The strategic partnership project of Postbank and UNICEF Bulgaria, Best Start for Every Child, has won a prestigious award in the Most Sustainable Donation Programme category. Representatives of the financial institution and the United Nations Children's Fund received the high recognition at the 10th anniversary of the Bulgarian Donor's Forum (BDF) awards, attended by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria. BDF contest traditionally awards the companies which support socially significant causes in a sustainable, innovative and transparent way.

“We believe every child deserves the best start of its own fairy-tale. This is why we would describe the Postbank-UNICEF partnership as one of the most successful investment projects in the sustainable development in Bulgaria. It is how we are supporting the most important first steps in the development of the future generation. The project involves the entire bank at all levels and we all regard it as a personal cause,“ representatives of the financial institution said.

The objective of the Most Sustainable Donation Programme award is to distinguish the campaign which has contributed the most to the solution of a topical public issue by achieving noticeable and measurable results, and has expanded not only financially, but also in terms of concept and influence on the target groups.

“The early childhood investment is the fastest return investment which every person, every company and every country can make in the name of their children and the society“, UNICEF Bulgaria representatives said.

There are many proofs of the progress of the Best Start for Every Child programme. The main goal of the long-term partnership of Postbank and UNICEF Bulgaria is to raise funds for building a network of maternal and child health centres in the country which will assist pregnant women and parents of up to 3-year-old children. The centres provide free home visits and consultation by nurses during the period when children and their parents are most vulnerable and have the greatest need of support.

The strategic partnership of Postbank and UNICEF Bulgaria was launched two years ago, as the financial institution invested a lot of resources and involved important employees of the bank in the development and the integration of a donation platform via all of its channels – ATMs, cash-desks and online banking. To date the investment has proven successful, as the total raised amount has exceeded BGN 620,000 so far. It has been used to open a second Maternal and Child Health Centre in Sliven which together with the centre in Shumen have provided over 18,000 home visits, consultation of 19,000 pregnant women and parents of up to 3-year-old children, and assisted over 5,300 families in the region of both cities. A new centre will be opened in the city of Montana in January 2016. The long-term aim of Postbank and UNICEF is to establish the model of consultation and home visits by nurses at a national level.