BASF donates playgrounds to benefit over 12,000 children

Celebrating 25 years of BASF in Vietnam and its commitment to sustainable development

Cultivating creativity and a sense of exploration through play and interaction with nature

Four facilities in Hanoi, Yen Bai and Ho Chi Minh City will use child-friendly and recyclable materials

 
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – August 2, 2019 – In celebration of its 25 years in Vietnam, BASF is launching an initiative with social enterprise Think Playgrounds donating four public playgrounds to the children and local community. BASF today handed over the first project – a 300 square meter playground in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)’s Go Vap District. In total, the initiative will provide over 12,000 children with a more appealing and safe learning environment. The four high-quality playground facilities are designed to promote a sense of exploration, inspire creativity and develop different skills among the kids:

Provincial Pediatric Hospital, Yen Bai Province: completed in July, benefitting over 10,000 children;

Ward 15, Go Vap District, HCMC (near District 12): to be completed in August, benefitting 300 kids, including 20 with special needs;

Hiep Phuoc Commune, Nha Be District, HCMC: to be completed in August, benefitting 2,000 kids, including 20 with disabilities;

Binh Minh School for children with special needs, Dong Anh District, Hanoi: supports about 70 students with disabilities (including autism, hearing and visual impairments), to be completed in September.
 

The two sites in Go Vap District and Nha Be District in HCMC are both located in outskirt areas of the city, where access to high-quality playgrounds and entertainment facilities is a challenge for many families, especially those immigrants working for nearby industrial parks. The two sites will be transformed into facilities that help the children learn through play, hence improving their development as well as living conditions.

Playground before and after renovation

The other two facilities, housed inside Hanoi’s Binh Minh School for children with special needs and Yen Bai Provincial Pediatric Hospital, will provide outdoor toys and play areas to help children recover from illness and develop physical and cognitive skills.

The four playgrounds built with child-friendly materials including woods, ropes and some recycled materials, such as old tires. The purpose is to provide the young generation an opportunity to have better interaction with the nature, and to build a good habit of giving a second life to recyclable materials in daily life. For Binh Minh school, the playground is equipped with a protective flooring system that contains a special grade of Expanded Thermoplastic Polyurethane (E-TPU), Infinergy® SP from BASF. It provides high rebound performance and excellent impact absorption for students’ joints while lowering risks of exercise-related injuries.

Play is essential to early childhood development and children are encouraged to explore outdoor play. However, the rapid urbanization of big cities in Vietnam is leading to reductions in public space and shortages of playgrounds. The lack of public areas as well as poor conditions of the existing facilities would hinder public health and mental and physical development of the children.

“At BASF in Vietnam, we focus our corporate citizenship activities on providing quality education. Through partnering with Think Playgrounds, we want to revitalize public spaces and make safe and high-quality play facilities and environment more accessible to every kid, especially those underprivileged children.” says Tanachart Ralsiripong‚ Managing Director, BASF Vietnam. “Children’s wellbeing can be improved with physical, sensory and social play experience. This initiative is a meaningful way to celebrate our 25th anniversary in Vietnam and underlines our commitment to helping the country meet its sustainable development goals.”

“We have been committed to improving the public spaces for our children and community in urban areas. Go Vap playground marks our first project in Ho Chi Minh City to provide a vibrant and safe atmosphere for them. We appreciate BASF, our sponsors, government authorities, volunteers and the community for their commitment and endeavors to give children opportunities to experience free play.” said Nguyen Tieu Quoc Dat, Co-founder and Vice Director of Think Playgrounds.

Apart from the collaborative playground donation initiative, BASF Vietnam has been active in multiple community projects. For instance, BASF has partnered with Saigon Children’s Charity to renovate four schools by offering enhanced facilities and improving hygiene and safety conditions. Moreover, BASF has provided scholarships to disadvantaged university students for their four years of studies and holds the interactive education program BASF Kids’ Lab on an annual basis for primary school students. The company also works with Nippon Paint to offer paint sponsorship to redecorate school area in Mekong Delta.

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About BASF Vietnam
BASF has been active in Vietnam since the establishment of its representative office in 1994 and is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2019. BASF Vietnam Limited was set up in 2009. The company operates two production sites for construction chemicals, located at Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park, Bình Dương province, and Vân Trung Industrial Park, Bắc Giang province. BASF Vietnam also maintains three sales offices in Hồ Chí Minh City, Hà Nội and Đà Nẵng. The company offers solutions to Vietnam’s key industries, including agriculture, construction, automotive, footwear, paint & coatings and electric & electronics, among others. BASF sales to customers in Vietnam were approximately €331 million in 2018. BASF employed 193 people in Vietnam as of the end of 2018. Further information on BASF in Vietnam is available at www.basf.com/vn.
 
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 122,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of around €63 billion in 2018. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

About Think Playgrounds
Think Playgrounds (TPG) is a pioneer social enterprise with a mission of working together with urban residents to build playgrounds, community gardens as well as friendly public space renovation for children and disabled people in Vietnam.
 
Established in 2014, TPG believes that functional and qualitative public spaces is fundamental to achieving social equity to increase life quality of urban citizens, especially children. This organization has collaborated with different partners, communities and donors to build over 100 playgrounds, community gardens and public spaces among Vietnam.
 
TPG has been awarded many prizes and recognition from many organizations and government such as “Green City Solution” by The Embassy of Denmark, “Urban 95” by Bernard Van Leer Foundation, Winner of "The social cohesion challenge” by Da Nang Climate Change Coordination Office (CCCO) in collaboration with Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism…
 
TPG has also initiated campaigns to raise awareness of children's right to play and the importance of free and outdoor play to children’s development through community workshops and events such as PlayDay, PlayStreet, Play Campaign…
 
Media contacts
   
BASF VietnamThink Playgrounds 
Đỗ Kim Chung
Manager, Corporate AffairsNguyễn Tiêu Quốc Đạt
Co founder & Vice Director 
Phone:  +(84 8) 3824 3833Phone: +(84-024) 62509539 
Mobile: +(84) 912 131 288Mobile: +(84)989 259 480 
Kimchung.do@basf.comsanchoivietnam2014@gmail.com