In October, over 300 volunteers cooperated with local NGOs to take part in outreach efforts in a range of countries. The group of volunteers was made up of employees from Samsung Electronics’ Southeast Asia & Oceania Headquarters and their family members, and worked to provide educational opportunities and improve learning environments for young people according to Samsung’s global citizenship vision of ‘Enabling People’. The initiative promoted investment in educational infrastructure and welfare for youths living in areas with low socioeconomic statuses in Laos, New Zealand and Thailand, among others.

On October 17, Lao Samsung sent 30 employee volunteers to Vientiane Capital Special School in the country’s capital to teach sign language using Samsung tablets. The company’s Laos branch has already supported the establishment of a library at the school, provided it with six tablets equipped with the sign language learning app HANDME, and donated more than 400 textbooks to improve learning opportunities for the deaf and speech-impaired students that study there.

October 23 saw 43 employees from Samsung New Zealand travel to Onepoto Primary School as part of the Samsung Love & Care program. Nearby redevelopments had led to a decline in school grounds and facilities in recent years, and so the volunteers set out to contribute to refurbishment efforts. Samsung employees repaired the roof and guttering on the school’s sheltered seating area, and then gave the structure a fresh coat of paint. Samsung New Zealand also provided the school with Galaxy smartphones and tablets to support digitalization and improve educational opportunities for the next generation.

On October 3, 70 Samsung Thailand employees and their families visited Ban Suansom School in Chanthaburi Province. 30 percent of the students from the school live in households that subsist on less than USD 100 per month, and the school has struggled to get support from government bodies and local charities. Samsung Thailand helped refurbish dilapidated buildings at the school, set up a school library and provided teachers with UHD TVs to use as educational tools.

Speaking about the Samsung Love & Care initiative, K.Thananchai from Samsung Thailand, who joined the activity with his son said, “The CSR activities and games we’ve participated in today have really helped us get to know each other better and bond as coworkers. It was great to see the enthusiasm with which my colleagues involved themselves in the work and the desire they had to give back to these communities.”

Samsung will continue rolling out its volunteering program across Southeast Asia and Oceania, with Cambodia and Myanmar named as two of the upcoming destinations for the Samsung Love & Care program. This year, the program expects to empower and enrich the circumstances of approximately 3,500 people across the region.

Samsung DVE returned in 2019 for the program’s fourth year, partnering with the Office of Vocational Education Commission in Thailand. The program prepares students for vocational careers as skilled technicians, a profession in high demand in both the Thai and ASEAN labor markets. Samsung DVE has provided vocational training, internships and job opportunities, with a significant proportion of participating students going on to serve customers at Samsung Service Centers nationwide.

Commenting on the award, Jung Sung Park, Director of Customer Service Planning, Thai Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd said: “Samsung is pleased and proud to have a role in the skills and career development of Thai technicians. The company is delighted to make this contribution to the Thai labor market. This program not only affirms the company’s commitment to creating benefits for Thai society through its expertise in technology and innovation, but also indicates that Samsung is prioritizing the development of human resources – in particular vocational skills – which are currently in high demand in the Thai labor market.”

Dr. Suthep Chittayawong, Secretary-General of the Vocational Education Commission, said: “The Office of the Vocational Education Commission would like to thank Samsung for creating this project and is delighted that the company has given importance to the development of skilled labor, especially technicians, who are in short-supply at this moment. At present, major industries in Thailand need skilled workers to drive the country’s economy toward Thailand’s 4.0 goal. This collaboration with Samsung is very helpful in giving students real internship experiences, which enable them to learn how to solve real problems in the world of work.”

A drive to uplift people’s way of life is deeply rooted at Samsung, which is why on March 21, more than 60 Samsung Thailand volunteers made 700-kilometer trip from Bangkok to Sangkhom, a small district in Thailand’s Nong Khai province, to help a community in need through the ‘Samsung Love and Care’ campaign.

They were joined by representatives of Power Pro (Northeastern) Co., Ltd., a local distribution partner of Samsung’s, and volunteers from the World Vision Foundation of Thailand (WVFT), a child-focused organization that recently opened an office in Nong Khai. The welfare-improving initiative provided Sangkhom’s Bann Nong School with the first form of charitable assistance it had never received, and marked the first CSR activity organized in the area by a private company.

The goal of Samsung Love and Care is to enrich underprivileged communities across Southeast Asia and Oceania by improving their quality of life, particularly with regard to education and the environment. Samsung Thailand has participated in the initiative since its inception, regularly organizing efforts to offer communities in different corners of the country a helping hand.

The students of Bann Nong School, volunteers and teachers worked together to renovate the school, repaint murals, and plant a garden and refurbish another, which will eventually serve as a fruitful food source as part of a garden-to-table school lunch program.

Samsung Thailand volunteers also taught the students how to use the Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet to benefit their studies – a demonstration that drew plenty of smiles and laughs and also promoted technology literacy.

At the end of the event, Samsung gave each student and teacher a souvenir, and volunteers shared their impressions of the day’s memorable activities.

“Alongside my daily duties, it is my honor today to serve as a volunteer who was able to do something good for others in need,” said Mr. Nitipont Khongkiattikul, an employee of Samsung Thailand’s AV Business team. “The most essential thing that fuels my heart is the smiles of children, as both our side and theirs has a golden opportunity to share happiness. This truly is a mutual, impressive bliss.”