The EDP Foundation and the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation will develop joint initiatives to educate and raise awareness of sustainability among children and young people in hospital. The two institutions seek to contribute to learning and raising awareness among the younger generations on relevant topics such as sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals, and renewable energies.
These initiatives will take place in Paediatric Departments of National Health Service Hospitals where the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation develops projects to support families with children and young people undergoing hospital treatment, to whom it will offer educational and entertaining content designed by the EDP Foundation as part of Your Energy, a programme that offers interactive lessons for teaching and good sustainability practices in schools. This partnership aims to add value to the daily lives of these children and young people, particularly those undergoing long-term treatment.
The first joint initiative took place on 9 July in the Ronald McDonald Play Room of the Paediatric Ward at São João Hospital in Porto.
"Through this partnership, the EDP Foundation is extending its intervention in the area of education for sustainability and the energy transition. We have been working on these themes in schools across the country since 2023, seeking to encourage young people towards the reflection and action that is urgently needed to build a more sustainable common future. By doing so in hospital paediatric wards, we want our educational and entertaining content to help enrich the days and well-being of children and young people undergoing treatment," says Vera Pinto Pereira, president of the EDP Foundation.
"As the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation is centred on developing the best health care for children and young people and their families, it has a fundamental and ongoing concern for sustainability. Through this partnership with the EDP Foundation, to integrate the Your Energy educational programme in the hospitals where we operate, we will help pass on these values to children and young people undergoing hospital treatment and yp their families, while at the same time providing fun and playful moments to help create good memories of the hospital during a difficult and challenging period," says Marta Sousa Pires, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation.
The Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation is a Private Social Solidarity Institution (IPSS) of recognised Public Utility, whose purpose is to support and care for families with children and young people undergoing hospital treatment, contributing to their physical, emotional and psychological well-being. It currently supports 13 National Health Service hospitals through its projects and programmes.
