2,431,000.00 Dinars Collected for Equipping Preschool Institutions in Serbia

Belgrade, 4 September 2023 – UNICEF’s traditional Fair Play half-court basketball tournament was held over the weekend at the Comtrade sports and event centre in Belgrade. The tournament gathered 20 teams from the business sector who contributed 2,431,000.00 dinars with their tournament registration fees. The funds are intended for the procurement of furniture, equipment and didactic materials for preschool institutions in Serbia. The Comtrade company hosted the tournament and supported the organization of this sporting event.

Teams of Banca Intesa, Generali Insurance Serbia, the “Serbian National Internet Domain Registry” Foundation, UniCredit Bank Serbia, Imlek, L’Oreal Balkan, Brose, SBB, Comtrade, Nordeus, Yettel, NIS, Lotus Flare, Robert Bosch, UNICEF displayed team spirit, fair play and the power of sport that unites teams and supports community development programmes, and the companies VODAVODA and Frikom provided refreshments support with their products.

The UniCredit Bank Serbia team won the tournament, NIS came in second, and third place went to the Banca Intesa team. The Robert Bosch team won the Fair Play Award. 

The tournament was opened by UNICEF Representative in Serbia, Deyana Kostadinova, who greeted the participants with the following words: “Sport connects us and teaches us – team spirit, discipline and pushing boundaries. We translate lessons from sports courts into real-life situations. And one of them is that together we can create a better future for every child. Investing in preschool education is definitely the best investment we can make together. Your commitment to making sure that all children get a fair chance to learn in the preschool period makes the business sector an important partner.”

UNICEF’s Fair Play tournament is a traditional sporting event that brings together the business community in Serbia to support programmes for children and young people implemented by UNICEF Serbia.

“It is my and the Comtrade company’s pleasure that we are the hosts of this event. And the topic is close to our heart – support to what UNICEF does, support to children’s education. And we have been doing this for years through our projects, from the “Edit” summer school to the “IT Adventure”, while our efforts in terms of corporate social responsibility have also been recognized through the “Djordje Vajfert” award that we received this year. I think this is really an opportunity to solidify the relations between us and UNICEF and all the companies that came to support this event”, said Ljubomir Ristic on behalf of the Comtrade Group. 

In the last 10 years, there has been an increase in the coverage of all children by quality preschool education, but there are still differences in access for children from vulnerable social groups, particularly children from the poorest households, children from Roma settlements and children with developmental disabilities.

Estimates show that by 2030, around 30 per cent of new participants in the labour market in Serbia will come from vulnerable and minority population categories. 

The Ministry of Education launched a reform of preschool education with the aim of improving accessibility, fairness and quality, and a significant milestone was the introduction of the new Preschool Curriculum Framework YEARS OF ASCENT. 

UNICEF is one of the partners of the Ministry of Education in the implementation of the Capacity Building Support Programme for the implementation of the Years of Ascent in all preschool institutions in Serbia; this programme provides every child with equal access to quality opportunities for learning through play, exploration and relationships with other children and adults.