Myanmar/Yangon – July 25, 2020 – As part of the fight against the COVID-19, Yoma Bank donated 6,000 design-your-own masks and school supplies for under-resourced students in Daing Su and Nyang Villages in Hlaing Thar Yar Township in partnership with Step-in Step-up, a vocational academy based in Myanmar. The motivation behind this donation was to raise awareness about the importance of wearing masks and to promote public health at schools in light of COVID-19.

When schools are expected to reopen in late July, wearing masks is the most essential to prepare for the safe reopening when physical distancing is difficult. Recognising how difficult wearing masks all the time can be for young students, this donation of design-your-own masks intends to improve the motivation of students to follow safety practices by providing them beautifully-designed masks. The masks donated are made of fabric, washable and were handed over to 500 highschoolers together with fabric glitter markers. Highschoolers will design personalized masksnand students who receive can write their names on the masks.

In collaboration with Step-in Step-up, Yoma Bank also raised awareness about wearing masks in public to ensure students can wear, remove and handle masks in a safe manner according to the health safety guidelines. The provision of mask wearing trainings also intend to educate the importance of wearing masks in flu season.

Reflecting on Yoma Bank’s ongoing efforts to build a better Myanmar for its people, Dean Cleland, CEO of Yoma Bank said, “As schools across Myanmar are preparing safe return to school precautions, we understand there are many challenges. Our focus is on providing necessary aids into the hands of students who need them the most. Students are the leaders of tomorrow who will shape the future of a country and we pay attention to contribute in the provision of education to future leaders of Myanmar. We are happy to support returning students enter the safe and secure environment. We hope this initiative has a positive impact on the education continuity in the country.”

Jackie Appel, Founder and Head of Step-in Step-up said, “Step-in Step-up is grateful to Yoma Bank for all the support and trust given to us during Covid-19. This enabled us to teach interns how to sew masks which provided a necessary skill and much needed protection from the Covid-19 virus. It also provided further sewing opportunities for two of our interns. We hope this is the beginning of a successful Social Impact Partnership working together to help our communities”.

The Headmistress of Nyaung Village expressed her appreciation, “We highly appreciate that Yoma Bank stepped into this timely donation when we are in dire need of masks to better protect the returning students. The idea of making design-your-own masks will be a lot easier for us to encourage students to wear personalised masks and promote the safe public health practices.”

Yoma Bank has been activating all precautionary and preventive measures since March to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all its customers, employees and the community.

About Step-in Step-up

Step-in Step-up was started in 2016. The Founder Jackie Appel wanted to help encourage confidence in young ladies living in the surrounding villages of Pun Hlaing Estate. These young ladies became her students and they were taught general housekeeping and basic English. Boys

were invited into the programme and a vocational on-the job training rotation was created, and Step-in Step-up was born. More than 200 interns have since been successfully employed.

Step-in Step-up focuses on preparing local youth in villages for entry level jobs by means of vocational on-the-job training. We create awareness of global issues such as trafficking, exploitation and care for the environment whilst enhancing personal and social development. It

continued to grow and the GAP KID programme was launched which is working with a very vulnerable age group of 10-17 years. It is run in conjunction with volunteers from the Dulwich College Community in Yangon. The primary goal is to teach English through educational activities including maths, science, music, singing and sport.

To learn more, please visit https://stepinstepupint.org/