MSC marks its 12-year partnership with UNICEF in support of the world’s children
The partnership raised 11 million euros in support of UNICEF’s work globally and will continue with fresh commitment to UNICEF’s education programmes
GENEVA/ZURICH, 25 FEBRUARY 2022 –The MSC Foundation today announced that it has raised a total of 11 million euros for UNICEF’s global programmes for children, a major milestone in the partnership’s 12-year history. The Foundation’s support, which includes funds raised through the Get On Board for Children campaign on MSC cruise ships, has helped UNICEF promote education in Brazil, fight malaria worldwide and provide life-saving malnutrition treatment to more than 115, 000 children in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Malawi and China. MSC’s contributions to emergency relief have helped UNICEF respond to Covid-19 in Lebanon, the impact of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, flooding in Malawi and Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We are very proud that our partnership with UNICEF has passed yet another inspiring milestone, with €11 million raised to date,” commented Daniela Picco, Executive Director of the MSC Foundation. “Our partnership has produced impressive results for children over the years, bearing clear testimony to MSC’s strong family values.”
In 2021, the MSC Foundation renewed its commitment to UNICEF, extending the partnership until the end of 2022. Funding from the foundation is supporting a UNICEF education programme in Côte d’Ivoire, where 1.6 million children currently do not attend school, partly due to the insufficient number of classrooms available.
The UNICEF programme, called Plastic Waste to Classrooms, aims to tackle this challenge while also reducing plastic waste. Through the programme, women are encouraged to bring the plastic waste they collect in their communities to a UNICEF-supported factory, where it is turned into durable bricks. The recycled plastic bricks are then used to build new classrooms. To date, 71 classrooms have been built, helping provide quality education to more than 3500 children and creating jobs for marginalized women.
“The MSC Foundation’s longstanding trust and support to UNICEF has been invaluable,” said Carla Haddad Mardini, UNICEF’s Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division. “MSC’s renewed commitment to strengthening children’s education, towards one of our most innovative, multidimensional programmes, gives us yet another opportunity to collectively do everything we can to keep children in school and continue learning.”
For media enquiries, please contact:
Sohini Roychowdhury
Communication Specialist
UNICEF
Tel: +41 79433 5264
[email protected]
About MSC Foundation
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the MSC Foundation is the philanthropic foundation the MSC Group. Established by the Aponte family in 2019, the Foundation supports causes in the fields of environmental conservation, community support, education and emergency relief. Its mission is to utilize MSC’s global reach and knowledge of the sea to take action that contributes to protecting and nurturing the blue planet and its people. For more information, visit: www.mscfoundation.org and and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram
About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.
