SOCIETY

ADDRESSING INEQUALITIES IN SOCIETY

Part of our work to transform lives throughout Kenyan society takes place through investment by the Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations. This financial year is the first in which we have implemented the Safaricom Foundation 2018- 2021 strategy. The three pillars of the strategy are health, education and empowerment. These pillars are further split into the following programme areas: maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, technical and vocational training, improving learning outcomes and youth economic empowerment.

Aimed at building a stable and inclusive society, the Safaricom Foundation spent a total of KSh 434 million on 157 projects that transformed the lives of 185,513 individuals.

* Percentage of total spend ** Number of lives transformed

HEALTH
Foundation initiatives to improve health and well-being included access to cancer screening, medical camps and the renovation and equipment of health centres and maternity wings. KSh 44 million was spent on strategies to enhance maternal health and prevent and manage noncommunicable diseases.

The M-PESA Foundation established a number of programmes including Uzazi Salama (“safe pregnancy”). These interventions saw immunisation figures increase from 49% of children to 60%. Furthermore, 6,000 mother-baby packs were given to women delivering at facilities in Samburu County.

Safaricom Foundation Camps

Safaricom Foundation, in partnership with the Kenya Diabetes Management and Information Centre (DMI), offered free medical services to Kenyans as part of Safaricom Twaweza (“we can”) Live, a seven-month long programme of life-transforming community engagement across Kenya.

Services offered at the medical camps included diabetes and cancer screening, dental and eye checks, family planning, voluntary HIV counselling and testing services, deworming and general check-ups.

4,429 people were screened for diabetes
2,954 people received eye examinations
1,245 people received a dental check-up
38 patients with vesicovaginal fistulae (VVF) were operated upon
84 patients with rectal virginal fistula (RVF) were operated upon
155 other patients received necessary operations

EDUCATION
Projects in which the Safaricom Foundation participated to enable access to quality education included the construction and equipping of classrooms, kitchens, dining halls, latrines, libraries and science laboratories. We contributed to classroom renovations, computer and ICT equipment, autism therapy, manual skills training in electricity, assistive devices for the visually impaired and equipment for differently-abled persons, school learning materials and solar installations.

BENEFITING SOCIETY THROUGH OUR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

In the past financial year, we initiated a number of ecological and conservation projects and collaborated with various partners to roll them out in partnership with our Foundations.

In June 2018, we completed the KSh 164 million Mau Eburu conservation project, initiated in 2013 by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and funded by the M-PESA Foundation. The project involved the construction of a 50-kilometre electric fence and extensive reforestation to resolve persistent human-wildlife conflict and restore parts of the forest degraded by human encroachment.

Case Study: Wezesha and Generation in Kenya

The Safaricom Foundation Wezesha Programme has partnered with Generation in Kenya to support youth to access entry level job opportunities. The purpose of this partnership is to equip unemployed youth aged 18 to 35 with the knowledge, skills and tools required to succeed in the workplace, and position them for ongoing personal and professional success. To date, the programme has trained 156 young people on employability skills in the areas of financial services, distribution, sales, customer care and operations, with 99 receiving placements before completion of the training. Our targeted number of youngsters for this programme is 400.

Testimonials
“A friend invited me to the Blaze BYOB event at Kisumu Show Ground, and I later registered for the Financial Services Sales programme. Amazingly, after the training, I did not have to look for a job, since employers were waiting for me. I never knew I would have such a skill, especially in selling insurance.”

– Eve, now employed at Pioneer Insurance.

“I benefited richly from Generation in Kenya, acquiring customer care skills, confidence and a desire to succeed in all I do. These have helped me to start a shop, where I employ two people, while still working for Post Bank. I believe that I can pass on skills to my staff to help them. I have been rewarded multiple times by my employer for my good performance at work.”
– Henry, now employed at Post Bank

NDOTO ZETU

As part of our Safaricom@18 celebrations, marking 18 years in business, we launched Ndoto Zetu (“Our dreams”), an expression of our commitment to transforming communities. Through impactful investment, The Safaricom Foundation aims to fulfi l communities’ most pressing needs, such as rehabilitating schools, community facilities (e.g. boreholes) and health facilities.

People were encouraged to share their aspirations via various platforms, including Safaricom retail shops and online. In all, we reached 8 million people and gathered 398 dreams to fulfil.

A selection of our Ndoto Zetu projects:

Sharing Aspirations with Ndoto Zetu

PROMOTING AND PROTECTING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

In the year under review, we conducted our first Children’s Rights assessment using the UNICEF Mobile Operators’ Child Rights Self-Assessment Tool (MOCRIA). The tool provides guidance for mobile operators on assessing their policies and processes as they relate to children’s rights.

MO-CRIA assesses the measures our business has deployed to safeguard against infringing the rights of the child under three risk assessment categories derived from the UNICEF and Save The Children framework:

MO-CRIA Assessment Results

The results of this assessment were mixed; in some areas, we met the commitments we made, while in others, we have lagged behind. In the upcoming financial year we aim to implement the recommendations arising from the assessment, such as reviewing our and procedures to ensure we meet our commitments across all the areas.

CHILD ONLINE SAFETY ADVOCACY
A particular area of interest for us is online safety, given that we provide internet connectivity and content both for devices and homes through our Home Fibre network. We have put controls in place to ensure the online safety of our data products.

In FY19, we collaborated with the GSMA, UNICEF and other MNOs to develop and launch the WeCare campaign initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, and developed and launched the child online safety industry charter. We have hosted forums such as Safer Internet Day, which aims to enhance the safety of children online.

Case Study: 47-in-1

Computer laboratories, providing students with early access to digital learning environments and tools, can be a game-changer in an individual’s eventual employability and earning power.

Our Technology Division has rolled out prefab computer labs in primary schools. Our aim is to have a lab in at least one primary school in every county in Kenya as part of our 47-in-1 initiative. Twenty-one counties have completed fundraising activities for the programme, raising KSh 98 million of the KSh 112 million target. We have deployed a total of 18 computer labs, most recently in Turkana.

INSPIRING WOMEN TO SHAPE THE FUTURE IN TECHNOLOGY

“Gender, poverty and (economic) inequality are intrinsically linked… in countries where many women have an income of their own, relative poverty rates are lower.”
– 2018 UN Women discussion paper

A study conducted by the World Bank Group reports that global wealth would increase by US$23 620 per person, on average, in the 141 countries studied – for a total of US$160 trillion, if women earned the same over their lifetimes as men.A clear link exists between empowering women and reducing economic inequality for all.

Our commitment to gender diversity in the sphere of technology remains a key area of focus. Our outreach programmes in schools and on campuses encourage girls to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses. We achieved a presence in 50 high schools in the past year, reaching approximately 2,000 girls, and organised career talks at universities and colleges.

Our Safaricom Women in Technology (WIT) programme is an initiative dedicated to inspiring women to advance their STEM careers through internships, mentorship culture and coaching programmes. In FY19, the proportion of women in our technology division is 22 per cent and we are targeting to hit 25 per cent by the end of FY20.

Nieuwenhuis, R., Munzi, T., Neugschwender, J., Omar, H. and Palmisano, F. (2018), “Gender equality and poverty are intrinsically linked: a contribution to the continued monitoring of selected sustainable development goals”, UN Women, available at https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/12/discussion-paper-gender-equality-and-poverty-are-intrinsically-linked (accessed 20 June 2019)

Georgieva, K. and Bibieu, M. (2018), “This is the global price of gender inequality”, World Economic Forum, available at www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/the-high-price-of-gender-inequality(accessed 22 June 2019)

SAFARICOM WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS