NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 4 – Over 160 educational institutional countrywide will benefit from a Kenya Commercial Bank-sponsored week long community initiative geared towards assisting the less fortunate in the society.
The 2009 KCB Community Week began on Saturday with the selected needy institutions across expected to receive educational materials worth over Sh15 million from the KCB Foundation.
KCB Group Chief Executive, Martin Oduor-Otieno announced that more than 180 teams comprising KCB branches and departments in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda would be working with various needy communities to address their educational needs assign that education continues to play a key role in youth empowerment both economically and socially.
"There is a need to improve on our education system and sharpen the skills of our people. An educated youth population is an asset for this nation. It will facilitate the realisation of the vision 2030 and contribute towards the prosperity of this nation," he said.
He added that the KCB Community Week was a modest way of promoting the government’s free primary education programme while at the same time addressing special cases like homes for the disadvantaged.
The bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility programmes over the past seven years have targeted a cross-section of the country’s social sectors under the themes of environment, health, education, entrepreneurship, water, sanitation, welfare and sports.
"This is very much in line with one of our key corporate values of caring for the community. During the Community Week, our teams will help construct classrooms and libraries, donate reading and teaching materials and any support that may boost the learning of disadvantaged children," he added.
This year, the bank will extend support to Nairobi River Primary School in Nairobi’s Buruburu Estate, which also caters for some of the Most Vulnerable Children. The school built in the early 1980s now has a population of over 1600 students from Buruburu estates and the surrounding slums areas. The facilities at the school have been strained with the student population in class rising from 35 to 90 pupils per class since the introduction of free primary education.
"We are happy to note that the teachers of this school have an initiative to feed the Most Vulnerable Children (MVC) and each week you set funds aside to feed 40 students, which is a noble initiative. We are today donating reading materials, textbooks and food worth over Sh160,000 to support the school and we do hope that this support will contribute positively towards improving educational standards in this school," said Oduor-Otieno.
The KCB Foundation was launched in August 2007 to facilitate corporate social investment programmes for the KCB Group. In the first year of its operation the Foundation gave support worth Sh60 million and this year the amount rose to Sh90million.
Through its social responsibility programme, KCB has supported educational initiatives over the past eight years. These initiatives range from construction of classrooms, donation of reading and writing materials, purchasing school equipment and furniture, provide scholarship programmes and boost learning for disadvantaged children.
KCB staff also give mentoring sessions, career advice and motivational talks to various educational institutions in the communities in which they operate.
"The KCB Foundation will continue to provide valuable assistance to various communities in the country as needs arise," he concluded.
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