Amana Bank’s Orphancare completes eight rounds of uninterrupted fund disbursements

Orphancare, Amana Bank’s flagship community outreach programme completed yet another round of fund disbursements to its beneficiary orphan accounts, thereby totalling 8 rounds of uninterrupted quarterly distributions, despite the ongoing challenging environment as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the latest disbursement a total of over 3,000 orphans from 80 plus orphanages across the island have been assisted through this programme since its launch in 2019.

In addition to the periodical fund allocation, Orphancare has identified and profiled orphans who have reached the age of 18 through a structured qualitative support process.

Individual orphan profiling is donetaking into consideration their educational levels, language skills and career aspirations and matching their requirements with donors of both individual and institutional capacity.

The bank has to date facilitated 30 plus orphans with qualitative support, including technological equipment, employment opportunities, higher education sponsorships and vocational education and skills support.

Orphancare was established as an independent trust with the objective of addressing an important yet mostly unattended need of orphan children. The Trust aims to secure the fate of orphans who reach the age of 18, at which age they compelled to leave institutional care.

Orphancare’s approach seeks to intervene in a vital and decisive aspect of their problem which is funding. To that end the Orphancare Trust has been making periodic deposits into orphans’ accounts until they reach the age of 18, at which point the funds will become accessible to them. A unique highlight of the initiative is that Amana Bank ensures every rupee donated would reach the beneficiary since all administrative and operational costs are borne fully by the bank.

Sharing his views on the recent fund distribution, Head of Orphancare Azad Zaheed said, “We are pleased to have been able to facilitate our eighth consecutive disbursement of funds to orphan accounts despite challenging times.

We are thankful to our numerous donors and well-wishers who continue to support our cause and appreciate the guidance and direction provided by our esteemed board of trustees”

In enrolling orphans to the program Orphan Care has honoured Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child where all enrolments are irrespective of the child’s or their parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or any other status.

The project has been lauded locally and internationally which is testified by Amãna Bank winning the CSR Bank of the Year Sri Lanka at Global Banking & Finance Awards, Best Social Upliftment Project at the SLIBFI Awards, Best CSR Project at the South-asian based IFFSA Awards and the Social Responsible Bank of the Year at the IRB Awards held in Muscat, Oman.

The Orphancare Trust is administered by a team of trustees who have a track record of passionate social service and includes Chairman of the Trust Ruzly Hussain (founder of the Rotaract movement in Sri Lanka), Osman Kassim (Founder, Past Chairman Amãna Bank) K. R. Ravindran (Chairman, Board of Trustees of Rotary Foundation USA and former President Rotary International ), Rohan Tudawe – Treasurer (Chairman Tudawe Brothers), Sharad Amalean (Co-founder MAS Holdings), Tyeab Akbarally (Senior Director Akbar Brothers) Harsha Amarasekera (President’s Counsel), Tilak de Zoysa (Chairman Helpage Sri Lanka), Jazri Magdon Ismail (Past President AAT) and Mohamed Azmeer (CEO Amãna Bank).

The Trustees have instituted a strong governance framework to maintain the highest standards of integrity and ensure the long-term sustainability of the Trust.

Zaheed invited potential donors to join hands and support this noble cause. He noted that the prospectus on Orphancare and other details could be accessed by visiting www. amanabank.lk/orphan-care or by calling the Orphancare Secretariat on 011 775 6 775.