Vodacom Group has joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), regarded as the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative, with over 11 000 companies as members.
The UNGC members are from 157 countries and have a pact to encourage other global businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies.
SA has 76 companies drawn from telecoms, ICT, financial services, industrial as well as mining that are members of the UNGC and are helping the country to attain UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.
Vodacom says it will use its technology to achieve goals set for various sectors that include health, gender equality and quality education.
The company says many of its technology solutions came into play significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown, with Vodacom supporting critical government functions by providing health workers with access to connectivity and solutions that support remote consultations, data collection and testing.
"Vodacom's contributions are in line with SA's National Development Plan (NDP), which aims to attain a decent standard of living by eliminating poverty and reducing inequality," says Takalani Netshitenzhe, chief officer of external affairs at Vodacom SA.
She says aspects of the NDP and UN Sustainable Development Goals are related, and achieving goals of both frameworks is key in the attainment of sustainable development for communities in SA and the rest of Africa.
To support government healthcare efforts, Vodacom provided 20 000 and 1 000 devices in SA and Lesotho, respectively, to field workers involved in testing and related data collection.
"In SA and Tanzania, we partnered with the respective ministries of health to send awareness messages to our customers," explains Netshitenzhe.
Additionally, Vodacom partnered with Discovery Health, to provide easy access to dedicated online COVID-19 screenings and 100 000 free doctor consultations.
"In Tanzania, we donated over R18 million to the government’s COVID-19 Containment Committee for the sourcing of personal protective equipment."
With schools being closed during the COVID-19 lockdown, Vodacom says it also created free access to government educational resources, as well as other educational resources recommended by the national educational authorities and academic institutions.
The company says availability of online learning platforms proved key to ensure continuous and uninterrupted learning, as was evident through platforms like Vodacom e-School that surpassed the one million registered users mark in March during the lockdown.
The platform has curriculum-aligned educational material for grades R to 12 learners and is free to all Vodacom customers.
Commenting on the significance of joining the UNGC, Netshitenzhe says: “This sustainability milestone underpins our purpose to connect for a better future. The UNGC principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption not only complement our social contract but also our purpose-led journey to improve the lives of the next 100 million customers and halve our environmental impact by 2025.”
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