, the building is spread over two floors, with the ground floor serving as a school for about 20 children from the local community of Napikos. The school could potentially serve other children from neighbouring communities, given the limited number of schools in the area.
The upper floor will be used to provide emergency relief in case of extreme weather conditions. The Pasig area of the Philippines is well known for its often devastating floods that can wipe out the livelihoods of entire communities.
Swiss Re’s contribution will not stop there. For example, Swiss Re risk engineers will offer residents of Napikos courses in basic fire safety and first aid, educating them in disaster relief management. These specialists will also evaluate the different types of risks the community faces, providing advice and support on how to mitigate the risks over time.
This sponsorship is especially meaningful to many of Swiss Re’s close to 1,000 staff in Asia. Staff have been mobilised to raise funds that will be used to pay for furnishing the school and also contribute towards the salary of a school teacher. A group of over ten Swiss Re employees have volunteered to travel in June 2008, on personal funds, to Napikos to engage in different activities with the children and paint both the interior and exterior of the school.
This engagement is representative of the true spirit that drives Swiss Re’s corporate conscience; providing not only resources, but also mobilising people to take an active interest in the welfare of the community at large.
Client Manager Sandra Capay has been drumming up support and funding for the Gawad Kalinga project for some years, and is based in Swiss Re Singapore. If you’d like more information on the project or have anything to say, please feel free to drop her a note.
For more examples of Swiss Re's work in the community, click here.
