CBRE Wins Managing Partners’ Forum Award for Commitment to 'Building a better future for children'
CBRE has been awarded a top industry award by the Managing Partners’ Forum for ‘Best community engagement’. The award is in recognition of a three-year programme with UNICEF to build a better future for children across the EMEA business.
CBRE is the first company in the property sector to partner with UNICEF’s climate change adaption programme, Climate Positive. Between 2011 and 2013 CBRE’s EMEA business – including 6,000 staff, contributed over €730,000 to build 20 cyclone-proof schools and water and hygiene facilities for children living in Madagascar, one of the world’s poorest countries.
In recent years, an increasing number of devastating cyclones have hit Madagascar's shores as a result of climate change. The new schools funded by CBRE are being built using environmentally friendly construction methods and are able to withstand the increasingly unpredictable weather patterns afflicting the country. The schools, which are located in the Analanjirofo region of north east Madagascar, will benefit and protect thousands of vulnerable children and their communities.
In addition, CBRE’s employees have also responded generously to children crisis appeals in both Syria and the Philippines raising funds of €250,000 to help protect children on the ground in these devastating humanitarian situations. These funds were committed through UNICEF and other partners.
Click here to watch a short film about CBRE’s work with UNICEF
Kate Goldman, Director of Corporate Partnerships, UNICEF UK, commented:
“We are delighted that CBRE has been recognised for its commitment to children’s rights in Madagascar by the Managing Partners’ Forum. We are very proud of our three year partnership with CBRE – a company that has the foresight to invest in cyclone-proof schools making the difference to children now and for generations to come”.
Martin Samworth, Managing Director of CBRE in Europe, the Middle East and Africa commented:
“We are delighted to receive this award from the Managing Partners’ Forum in recognition of our responsible business commitments.
Everyone at CBRE is very proud of what we have achieved in Madagascar over the last three years. This programme will provide vital, robust classrooms to ensure that some of the world’s most vulnerable children can go to school whatever the weather, and remain safe when they do so. We wish UNICEF every success with its continued good work."
The Managing Partners’ Forum ‘Best community engagement’ award was sponsored by responsible business charity Business in the Community.
About CBRE & UNICEF partnership and funding outcomes
CBRE became the first in our sector to partner with UNICEF’s Climate Positive programme in 2011 – UNICEF works in more than 190 countries around the world as the children’s development agency of the UN. The Climate Positive programme aims to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change on children, and to help minimise the often disastrous consequences.
In seeking to ensure real focus around the EMEA-wide aspect of our programme, CBRE and UNICEF selected Madagascar – one of the poorest countries on the planet – as the focus of our combined efforts. In Madagascar, 70% of the population live on less than $1.25 a day, and 45,000 children die each year before their fifth birthday (120 each day). To compound the situation, climate change means that devastating cyclones hit Madagascar’s shores annually causing significant destruction.
Now in its third year, funds raised through the ‘Building a better future programme for children’ will fund the construction of 20 fully resourced cyclone-proof schools by March 2015 (more than half are already built). Cyclone-proof schools, water and sanitation resources literally save lives when the storms hit, and offer children a sustainable education.
