Allianz has signed a three-year agreement on Sunday to support UNICEF's work to strengthen social inclusion and protection programmes for vulnerable children and their families in Egypt. The company announced that it has committed a total of EGP 6.5m over a three-year period to support ‘I Deserve a Chance' Initiative, which will be partly funded through sales of each life and motor insurance policy from Allianz Egypt. For his part, Antoine Issa, the regional CEO of Allianz, stated that this partnership is an investment in the future, both socially and economically. He noted that helping the most deprived children to reach their full potential is very beneficial, not only to the children and their families, but also to the development and the economic progress of our community. Egypt has made significant progress regarding children's wellbeing over the past 15 years. However, the country continues to face challenges in providing every child a fair chance to survive, thrive, and reach his/her full potential. According to UNICEF research, 10 million children are suffering from multidimensional poverty in Egypt. Child poverty is measured in eight dimensions which are: access to water; access to sanitation; access to information; housing conditions; health; nutrition; education, and protection. Funding from Allianz will help UNICEF support the government's led-efforts in providing an urgent and integrated policy response to child poverty. Specifically, it will also improve social inclusion, with a focus on the most marginalised children, and will improve the accessibility and affordability of educational services through conducting research to ensure targeting the most vulnerable groups. For his part, Fazlul Haque, the UNICEF deputy representative in Egypt, stated that bringing together the government, civil society, and the private sector to fulfil children's interest is at the heart of UNICEF's work. "We all have a collective responsibility to ensure that every child will lead a healthy and safe life. The support we receive from Allianz Egypt is an important contribution to our joint work to improve social inclusion for all children in Egypt, with a focus on the most marginalised and the most vulnerable", Haque added. The first element of the Allianz-funded programme will be a one-month multimedia campaign which will be launched by the end of March 2019. This full-fledged campaign will stress on the joint responsibility in providing fair chances for every child with a focus on the access to education, and will be broadcasted on TV, radio, as well as on all digital media platforms. The signing ceremony was attended by an array of distinguished guests, public figures, and senior government officials who all came to support the partnership agreement between UNICEF and Allianz Egypt toward a fair chance for every child.
