Awards for Excellence 2016
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One increasingly important way for banks to differentiate themselves is through their corporate social responsibility activities, which helps to bind banks to their local communities and build and retain customers in those regions. Lafise Bancentro’s innovative and effective One Laptop Per Child charitable organization has previously been recognized by Euromoney. The programme continues to evolve from the original concept, launched in 2009, to provide central American children with better educational opportunities. This evolution is the reason Lafise Bancentro wins the award for the region’s best bank for CSR.
The creation of a partnership between the public and private sector provides elementary students and teachers with a laptop, training and 61 programmes to improve educational quality. Lafise contributed more than $1 million as seed capital for the programme, which, in 2015, covers 144 schools and includes 370 corporate donors and 5,000 volunteers. Participating schools include those based in a remote locations and the programme helps create WiFi internet access for these communities.
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The charity is run through the Fundacion Zamora Teran and is headed by María Josefina Terán de Zamora as president and Félix Garrido, who is executive director.