AN INTERNATIONAL AID PLAN FOR THE MEDICAL SECTOR AND THE MOST VULNERABLE
To face the challenges of the current health and social emergency, the BNP Paribas Group has been mobilised since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. It has steadily expanded an emergency aid plan whose financial commitment will ultimately reach €55 million. Local needs in 30 countries have received priority, with the aid plan focusing on hospitals, vulnerable populations and underprivileged young people impacted by the crisis. In France, for example, BNP Paribas supported the “Everyone United Against the Virus” alliance launched by AP-HP(1), the Fondation de France and the Institut Pasteur, as well as 12 regional hospitals affected by Covid-19 and the public hospitals in the département of Seine-Saint-Denis, where BNP Paribas is the leading private-sector employer. Hospitals have also benefited from the aid plan, and in many countries, such as Belgium, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, which were especially hard hit, as well as Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Senegal. Organisations helping the most disadvantaged and underprivileged around the world have also been supported. In Belgium, the Group helps food banks and in France, the BNP Paribas Foundation supports 14 major organisations helping the most disadvantaged, refugees, isolated elderly people, women and children at risk, and people with disabilities. In France, via Adie(2) and internationally through microfinance institutions, the aid plan also helps to support micro-businesses in difficulty. It also supports social and solidarity economy enterprises most impacted by the crisis. Finally, thanks to donations of IT equipment (nearly 2,500 computers), BNP Paribas is helping young people disadvantaged by the ‘digital divide’ to continue their education. All of these programmes have also been expanded thanks to voluntary work by Group employees. The Rescue & Recover Fund was opened worldwide to aid CARE, the French Red Cross and Doctors without Borders, where BNP Paribas matches and doubles its employees’ donations
(1) Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris
(2) Association pour le droit à l’initiative économique (Association for the Right to Economic Initiative).
Flavio RONZI,
Secretary General,
Italian Red Cross,
Italy, March 2020
Many thanks, on behalf of the entire Italian Red Cross, for your generous contribution, which will allow us to support our activities and the Italian population which has to face the emergencies linked to the spread of the novel coronavirus. Through this gesture, we can feel the women and men of BNP Paribas who have decided to support us as if they were here with us.
Foundation Abbé Pierre
France, April 2020
Thanks to a very large donation from BNP Paribas to top up its #RescueFund the Foundation Abbé Pierre has been able to considerably boost its programme for the most vulnerable by distributing hygiene kits and food parcels, reaching out to those in need and finding emergency accommodation. The Foundation would like to thank the teams in the bank for this new initiative designed to help the most vulnerable.
Amanda RAJKUMAR,
Human Resources, BNP Paribas, New York, USA, April 2020
I am very proud of the BNP Paribas Group’s donation to support local communities and scientific research to deal with this pandemic.