{"id":73769,"date":"2021-03-30T18:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T16:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monaco-tribune.com\/?p=73769"},"modified":"2021-03-30T10:56:46","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T08:56:46","slug":"rnli-and-princess-charlene-foundation-help-save-lives-from-drowning-despite-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monaco-tribune.com\/en\/2021\/03\/rnli-and-princess-charlene-foundation-help-save-lives-from-drowning-despite-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"RNLI and Princess Charlene Foundation help save lives from drowning despite pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 2013, the Princess Charlene Foundation has provided key financial support for global drowning prevention projects led by the UK-based Royal National Lifeboat Institution<\/a> (RNLI). How did their partnership begin, how are their programmes getting on, and have they stayed afloat during the pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking back to where it all started, Steve Wills, Head of International Programmes at the RNLI, remembers the exact moment this relationship was born. Eight years ago at the World Conference on Drowning Prevention, hosted in Potsdam, Germany, British lifeboats met the Princess Charlene Foundation. Over 500 participants came together from 50 countries, but \u201cit was immediately apparent that there were many synergies between the Foundation\u2019s objectives and those of the RNLI,\u201d recalls Steve. Since uniting over their shared mission to prevent drowning, the partners have \u201cundoubtedly saved many lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

>> READ ALSO:<\/strong> Looking back at the Princess Charlene of Foundation\u2019s partnership with Britain\u2019s RNLI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lifesaving work in Africa and Asia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

15,000\u2026 that\u2019s how many children die from drowning in Bangladesh every single year. The solution? Teach youngsters how to swim. Passionate about water safety, the Princess Charlene Foundation has provided the RNLI and its partners grants each year. Donations have facilitated the Seasafe lifeguarding and community education programme in Cox\u2019s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh, as well as SwimSafe classes in other parts of the country. \u201cSwimSafe is highly effective and those children who complete the swimming lessons are over 90% less likely to drown,\u201d explains Steve Wills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every single day in Bangladesh around 40 children die from drowning<\/p>Steve Wills, Head of International Programmes at the RNLI<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Similar projects have also been funded in fishing communities in Zanzibar, Tanzania. By working with their local partner, The Panje Project (TPP), adults have become instructors and children have learnt to swim. In 2018, 40 new swim instructors went on to teach 2,385 children survival swimming. Thanks to these programmes, communities are becoming equipped with lifesaving skills they can pass on for generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

>> READ ALSO: <\/strong> Princess Charlene\u2019s swimming programmes benefit 730,000 people<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n