Sustainability

Upgrading Veheragalayaya Kanishta Vidyalaya

NDB reached out to ‘Vheragalayaya Kanishta Vidyalaya, Matale’, to upgrade facilities in the school and support the students in their education. This project is complementary to the Bank’s ‘Reforestation Project’ which was implemented at the ‘Hibiliyakada Forest’ at Laggala, Matale. The goal of the Bank was to go beyond the reforestation project and assist the community in the area.

The Bank donated a new ‘Water Purification Plant’ as the water in the area is unsuitable for drinking and there are incidents of kidney disease due to this. The school’s computer lab was upgraded and used computers donated, with volunteers from the Bank’s Senior Management donating the requirement of computer tables.

The next step in this project was to assist the students as they step into a new scholastic year. The school has students from Grade 1 to 11 and these children come from very poor families. Therefore, the Bank donated all the stationary items in the students ‘Book List’ for the entire school. The funding for the project included generous contributions of some of the Senior Management at NDB. Over 190 students from Grade 1 to Grade 11 received all their stationary requirements for the new school year of 2021. Scholarships were also granted to 10 students.

Financial Inclusion & Women Empowerment

Supporting the socio-economic empowerment of women is a priority for the Bank, both from a commercial and sustainability angle. Through its unique Banking-on-women initiative NDB aims to provide a holistic value proposition for women, with the aim of partnering them through different stages of their lives. Women empowerment is driven through capacity building programmes as well as through dedicated funding lines.

NDB has been conducting on-going initiatives to empower women and equip them to successfully manage their business ventures.

The programmes focus on basic business management skills and financial discipline required to successfully manage their ventures. The programmes are open to both existing women SME & Micro customers of the Bank.

NDB Haritha Wiplawaya (Green Revolution)

Social Media Campaign to conserve the environment. This campaign was launched as an extension of the Bank’s Employee Volunteerism project, to raise awareness on environmental issues, mitigation methods and to engage the public in conserving the environment.

Documentaries of each project were created and posted as videos on the special Facebook Page. For the general public, the challenge was simple; ‘Like’ our page and ‘Share’ our efforts on their social media accounts and ‘Like’, ‘Comment’ on our videos. For each ‘Like’, ‘Comment’ and ‘Share’ of our content on the page we promised to plant a tree.

The Campaign generated 21,468 likes, 9,964 page likes, 4927 shares and 1,000 comments for the content on the Haritha Wiplawaya page. The movement resulted in 37,392 trees being gifted to the environment by the environment loving public of Sri Lanka. As per the promise made to the public to plant a tree for every engagement via social media, 40,000 Mangrove plants are being planted. Mangroves are pivotal coastal ecosystems and play a key role in weathering climate change impacts, whilst providing livelihood opportunities to the villagers and protection from adverse weather.

Education for Conservation

The Bank partnered with the ‘Wildlife & Nature Protection Society’ of Sri Lanka (WNPS), to inspire a new generation of environmentally conscious leadership and practices amongst all Sri Lankans. 2020, has been a year like no other in living memory, a challenging year, yet the Bank continued with the important work of #EducationForConservation by becoming innovative and adaptive to the 'new normal' conducting numerous virtual skills sessions for youth and engaging with schools where feasible via online platforms.

The Education for Conservation programme comprises of awareness sessions, field trips and kick starting of sustainability projects within schools. The awareness sessions address contemporary environmental issues in the country such as deforestation, climate change, pollution and the need for human-wildlife co-existence. The field trips are curated to provide the students with an opportunity to connect and appreciate the natural world firsthand. Field trips to the Wilpattu, Horton Plains, Bundala, Udawalwe and Wasgamuwa national parks have been made.

Reforestation to Support Climate Action

The Bank partnered with the ‘Department of Forest Conservation’ (DFC) to implement a reforestation programme. The mission of the Bank is to combat deforestation and protect our biodiversity which is vital for the existence of all forms of life.

The selected site for this project is the ‘Hibiliyakada Forest’, located in the Laggala Range in Matale District. This is a lowland rain forest with an extent of 1,800 hectares. Around 85 hectares of the forest has degraded due to the spreading of ‘Gini’ grass and forest fire. Furthermore, there is a threat of encroachment from the villagers in the vicinity, for the purpose of Chena cultivation.

The Bank together with the DFC planted 3,000 plants covering 05 Hectares. The plants include a variety of plants native to the natural eco system in the area. The initial planting commenced under the leadership of our GCEO, joined by members of the TLT, the CS Committee and staff volunteers from the Head Office and the Central and North Central Regions.

The Bank also volunteered to remove the invasive plants that are degrading the plains at ‘Pitawala Pathana’ and growing rampantly. Invasive species are detrimental to a forest and they change the character of the forest, threatening its biodiversity, overwhelming endemic species, and impacting soil quality among other concerns.

Home Agri

The enforced lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic resulted in a heightened interest in home gardening. With a scarcity of food supplies and suspended activities to contain the spread of the virus, residents looked to growing their own fruits and vegetables.

‘NDB Home Agri’ is a special CS Initiative implemented by the Bank to promote home gardening amongst the employees. The project was promoted through videos on social media where the Bank’s own employees together with Home Agri experts shared information and tips on growing Vegetables, Fruits & Flowers.

The videos covered the following key areas:

1. Gardening in a small space
2. Preparing the Soil
3. Vegetables you can easily grow in your home garden
4. Fruits you can easily grow in your home garden
5. Flowers you can easily grow in your home garden

The ‘NDB Home Agri’ Project which commenced with the lockdown, culminated with the ‘NDB Home Agri Competition’. Over 30 employees from the head office and branches were selected for the competition on a first come first serve basis. A variety of seeds (vegetables and fruits) and a mango plant were given to each competitor. The rules are simple; start growing, record your progress, be creative and make use of the learning’s and tips shared in the NDB Home Agri Videos, and the best ‘Home Agri Projects’ will win exciting prizes.

Environmental Capacity Building – Internal Eco Quiz

With a view to enhancing the environmental knowledge of the staff and thereby helping to conserve the environment, the Bank conducted an ‘Eco Quiz’ amongst the staff members.

The overall goal was to help the employees to stay concerned and motivated to protect our environment and to inspire others to do the same. The quiz covered key areas under the themes of Pollution Control, Plastic Waste, Ocean, Resource Saving, Climate Change, Water, Recycling, Deforestation, Biodiversity, Renewable Energy, General Environmental Literacy and Environmental Problems.

Assistance for Covid-19 Crisis

The Bank responded to the covid-19 crisis in the country and contributed substantially to assist the brave frontline medial staff.

NDB supported the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by providing personal protective equipment to support personnel on the front lines and much needed funding towards controlling the pandemic.

The Bank donated, PPEs, N95 Face Masks. 3Ply Protective Masks, N95 Cones, KN95 Masks, Face Shields and Infrared Thermometers, to over 20 hospitals in the country. A sum of Rs 7.0 Mn was also donated to the ‘President’s Fund’, the ‘Covid -19 Healthcare & Social Security Fund’. A further Rs 1.0 Mn was donated to the Rotary Club for the purchase of a PCR Testing Machine. An ‘Air Disinfectant Machine’ was also donated to the National Hospital. The Bank also provided monetary assistance to the janitors working at the Bank, enabling them to meet their essential needs during the lockdown period.

Protective Equipment was donated to over 20 hospitals in the country. The bulk of the Bank’s CS Budget was utilised for this worthy cause.

Donation of Defibrillator to the Peradeniya Kidney Protection Society

The Bank donated a Defibrillator to the Kidney Unit in the 'Teaching Hospital Peradeniya' costing Rs 1.2 Mn.

The hospital had set up a separate ward for kidney patients (children and adults) and was in urgent need of a 'Defibrillator'. When the unit is fully functional, the machine will benefit approximately 600 patients per month.

Dialysis patients are a group at extraordinarily high risk for mortality. There is a heightened risk of sudden cardiac death during dialysis. Therefore, a defibrillator is essential as serious kidney patients can suffer complications and heart failure during dialysis.