£100,000 for Schools in Developing Countries

Funds raised for schools in developing countries by Study Group have reached the £100,000 milestone.

The Building Futures project was initiated in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami in 2004, and allows all Study Group staff to make a contribution to a central fund for the reconstruction of communities affected by natural disasters or poverty; in particular the reconstruction of schools. Study Group pledged to match every donation pound for pound and response to the cause has been remarkable.

The money is supporting Plan, a child-centered international organisation in their education programme. The funds raised have already been successfully used to finance school projects in Indonesia, Benin and Brazil. Further plans for a fourth school are underway, with possible locations including China and Sri Lanka.

Arvid Petersen, Executive Chairman of Study Group, was delighted the fund has hit the £100,000 milestone: “We believe that education is a right and when we started the Building Futures Fund, we hoped to go some way towards providing a long-term, sustainable commitment to educational projects in developing regions. With three schools already complete, and a fourth on the way, I am extremely pleased we are meeting this goal and have helped improve the lives of some of the many children who live in desperate circumstances across the world.”

The Building Futures fund forms a core strand of Study Group’s wider Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, alongside our environmental initiatives, which include a carbon offset scheme, strict recycling and waste management policies and the use of environmentally friendly heating, cooling and ventilation systems in all new Study Group buildings worldwide.
Marie Staunton, Chief Executive of Plan UK, commented: “Contributions from organisations such as Study Group help us to ensure that children around the world have the opportunity to fulfill their potential, regardless of their social or economic circumstances. For example, we are working to create a better learning environment for pupils in Benin and Brazil who were studying in cramped classrooms of up to 55 and those in Indonesia who had seen their whole schools wrecked by the Tsunami.”

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Media Contacts:
Heather Baker, hbl media, 0207 612 1830, heather@hblmedia.com
Jill Duffell, hbl media, 0207 612 1830, jill@hblmedia.com

Notes to Editors:

About Plan UK

Plan was founded by British journalist John Langdon-Davies in 1937 to rescue children orphaned by the Spanish Civil War, and now works in 49 of the poorest countries in the world, across Africa, Asia and South America.

Plan’s projects, which include schools and health centres, are geared to working with children and their communities to help them fulfill their potential.

Funds are raised through grants, donations and child sponsorship, which starts at £12-a-month and, rather than going to individual children and their families, this money funds projects to improve schooling, health, nutrition and livelihoods across communities. They have over 115,000 sponsors in the UK and one million sponsored children worldwide