Standard Chartered Launches Investing in Communities Programme

Standard Chartered Bank on Monday last week launched a tailored community investment programme for Myanmar, which aims to help the country strengthen its capacity for social development and employment.
The Standard Chartered – Investing in Communities programme will see the bank partner with international and local nongovernment organisations (NGOs) to deliver various targeted initiatives focusing on two areas – education and health, the UK-based bank said in a statement.
“We have had a history of over 150 years in Myanmar and we are committed to helping the country develop a sustainable economy. This is why in addition to what we are doing to facilitate investment and the rejuvenation of the financial sector here, we are launching a range of education and health related community initiatives to help stimulate economic and social growth,” said Tina Singhsacha, chief representative, Standard Chartered Bank Myanmar.
Following the easing of international sanctions, Standard Chartered became the first Western bank to re-open a representative office in Yangon earlier this year. It is also the only international bank that has a presence in all ten Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) countries.
The bank said it will launch three initiatives between now and the end of 2014: “Goal”, an education and economic empowerment programme aimed at adolescent girls, “Education for Entrepreneurs”, a financial education programme for SMEs, and “Seeing is Believing”, a programme aimed at tackling preventable blindness.
Goal will be the first initiative that the bank will introduce in Myanmar, Standard Chartered said. Goal is a sports-for-development programme that provides financial education and life skills training for adolescent girls. It also addresses health issues like HIV/AIDS awareness.
The initiative aims to equip girls between the ages of 12-20 with the tools and knowledge to make more informed economic choices as they move into adulthood, thereby empowering them to be more active economic participants in their communities, the bank said in a statement.
Standard Chartered will partner with local NGO Girl Determined to run the Goal programme in Myanmar.
The Goal programme will kick-off with a workshop involving Girl Determined, other local NGOs and public and private sector representatives on October 23 and 24 in Yangon.