Nedbank Namibia’s policy as a corporate citizen is aligned with the definition of sustainable development by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the bank’s Chief Financial Officer, JG van Graan, has said.
Speaking at the handing over of a N.dollars 50 000 donation by Nedbank to Wilderness Therapy Namibia (WTN) in the capital on Tuesday, Van Graan explained that their approach is characterised by staff volunteerism, as opposed to simply dispensing funds.
“By forming partnerships, we learn more from every project, we learn from successes as much as we learn from failures and these lessons drive constant refinements to our criteria for support,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, Wilderness Therapy Namibia representative Ben Dalton noted that WTN strives to empower the youth of Namibia with not only skills, but also with values to grow into healthy and worthy citizens.
“Our approach is positive development of our youth in order for them to grow up into competent, healthy and responsible adults,” he said.
Wilderness Therapy Namibia is an alternative intervention programme to one-on-one counselling of troubled youngsters.
The programme commences with a hike in the wilderness and includes different counselling techniques such as journaling and group therapy, as well as choosing, and sometimes creating, a community service project for the needy in the community of the at risk youth.