SOS Children’s Villages Kenya, CBA Partner to give back to the society

By Eric Akasa

Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) today, 20^th July 2012 entered into a partnership with SOS Children’s Villages Kenya as part of the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.

CBA is one of the largest privately-owned Kenyan banks, whose primary focus is Corporate, Institutional and Personal Banking. The bank is particularly active in providing a comfortable, elegant and secure environment for our corporate clients, institutional clients, foreign missions, NGOs and the aspirational end of the personal banking market to transact their financial business.

“The partnership with SOS Children’s Villages Kenya is a great illustration of the Bank’s commitment to serving communities in which it operates. CBA’s CSR program places strong emphasis on education and are convinced that education is a means to empower children to become active participants in the transformation of their societies. Education is the essential path to get out of poverty.” Notes Jeremy Ngunze, CBA Group Head of Business Management.

“This focus on education is one of the reasons why SOS Children’s Villages Kenya was considered a natural partner for the Bank.”Says Ngunze. “As a bank we are not only interested in pursuit of material wealth, but rather the appreciation of a life rich with experience, lived by those who aspire to reach the pinnacle of self-actualization through education. When we were seeking out possible community-based organizations to support”,our principle driver, first and foremost, was credible and trusted NGOs with measurable and robust track records in community development work.” he explains, We also wanted to focus on a CBO with a strong and dynamic education program. As one of the oldest, most trusted NGOs in Kenya – with homes and educational facilities that continue to positively impact the lives of hundreds of children and youth, SOS Children’s Villages was a natural choice.”

Ruth Okowa, the SOS Children’s Villages Kenya National Director, concurs. “We are delighted that our discussions with CBA have culminated in this positive, long term partnership.” As part of this agreement, CBA will participate in the organization’s Adopt-a-House scheme, in which corporates contribute KES 900,000/- towards the general upkeep of 10 SOS Children every year. Ruth Okowa also explains that “taking care of our society’s orphaned and abandoned children is a shared responsibility…we play our part in offering quality care to the hundreds of vulnerable children under our care, but we rely on friends and partners to help us meet the high costs involved. This crucial support from CBA will, therefore, ensure that the housing, education, nutritional and medical costs of 10 of our children are covered for a whole year.”

In agreeing to participate in the SOS Children’s Villages Kenya Adopt-a-House scheme, CBA will be joining several other partners who already actively support this program.

SOS Children’s Villages is the largest child welfare organization in the world. Founded in Austria in 1949, the organization provides quality long-term care for orphaned and vulnerable children through its Children’s Villages, SOS Schools, Family Strengthening Programs, Socia

and Medical Centers. In Kenya, SOS Children’s Villages is active in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Meru, Kisumu and Marsabit. Our mission is to build families for children in need, helping them shape their own futures. We also share in the development of the communities our children come from.

To date over 10,000 children and youth have benefited from our programs and interventions, with over 1,000 currently under our care. CBA’s sponsorship will benefit 10 SOS Children from the newly opened SOS Children’s Villages Kisumu.