2022 Sustainable Business Report

72 | SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2022 KPI SUMMARY OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR BUSINESS OUR STAKEHOLDERS EDUCATION According to the World Bank, education expenditure in Kenya has reached international benchmarks, both as a share of total government expenditure and as a share of GDP. However, the pupil-to-teacher ratio remains at an average of 56 to 1, in some counties as high as 77 to 1 and there is a low rate of transition from secondary to tertiary institutions. We work to redress this balance through several key initiatives. • The aim of the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) , implemented together with our partners, was to improve the learning outcomes (numeracy and literacy competency) for learners lagging in these skills. The programme aimed to support learners to read with comprehension and be able to reason with numbers. The initiative focused on schools in Bungoma, Turkana and Tana River counties, which had been ranked as counties lagging in matters of learning. Implementation at the county level was through local organisations, with a programme support team overseeing implementation. By the time the grant ended in April 2022, the programme had benefitted 25 271 children whose learning outcomes had improved. • The Safaricom Foundation Scholarship (SFS) Programme is a Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme implemented together with our partners and the Ministry of Education. SFS seeks to contribute significantly to Kenya’s economy by injecting skilled human resources in the hospitality and construction industries through providing training scholarships for at least 1 000 needy and vulnerable youth across Kenya. In FY22 we exceeded this goal, providing 1 027 scholarships. The programme’s aim is that at least 60% of the beneficiaries should be young women from needy backgrounds and at least 5% of the trainees should be Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). By December 2021, the programme had enrolled 820 trainees in two cohorts. During the year, we also implemented quarterly capacity enhancement workshops and meetings for the managers of Vocational Training Centres. A key learning from the programme was that PwDs require additional support to transition from one term to the next. They also needed support in taking up opportunities in industry. More importantly, because of the stigma and/or related ‘challenges’ of accommodating employees with disability, the best transition path for PwD beneficiaries is to link them to entrepreneurship opportunities. The Zizi Afrique Foundation (ZAF) has collaborated with the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) to run a programme to link PwDs with procurement opportunities through the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) Policy.