United Bank wins ACSR’s Arab charity award

17 / 11 / 2021

By Dina Mohamed - - | Edited by Marwa Nassar

The United Bank won the Arab charity award of the Arab Council for Social Responsibility (ACSR) for the bank’s most innovative project “Tagaleyat” for economic empowerment and community development in Saint Catherine and Tagally Mountain.

Gihan Abou Hussein – Head of the bank’s “Ethar” for community development department – received the award on the fringe of the conference for charitable and voluntary work.

The award is meant to honor the best charitable works in the Arab world at individual or institutional levels.

A panel consisting of a large number of experts selects the winners – whether individuals or institutions – that played a pivotal role in charitable work in the Arab world.

Randa Rizk, the ACSR Secretary General, said the conference is held within the framework of the council’s continued efforts to support the Sustainable Development Goals and promote humanitarian and voluntary work.

She underlined the Egyptian and Arab efforts to enhance humanitarian and voluntary work which contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development goals in the Arab world.

She added that the conference launched the award to honor the most effective individuals and institutions in the field of charity work in the Arab world.

The conference also spearheaded an initiative of an “Arab observatory for social responsibility”.

For her part, Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Haifa Abu-Ghazaleh said the Arab League’s patronage of the conference underscored the AL’s interest in supporting civil organizations concerned with social responsibility and serving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The AL is exerting all needed coordination efforts between Arab governments and civil society organizations to participate effectively in the joint Arab action.

For his part, CEO of the United Bank of Egypt Ashraf el Kady expressed happiness for the bank’s winning of the award.

He noted that the “Tagaleyat” project is meant to secure decent life for 350 families in the first stage, thus contributing to entrenching the principles of human rights and patriotism.

He stressed that the project is deemed a model for economic empowerment and goes in line with the bank’s strategy for sustainable social development of all social strata, especially women and youths.

Gihan Abou Hussein said the project is implemented in collaboration with South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda and Saint Catherine City municipal head Talaat Anany.

The project – launched in May – is meant to economically empower Saint Catherine and the Tagally Mountain through promoting entrepreneurship to improve competitiveness and productivity, especially in the field of manufacturing agricultural and food products and handicrafts for which this region is famous, such as: the mountain honey extraction industry, the olive oil extraction and pressing industry, the cultivation of natural herbs, the cultivation of almonds and the industry soap, as well as handicrafts with the famous Sinai embroidery and the manufacture of beads.