6 CSR Initiatives from Asia Which Have Empowered Lives in 2019

#1 AISECT MULTIPURPOSE IT CENTRE MODEL BY AISECT (INDIA)

AISECT Multipurpose IT Centre Model was implemented to help bridge the skills & ICT education gap, and boost financial inclusion between urban and rural India. AISECT’s expertise across multiple domains in the rural areas enabled it to create a scalable and self-sustainable rural ecosystem by integrating its skill development and business initiatives. Leveraging on the Group’s industry knowledge and local insights, relevant industry skills were identified for the target regions and curriculum was tailored accordingly. Through the network of sustainable and well-equipped centres, skill training was imparted to the youth in their local languages by highly trained teachers. In order to strengthen the rural economy, these centres were also used to provide G2C and B2C banking service offerings in the unbankedegions.

Results:
  • Today, AISECT has a strong presence in 475 Districts across 29 States in India through a network of over 20,000 multipurpose centres.
  • The initiative has imparted skills-based training to over 2 million people, created employment opportunities within the network for more than 75,000 people and empowered the lives of over 5 million people through various innovative products and services.
  • 4,000 banking kiosks in 13 states of India were set up, and over 8.5 million bank accounts have been opened in these banking kiosks and transactions worth over US $2 billion have been done in these accounts.

#2 AUTISM #ANAKKITA (OUR KIDS) BY BANK RAKYAT (MALAYSIA)

According to the National Autism Society of Malaysia (autism is one of the fastest growing disorders and approximately 9,000 kids in Malaysia are born with autism each year. To address the challenges faced by autistic kids in the areas of education and care, and to raise public awareness and fundraising for autistic kids, Bank Rakyat, the biggest Islamic cooperative bank in Malaysia, launched its CR initiative named “Autism #Anakkita”.

Through this project, Bank Rakyat has successfully established four core brands namely:

Autismlympic – A sporting event for autistic kids. This event has been participated by almost 1000 austistic kids, parents and media practitioners

Autism Award – An inaugural appreciation award organised for autistic kids and organisations/individuals/ media partners who have directly involved in supporting the autism community in Malaysia.

Autismpreneur – A platform for autistic kids to develop their entrepreneurship talent by providing them with the opportunity to expand their business and open up potential markets to sell their products. Bank Rakyat has also helped autism centres to explore innovative ways to improve the products as well as provide opportunities for autistic kids to be part of the process.

Autism Buddies – Bank Rakyat has collaborated with youth communities, university students, and organisations such as Dettol, Mydin, McDonalds and Milo for volunteerism activities.

Results:
  • Bank Rakyat is now known as a strong advocate for autistic kids with over 19,000 benefitting from their 105 programmes.
  • Their initiatives have also delivered the objective of getting numerous other organisations in projects involving autistic kids.

#3 LOVE & ARTS FOR DREAMS INITIATIVES PROJECT BY CTBC FOUNDATION FOR ARTS AND CULTURE (TAIWAN)

The CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture discovered that children in remote areas were not only suffering from “financial deprivation”, but also “dream deprivation”. The “Love & Arts for Dreams Initiatives” Project was thus founded to provide students from remote areas with exposure to the arts and culture. Through collaborating with artistic mentors, rural students were given support to expand their horizons, and build their confidence. The project has also provided a stage for rural students to fulfill their dreams through performance.

Results:
  • In 2017, the Foundation visited tribal villages of Hualien with pan flutist Eric Chung, and taught children to play pan flutes. This project became a featured educational programme in Hualien and the number of schools involved doubled.
  • In June 2018, 500 teachers and students performed with pan flutes at the Love Soars gratitude concert, setting a record in Asia.
  • In 2018, the project adopted the Social Return On Investment (SROI) approach. Research showed that every NT$1 invested by the Love & Arts for Dreams Initiatives could generate about NT$4.18 worth of social value.
  • 80% of the students under this project has built a positive value system, enhanced their artistic and humanistic qualities, improved their interpersonal relationships and reinforced their self-identity.

#4 NEW STEPS FOR NEW LIFE BY IRPC PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED (THAILAND)

The prostheses project “New Steps For New Life” by IRPC, a Southeast Asian integrated Petroleum and Petrochemical company aims to improve the quality of life of the disabled, and to enable them to live normally, pursue careers, and raise themselves and their families, without being a burden to society. Since 2011, IRPC has donated plastic pellets (raw materials to produce prostheses) to the Prostheses Foundation of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother continuously for around 20 tons per year worth more than US $30,000. Furthermore, IRPC cooperates with the Prostheses Foundation to research and develop good quality, hygienic, lightweight and durable prostheses.

Results:
  • Since year 2011 until year 2018, 21,693 prostheses were produced from IRPC plastic pellets.
  • In 2018, IRPC in collaboration with the Prostheses Foundation successfully researched on a more effective and time efficient way to assemble prostheses, while enabling the disabled to utilise the product without feeling friction or pain.

#5 FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN KAMPONG SPEU BY NAGAWORLD LIMITED (CAMBODIA)

In collaboration with the Football Federation of Cambodia, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia, the 2-year Football Development Programme in Kampong Speu aims to discover and develop young promising talents into professional football players for the Cambodian national team. The programme trains sports teachers on professional coaching techniques by NagaWorld FC and ensures that all teachers are able to conduct proper training sessions at schools and in local communities.

Results:
  • A total of 120 sports teachers were trained, which stands to benefit more than 18,500 students.
  • In January 2019, NagaWorld organised an U18 Mini Football Tournament with more than 600 student participants. 9 exceptional players were selected to receive additional training with NagaWorld FC coaches, while 1 new player from Kampong Speu province has joined the professional team.

#6 WATER FOR PEACE IN MARAWI BY PEPSI-COLA PRODUCTS (PHILIPPINES)

The aftermath of the Marawi Siege of 2017, the longest urban battle in the modern history of the Philippines, left 78,466 families displaced, affected 86,772 school children, damaged properties and infrastructures at an estimate of US $384 million, and worsened the residents’ access to clean water. To address the issue of clean water faced by the internally displaced persons (IDPs), Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines (PCPPI), in collaboration with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) donated seven 20,000L water tanks to 6 transitional shelters; ten 3,200L water tanks to ten elementary schools; and one 50,000L water tank to the newest shelter being developed.

Results:
  • As of April 2019, over 140,000 IDPs and 3,551 students could access at least 200,000L of water from the water tanks on a daily basis. With the final 50,000L water tank on its way to the new transitional village being developed, additional 40,000 IDPs are expected to benefit from the project.
  • The project has also helped foster peace and collaboration in the community. IDPs have shown ownership for the water tanks by maintaining the tanks and sharing water resources with other camps. W
  • In which they are well-organised in getting water, ensure proper maintenance of the water tanks, and they even share their water resource to other camps. Further, with the visits done by PCPPI and PDRF teams in every water tank turnover, the IDPs have embraced the team as if they were family, expressing their immense gratefulness to the team.