Community involvement in Estonia

In Estonia, we have made a conscious effort to increase our support in the areas of education, social issues and culture. Projects receiving greater assistance include Youth to School, Estonian Health Trails and HIV prevention.

 

The objective of the Youth to School project is to motivate successful young university graduates to seek employment as schoolteachers. Besides easing the lack of teachers at Estonian schools, the project also aims to boost the status of the teaching profession and give young teachers opportunities to train their leadership skills. Hansabank founded the Youth to School project in cooperation with the Good Deeds Foundation and many private companies have since pledged their support. Youth to School was officially launched in February 2007 and following recruitment efforts that attracted 76 applicants per position, 11 young people took up employment at schools this autumn. The project was inspired by the UK’s Teach First program.

 

Through the Estonian Health Trails project, Hansabank, in cooperation with AS Merko Ehitus and Eesti Energia, has renovated 17 countryside exercise trails in different parts of the country. A further 17 trails are currently undergoing renovation. Through the joint project, health trails that are available to everyone year round and free of charge will be given new surfacing, improved access, changing and showering facilities, lighting and snow-making equipment.

 

Unlike in areas such as education and sports, Hansabank’s support in the fight against HIV represents new territory. However, we welcome the challenge, as we consider the spread of the virus to be one of the most pressing threats in Estonian society. Our main objective is to counteract the view that “this disease has nothing to do with me”. We began at home, with more than 700 employees taking part in HIV and AIDS training provided by the Terve Eesti health organization in spring 2007.
In Estonia, two people contract HIV every day and, sadly, the country has Europe’s highest incidence of HIV.