UNICEF's corporate partnerships

International partnerships: ING

The ING Chances for Children program provides children with the opportunity to learn and build a solid foundation for a brighter future by supporting projects geared toward children and education.
As a leading global financial institution, ING is committed to improving education on a global scale and supporting UNICEF's goal to ensure that every child has access to quality basic education. As a global UNICEF partner, ING supports long-term, integrated initiatives that produce measurable results. ING’s commitment to UNICEF contributes to Millennium Development Goal #2: "Achieve Universal Primary Education," which aims to ensure that children everywhere complete a full primary course by 2015.

ING’s Corporate Commitment
In the context of ING's commitment to socially responsible practices, ING has partnered with UNICEF through integrated approaches to support children and education. From 2006 through 2008, ING has pledged to contribute to UNICEF Education projects in Brazil, Ethiopia and India.

Employee Giving & Fundraising Activities
ING leverages its global reach by promoting employee giving and fundraising activities in support of UNICEF.

In 2007, to encourage employee involvement, ING committed to match all employee donations to ING Chances for Children, euro for euro. ING’s goal is to provide 120,000 children with access to quality education through UNICEF. This number is equal to the number of ING employees worldwide, and on average, it costs UNICEF 30 euros to send a child to school for a year.

ING and UNICEF are also involved with other nationally implemented activities, including volunteerism, customer fundraising activities, cause-related promotional initiatives, charitable donations, in-kind support, sponsorships and events, advocacy and the sale of UNICEF retail greetings cards and other products.

ING Chances for Children in Brazil
In the Amazon region of Brazil, UNICEF and ING are involved in the design and implementation of social and educational public policies geared towards children and education.

Schools catering to the 680,000 children living in the Pará region are among the most isolated in Brazil, often located along tributaries in the rainforest. Most teachers work alone in unsuitable buildings and classes typically include children from several different age groups. As a result, many children will never learn the basics and will often drop out of school at a very early age.

With the help of ING funding, the UNICEF-supported EducAmazônia project aims to create a framework in which local government, community leaders, and parents can understand and actively address critical issues faced by the Pará region’s rural education system.

ING Chances for Children in Ethiopia
In Afar, Ethiopia, UNICEF and ING support Alternative Basic Education, a non-formal type of primary education developed though pilot schemes supported by the Ministry of Education.

The people of Ethiopia suffer from natural and man-made disasters, wars and conflicts, abject poverty, underdevelopment, poor health and inadequate educational services. The Afar People are particularly vulnerable to many of these afflictions.

The ING Chances for Children-supported project operating in the area aims to provide basic educational opportunities to children and youth outside the formal primary education system. It is estimated that over 7,500 children will have access to primary school for the first time during the three years period of the project duration.

ING Chances for Children in India
In the States of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, India, UNICEF and ING are actively involved with providing quality education for working children. In India, child labour is rooted in the unequal socio-economic relations that define Indian society, and is often a source of income for poor families. Many children contribute to maintaining the economic level of their households either by working for minimal wages or by helping with chores and caring for younger siblings to free their parents to work elsewhere. An overwhelming majority of children in India who work in industries such as carpet-making, match manufacturing, brassware and glass production belong to these socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

Because of this reality, millions of children grow up illiterate or barely literate. Consequently, the cycle of poverty and the demand for child labour is perpetuated. Though poverty and social class are typically cited as the major causes of child labour, they are not the only determinants. Lack of schools, inadequate educational infrastructure, teacher apathy, and expenses related to education leave some children with little else to do but work. The attitudes of parents also contribute to child labour. Some parents feel children should work to develop useful jobs skills instead of taking advantage of formal education, which is perceived as being irrelevant and alienating to their social context.

Tackling child labour effectively means attacking its underlying root causes. Good quality primary education is the right of every child, and is paramount to improving children's present and future livelihoods. The ING Chances for Children program in India focuses on providing quality education for working children and complements India’s constitutional and legislative protection of children from exploitation and hazardous employment.

About ING
ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance, and asset management services to over 60 million private, corporate, and institutional clients in over 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of about 120,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that serve their clients under the ING brand. ING offers numerous opportunities to involve its employees with UNICEF. Well-trained ING employees with specific expertise in banking, insurance, asset management, marketing, sales and IT offer valuable volunteering and fundraising potential to UNICEF.

Back to International Partnership examples