During their recent visit to the Philippines, QBE Group CEO Andrew Horton and CEO for International Operations, Jason Harris went to R.P. Cruz, Sr. Elementary School in Taguig City and handed over a Php 2 million cheque to their partner foundation, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), for various programs supporting the school, particularly, the Nutrition Program.
They were joined by Chief Shared Services Officer Samir Kumar, Head of Communications and Branding and QBE GSSC Foundation Jo Cruz, and other members of the QBE Group Shared Services Center (GSSC) Senior Leadership Team. Together, they also met with different members of the community including students, parents, teachers, and the school administration.
Undernutrition continues to be a persistent health risk in public schools in the Philippines. To help address this, QBE partnered with PBSP to implement a Nutrition Program for at-risk children in its adopted schools R.P. Cruz, Sr. Elementary School and Bagong Lipunan Elementary School in Cebu.
In addition to this, QBE, through PBSP, also helped R.P. Cruz, Sr. Elementary School started a vegetable and mushroom garden to teach students about food sustainability. This has also become an additional source of funding for the school. In Bagong Lipunan Elementary School in Cebu, QBE built an Innovation Room that housed a library and a computer room to enhance the students’ learning experience.
While in-person classes were restricted during the pandemic, QBE continued its Nutrition program in its communities. They provided weekly food packs to the children-beneficiaries and their families, as well as hygiene kits, teaching supplies for teachers, and school supplies for children to support distance learning.
Since 2018, a total of 675 children in QBE’s adopted schools in Manila and Cebu have already benefited from the nutrition program that provided healthy food to children daily. It has a 100% success rate of helping the children get from undernourished to normal.
QBE remains committed in helping children, families and communities in the Philippines achieve resiliency through its various corporate sustainability programs.