Safaricom 2023 Sustainable Business Report

70 OUR BUSINESS KPI SUMMARY OUR MATERIAL TOPICS SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2023 OUR STAKEHOLDERS SAFARICOM FOUNDATION EDUCATION Quality education is vital if Kenya is to reach its goal of becoming a newly industrialised nation by 2030. We work to help realise this ambition through several key initiatives. Firstly, the Safaricom Foundation Scholarships (SFS) initiative, is a technical and vocational educational (TVET) programme implemented in partnership with the Zizi Afrique Foundation, Toolkit skills Limited and the Ministry of Education. SFS seeks to contribute significantly to Kenya’s economy by injecting skilled human resources into the hospitality and construction industries through the provision of training scholarships for at least 1 000 needy and vulnerable youth across Kenya. In FY23, the Foundation equipped 1 027 youth trainees with sustainable skills for the construction and hospitality industries Secondly, the Safaricom and Vodafone Foundations have co-funded the Digital Skills Programme to improve teacher competencies for improved education outcomes in Kenya (see below). HEALTH Our healthcare initiatives are focused on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health. As reported in 2022, the maternal mortality ratio, the number of women dying of pregnancy-related causes in Kenya was 355 deaths per 100 000 live births. While access to skilled birth attendance has improved from 62% to about 70% over the last seven years, over 80% of maternal deaths are attributed to poor quality of care. Additionally, many more women and girls survive with severe morbidity including obstetric fistula and mental health complications. 5 In addition, more than half of women (53%) do not receive any postnatal care and less than one-fifth receive postnatal care within 41 days after delivery. 6 Our aim is to make a lasting contribution to society by improving the maternal and newborn outcomes and helping to upgrade overall health services. The three-year goal of the Afya Uzazi Salama programme was to improve access and uptake of Reproductive Maternal Neo-Natal Child Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) for 30 000 mothers in Baringo County by the year 2023. In FY23, the programme recorded 222% achievement in Antenatal Care (ANC) attendance, 152% achievement in skilled deliveries, 178% achievement in effective referrals and 103% achievement in number of women attending four Antenatal Clinics. ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT Kenya’s key development challenges include poverty, inequality, high levels of youth unemployment and slow participation of women in the economy. We work to address these in the following ways: The agricultural sector is the backbone of the economy, contributing approximately one third of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 7 . Against this backdrop, the Wezesha Agri initiative which began in 2018, aims to increase the participation of youth and women in the agricultural sector by supporting them with access to farm inputs, learning content and the required land infrastructure. Through a demonstration farm in Kajiado funded by the Safaricom Foundation, the Wezesha programme’s mandate is to promote economic empowerment of the community by leveraging technologies and innovations that spur entrepreneurship, thereby catalysing the creation of job and employment opportunities. The goal is to empower at least 1 000 women and youth in Kajiado county by educating women and youth who have access to two acres 5 Source: https://kenya.unfpa.org/en/topics/maternal-health-16 6 Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5691856/# :~:text=In%20Kenya%20more%20than%20 half,high%20maternal%20and%20neonatal%20mortality 7 Source: USAID, 2023 PARTNERS • Centre for Mathematics, Science & Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) • Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) • Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) • Ministry of Education (MoE) • Teachers Service Commission (TSC) OBJECTIVE • Overcome the challenges of inadequate digital skills for teachers and insufficient digital structures in teacher training colleges which lead to poor education • Ensure that 75% of new teacher graduates and all tutors have the digital skills that enable them to complement learning in primary and secondary schools in Kenya, thereby improving educational outcomes. TARGET MARKET New teacher graduates (15 000) and their tutors (1 140) in Kenya’s 35 public primary and secondary training colleges OUTPUTS Eight teacher training colleges (TTCs) were selected for the first phase of digital infrastructural improvement and works were ongoing by the close of the FY. Further outputs will be reported on in FY24.