Allianz and SOS Children's Villages focus on social inclusion

Allianz SE and SOS Children’s Villages announced their global partnership at a joint event recently. The initial three-year partnership will see Allianz companies across the globe lend their support to SOS Children's Villages. In addition to projects to provide children with individual support, Allianz will be contributing its risk management expertise, for example by helping to turn children's villages into safe ports of call for local communities in the event of a catastrophe.

Allianz, which operates in 15 countries in Africa has been providing young people with targeted support for more than 20 years now. "As an insurer and investor, we think and plan ahead longer-term than many others do," said Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz SE. "With our 'Encouraging Future Generations' social program, which has now entered into its first global partnership with SOS Children's Villages, we are seeking solutions for challenges relating to social inclusion. Together with the SOS Children's Villages, we are encouraging young people worldwide to shape the future in a sustainable manner."

Richard Pichler, Special Representative of SOS Children's Villages International, said: "We currently provide 80,000 children and teenagers in 134 countries (47 in Africa) with a safe place to call home. As a result, we are delighted to have secured the support of Allianz, a global partner that shares our values and objectives and can also contribute complementary knowledge and skills. We want to achieve more together by launching training programs for young people, improving the opportunities open to them on the labor market, dealing with risk provisions within communities... to mention only a few of the areas we want to focus on."

The joint event included a podium discussion on "What contribution can the corporate sector make to social inclusion?" Experts from both organizations had a lively discussion on security and the fulfilment of basic human needs as the fundamental prerequisites for social inclusion, as well as on the need for the corporate sector to show a commitment to social issues.

More than 12,000 Allianz employees worldwide had taken part in the first Allianz World Run to mark the beginning of the partnership. In the period between May and the end of July, they covered a distance of 1.4 million kilometers to raise funds for SOS Children's Villages, the equivalent of circling the globe 34 times, and raised EUR 600,000 that will be used to finance children's village projects in twelve countries (Argentina, Austria, China, Colombia, Croatia, Germany, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Mexico, Syria, Thailand).

The Group set a new world record in connection with the Allianz World Run: "Longest distance covered by one team in 90 days". Allianz World Run pictures from across the globe were also used to break the Guinness World RecordsTM for the "longest line of photographs" (8,470 images, 1,225 meters). Click here to read testimonials of some of the employees.

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is the Allianz Group's dedicated carrier for corporate and specialty insurance business. AGCS provides insurance and risk consultancy across the whole spectrum of specialty, alternative risk transfer and corporate business: Marine, Aviation (incl. Space), Energy, Engineering, Entertainment, Financial Lines (incl. D&O), Liability, Mid-Corporate and Property insurance (incl. International Insurance Programs).

Worldwide, AGCS operates with its own teams in 34 countries and through the Allianz Group network and partners in over 210 countries and territories, employing almost 4,700 people of 70 nationalities. AGCS provides insurance solutions to more than three quarters of the Fortune Global 500 companies, writing a total of €7.4 billion gross premium worldwide in 2017.

AGCS SE is rated AA by Standard & Poor’s and A+ by A.M. Best.

Together with its customers and sales partners, Allianz is one of the strongest financial communities. More than 85 million private and corporate customers insured by Allianz rely on its knowledge, global reach, capital strength and solidity to help them make the most of financial opportunities and to avoid and safeguard themselves against risks. In 2015, around 142,000 employees in over 70 countries achieved total revenues of 125.2 billion euros and an operating profit of 10.7 billion euros. In Africa Allianz operates in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa and Togo. Benefits for our customers reached 107.4 billion euros.

This business success with insurance, asset management and assistance services is based increasingly on customer demand for crisis-proof financial solutions for an aging society and the challenges of climate change. Transparency and integrity are key components of sustainable corporate governance at Allianz SE.

SOS Children’s Villages is an independent, non-governmental social development organization. We respect each religion and culture, and work in countries and communities where our mission will make a lasting contribution to economic and social development.

We work in the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and we promote these rights throughout the world. SOS was founded in Austria in 1949 by Hermann Gmeiner. His basic idea still holds true today: every child should benefit from having a mother, brothers and sisters, and be able to live in a house and a village, growing up with a feeling of belonging and security. Based on these four simple principles, SOS children’s villages have grown over the years into an international organization that helps children and their families all over the world.

Funded mainly by individual donors, SOS operates 567 villages in 134 countries, as well as more than 1,900 additional facilities such as kindergartens, schools, youth facilities, vocational training centers, and medical centers (hospitals). In Africa, SOS operates in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Equitorial Guinea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guine-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Republic of Somaliland, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SOS also sets up emergency relief programs in order to help victims of natural disasters, war or crisis. All in all SOS supports more than 1,5 million children and their families.

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