As a Group, we create positive social impact in all our markets and are committed to giving back through fundraising, volunteering and solving societal issues through social innovation.
Our efforts to maximise the potential of persons with disabilities and special needs include establishing the Singtel Enabling Innovation Centre in 2015. It equips participants with contact centre and IT skills, thus enhancing their employability and their ability to lead independent lives.
This year, we worked with SG Enable, Singapore’s national agency that supports persons with special needs, for its 12-week RISE Mentoring Programme run together with the Singapore Business Network on DisAbility. Four Singtel staff members mentored tertiary students with special needs to help them uncover their abilities and skills.
In a first for Optus and our non-profit partner, Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN), we rolled out the Pathways 2 Employment Programme. An extension of our current mentoring and employment programmes, Pathways 2 Employment prepares disadvantaged young people for job interviews and employment with Optus. Our staff volunteers helped 56 ABCN students develop skills and grow their confidence and by the end of the programme, six students were selected for roles in our Yes Optus stores over the busy Christmas period, with one student offered an ongoing regular role.
We champion good digital citizenship, where the young and vulnerable are empowered to navigate the online world safely. Our digital citizenship programmes called Digital Thumbprint Programme teach students in Australia and Singapore to create a positive online presence while arming them with the facts they need to stay safe online. This is done through workshops, talks and activities in ways that they can understand, use and enjoy. The Australian Kids Helpline@School, which was introduced in Australian primary schools during the year, complements the Optus Digital Thumbprint Programme by offering digital literacy and education modules which can be accessed via webstream.
In Singapore, we identified a gap in the cyber wellness education of special needs students, and introduced the Singtel Cyber Wellness Toolkit in special education schools to teach students how to stay safe online. The toolkit comprises teaching resource materials for teachers and workbooks that cater to students of different age groups.
We are also the strategic partner of #DQEveryChild, a global programme to equip children between the ages of eight and 12 with the social, emotional and cognitive skills necessary for online safety, thus improving their Digital Intelligence Quotient or DQ. The programme, piloted in Singapore in mid-2016, showed that the students’ DQ improved by 10%, indicating that they were less likely to engage in risky behaviour online after going through the course.
Some of Singtel’s regional associates are now driving digital citizenship initiatives in their markets. In the Philippines, Globe unveiled its Digital Thumbprint Programme in May 2016, while Telkomsel ran TV and social media campaigns in Indonesia, highlighting the dangers of cyberspace.
As a global ICT player, we are in a strong position to improve lives through technology and innovation. We believe that by collaborating with our ecosystem of partners, such as non-profit organisations, government, corporates, social enterprises and start-ups, we can create bigger and more meaningful social impact across the region. The Optus and Singtel Future Makers programmes were launched in Australia and Singapore to address the nascent use of technology in the social sector and to strengthen the holistic capacity building for social entrepreneurs. The programmes aim to establish a community of support for social enterprises and leverage technology and innovation for social impact. Singtel staff from our venture-capital arm Singtel Innov8, Yes Labs, HungryGoWhere, digital marketing, communications, consumer, HR, strategy and legal departments also contributed to this community through mentoring and volunteering at workshops to share their experiences and insights with the participants. Under the programme, we funded seven start-ups in Singapore and six in Australia with S$20,000 and A$50,000 respectively. Following its success, we are expanding our programme to include Globe Future Makers in the Philippines, and introducing a regional element for cross-sharing of competencies, networks and experiences to allow change makers with the most promising solutions the opportunity to scale their social impact regionally.
We encourage staff to give back to the communities that we operate in. They are given one day of paid volunteer leave each year, and our business units are encouraged to engage in VolunTeaming, or department teambuilding with a volunteering element.
Each year, our employees in Singapore organise the Singtel Carnival for children with special needs. In 2016, we saw over 1,700 staff volunteers come together to set up food and game stalls, and stage entertainment to bring joy to over 1,000 special needs students.
In Optus, our employees actively volunteer and mentor vulnerable youth in high-needs schools across Australia. Since 2005, over 3,500 volunteer and mentor roles have been filled by Optus staff, totalling over 35,000 hours of volunteering activity on company time.
Our employees also have the opportunity to participate in our annual Overseas Volunteering Programme, which is conducted jointly with our regional associates. During the year, 30 staff volunteers from Singtel, Optus and our Philippine associate Globe undertook a community upgrading project in Metro Manila. 20 staff volunteers from Singtel, Optus and our Thai associate AIS also took part in our second AIS-Singtel English Camp to mentor and help 35 Thai undergraduates to improve their conversational English.
In Singapore, the Singtel Touching Lives Fund has raised more than S$36 million since 2002. In 2016, we commemorated 15 years of STLF by donating S$2 for every dollar contributed by employees to the fund. Together with other fundraising activities like our charity golf, we raised a total of S$3 million.
Our Optus staff donations portal yes4Good has seen our people contribute over A$3.4 million since 2005. In addition, we match staff giving up to A$300 per person per year. Our collective contributions through our Yes4Good programme have exceeded A$5.3 million.
