Barclays Bank Mauritius Limited launched the second edition of its Barclays Colours of Life Award at the Barclays House in Ebène with the objective of rewarding those NGO projects whose impact on society is significant.
The idea for the Barclays Colours of Life came from a discussion with the Chairman of Barclays Mauritius, Philip Dawe, on how to value and celebrate the work of NGOs.
“We celebrate again this year the voluntary services rendered by NGOs through the Barclays Colours of Life Award. Unfortunately, the remarkable work carried out by NGOs very often goes unnoticed. With this competition, we try to bring our support to NGOs in terms of resources which will allow them to further strengthen their skills,” declared Ravin Dajee, Managing Director at Barclays Bank.
He added that Barclays’ objective is to assure greater visibility and bring enhanced viability to the praiseworthy projects of these NGOs.
“Last year, we were pleased to hand over the first prize to Caritas Ile Maurice. The NGO received a cash prize of Rs 300,000 and the other winners were rewarded with cash prizes of Rs 100,000 each,” Cyril Wong, non-executive Director at Barclays Bank, said.
Patricia Félicité of Caritas Mauritius was present for the launch of the second edition of the competition to tell the audience more about her experience with Barclays.
“The training program set up by Barclays in line with the competition allowed two of our project management heads in the field to unearth small yet significant changes needed in our task management for smoother implementation of projects. For three days, we attended management courses touching upon various aspects of our activities,” she explained.
Any NGO wishing to participate in this competition – with the exception of the winners of the first edition held in 2013 – is eligible if it has already set up a project having a significant impact on the beneficiaries or which achieved the goals previously defined.
NGOs are invited to submit their applications before October 17, 2014. Exercises of rigorous evaluation and visits on the ground will follow in order to select five projects in these categories: education and training; socio economic development / poverty alleviation; wellness including health/ sports/ leisure/ culture/ arts; environment development; and combating social ills.
The overall winner will receive a cash prize of Rs 300,000 whereas the winner within each category will be conferred cash prizes of Rs 100,000.
A small innovation – a ‘Coup de Coeur’ by the Jury to the tune of Rs 50,000 – is also on the cards for this year’s edition.
“Last year, we have seen the enthusiasm of NGOs to take part in this contest and showcase their initiatives. We are expecting that the participation rate will be higher this year and are trying to generate greater awareness for this initiative,” concluded Cyril Wong.
– By Marie-Lorry Coret, with inputs from Cecilia Samoisi
About Barclays
Barclays is an international group of financial services acting in banking activities, investment banking and asset management and it is indeed present in Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
Barclays has more than 300 years of experience and is present in more than 50 countries, with 48 million customers, 140000 collaborators and 4800 points of sale across the world.
Image (Cecilia Samoisi): Any NGO wishing to participate in this competition – with the exception of the winners of the first edition held in 2013 – is eligible if it has already set up a project having a significant impact on the beneficiaries or which has achieved the goals previously defined.
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