The MSC Foundation and UNICEF announced the next phase of their 16-year partnership (to date, generating $17 million) with a new charitable program for children in the Philippines.

The “Learning Bridge” project is designed to transform education and learning in the next three years for 400,000 children in the Philippines.

The initiative addresses the acute learning crisis in Mindanao, the second-largest island of the Philippines, which has the country’s lowest school enrolment and literacy rates, MSC said in a press release.

The new program will introduce new teaching methods to improve learning for large numbers of students and a floating school to continue educational instruction.

Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Group’s cruise division and chair of the MSC Foundation executive committee, said, “Our relationship with UNICEF began more than 16 years ago and formed the cornerstone of the MSC Foundation when it was founded in 2018.”

“Together, we have shown how innovation rooted in a shared purpose can help to transform children’s lives. This new program in the Philippines is especially meaningful to us because many MSC employees and crew members who inspire our mission come from this country, reflecting both our partnership with UNICEF and our support for the communities that our people call home,” added Vago.

Kitty Van der Heijden, UNICEF deputy executive director, added: “Education is crucial for children to break intergenerational cycles of inequality and poverty and build brighter futures.”

“We are grateful for the MSC Foundation’s renewed support that will enable us, together with the government and local communities, to deliver innovative and scalable solutions to improve vulnerable children’s access to quality education, including those on the frontline of the climate crisis,” added Van der Heijden.

According to the press release, the project aims to:

• Strengthen community-based disaster preparedness
• Invest in digital learning, and
• Provide essential regional resources and expertise.

 

A climate-smart floating school to ensure uninterrupted learning for children in flood-prone areas will be introduced in the Caraga region of the island.

The aim is to act as a role model for climate-resilient education infrastructure.