Nedbank celebrates World Children’s Day by honouring its clients’ contribution to supporting the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund
20 November 2022
Nedbank is celebrating World Children’s Day on 20 November by acknowledging the role that its clients have played by supporting the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund for the past 17 years.
World Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated annually on 20 November to improve the welfare of children in southern Africa and promote awareness of their specific needs. It was on this day that the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
'This year’s theme is “Inclusion for every child” and it’s important to note that this is a time during which young people are assuming a greater leadership role in the world,’ says Tobie Badenhorst, Head of Cause Marketing at Nedbank. ‘The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund is one of the most prominent organisations working towards achieving the goals of the United Nations declarations and conventions relating to children, so it was a natural partner for Nedbank’s Children’s Affinity programme.'
The Nedbank Children’s Affinity donates a percentage of its revenue to the Fund based on the banking behaviour of clients each month, at no extra cost to the clients. To date, over R118 million has been transferred to the Fund to support its flagship project, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, and other projects relating to children’s well-being.
'Organisations like ours cannot achieve their goals without support from the public and from corporates like Nedbank,’ says, Dr Stanley Maphosa, acting CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. ‘The Nedbank Children’s Affinity has supported us faithfully over the years, and we are very appreciative of how this support has enabled us to move forward with our projects'.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, a 200-bed specialist paediatric hospital, has been operating since 2017 thanks to the support of the public and donors like Nedbank. This year, it realised a key goal with the launch of its dentistry services for medical aid and self-funding patients as part of its mixed funding model designed to make it more sustainable.
This year, the celebration of World Kidney Day highlighted the role that the hospital plays in providing treatment for children suffering from kidney disease. The hospital has one of South Africa’s largest paediatric dialysis units.
It’s in the stories of children who have benefited from the specialist, child- and family-centred care offered by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital that one truly gets an insight of the impact that this institution makes. For instance, Kgabane Molefe was born with a heart defect. Her mother, Portia Molefe, says that her transfer to the hospital for surgery has now opened the possibility of a normal life for her child. The support she received as a parent was ‘heart warming’, she said.
Khomotso Ndayi is another brave child battling a congenital heart defect. After an open-heart procedure at the hospital in 2022, she has the opportunity of living a happy life unaffected by her previous condition.
‘Nedbank pays tribute to clients who chose to partner with us by linking their bank accounts to the Children’s Affinity - it’s their support and commitment that makes it possible to give such great support to organisations like the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund,’ says Tobie. ‘World Children’s Day is an important way of putting children’s needs at the forefront of the public’s concerns, and it’s also a great time to celebrate people and organisations that donate money to meet those needs’.
