Republic Bank invests SRD 650,000 in community through ‘The Power to Make a Difference’ programme

“Today’s event holds special significance for us, as after having been welcomed by the national community 3.5 years ago, we continue to see great progress in our business operations and our social outreach programme” says Managing Director, Sean Husain, during the official launch of Republic Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme ‘The Power to Make a Difference’ for 2018-2019. The Bank commits to its Corporate Social Responsibility, with the aim to enhance the quality of life for the current and next generations and help building a successful Surinamese society.

For 2019, the Bank has committed to invest in the following projects:

Foundation Unu Pikin:
Foundation Unu Pikin operates as a sheltered workplace for people with disabilities, and works on improving the educational environment for children in Suriname by not only manufacturing school and library furniture, but also by providing the schools with books. With this project, the foundation will support 3 primary schools in the interior by facilitating a library on each school.

‘s Lands Hospital:
Founded in 1760, ‘s Lands Hospital is the oldest hospital in Suriname. In order to keep the hospital in good condition and attractive for patients, the hospital is aiming to modernize in phases. With this aim, the patient rooms of the Internal Ward have recently partly been renovated. This project serves to complete this area with new hospital beds. In addition, a CTG patient monitoring device will be purchased for the delivery room. Nationwide, 20% of pregnant women are (high) risk patients. Proper monitoring is therefore critical for this unit.

Paramaribo Zoo:
The Paramaribo Zoo, the only zoo in Suriname, has been established in 1972. One of the area’s the foundation really would like to upgrade, is the playground area of the zoo. Due to the fact that it is being used very frequent by the children, the playground has become very ‘old-fashioned’ and needs an upgrade. This project will renovate and upgrade the playground of the Zoo to a modern, child-friendly and safer playground.

O.S. Groot-Henar polder:
The public primary school in ‘Henar’, district Nickerie, counts 210 pupils and 20 teachers. On average, 85% of these pupils are from low-income households. The biggest challenge on the school are currently the restroom facilities (7 boy restrooms and 11 girl restrooms). These toilets are not functioning at all. As such, the unit Environment Inspection from the Public Institute of Health Care (BOG) has disapproved the current situation of the school based on the unhygienic state and the danger it is for the health of the children and teachers. This project will serve to renovate and upgrade the restrooms.

Conservation International:
Conservation International (CI), an organization established in 1987 in Washington D.C., is operating in Suriname ever since 1997 with the aim to protect Suriname's nature. They are executing sustainable projects in cooperation with several sponsors abroad and locally. CI provides local organizations the ability to become a “Friend of Green Suriname”, by contributing with funds. As we support the preservation of our nature and want to keep Suriname as one of the greenest countries of the world, this project serves to support the Friend of Green Suriname program for a 3-year period.

With these projects, the Bank contributes for nearly SRD 650.000 to help these foundations in strengthening and building a sustainable Surinamese community.