Amãna Bank OrphanCare bags another global accolade

Amãna Bank’s flagship and much-loved CSR initiative OrphanCare was bestowed the Gold award for CSR Project of the Year at the regionally held IFFSA Awards 2020, which recognises the performance and projects of non-interest based banking and finance institutions in the South Asian region. 

Despite a challenging 2020, Amãna Bank OrphanCare continued to make progress by ensuring continuous disbursements of funds to beneficiary orphan accounts, which currently exceeds 2,800. In addition to winning the Gold award for CSR Project of the Year, the success of OrphanCare was further testified when it won the Gold Award for Social Uplfitment Project at the SLIBFI Awards 2020 and also contributing to Amãna Bank winning the Social Responsible Bank of the Year at the IRB Awards 2019 held in Oman.

Commenting on this award Amãna Bank OrphanCare Trust Chairman Ruzly Hussain stated “We are very honoured to once again win a global award for our benevolent OrphanCare programme, encouraging us further to continue in our cause by giving orphan children a reasonable choice in their future. On behalf of my fellow Trustees, I am appreciative of all our donors, well-wishers, Bank employees, management of orphanages, partners and other stakeholders for their contribution in assisting OrphanCare reach great heights.”

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.