Credit Suisse and Pro Juventute Enter into a Strategic Partnership Mittwoch, 12. April 2017 - 09:00

Credit Suisse and Pro Juventute are cementing their ties and entering into a strategic partnership. The main focus will be sharing know-how and boosting the bank's employee involvement in volunteering. In the first phase, Credit Suisse will support Pro Juventute programs aimed at preventing youth unemployment. Cooperation between the two partners will  be extended into other areas over time. 

Credit Suisse and Pro Juventute will immediately start working together in the framework of the new strategic partnership. Having already collaborated on a number of joint projects in recent years, this new agreement will allow even closer cooperation. Initially, the main focus will be on measures toreduce youth unemployment in Switzerland. This cooperation will be extended to include other projects at a later stage. 

For Katja Wiesendanger, Executive Director of Pro Juventute, sharing know-how and getting staff involved in volunteering are key aspects of the partnership: "Thanks to collaboration with committed partners such as Credit Suisse, we are able to do even more to give children a fair chance and the best possible start in life from the moment they are born, allowing them to develop into confident, independent and responsible adults." Zahra Darvishi, Head of Corporate Citizenship Switzerland at Credit Suisse, underlines the wealth of knowledge and experience that both partners bring: "The cooperation between private industry and experts from the non-profit sector on topics that matter, going beyond financial support, is extremely promising. This kind of cooperation is set to become more and more important in the future." 

Multi-Faceted Collaboration for the Benefit of Children and Young People

Around 140 Credit Suisse employees have been involved with Pro Juventute’s "Job Application Trainings for School Pupils" program since fall 2015. In this program, young people who are about to leave school are helped by volunteers to prepare for finding an apprenticeship. So far, more than 700 young people have benefited from this free service provided by the two partner organizations. Credit Suisse will continue to champion job application trainings, and supports the planned rollout across of Switzerland. 

Since 2016, Pro Juventute has also been one of the organizations that benefits from the Credit Suisse Micro-Donations program: Every time a client makes a purchase with their credit or Maestro card, they can opt to round up the payment and donate this amount, or a proportion of the interest earned on their account, to Pro Juventute. Credit Suisse volunteers also help out with dispatching specially commissioned stamps and gift items that go on sale through the Pro Juventute shop every Christmas. 

Youth Unemployment Remains a Core Issue

One of the first joint ventures between the two organizations began in 2015 under the umbrella of the "Check Your Chance" association, aimed at tackling youth unemployment. Credit Suisse provides the association with financial and administrative support, while Pro Juventute is actively involved in the "MyFutureJob – Professional Reorientation" coaching program. This advisory and support package is aimed at adolecents and young adults, who are struggling to find a job on completing their initial training or who are unable to continue in the career  for which they trained. Pro Juventute is filling a gap here, as there is a lack of affordable support on offer for young people in many cantons. An average of around 52,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed in Switzerland in 2016, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition (source: Swiss Labor Force Survey, Swiss Federal Statistical Office).