CEO & Chief Compliance Officer attend graduation ceremony to reaffirm
>$1M pledge to Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
On a recent trip to Uganda, Denver-based Western
Union Chief Executive Officer Hikmet Ersek and Chief Compliance
Officer and Western Union Foundation Board Chair Jacqueline Molnar
provided leadership training and had the opportunity to see firsthand
how one non-profit’s peacebuilding initiative is working to transform
the country and support young people from war-torn regions of Uganda and
South Sudan.
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Hikmet Ersek, Western Union CEO, engages Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative graduates at a leadership session in Uganda, December 2017. (Photo Credit: @MarioDebout | RDB)
Earlier this year, the Western Union Foundation pledged
a three-year grant totaling USD$1,119,000 to support the Whitaker
Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI). Through the Foundation’s
support, WPDI’s Youth Peacemaker Network is working to provide access to
life-skills, conflict-resolution education and vocational training for
10,000 refugees and internally displaced persons at the settlement in
Kiryandongo, Uganda.
This December, the program honored its first graduating class of 52
program trainers at the refugee settlement in Kiryandongo, Uganda, where
the UNHCR reported approximately 55,000 refugees and asylum seekers
reside, 65% of whom are under 18.
Western Union and the Western Union Foundation have a long history of
supporting organizations and issues related to migration, refugees and
humanitarian crisis. We believe education and humanitarianism are the
surest pathways to economic opportunity for fragile and vulnerable
communities.
About the Western Union Foundation
The Western Union Foundation believes that education is one of the
surest pathways to economic opportunity. Through collaborations with
NGOs around the world, the Foundation has embarked on a five-year
mission to connect 50,000 migrants, refugees, women and young people to
the global economy through demand-driven skills training and workforce
enablement programs by 2020. The Foundation also offers a global
scholarship program that helps put a post-secondary education in reach
for in-need students studying in the STEM fields and business. To date,
more than $113 million has been given to fund projects affecting more
than 800,000 people in 137 countries across the globe, including
humanitarian relief for communities in crisis. The Western Union
Foundation is a separate charitable corporation that is tax-exempt under
§501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code, and receives support from
The Western Union Company, its employees, agents and business partners.
Contributions to the Foundation are tax-deductible for US income tax
purposes. To learn more, follow on Twitter @TheWUFoundation.
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Source: The Western Union Company