Vodafone Ghana’s Employee Volunteerism Projects (EVP), a brain child of Vodafone Ghana Foundation, has over the years delivered far-reaching benefits to the Ghanaian society.
Employees of the telecommunications company receive financial support annually from the Vodafone Ghana Foundation to start and sustain various meaningful and impactful initiatives they feel passionate about; particularly in the areas of health and education. These include building and renovation works, mentorship, donations and ICT workshops.
Established in 2009, the Vodafone Ghana Foundation has invested in creating initiatives that solve pressing health issues, ensure healthy lives and promote the wellbeing of Ghanaians in various communities nationwide.
Commenting on the foundation’s impressive EVP footprints in Ghana, Nana Yaa Ofori-Koree, Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation said they have pioneered and invested in numerous initiatives in the health, education, and other sectors.
“Vodafone Healthline, Healthline 255, Healthfest, Mobile 4 Good, Bring a Cheer, Vodafone Scholars are among the ground breaking initiatives the public identifies the Vodafone Foundation for. In the area of EVP, the tighter schedules of our employees do not prevent them from investing time, money and energy in making sure the specific needs of a given community are met.”
Nana Yaa mentioned that as the foundation continues to impact society more positively, Vodafone remains committed to investing more to change lives for the better.
LIBRARY PROJECTS
True to the leadership by example mantra, the telecom operator’s Senior Management Team (SMT) led by Chief Executive, Haris Broumidis renovated the Senchi Community Library building and compound, donated reading materials to the school and organized an educational “fun and learn fair” programme for the children.
In partnership with Joy FM, Vodafone’s employees built an ultra-modern library for the Asofan cluster of schools, near Ofankor in the Ga West Municipality of the Greater Accra Region. The library was built as part of the Read 100 project with the aim of inculcating reading habits into pupils between the ages of eight and fourteen.
The Yamaoransa community in the Central Regon also came to a standstill when Vodafone employees renovated and handed over a library to the Chief and people of the community. The team also donated books, learning materials, furniture, and volunteered in several activities including a clean-up exercise and painting of the library.
MENTORSHIP AND TRAINING PROGRAMMES
At the New Horizon Special School at Dzorwulu, Accra, Vodafone employees embarked on a series of ICT training sessions where students of the school with intellectual disabilities such as spastic, cerebral palsy and autism, were taught daily for two weeks on how to use the internet to enhance their entrepreneurial skills and connect with their friends and family through social media.
In emphasising the need for corporate Ghana to concentrate on universal education for all children, Vodafone employees partnered Special Attention Project (SAP), a local NGO that provides educational support for out- of-school children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SpLD), to provide support to school drop-outs who live independently on the streets and show signs of SpLD. The team went a step further to conduct different forms of training for teachers on how to identify and manage children with SpLD.
A group of Vodafone employees, organised a series of mentoring programmes dubbed, Dream Believe Achieve (DBA) in primary and junior high schools across the country to equip school children with leadership skills to become responsible future leaders. Thousands of school children at the primary and junior high school level nationwide have benefitted from this project.
Social workers of the Boys Remand Probation Home at Ako Adjei in Accra were not left out of the mentoring and retooling programmes. In a two- day capacity training workshop dubbed ‘Hope Initiative’, 15 workers of the facility were equipped with knowledge and information on Behaviour Management of the Juvenile offender and how to reduce the level of recidivism among youth at risk. Aside Cognitive Self Change, Behaviour Management and Social Skills modules treated, the team renovated the roof of the home which was in poor condition and presented the home with footballs, basketballs, accessories and exercise kits.
INCUBATOR DONATIONS
The Foundation donated 10 incubators to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Tamale Teaching Hospital and one to the Nsawam Hospital to equip the neonatal department to give many premature babies born in the hospital a greater chance of survival.
BLOOD DONATION SUPPORT FOR JUNE 3 FLOOD AND FIRE VICTIMS
Aside the £100,000 package the Foundation used in supporting victims of the June 3 floods and fire incidents in Ghana, employees of the telecom operator held a blood donation exercise at Vodafone headquarters where other companies within the Airport City enclave took part in raising additional pints of blood to support the National Blood Bank.
PUBLICITY PARTNERSHIP WITH OPERATION SMILE
Vodafone staff contributed immensely in creating awareness and educating communities about cleft lip and Operation Smile – the medical mission which provides free reconstructive surgery to people living with cleft lips and pallets. The awareness campaign was done through radio interviews, developing and distributing publicity materials and actively involving other staff to recruit candidates for cleft lip and palate operations. This contributed to over 400 patient evaluations and 90 surgeries performed at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital in April 2015.
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Source: Vodafone Ghana