By
Rebecca Gibson |
MSC Cruises has donated €3 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which actively works to protect the rights of children in more than 190 countries and territories across the world.
Since partnering with UNICEF in 2009, MSC has established the ‘Get on Board for Children’ initiative, which encourages guests sailing on its 12 ships to make a contribution to UNICEF. The company and its cruise guests have helped children in 126 vulnerable communities in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo gain access to a quality education.
This January, MSC Cruises and UNICEF developed a new partnership to deliver ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to treat children with severe malnutrition in developing countries and in countries affected by crisis situations.
“MSC Cruises is honoured to be able to assist UNICEF in its endeavour to help starving children around the world,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC. “It was our duty to set in place such a concrete partnership that can save the lives of children for whom RUTF is an essential lifeline. We are proud of the hard work achieved by all our staff, which made it possible to raise such an incredible amount of money.”
Vago added: “MSC as a group, which means cruises and cargo, is working hard to raise awareness of the project and to provide support to UNICEF through our very extensive network around the world.”
Each week, MSC organises a dedicated UNICEF day, enabling children sailing on its vessels to participate in games, a parade and various ‘edutainment’ activities that raise awareness of UNICEF and the needs of children worldwide. The children are also given a UNICEF World Citizen passport, making them an ambassador for the rights of children worldwide.
In addition, the operator has launched a new song performed by an Italian children’s choir called ‘I Can Believe – MSC for UNICEF’ to provide a soundtrack to all UNICEF support efforts onboard MSC ships
“I would like to thank MSC Cruises sincerely for the valuable longstanding partnership and today’s generous donation of €3 million,” said Elsbeth Müller, executive director of UNICEF Switzerland. “Severe acute malnutrition is a major killer of children under five, accounting for more than one million deaths annually. Around 20 million children worldwide are estimated to be suffering from very poor nutrition. Thanks to partners like MSC Cruises, we can make sure that those children will have a future.”