Each year, BNP Paribas makes a commitment to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds gain access to worlds that would otherwise be closed to them. Whether this is achieved through travel, training or sponsorship, the goal is to give them a genuine window on the world.
AFEV: Sponsorship for Success
Sponsorship is a powerful way to stimulate learning, share experience and promote employability. Through the AFEV, an association that is very actively involved in developing academic tutoring initiatives in France, 7,500 student volunteers offer educational support to 10,000 children and adolescents. BNP Paribas, which has supported AFEV since 1994, has also launched a trial project with the association to help guide and advise schoolchildren on their future careers. The Group’s Retail Banking entity has partnered with an innovative “socially responsible apartment sharing” project, providing the AFEV student volunteers who live in these homes with financial guarantees.
Odyssée Jeunes: Giving Schoolchildren the Desire to Learn about the World
Launched in 2010 and run jointly with the District Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, France, the Odyssée Jeunes programme (Youth Odyssey) is committed to supporting educational and cultural tours organised by all of the secondary schools in the district.
Since its launch, more than 17,000 secondary school students from 123 of the 144 schools in the district have benefited from these trips, which offer them the opportunity to study foreign languages and the history of various countries. Thanks to the funding provided by the BNP Paribas Foundation, the cost borne by the families of students participating in these trips has been reduced by more than half.
Pratham India: We Learn Better When We Have Shelter
Pratham India is an Indian NGO known for its work in helping to provide education for disadvantaged children. Pratham’s learning centre for the girls of Panvel (in the outskirts of Mumbai) currently welcomes 50 girls between 8 and 18 years old, the majority of whom come from very difficult situations. The Centre provides them with their food and clothing, as well as a basic school education and vocational training programmes. BNP Paribas India supports the development of this centre as well as Pratham’s “Read India” programme, which aims to reduce the number of young children who drop out of school, particularly in rural areas. Approximately 100 villages on the outskirts of Mumbai will benefit from the construction of learning centres, which are intended to accommodate about 2,000 children who are at pre-school age or who are currently being educated.
In Morocco, Helping to Integrate Individuals Suffering from Cerebral Palsy
The AMI (Association Marocaine des Infirmes moteur d’origine cérébrale – the Moroccan Cerebral Palsy Association) has one aim: to establish reception and care centres for children, adolescents and adults suffering from cerebral palsy. As part of the development of its activities, the association is creating the first Integrated Educational Development unit, intended to accommodate 120 young people, aged 4 to 18, and their families. With 11 classrooms made available by the Ministry of Education in the El Idrissi school in Casablanca, the centre will take charge of the student’s educational and medical needs. This programme is actively supported by the Fondation BMCI and by the BNP Paribas Foundation.
