Stora Enso, one of the world's biggest paper companies, has made a US$50,000 donation to UNICEF China to support UNICEF's children programs in China.
At the ceremony, Zhigang Wang, general manager of Stora Enso China Sales Beijing Office, represented Stora Enso to present the funds to David McLoughlin, deputy representative of UNICEF China. Stora Enso says it is committed to sustainable development, and is devoted to donations in local community to achieve harmonized development from economical, social and environmental aspects. In April 2004, Stora Enso became UNICEF's first global corporate partner in basic education, and the company says it has been providing continuous support to UNICEF in basic education development around the world.
UNICEF has been a key force behind the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, a partnership of organizations committed to the goals of narrowing the gender gap in primary and secondary education and ensuring that, by 2015, all children complete primary schooling, with girls and boys having equal access to free, quality education. In China, UNICEF, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and local education authorities, promotes Child Friendly Schools which promote children's rights as enunciated in the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child and which has been ratified by the Chinese government. Through interactive classroom teaching/learning practices and child-centered school management, child friendly schools ensure that all children have a safe, healthy and protective school environment including water and sanitation facilities.
