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Day: 8 June 2021

Prince rewards Ugandan hospital

by: Cassandra Tanti
08/06/2021

Prince Albert has awarded his Prize for Innovative Philanthropy to Dr Mutahunga Birungi, on behalf of the Bwindi Community Hospital in Uganda, for its commitment to providing access to healthcare for the region’s poorest communities.
Prince Albert delivered the award on Monday 7th June, as part of the 11th edition of the Prince’s Round Table for Philanthropy.
Dr Mutahunga Birungi, Executive Director of the Bwindi Community Hospital, received the 2021 Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy in recognition of the exceptional work carried out by his community hospital in Southwestern Uganda.
The prize is a joint initiative of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Tocqueville Foundation, to reward and support innovative projects that encourage philanthropy in the service of sustainable societal innovation.
The Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) was founded in 2003 by Dr Scott Kellerman and his wife Carol to help the Batwa indigenous community who used to live in the Bwindi Forest, before it was registered as a sanctuary for mountain gorillas.
Each year, the BCH deals with more than 40,000 consultations and directly hires thousands of people for local actions in the field of healthcare.
The hospital’s health insurance plan, eQuality, allows 28,000 people to have access to quality healthcare without incurring costs that are unaffordable for these communities. The BCH also offers a waiting house for Batwa women with a high-risk pregnancy to ensure they are cared for by a qualified midwife during labor. This involvement has helped to increase the number of hospital deliveries to 90%, whereas 10 years ago it was only 35%. Meanwhile, child mortality has lowered from 120 to 46 deaths per 1,000 births.
The BCH aspires to become a regional centre of excellence, providing tertiary healthcare to train high-level professionals and play a leading role in the field of healthcare research and innovation.
In receiving the award, Dr. Birungi thanked the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Tocqueville Foundation for considering the Bwindi Community Hospital as worthy of the honorary distinction: “I feel extremely humbled that, from an open-air clinic for Batwa indigenous people 18 years ago, Bwindi Community Hospital has grown to make a reasonable contribution to improving access to healthcare and health training, especially for those who need it most. Our achievement has been a collective effort of the community, staff and many other people acting as individuals or as organisations from different walks of life.”
Dr. Birungi added that it is by “acting together that we make the world a better living place for ourselves today and for those coming after us.”
Dr. Birungi’s emphasis that “we share one planet” echoes the theme for this year’s edition of the Prince’s Round Table for Philanthropy: Planetary Health.
Each year, this closed-door event brings together, alongside the Prince, major international philanthropists who wish to discuss the role of philanthropy in the face of the major challenges the world currently faces.
“At a time when the pandemic has turned our societies upside down, it was essential to address the question of the relationship between planetary health and global health,” says the Prince’s Foundation in a statement.
Laurence Tubiana, Director of the European Climate Foundation and Chair of the Board of Directors of the French Development Agency, and Prof. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Research Institute on the Effects of Climate Change and Professor of Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam, also shared their expertise in climate action and governance before establishing the close link between human health and planetary health.
 

Photo by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation
 
 
 

Here’s what’s allowed in France from 9th June

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/06/2021

Wednesday marks the third of a four-phase reopening strategy in France. So, what exactly is about to change from this week?

From Wednesday 9th June, people in France will be given more freedoms and options as the rules in place from the last national lockdown are gradually lifted.

Amongst the things set to change are some very welcome adjustments, including the reopening of indoor seating in restaurants and cafés. Previously limited to terrace-only service, customers will be welcomed back inside, albeit with a 50% percent limit on capacity and a six-person maximum per table. Customers must, however, provide contact details in order to take advantage of indoor seating, with many cafés offering a scannable QR option to make the process simple.

Rules on terraces will also change, allowing establishments with outdoor space to operate at full capacity, though the six person per table restriction will still be in effect.

Meanwhile, the curfew will be shortened, going from a 9pm shutdown to 11pm. Those out between 11pm and 6am will still need an attestation citing an essential reason for being out, but the more summer-friendly hours will allow people a much-needed feeling of normalcy.

Gyms and pools will also reopen, though there will be strict health protocols and limits on the number of people who will be able to be at these facilities at one time. Spas will also be able to reopen at full capacity. 

The introduction of the travel ‘traffic light’ system also goes into effect on 9th June. As earlier reported by Monaco Life, this scheme entails a green, orange and red list of countries who are allowed in to France under differing criteria based on the current health situations in their nations.

Health passports will come into use. Already operational via the TousAntiCovid app, users can scan in vaccination certificates or recent negative Covid tests from the My Wallet section. From the 9th, this will be an entry requirement for certain large events, such as concerts and sports matches.

With the advent of the health passport, events of up to 5,000 will also be allowed once more, subject to rules regarding social distancing and the usual protections.

Tourist sites, shops, cinemas and museums will also be able to welcome the public back with an increased capacity. They were reopened in May but had to allow 8m2 per guest. Now that has been decreased to 4m2 per person, making these venues more accessible. Cinemas and theatres can have up to 65% normal capacity, with a maximum or 1,000 patrons, or 5,000 with a health passport.

Guests at weddings and civil ceremonies are limited to 50% venue capacity and funerals can have up to 75 attendees.

Many of the larger and more popular attractions are requiring advanced bookings, so it is wise to check ahead of time to ensure there will not be entry issues.

The French government is no longer asking people to work from home, though it is still recommended. The advice is to allow for a gradual return to the office to be sorted amongst workers and employers to avoid a mass return.

“This must be the starting point of a move to find the right balance between face-to-face and remote working, and to put in place new practices,” said Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne.

With all the changes, there are still some things that will stay the same.

Nightclubs will remain closed, gatherings of more than 10 people in public spaces are still discouraged, and masks are still mandatory in public indoor spaces, with a risk of a €135 fine for non-compliance. Most cities are also still requiring masks in outdoor public spaces as well, but this is location dependent.

 

READ ALSO:

France reveals details of its ‘Traffic light’ travel rule system

New QR tracing system to be launched in France

 
 

ASM partners with Sokin in three-season deal

by: Cassandra Tanti
08/06/2021

AS Monaco has announced that it is the first club in League 1 to partner with Sokin, a FinTech service that’s already well established in the Premier League.
From 1st July, Sokin will become AS Monaco’s official payment solutions partner for three seasons and will notably allow the club to make international payments through its dedicated platform.
The Sokin brand will feature on the club’s communication material and the Stadium’s LED panel.
AS Monaco is the first Ligue 1 club to partner with Sokin, which is already established in the Premier League.
“We are very proud to welcome Sokin to the AS Monaco family,” said Oleg Petrov, Vice-Chairman and CEO of AS Monaco. “This new collaboration is part of our desire to continue the overall development of the club. We are delighted to be working with this innovative and internationally oriented partner, who works with Premier League clubs and who has chosen AS Monaco to be present in Ligue 1.”
According to a club statement on Tuesday, by joining forces with an actor that has become a benchmark in ‘FinTech’ in just a few years, AS Monaco is confirming its desire to develop innovative partnerships and increase its international visibility.
“We are delighted to team up with a club as prestigious as AS Monaco to support our ambitions for growth,” said Vroon Modgill, Founder and CEO of Sokin. “We look forward to working with the club and its partners to help create more inclusive and comprehensive payment and transfer solutions to increase the freedom to play football without financial barriers.”
 

MEB goes wide with new partnership for members

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/06/2021

The Francophone Village Côte d’Azur is now welcoming members of the Monaco Economic Board to join in on all trade fairs, conferences and other sponsored events, including VivaTech, the largest tech show in Europe.  
The Francophone Village Côte d’Azur is a collective that brings together the “phygital” deal-makers and game-changers in relation to the digital economy and sustainability.
It is a global alliance made up of entrepreneurs, investors, countries, regions, media outlets and cities from 19 countries and 85 territories with the aim of creating “direct corridors of acceleration and attractiveness of technological champions between territories”.
With this new collaboration, MEB members can attend, with free access, the upcoming Viva Tech trade fair from 14th to 18th June in Paris. In addition, they will be able to go to other well-known events such as the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), SouthBySouthwest (SXSW), the Hanover Fair, VivaTech, the Cannes Film Festival, the International Blockchain Stampede, the GITEX and the NRF.
Each of these events is supported by the collective as it provides for digital and physical access for MEB member companies, who also have the opportunity to pitch their enterprises to other companies, be jury members for pitch sessions and have remote access to pitches.
Accustomed to “phygital” devices at major innovation fairs, the Alliance My Global Village Francophone will deploy its own device in conjunction with the VivaTech show in Paris, the largest tech show in Europe. Phygital is the concept of using technology to bridge the digital world with the physical world with the purpose of providing unique interactive experiences for the user.
During VivaTech, over 5,000 international actors and investors from four continents, 20 countries and 30 studios will participate online to reveal all the latest trends and disruptive solutions in technological innovations.
Add to this more than 90 start-ups and scene-making companies who will be on hand to present their products and services to professionals in their fields.
“The Monaco Economic Board offers new perspectives to its members by integrating this collective,” said Guillaume Rose, Executive General Director of the MEB. “This approach, carried out alongside MonacoTech, aims to encourage the emergence of new players in the Principality in changing sectors, and thus to offer original, local and innovative solutions for the Monaco of tomorrow. This is a good complement to our partnership with the Interministerial Delegation responsible for the Digital Transition.”
 

Comedy Film Festival ends on high note

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/06/2021

The 18th Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival has concluded with a gala award ceremony honouring the best of the best for outstanding achievements and for making people smile. 

The 2021 Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival brought together international and Italian guests from the small and big screen as well as several well-known faces from the Principality including Mayor Georges Marsan, Minister of External Relations and Cooperation Laurent Anselmi and the Italian Ambassador to Monaco, Guilio Alaimo.

The jury comprised of Raoul Bova, president of the jury and Italian actor, Mario de la Rosa, Spanish actor from the hit series La Casa de Papel, beloved transalpine actor Giacomo Ferrara and Italian director Mario Sesti, who chose the top films and personalities of the year to be rewarded at a gala awards ceremony on Saturday night at the Grimaldi Forum.

The Spanish film Sentimental, directed by Cesc Gay took the award for best film. Argentinian actress Griselda Siciliani nabbed the prize for Best Actress and Udo Kier won the Best Actor award. Best Director was won by Adam Rehmeier for the Dinner in America, whilst Todd Stephens’s Swan Song won the Audience Award.

The Monte-Carlo Film Festival jury also awarded a special mention to the Israeli film Honeymood directed by Talya Lavie. Finally, the Comedy Short Award in the section dedicated to short films went to Wichita, by Sergine Dumais.

American actor Chazz Palminteri, known for roles in Once upon a time in the

Bronx, The Usual Suspects and Modern Family, arrived directly from the United States to receive the prestigious Movie Legend Award. The actor, nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor in the Woody Allen film Shots on Broadway, has recently appeared in Godfather of Harlem.

Actress, presenter and writer Rocio Munos Morales received the Monte-Carlo Award for her exceptional role as woman, mother, writer and empowerment model. Also awarded the Monte-Carlo Award was Italian actress Micaela Ramazzotti, nominated several times for her work and winner of the ‘David di Donatello’ for the film La Prima Cosa Bella.

 
 
Photo by Rosanna Calò