The year 2021 at a glance
The Achmea Foundation wants to achieve an inclusive society. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how unequal access to healthcare, and especially access to medication, is in the world. And how important it is for everyone that this unequal access be reduced.
The access to medication is unequal distributed in the world.
The Achmea Foundation is proud that Achmea actively supports the investment statement of the Access to Medicine Foundation, which calls on the pharmaceutical industry to do more for people in low- and middle-income countries and to increase the accessibility of vaccines developed in those countries. The Achmea Foundation previously invested in making Hepatitis C treatment accessible in Cameroon. In 2021, a PharmAccess initiative was selected that focuses on making good health information accessible in Nigeria and Tanzania. In this way, we are helping to reduce inequality of access.
Access to the economic market is also unevenly distributed. Eucord focuses on increasing that accessibility and food security for small farmers, including in Ethiopia. In 2021, the foundation supported an initiative aimed at improving the economic chain of pulses production.
This year, as in 2020, we approached partners ourselves to ask whether they have any innovative initiatives of their own or know of any that would fit in with the Achmea Foundation. We now also ask our partners to carry out a comprehensive stakeholder analysis when developing applications. Understanding this makes it easier to assess the feasibility of an initiative.
For the first time this year, independently of the Call for Proposals, we have contacted all the partners with which the foundation works or has worked with in the past to see if there is a need for Achmea’s expertise. This active approach was highly appreciated and led to interesting advisory questions for Achmea employees. In 2021, Achmea more clearly defined what the organisation stands for: Sustainable Living. Together, an inclusive society in which everyone participates and lives happily and healthily with and alongside each other. In a way that can guarantee its long-term continuation. This makes the Foundation’s cooperation with the company Achmea even more focused and stronger – a clear ambition in our strategy plan 2021-2025. A nice practical effect of this is that we have focused the “Voor Elkaar” platform more on Achmea’s “Sustainable Living. Together.” In this way, we offer clear direction to Achmea employees on the type of voluntary work that is encouraged.
The cooperation between the foundation and Achmea that arose from the ImpactPlus programme is another good example. An existing growth programme of Centraal Beheer Achmea will be used for social entrepreneurship in the field of Sustainable and Healthy Living. In June 2022, a Dragon’s Den panel will be organised in which a select group of social entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch their businesses.