Featuring the participation of employees and their family members, the Volunteer Festival works with local community members and non-profit organizations to support a variety of projects including ones supporting education and digital learning initiatives. This year’s program saw the involvement of over 12,000 volunteers in more than 30 countries around the world – that means an average of about 400 Samsung employees took part in volunteer activities in a given day in the month of October.

Samsung Electronics America (SEA) saw regional offices across the United States participate in the company’s eighth Day of Service, an initiative that sees employees put work aside for the day and dedicate their time to local charity partners in the communities where they live and work. More than 3,600 employees took part this year, working to support initiatives benefiting residents in areas near SEA offices. Since the inauguration of the initiative in 2014, SEA employees have contributed over 128,000 hours of community service as part of the Day of Service program.

Employees from countries across Samsung Electronics Latin America (SELA) took part in an initiative to further education on cultural and ethnic diversity and inclusion. The program, titled SELA eSTEMos Juntos (“Let’s be together”), was a collaboration with Plan International harnessing the power of technology to educate over 700 children from disadvantaged public schools across Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

Samsung Electronics Nordic AB (SENA) recognized that, for a newly arrived immigrant, local language can be a huge barrier to entering the job market and fully integrating oneself in the society. Therefore, SENA collaborated with the Jarfälla Municipality in eastern Sweden to create a unique new project called eSFI (Swedish for Immigrants). Together with the local community, Samsung staff members provided digital learning support and training to help language learning seem like less of a hurdle thanks to a new digital language learning model.

In Italy, more than 50 Samsung Electronics Italy (SEI) employees took part in SAVE for Rome, a project dedicated to providing meaningful refurbishments to a local elementary school. In a collaboration with Retake Rome, volunteers and students renovated the entrance to the school in an effort to foster a learning environment that is as positive and welcoming as possible.

Meanwhile in Turkey, Samsung Electronics Turkey (SETK) worked with some 210 local children and their parents on a Stop Cyberbullying initiative to increase awareness around the effects of online behavior and social media on young lives.

In China, employees from Samsung offices in Xi’an, Suzhou and Tianjin volunteered their time to teach students at a local partner school how to best use electronic devices. Furthermore, the volunteers also held classes on more recreational topics, such as poetry reciting and airplane modeling, much to the students’ delight.

This year marks the third year of the company’s Samsung Love and Care program designed to enrich underprivileged communities across Southeast Asia and Oceania. In Myanmar, 40 employees of Samsung Electronics Myanmar  joined forces with the Kyimyindaing School of the Blind in Yangon. The volunteers worked together on community projects to enhance the quality of life at the school such as wall painting, serving lunch, organizing donations and providing basic medical check-ups to students and local youths.

Samsung Electronics Thailand also brought 53 volunteers to help enrich the ecosystem of Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, the first Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand. Volunteers created a check dam for water conservation, made artificial saltlicks which would serve as food sources for wildlife animals, as well as made seed bombs, and planted them in the forest. All of these activities would also help prevent global warming.

Samsung Volunteer Month was founded in Korea in 1995 to increase Samsung employees’ contributions back to their local communities and has been flourishing across international offices since 2011. It is one of a wealth of programs established by Samsung to promote sustainable social and local development – all for a better tomorrow.

Now in its 23^rd year, the program features the participation of some 10, 000 Samsung employees and their family members, local community members, and non-profit organizations from offices in 20 countries. Volunteers give their time to aid various projects, including digital education and coding classes and lessons on the environment.

For the second year in a row, the company continued its regional Samsung Love and Care program, which is designed to enrich underprivileged communities across Southeast Asia and Oceania, particularly with regard to education and the environment.

Company volunteers in Thailand teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to restore forests and forage lands in Kui Buri National Park, Prachuap Khiri Khan, as part of a royal initiative to make the land shared by humans and wild elephants a peaceful place for both to co-exist. The volunteers lent a hand by weeding forage fields, making saltlicks, and improving water resources in the national conservation site.

In Cambodia, volunteers from Samsung’s office in Phnom Penh worked with Future Light Orphanage of Worldmate (FLOW) to organize interactive educational activities for local children and teach them how to use educational mobile apps.

Dedicated company volunteers in Malaysia collaborated with the Industry of Relations Division and the Ministry of Higher Education to improve the living conditions for the residents of Kampung Ulu Tual, Kuala Lipis. Samsung organized an expedition to the Orang Asli village to provide upgrades to the village’s infrastructure and spread cheer through fun, educational activities.

In the Philippines, Samsung joined hands with the WWF once again to organize restoration activities at the Ipo Watershed, which supplies freshwater to millions of Metro Manila residents and neighboring jurisdictions. Company volunteers lead programs centered around the environment, community & health, and high-quality education.

Samsung offices in several Chinese cities also partook in the volunteering efforts, including a soap making class with 70 autistic children in Suzhou, and several educational programs for children and the elderly in TianJin.

In several states across the USA – including New Jersey, California and Texas – Samsung volunteers visited 55 health, education and environmental non-profit organization partners to run a plethora of helpful activities, such as art and math classes, trash collection, and making lunch boxes for those impacted by recent disasters.

Meanwhile in Brazil, Samsung employees paid a visit to the Gabi Institute, which supports low-income children, to give digital education classes where children learned how to use the latest high-tech products such as the Samsung Gear VR and Samsung Tablets.

Just north of Brazil, roughly 150 volunteers from Samsung Panama teamed up with local non-profit organization Eco Creando, to pick up trash along the Malecon beach; volunteers were able to fill approximately 400 trash bags thanks to their efforts.

The prestigious award was Samsung’s second win of the evening in the ‘Excellence in the Provision of Literacy and Education’ category, following Samsung Southeast Asia’s silver, and represents Samsung’s continued commitment to enriching the communities in which it operates.

Now in their ninth year, the Global CSR Summit and Awards honor outstanding examples of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which include efforts that drive change and contribute to the improvement of communities.

The program that garnered Samsung its award was the Samsung Tech Institute, which provides opportunities for Indonesia’s bright young minds to develop in-demand vocational skills. The initiative helps students secure work, and ultimately aids the country’s efforts to reduce its unemployment rate.

Samsung Tech Institutes actively collaborate with youth centers and vocational schools to provide learning facilities and develop a training curriculum that will arm students with customer service and electronics skills, such as how to fix mobile phones, air conditioners, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines.

Since opening its doors in 2011, the program has graduated over 2,500 students. Around 600 have gone on to secure jobs, including opportunities at Samsung Service Centers and a Samsung plant in Cikarang. The program has also been recognized by Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture as well as its Ministry of Social Affairs for its contributions to efforts to reduce poverty and unemployment.

To date, seven Samsung Tech Institutes have been established in Indonesia – in Cikarang, Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Banjarmasin, Kendal and Madiun – and Samsung plans to launch two additional facilities this year. Over 1,000 students are currently enrolled in the program, continuing their higher education and strengthening their technical skills.

“Samsung sees education as the seeds of innovation, and we are working to create programs that support youth education and vocational training through the use of our technology, services and expertise,” said Lee Kanghyun, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Samsung Electronics Indonesia. “The Global CSR Summit Award 2017 that we have just received is encouragement for us to continue other Samsung corporate citizenship programs that we hope will be beneficial for many people in Indonesia.”

The measures are aimed at strengthening the review and approval process for donations and payments to CSR projects. The company will also enhance the review of how these projects are being executed.

Board Approval for Donations Over 1 Billion Won

All financial donations and CSR funding amounting to more than 1 billion won will require the approval from the company’s Board of Directors.

This is to enhance the transparency of the management of such donations and funds and to strengthen the compliance by requiring the approval of the Board, which is comprised of a majority of outside directors.

To date, the company only required board approval for endowments that were more than 0.5% of the company’s shareholder equity. Currently, 0.5% of the shareholder equity is approximately 680 billion won.

Public Disclosure of the Resolution

Samsung Electronics will disclose details of the financial donations and CSR funding agreed at the Board of Directors through the DART – the electronic disclosure system operated by the Financial Supervisory Service.

Related details will also be made available in quarterly business reports, as well as the annual sustainability report.

Establishment of the Review Council for Preliminary Review

In order to strengthen the preliminary review process, Samsung Electronics will establish a Review Council comprised of the head executives of legal, financial, human resources and communication departments. The council will meet once a week to review the proposed projects.

Any financial donation or CSR funding amounting to more than 10 million won will be subject to review, and will be transferred to the next process only after approval from the Review Council.

Quarterly Review of Project Execution

The operation of approved financial donations and CSR funding will be reviewed every quarter not only by the Review Council and the management, but also the audit committee of the Board of Directors.

The review by the Board’s audit committee, comprised solely of outside directors, will help toward improving transparency related to the execution of financial donations and CSR funding.

On March , Samsung Electronics became a board member of CSR Europe, Europe’s leading business network for Corporate Social Responsibility. Samsung has long been active in helping with the societal issues facing people across Europe—in education, employment, health and the environment—and with the election to the board of CSR Europe, Samsung is looking forward to becoming an even bigger contributor to European society.

To find out more about Samsung’s plans for the future with CSR Europe, we talked with Wouter Van Tol, Director of Sustainability and Citizenship, Europe for Samsung Electronics and Samsung’s representative to CSR Europe.

Wouter Van Tol, Director of Sustainability and Citizenship, Europe for Samsung Electronics, is talking with children during an education program.

Q. Samsung Electronics was just elected to the board of CSR Europe for the first time. Why was Samsung selected?

Over the past few years Samsung Electronics has had a meaningful impact in Europe, with hundreds of Smart Classrooms and Tech Institutes reaching more than 100,000 young people. This is a great fit with CSR Europe’s focus on youth employment and skills, and it is prime example of the sort of partnerships that the “Pact4Youth” initiative promotes.

So, I think we were selected because Samsung has shown a commitment to European society and many of Samsung’s corporate citizenship activities align with European society.

Q. What kind of activities does CSR Europe focus on and what has CSR Europe achieved?

CSR Europe has excellent links with responsible corporations as well as European governmental institutions. This gives CSR Europe “convening power”: they can bring together the right organizations to try to solve some of Europe’s most pressing problems together. We call this “Creating Shared Value”. The current “Pact4Youth” campaign is a great example of trying to bring together many societal groups to improve youth employment. CSR Europe also focuses on other important areas, like human rights and sustainable cities (which of course is relevant for Samsung’s IoT business).

Q. As a CSR Europe board member, what kind of CSR activities is Samsung Electronics planning to focus on?

Among Samsung’s range of CSR activities, we plan on focusing on Smart Classrooms and Tech Institutes, and have already started talking with other CSR Europe members about co-investing. Imagine stepping into a classroom which is five years ahead of today. Where teachers and school children use coding, VR, 3D printing and other tools to learn and create. We can’t do this alone, but being on the board of CSR Europe gives us the position to attract the best partners and make it happen.

Secondly, being on the Board will give us more and better opportunities to communicate about Samsung’s many activities in the areas of citizenship, the environment and sustainability. Through this, we will be able to better hear the opinions of others, and ensure our CSR activities are as effective as possible.

Q. Can you introduce the CSR activities that Samsung Electronics is carrying out in Europe?

Youth unemployment is an ongoing issue in Europe: according to the European Commission, about 5 million young people are unemployed, which is equal to the number of people who live in Norway. But, at the same time, there are almost 1 million ICT vacancies in Europe, and employers are desperate to hire young people with relevant digital skills.

This is where Samsung is making a difference: through more than 600 Smart Classrooms and more than 48 Tech Institutes we have so far improved the digital skills of more than 100,000 young people and 9,000 teachers. Our commitment is to have reached 400,000 young people by 2020.  To find out more about Samsung’s CSR activities in Europe, please see the attached brochure.

The second floor of Samsung 837, a first-of-its-kind cultural destination and digital playground, the company’s Marketing Center of Excellence in heart of New York City’s Meatpacking District showcases the latest, award-winning Samsung Galaxy products.

Samsung Electronics America (SEA) has always sought to foster a culture of innovation and social responsibility throughout our many offices across the United States. Creating unrivaled experiences and building lasting relationships with our consumers is our top priority. Through these efforts, Samsung has been listed among the top three most reputable companies in the U.S., according to this year’s Reputation Institute (RI) survey.

This year’s survey also designates Samsung as the No.1 company in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) category for the strides we made in aligning our business and social investment values. The annual survey gauges how the world’s most well-regarded companies fare in the eyes of consumers.

Miller Street Elementary School students in Newark, New Jersey, get excited about engineering and computer science at emPOWER Tomorrow, Samsung’s after-school program for fourth- and fifth-grade girls.

According to this year’s survey, Samsung has experienced a “meteoric” rise in how the public views us based on a few key factors such as:

• Our relentless, innovation-focused culture with an engineering edge
• Our industry-leading Galaxy line of products
• Our CSR efforts focusing on the environment, social values, philanthropy and openness
• Our ability to meet customers’ needs and deliver on our brand promise

Samsung’s year-over-year RepTrak® Pulse ranking score, calculated by Reputation Institute based on a survey of the general public, also increased by nearly seven points from last year’s survey.

The Reputation Institute’s RepTrak® model is the gold standard for reputation measurement, providing a one-of-a-kind measurement of how the public views the world’s best-known companies. It examines 15 stakeholder groups in more than 25 industries and more than 50 countries for more than 7,000 companies.

Rohit Ail (left) explaining the remote-selfie feature at BBC launching event in July 2015.

In November, the Samsung CSR Awards announced Rohit Ail, Principal Engineer of Samsung Electronics R&D Institute in the UK, as a winner for his leadership and development of micro:bit. Volunteering his talent, Ail has been vital in providing expertise for micro:bit in efforts to promote the future of coding.

In close collaboration with the BBC, which reaches 98 percent of the UK population, micro:bit is a pocket-size, code-able computer that has been developed and is being distributed to one million children in the UK, free of charge. The vision is to inspire digital creativity and develop a new generation of tech pioneers. Each element of micro:bit is completely programmable via easy-to-use software on a dedicated website (microbit.co.uk) that can be accessed via PC, tablet or mobile.

Created in direct response to the growing digital divide and emerging ICT skills gap in the UK, micro:bit would not have been possible without Ail’s enthusiasm, passion and technological expertise. Ail recruited a team of seven engineers to volunteer, who have contributed over 1,000 hours of time. His team developed functions to enable a user to control their smartphones and tablets via coding on micro:bit and vice versa. Coding on micro:bit can launch mobile device cameras remotely, or act as a remote control to play music on devices.

“It only took an email explaining the whole project and our role in it to spark the enthusiasm and commitment of these seven engineers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Anton Obzhirov, Tommaso Maestri, Mythri Venugopal, Frederic Ma, Kupesan Kulendiran, Nigel Cardozo and Balbir Sanghera for their contributions and support in this project. We also had wonderful support from my colleagues, Kit Lam, Soohyun Park and Minje Sung at every stage of this project,” said Ail of the team behind micro:bit. The application was built and shaped by the seven team members from scratch, entirely on their own.

The functions of micro:bit will help children understand the concept of IoT and develop their own projects in the future. Ail and the volunteer team also helped in developing teaching resources for use at schools and at home with parents. The project has been championed by UK government ministers leading the digital economy agenda and endorsed by key educational organizations and celebrity ambassadors.

Bridging the Digital Divide in the UK

Why is micro:bit so important? The UK is estimated to require an additional 745,000 digitally skilled workers by 2017, and one million tech workers by 2020. However, a large percentage of the population isn’t online and many students don’t have access to internet. The digital divide and the skills gap is a serious social issue in the UK.

Ail said, “We have a responsibility to inspire the next generation of computer programmers. Wearables, the Internet of Things and ubiquitous computing demand faster, smaller and better connected computers. The BBC micro:bit is just that answer. What also makes it so important is that it will be rolled out to all schools in the UK, and this is a fantastic opportunity to shape the future.”

When asked why he believes it is important for young people to learn coding, Ail responded by saying, “Look around. What do you see? I see a world of electronics; a digital age. We are surrounded by gadgets, computers and electronic services. The skill to harness the true capability of this digital world that we live in is a must. Learning to code will give our young generation a key tool to live in the future world. From what I believe, computing and coding is inevitable for our future generations. Being prepared will only help them.”

Connecting the World through Mobile

“Samsung has always been an expert in connecting the world through the power of mobile. We have done exactly the same with micro:bit. With the coding application, we have empowered kids to program on-the-go. They need not be in the classroom anymore for coding. They can take the experience with them anywhere they go.

“Further, we have also given micro:bit its first companion in the real world. Our application is able to communicate with micro:bit and allow it to control a few functions of the phone remotely.

“When we asked kids how they will use their micro:bit, we got some very interesting answers. All of them were designed around their simple needs and activities, like, ‘feed my pet, attach it to my shoes and count whenever I kick a football, take a photograph when we jump,’ etc. We couldn’t help but conclude that this is THE IoT device for kids.”

Ail recalled his own experiences with coding while growing up. “As a kid, I was always interested in knowing the internals of any toys. I used to open up all my toys and try to refit them later. I used to play with LEDs and AA batteries, making all sort of small gadgets of my own.

“I had my first computer when I was in eighth grade. Actually, it was for my elder sister but I was far too fascinated by the digital world and soon I was doing programs and installs that she was learning. Ever since, I have been learning and coding.”

Better Tomorrow

Ail has always wanted to support his community, using his skills and experience to do so. “I have in the past, applied for voluntary work in our local councils but never got the chance to execute it fully, due to time limitations and family commitments. With the BBC micro:bit, I have found the opportunity to give back to society. The micro:bit is all about inspiring the young generation to code, something which I had never thought of giving back to society on my own, although this is my core expertise. I believe this project has actually given me an opportunity to give back using my strongest skill, in a beautiful way. I can never be thankful enough.

“I think each one of us has a responsibility to the society that we live in. In our busy lives, we often tend to shift that responsibility towards government or other institutes. I am not asking everyone to go for compulsory volunteer work, but please keep an eye for opportunity. When it knocks on your door, give it your best.”