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Adani Foundation joins hands with UNICEF to promote Child Survival and Development in Kutch district

© UNICEF/ 2008/ Gurinder Gulati

Ms Preeti Adani, Managing Trustee, Adani Foundation and Dr Yogendra Mathur, State Representative UNICEF exchanging the MOU

Gurinder Gulati

Ahmedabad, 1st April 2008: It was a historic day, when the Adani Foundation, one of the top ranking corporate houses of Gujarat, and UNICEF signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to work together on improving the well-being of children in the district of Kutch in Gujarat, especially those belonging to the most excluded communities.

Under the MoU, UNICEF will provide technical assistance to the Adani Foundation to develop strategies to ensure the survival, development, protection and participation of children in Kutch district. The Adani Foundation will provide human and financial resources for the implementation of programme interventions. UNICEF will help in building the capacity of the Adani Foundation’s core team to a) improve quality of education, b) promote sanitation and hygiene behaviour, c) undernutrition prevention through regular growth monitoring and adoption of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices and d) HIV/AIDS prevention.   
 
The Adani Foundation is a well known Gujarat based corporate house, in the fields of Oil & Gas, Ports, Infrastructure, Retail, etc.  As a part of their growing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, the Adani Foundation has now taken it upon itself improvement in the situation of families, and particularly children, living in their Mundra Port city and several villages of Mundra block in Kutch.  

“We were highly impressed by the child-friendly schools and anganwadi (childcare) centres constructed by UNICEF after the 2001 earthquake. We now seek UNICEF’s guidance in improving the situation of children in Kutch district”, said Dr Preeti Adani, Managing Trustee of Adani Foundation.

The MoU is an outcome of a sustained dialogue between Adani Foundation and UNICEF. With the signing of this MoU the two have arrived at a common understanding that will accelerate the achievement of the MDGs in Kutch district.  Encouraged by the interest shown by the Adani Foundation, Dr Yogendra Mathur, UNICEF State Representative, says, “Fulfilling the rights of children is a challenging task.  It is not possible for any organization to do it alone. The lead taken by the Adanis is commendable and I hope other companies will also come forward to address the many issues relating to children in Gujarat.”

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