FUTURE FIRST: Investing in (street)children

FUTURE FIRST: Investing in (street)children

By MA. GLAIZA LEE

You see them begging on the streets or rapping on car windows for alms. Their clothes are dirty and smelly because they rummage trash bins for food scraps. Some huddle in street corners, sniffing rugby. Children sell cigarettes or sampaguita leis while others resort to stealing, prostitution, and other petty crimes.

According to the 1998 report, entitled "Situation of the Youth in the Philippines," there are about 1.5 milllion street children in the Philippines, and 75,000 of them are found in Metro Manila alone.

"The exact number of street children in the world is impossible to quantify. But just looking at the accessible statistics can paint a grim picture," said Mark Watkinson, HSBC Philippines CEO.

Teresa Au, HSBC corporate responsibility and sustainability for Asia-Pacific head, shares the same sentiment.

She states: "The future of any country depends on its children and how well we can protect the most marginalized ones and allow them to achieve their full potential."

Ergo, HSBC Global Education Trust launched Future First, a five-year global initiative program that provides US million funds to local charitable organizations which attend to street children, children in care and orphans in countries where HSBC operates.

HSBC has over 9,800 offices in 77 countries.

"Street children are denied many of life’s basic needs. They depend on their own ability to fend for themselves. I think that to ignore them means admitting we have failed in our responsibility to protect them and provide a decent future for them," said Ms. Au.

HSBC tapped SOS Children’s Village, the world’s largest charity for orphans, and other organizations to intervene in the lives of these undeprivileged children.

The program aims to provide education, healthcare, counseling and shelter through the different organizations whose proposals will be approved by HSBC Global Education Trust board of trustees.

Local organizations are encouraged to submit their proposals for the Future First program.

"We hope the local charities and NGOs take this opportunity to implement projects that make a meaningful difference in the lives of these children. We at HSBC are eager to work with them to achieve this shared vision," said Mark Watkinson.

Project proposals will be identified globally through an annual bidding process conducted by HSBC country coordinators.

"These proposals will be reviewed by the secretariat in Mumbai (in India) for deliberation by trustees of the HSBC Global Education Trust in the United Kingdom," Watkinson explained.

Each project will be assessed based on the number of children who have been pulled off the street and placed into meaningful programs.

"We don’t know how many proposals we are going to approve. NGOs and local organizations can submit as many good proposals as they want. We want this program to be widespread and well-rounded," shared Ms. Au.

She continued: "We are adopting this cause throughout the globe. We don’t limit ourselves to territorial boundaries, to certain areas. Within Asia, where we can find the largest population of street children, the relevance of a project like Future First cannot be greater."

HSBC focuses on environment and on education for the underprivileged children.

"Although we consider other causes, HSBC believes that education should be the priority because it helps in the development and prosperity of every country. It is instrument of economic growth as well as personal success," said Mark.

In the last several years, HSBC has been advocating educational programs such as "Pagmamahal sa Pagbabasa," a project that encourages parents to teach their children how to read, and the multi-media HSBC READiscovery Centers to promote literacy.

"We can provide for their basic needs such as shelter, food, parental care, etc. But that wouldn’t last long. To make them better citizens of the country, we need to give them something substantial. The best gift to an underprvileged child is a future. Education is one of the keys," said Teresa Au.

Deadline for submission of proposals is on July 31.