Van den Bosch extends partnership with UNICEF the Netherlands

Van den Bosch and UNICEF are extending their ten-year long partnership by two years. The support continues to go to the innovative recycling programme Plastic Bricks in Ivory Coast. A new addition is the nutrition programme ‘A forgotten crisis: Life-saving nutritional aid in the Central African Republic’, to which Van den Bosch has committed for the next two years.

In the Central African Republic, over 68 thousand children under the age of five are severely malnourished. The emergency aid from UNICEF focusses on the treatment of malnourished children, educating parents and caregivers, and distributing vitamin A supplements. With the support of Van den Bosch, UNICEF can train over 300 local health workers in screening children for malnutrition and giving informational sessions on good nutrition and health.

The battle against malnutrition 
CEO Rico Daandels expands: “As logistics service provider we are involved in the transportation of foodstuffs daily. We transport raw materials in Europe, but also in Africa and beyond. In our Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, we consciously make a connection to nutrition, because topics such as health and malnutrition lie close to our heart. Throughout the past years we have supported various programmes in Mozambique and Burundi. Through our choice for the nutrition programme in the Central African Republic, we want to continue to provide structural support to UNICEF’s meaningful work in the battle against malnutrition.”

Building bricks out of plastic waste
Furthermore, Van den Bosch continues to support the successful Plastic Bricks Programme in Ivory Coast. In 2019 Van den Bosch was one of the first partners that committed to this innovative recycling project, in which plastic waste is transformed into building bricks for schools. A lot of progress has been made in the recent years. In the period between January 2020, and October 2021, no less than 875 tonnes of plastic was recycled, with which 159 classrooms were built. 7950 children have been given access to education, and 128 vulnerable women were trained in the recycling of waste and entrepreneurship. 

528 new classrooms
Between now and the end of 2023 UNICEF aims to train 150 women in the collection, storage, and processing of plastic waste, and to build another 528 classrooms out of recycled plastic. With funds from the Netherlands, at least 2 schools with a total of 5 classrooms will be built, including educating materials, sanitary facilities, and 2 trained teachers per classroom. With this, UNICEF provides 25 thousand children access to education. Van den Bosch annually provides for a complete classroom including all accessories and training. 

Van den Bosch has had a strategic partnership with UNICEF the Netherlands since 2011. In the past decade, their support has been distributed to a variety of projects, ranging from tackling malnutrition, to raising awareness about hygiene, education, and emergency aid in humanitarian disasters.