Amãna Bank OrphanCare wins Gold for Social Upliftment Project of the Year

Amãna Bank’s highly acclaimed CSR initiative, OrphanCare was recognized with the Gold Award for Social Upliftment Project of the Year at the recently concluded SLIBFI Awards 2020 adjudicated by KPMG.

Commenting on the accolade OrphanCare Trust Chairman Ruzly Hussain said “Winning this Gold Award is an encouragement for Amãna Bank OrphanCare which continues to benefit orphan children by giving them a reasonable choice in life. This award testifies the growing acceptance of our programme that is alleviating the financial status of Orphan children once they leave institutional care.  I would like to thank my fellow Trustees, Donors, Bank Employees and Partners for their support towards our cause. ”

Also sharing his thoughts on the progress of the OrphanCare programe, Head of OrphanCare Azad Zaheed said “Despite the pandemic, we have been steadfast in our activities, continuing to distribute funds while also increasing the number of beneficiaries, showcasing the growing interest on the OrphanCare program. To date Amãna Bank OrphanCare has enrolled over 2,800 deserving orphan children across the country and has completed 5 rounds of fund disbursements.”

Amãna Bank OrphanCare was established as an independent trust with the aim of addressing a very important yet mostly unattended need of orphan children; which is to secure the fate of orphans once they reach the age of 18 and are compelled to leave institutional care. Termed by UNICEF as ‘The Second Abandonment’, this growing concern is the challenge faced by orphans, who initially were abandoned in childhood, and who are now forced to transit or ‘age out’ of institutional care. The Bank’s approach seeks to intervene in a vital and decisive aspect of their problem which is funding. To that end the OrphanCare Trust has been making periodic deposits into orphans’ accounts until they reach the age of 18, at which point the funds will become accessible to them.

A unique highlight of the initiative is that the Bank ensures every rupee donated would reach the beneficiary since all administrative and operational costs are borne fully by the Bank. In enrolling orphans to the program Amãna Bank Orphan Care has honoured Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child where all enrolments are irrespective of the child’s or their parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or any other status.

Inviting to join the cause Mr Zaheed said “We invite all those who share our sentiments to support orphan children to join our cause. You can access the detailed prospectus on OrphanCare and other material by visiting  www.amanabank.lk/orphan-care  or by calling us on 011 775 6 775. We also invite the public to watch the OrphanCare story video ‘From Chance to Choice’ on www.bit.ly/orphan-care-video.”