Colombo, October 16th, 2020: Allianz Lanka joined teams from Allianz offices around the world to raise funds for critical projects of SOS Children’s Villages through the recently concluded fifth edition of the Allianz World Run.
Since its inception in 2016, Allianz World Run has supported SOS Children’s Villages on 32 projects in 28 different countries. The initiative seeks to inspire Allianz team members as well as their friends and family to undertake recreational physical activity and get you active by giving them the opportunity to tackle pressing global issues. Runs and challenges completed by participants through the course of this year’s Allianz World Run were tracked via the adidas Runtastic apps. Allianz will be contributing funds and providing aid to areas desperately needing support for every minute of their activity.
Held under the theme of “Run Together for Tomorrow”, Allianz World Run 2020 saw 12,261 participants from over 50 countries around the world cover a total distance of 1,940,116kms between 08 July to 05 October 2020.
1,103 participants from Sri Lanka took part in the event and covered 121,564kms, a distance equivalent to around 3 times the circumference of the Earth, helping our paradise island rise to the 3rd position on Allianz World Run 2020’s global leaderboard. Allianz Lanka’s clients and business partners too joined the initiative, helping the insurer raise more funds towards this worthy cause.
“The Allianz World Run exemplifies values such as community, determination, leadership and passion that we believe strongly in at Allianz. We are delighted to enter the fifth year of this incredible initiative and look forward to building on the successful collaboration between the World Run and our work with SOS Children’s Villages,” said Gany Subramaniam, Director / Chief Executive Officer, Allianz Insurance Lanka Limited and Director, Allianz Life Insurance Lanka Limited. “Given the current health and economic crisis that plagues the whole world, Allianz World Run gives us the opportunity to bring hope and help brighten the futures of those suffering. The active participation of our teams in Sri Lanka and around the world, despite the challenging times, inspires us to continue to help future generations combat hardships and bring courage to communities.”
The Insurer will be partnering with SOS Children’s Villages to support underprivileged children and their communities in Africa, this year. The charitable donations made through Allianz World Run 2020 will be focusing on providing immediate relief packages to SOS Children’s Villages in five African countries facing the challenges caused by the current global health and financial crisis. For the first time this year, Allianz will also be directing its contributions towards SOS sustainability projects in these five countries, all of which are heavily impacted by climate change.
In Sri Lanka too, Allianz has had a longstanding partnership with SOS Children’s Villages. Earlier this year, Allianz Lanka joined hands with SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka to empower youth with essential IT skills under the ‘Shape the World of Tomorrow’ program. The program is part of Youth Can! – SOS Children’s Villages’ global partnership for youth employability – that strives to equip young care leavers with the tools they need to transition to independence and find decent work. The insurer is providing 100 youth between 14 – 19 years of age from 6 SOS Family Care and SOS Family Strengthening programs across the island, with access to globally recognized International Computer Driving License (ICDL) programme by February 2023. Allianz Lanka is utilizing the Allianz Social innovation Fund of €10,000 offered by Allianz SE that it had won recently for this.