Education
Education is core to Zain's Corporate Social Responsibility. This is reflected in many projects across the Middle East and Africa as detailed below...
Africa
Build Our Nation
Education is a vital need that every country in Africa struggles to fulfill. The fact remains however that this goal is hampered by the high levels of poverty in many African countries.
Across Africa, Zain’s corporate social responsibility programs focus on education as a measure towards enabling governments and people to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Zain’s Build Our Nation program was started in Tanzania in 2003 and has expanded to other countries in which Zain operates. Through this program the company made donations, exceeding US$ 1 million in 2007 and over US$ 1.7 million in 2008, of books and educational supplies, building and renovations of classrooms to publicly owned schools.
Zain Africa Challenge
This is a very popular televised quiz show featuring university student teams from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia which is watched by a large audience. The questions in this fast-paced quiz program cover a wide range of topic areas including: history, science, African culture, geography, literature, music and current events. The students win grants for themselves and their university with the amount won depending on how far they progress in the knock out competition. More than 5,000 students across Africa competed to be selected in their university team. The program is part of Zain’s corporate social responsibility efforts targeting education. The Ministries of Education in each country along with the Inter- University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) are key educational partners in the program.
The Middle East
The Future University Network (F.U.N.)
The Future University Network or F.U.N. began in Jordan in 2005. It is a youth development entity made up of university students who invest in themselves under the wings of Zain in order to feed their minds and sculpt their professional skills through teamwork, collaboration, training and practical field work. F.U.N. believes in enhancing entrepreneurial and leadership skills among university students, by creating a suitable corporate environment and offering revenue-generating opportunities, which will positively impact both Zain and the global community.
In 2006, the team was introduced to a self-management concept whereby teams and team leaders were nominated and voted-in by F.U.N. members. In 2007, F.U.N. was registered as a Zain Jordan company, part-owned and run by students and managed by a Zain MD. The F.U.N. team, which is a logistics provider for Zain Jordan events, has office space in the operation where the young members are exposed to the corporate environment and where they are invited to in-house training sessions.
In 2008, F.U.N.’s Headquarters was established within the Zain Group with the main responsibility of initiating F.U.N. within Zain Operations. So far, F.U.N. International has been adopted by Zain operations in Bahrain, Kuwait, KSA, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.
Kuwait:
Educate the Nation initiative
In June 2008, Zain announced its collaboration with Cisco and Kuwait University to train over 90 instructors from schools across Kuwait, as part of the Cisco® Network Academy’s "Train the Trainer" program, an initiative that aims to address the IT skill-gap, a global issue that is recognized by government, businesses and educational establishments alike. Participants in the program will become officially certified CISCO instructors who are then expected to train more than 600 students within the next 12 months. Through this collaboration, a number of Zain employees will also get a chance to become Cisco-certified in a more advanced program.
LOYAC
Zain has been in partnership with the Lothan Youth Achievement Center (LOYAC) since its inception, covering its various cultural, life-skills, and summer internships programs. Under this partnership, Zain supports LOYAC’s various activities and organizes internship programs within its various departments for more than 100 youths.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
New Ideas for ‘A wonderful world’
Zain has launched New Ideas for ‘A wonderful world’, a business incubator competition for King Abdulaziz University students, with the aim of generating new telecom ideas that can be incubated till they become successful business projects. Mobile Learning Solutions
Zain KSA has also implemented Mobile Learning Solutions for King Abdulaziz University, by which the students and staff can access university services anytime and in anyplace. Furthermore, Zain has signed an agreement with King Saud University (KSU) to cooperate in research in the telecom sector and offer internship programs to its students.
Alnahda Down Syndrome Schools
In leveraging our management style, we are supporting Alnahda Down Syndrome Schools to build a sustainable business model including restructuring the school's organization, enhancing the communication process, providing effective financial control, governance, and future expansion strategy
Bahrain:
In 2007, the Zain Bahrain e-learning Centre was launched. This highly advanced technological centre was developed in coordination with the University of Bahrain at a cost of more than BD 310,000 donated by Zain. The centre’s purpose is to provide students with advanced web-based learning tools and to promote the culture and concepts of e-learning. Every year, the centre will cater to nearly 17,000 students and faculty members.
Among the annual roster of worthy causes supported by Zain in Bahrain is the Schoolbag Distribution Project in which over 20,000 schoolbags and supplies are distributed to Bahraini students of all levels at the start of every academic year.
Lebanon:
As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility activities, mtc touch distributes school bags to 10 major associations across the country and offers several scholarships.
Zain Education Fund
In supporting the education sector, the Zain Education Fund was created in 2004.For the sixth year running, Zain supported the Jordanian youth and the education sector with a total number of 42 scholarships offered to students every year...
Zain Mobile Maintenance Training Center
Zain established the first center for training on the maintenance of mobile equipment in Jordan in partnership with the Vocational Training Center. The center, which receives 16 students during each session, is located in the Vocational Training Corporation in Zarqa...
Public School adoption initiative- "Madrasati
“Madrasati” or "My school" initiative was launched by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, for the renovation and maintenance of a number of public schools across the Kingdom
Zain Lab and Digital Community Centers
Zain Digital Centers in Jordan work to advance economic and social reforms by developing the communications and information technology sector and introducing these new technologies into all segments of society. Zain inaugurated a lab for mobile telecommunications at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) ... read more
Sudan:
Zain in Sudan has provided a number of South Sudan States with educational facilities and equipment.
