Safaricom - 2021 Sustainable Business Report

67 SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2021 / STANDING TOGETHER: GOING BEYOND / OUR MATERIAL TOPICS //// OUR STAKEHOLDERS / KPI SUMMARY In line with our commitment to ‘Standing Together’, our business plays an important role in the lives of the members of our society. We remain committed to ensuring inclusive and equitable access to healthcare, particularly by promoting maternal and child health (SDG3). In addition, we operate several wide-ranging initiatives across the education value chain (SDG4) and economic opportunities for all (SDG 8) through our Foundations and partnerships (SDG17). We also seek to use our thought leadership position and various platforms in Kenya to drive engagement and action on sustainability and the SDGs. SOCIETY 1 https://www.globalhungerindex.org/kenya-alt.html TOWARDS A MORE INCLUSIVE SOCIETY Although the Kenyan economy has been growing rapidly since 2005, it is evident that more needs to be done to promote a more inclusive society. Kenya ranked 84th out of the 107 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2020 scores in the 2020 Global Hunger Index 1 . With a score of 23.7, Kenya is classified as having a level of hunger that is serious and depicts the extent of inequality in the country. We believe that education, health, economic empowerment and environmental conservation are avenues through which to address this. We engage both formally and informally with all levels of society, particularly the most marginalised, to understand their needs and priorities. Part of our work to transform lives throughout Kenyan society takes place through corporate social investments by the Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations. The strategy for the two Foundations is anchored on our Transforming Lives strategy and our commitment to SDGs 3, 4 and 8. Our aim is to promote a stable, inclusive society with equal opportunities for all. The initiatives on the following pages provide an example of how we create positive benefits and are a brief snapshot of the type of projects in which we are involved. OUR HIGHLIGHTS • Over 1.2 million lives positively impacted through the Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations. • Successful launch of Phase 2 of Ndoto Zetu - Kenyans’ Dreams Fulfilled, 328 projects implemented which impacted the lives of 1 178 756 people in 46 counties. • In recognition of the importance of the private sector’s contribution to the SDGs, we launched the Safaricom Sustainable Future thought leadership series. • Achieved 90% automation of the grant making process which facilitates the receipt, tracking and timely feedback of proposals. • We signed an MOU with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in November 2020 to jointly advocate for children’s rights. • Continued to support the #MyLittleBigThing initiative which aims to catalyse social entrepreneurship among young people through the development of ideas that will help find the best home-grown solutions for Africa’s development challenges. • Our CEO was appointed to the board of the Global Compact Network Kenya (GCNK). ISSUES FOR SOCIETY • Negative economic and social impact of COVID-19. OUR RESPONSE TO COVID-19 Provision of: • Personal protective equipment for health workers impacting over 5 000 health workers. • Clean water, handwashing soap, sanitisation booths, soap impacting 165 000 people. • Smartphones and airtime to enable online learning impacting 4 350 young learners in informal settlements. • Food hampers to families worth over KSh 200 million. • Six Thousand Strong for the Community Initiative – Safaricom staff-driven initiative to donate to COVID-19 relief kitty through cash or Bonga points. The drive raised KSh 4 million which went into purchasing food packs for over 2 500 families.