YEREVAN, March 22. / ARKA /.HSBC has pledged an additional US$15 million over five years to extend Future First, the Group’s flagship global education program that aims to tackle child poverty through education projects, HSBC Bank Armenia said in a press release today. This raises total commitment of US$25m over ten years.
Future First was started by HSBC in 2006 and has since provided some of the world’s most marginalized and impoverished young people with access to education and life skills, as well as a brighter, better future, according to the press release. It said over the last five years, HSBC has spent US$10 million to fund 314 projects across 49 countries, delivering vital support to more than half a million underprivileged children and children in care. The new funding will extend the program to a host of new countries and expand its scope to cover all children at risk.
In Armenia, Future First has undertaken six projects with local NGOs making a material difference to the lives of 1862 underprivileged children. The charities supported through Future First funding in Armenia are Junior Achievement of Armenia (JAA), Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), SOS Children’s Villages (Kotayk), The Future is Yours and Full Life (Liarzhek Kyank).
“Education is generally considered to be one of the most powerful tools to reduce poverty and inequality, so the extension of the Future First program is very good news. This will mean we are able to provide support to additional projects in Armenia in the future,” said Astrid Clifford, HSBC Armenia Chief Executive Officer.Future First works in partnership with NGOs in countries where HSBC has a presence, funding individual projects selected through an annual bidding process conducted by HSBC Country Coordinators globally. Coordinators collaborate with local NGOs to develop a funding submission for a local project that supports at-risk children, submitting applications to the program secretariat based in Mumbai, India. Bids are also considered for existing local SOS Children’s Village projects in countries where SOS and HSBC share a presence.
Investing in the community is an important element of HSBC’s sustainability strategy and our work focuses on two key areas: education, particularly for disadvantaged children and financial literacy, and the environment. In 2010, HSBC invested USD108 million in communities around the world with 50% spent on education projects. -0-
