Hemas ‘Piyawara’ wins Asian CSR award

Hemas’ ‘Piyawara, the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)’ project won the Award of Excellence for Support and Improvement of Education in Asia presented by the Asian Institute of Management at the annual Asian CSR Awards held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in August.

The award was celebrated at an event held on October 4 at the Galadari Hotel where Sumedha G. Jayasena, Minister of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment was the Chief Guest. “This is the very first time that Sri Lanka has won an award of this nature and demonstrates the success of this CSR initiative” Hemas’ Manager Corporate Relations / CSR, Shiromi Masakorale said at the event.

The principal hosts of this event were the United Nations, ActionAid and the Asian Institute of Management, and this year saw the entry of more than 186 applicants from 117 companies in 14 countries, including Sri Lanka. All the other winners were Fortune 500 companies, Multinationals and INGOs.

Hemas Holdings CEO Hussein Esufally said “This award is an endorsement of the success of the Piyawara initiative and a singular salutation to the numerous people who have played a pivotal role in this project over the past five years.”

Launched in 2003, Piyawara is the CSR project of the Hemas Group in collaboration with the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment. Currently there are 32 pre-schools island wide, operated under Piyawara with more than 3000 students and a 150 teachers. (LP)