Partnership in favour of the child

On July 10, BelVEB Bank and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Belarus joined forces to help children and signed a partnership agreement. The Bank organises a social and sports marathon among its employees for charitable purposes. At the end of the project, all sports achievements of the participants will be converted into Belarusian rubles and transferred to support the UNICEF programme for the development of inclusion in Belarus.

On June 3, BelVEB Bank's social and sports marathon ‘Everest 2.0: Conquering Space Olympus’ was launched. The participants - the Bank's employees and their relatives - are going to virtually conquer Olympus on Mars or the highest point of the solar system step by step. The participants have to be physically active and use a special mobile application, which will award points for training, steps and other tasks. The goal of the challenge is to collect enough points to reach the top of the Martian Olympus.

The accumulated points will be converted into money, which BelVEB Bank will donate to support the UNICEF programme implemented in Belarus. Namely, to purchase assistive equipment (e.g. communicators, touch keyboards) for special education institutions: kindergartens, schools, correctional-developmental education and rehabilitation centres. This will help to improve access to education for children with disabilities, especially children with severe and multiple developmental disorders.

For some people, a speech communicator, touch keyboard or speech synthesiser are new and confusing words. For others, they are an integral part of everyday life. All these are assistive technologies that help children with disabilities to feel in touch with the world around them, simplify the lives of boys and girls with special developmental needs, help them to receive education on an equal basis with other children and make plans for the future.

This is the second year of such a challenge for BelVEB Bank. At the first launch the employees conquered Everest, the highest mountain point of the Earth (hence the name for the project, so beloved by the participants). Based on the results of the ‘ascent’ to Everest, the Bank provided financial assistance to the students of boarding school for children with special educational needs No. 10 in Minsk, an institution that the Bank has cared for for more than 10 years.

UNICEF in Belarus, together with national partners, thanks to the support of international donors, private donations and businesses, cares for children in Belarus, especially the most vulnerable - those left without parental love, those affected by violence, those with disabilities and many others.