Our Responsibility is to Serve our Community Corporate Social Responsibility 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility Vision We seek to achieve a thriving and sustainable society that promotes the spirit of giving and ethics in all sectors. Goals 1. To contribute to the improvement of education at all levels. 2. To contribute to creating a healthy and disease-free society. 3. To promote the spirit of participation, giving and volunteering for all. 4. To promote the status of women and support their equality in terms of rights and duties. 5. To contribute to the development of a strong economy and a sustainable society. 6. To combat poverty and promote the values of work and productivity among youth. 7. To promote the role of youth creativity and innovation. 2 Bank of Palestine 3 Chairman of the Board Speech Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to present to you a copy of Bank of Palestine’s activities in the corporate social responsibility field during 2018. This report reflects a promising aspect of the bank’s contributions that support the local community, promote the concept of corporate social responsibility, contribute to the improvement of education and health services, promote culture, heritage and the arts, promote activities related to humanitarian endeavors, economic development and women empowerment, and contribute to responding to the needs of our community, apart from the banking services that we offer. During the past few years, the Corporate Social Responsibility Department at Bank of Palestine was developed based on an important strategy that aims to serve our fellow Palestinians and develop our communities, whereby the bank allocated approximately 5% of its annual profits to community development. This percentage increased over the years, after the bank started to realize the increasing needs of society and the hard times confronted by the Palestinian people. The bank also focused on encouraging its employees to promote the culture of volunteerism through the many and different developmental projects and humanitarian endeavors implemented with partner organizations. The year 2018 witnessed the implementation of several developmental projects, whereby the bank continued to support Wajd program, which was designed to assist orphans of the 2014 aggression on the Gaza Strip the fields of education, health and training. In the field of sports, the bank continued to sponsor women’s football, and in the field of education, it continued to support Zamala Fellowship Program, which, by the end of 2018, benefited 181 multidisciplinary researchers and academicians from 14 Palestinian universities. Also in 2018, the bank launched two huge campaigns in support of health: the first was for decreasing cases of diabetes, while the second campaign was to spread awareness about the importance of early detection of breast cancer among women, which became an annual tradition that contributed to saving many women from this disease. Through sponsoring these projects and activities, the bank aimed to promote the concept of sustainability and encourage both the organizations and citizens to adopt methods that protect the environment and use sustainable tools while performing farming, agriculture and other activities. The aforementioned activities that were implemented by the bank as part of its corporate social responsibility played an important role in promoting the trust of customers and citizens in the services provided by the bank. We pledge to do our utmost best to serve our community in order to achieve a thriving nation and a bright future for our children and youth. May God bless you. Hashim Shawa Bank of Palestine Group Chairman Our Responsibility is to Serve our Community Bank of Palestine continued to provide social contributions and support developmental projects within various sectors in Palestine and abroad, in line with several values and ethics adopted to promote financial inclusion and social responsibility. Taking into consideration the increasing needs of the society and the Bank’s desire to support more developmental projects in Palestine, the Bank allocated approximately 5% of its annual profits to support corporate social responsibility projects in various fields. The Bank focuses its contributions on various sectors, including education, youth empowerment, innovation, sports, health and environment, arts and culture, development, economic affairs and diaspora relations, humanitarian aid in addition to women empowerment. The Bank also encourages its employees to engage in voluntary work, through the developmental projects and humanitarian initiatives led by the Bank and its partners. 6 Bank of Palestine Education, Youth and Innovation Education continues to represent the real wealth of the Palestinian people. The education, youth and innovation sector is among the major pillars that contribute to the development of countries and the promotion of their cultivated presence around the world. Bank of Palestine revealed noticeable interest in supporting youth and their innovations, so that they have the lion’s share of contributions. It supported youth endeavors and encouraged them to innovate, develop, lead and increase their knowledge through information, as well as practice creative thinking and keep up with developments taking place in the world around them. These contributions managed to bear fruits, open new horizons, and promote the educational path of Palestinian youth at all levels so that they could work effectively, be able to take on responsibility, and have considerable positive impact on our societies on the economic, social, cultural and artistic levels. Following are some of the most important educational projects supported by the bank during 2018: 7 Zamala Fellowship Program This program was launched by the bank with an aim to develop education and educational staff at Palestinian universities by sending them on fellowship programs that incorporate vocational visits and training in order to raise the level of their performance and enable them to steer students and integrate them in the labor market and respond to the much-needed human capacities. Program beneficiaries over the past rounds of Zamala included over 181 researchers and academicians from 14 Palestinian universities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, specialized in different fields, including humanitarian sciences, economics and literature. The program also managed to encourage several experts from around the world to come to Palestine and implement training courses, one of which was at Al Quds University – Abu Dees and the other at AlNajah University, which benefited around 100 academicians. Furthermore, over 50 working papers were published in various academic fields, and networking was established with several foreign universities including, the University of Coventry in the United Kingdom, and the Polytechnic University in New Zealand. Other contributions in the education, youth empowerment and innovation sector include the following: 1. The Model United Nations - Through its strategic partnership with the Friends Schools, Bank of Palestine supported the various activities of the Model United Nations conference providing students the opportunity to practice democracy, learn how to manage debates, and seek solutions for global issues addressed by the United Nations. This conference is a model for United Nations conferences that are implemented worldwide, and that aim to build bridges for constructive thinking, reconcile opinions and create future leaders. 2. Donation for the Mahmoud Abbas Foundation- the bank continued to donate to the Mahmoud Abbas Foundation that provides educational scholarships to distinguished students living in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. 3.Bank of Palestine sponsored the “Hand in Hand” project that was established by the Birzeit University Friends Association for the production of simple handicrafts that are marketed in the Palestinian private sector. This is an income-generating project that assists students with limited income. 8 Bank of Palestine 4.Support for the Gaza Sky Geeks, which is a leading incubator and co-working space, a startup accelerator, and technology education hub that prepares developers and entrepreneurs in Gaza to compete on an international level. 5.The Faisal Husseini Foundation- With contribution from Bank of Palestine, the Faisal Husseini Foundation continued to implement theComprehensive Development in 15 schools Program in Jerusalem. The program aims to secure quality education for East Jerusalemites and create youth who are able to contribute to a democratic society that supports diversity, equality, gender and human rights, and youth who are able to build on scientific research, compete internationally in the fields of arts and sciences and use and develop modern technology. Activities implemented included a computer training for a number of teachers in the partner Jerusalem-based schools, in addition to a celebration that involved the participation of about 400 students to announce the program achievements during the first year. 6.The Bank continued to support Injaz Palestine, which is an organization that aims to promote economic opportunities for Palestinian youth by providing a series of educational training programs in the field of economics taught by female and male volunteers from the private sector. These trainings are provided at school and universities in all geographic areas. 7.The bank supported several ceremonies for the recognition of accomplished high