Samsung won the Platinum award in the Excellence for the Provision of Education and Literacy category for its Samsung Smart Schools and Tech Institutes programs. These incentives provide opportunities for technological and vocational education among young people.

For its Indonesian program, titled One Village One Product, Samsung was presented with a Bronze award in the Best Community Program category.

Fiona Teo (right), Samsung Regional Public Relations and Citizenship Manager, receives the Global CSR 2016 award on the company’s behalf.

“We strongly believe that our success is not just measured by our business achievements, but also by how well we serve our community and make a difference to people’s lives,” said Irene Ng, Vice-President, Corporate Marketing, Samsung Electronics (Southeast Asia and Oceania). “Samsung sees education as the seed of innovation, and works to create programs that support youth education and job training, using our technology, services and expertise. This recognition is an encouragement for us. We look forward to continuing to implement programs that are highly relevant to what the community needs and values.”

The Global CSR Summit and Awards is a prestigious international awards ceremony in the sphere of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is organized with the purpose of raising CSR awareness, and honors outstanding individuals and companies from around the world for their contributions to the following: environmental preservation, community transformation and poverty alleviation, women’s rights and welfare, workplace practices and CSR-related product innovation.

Samsung Smart Schools

Working with government bodies and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Samsung partners with schools and libraries to create immersive learning opportunities for students through tailored education programs, with enrichment and infotainment contents.

Samsung operates 167 Smart Schools/Libraries in the Southeast Asia and Oceania region, in countries such as Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Samsung Smart Schools enable students in Taiwan and Thailand to learn technology.

Samsung Tech Institutes

The Samsung Tech Institute is a partnership with vocational institutions that makes use of Samsung’s technological resources in the provision of vocational training. Its aim is to enhance its students’ employability, and equip them with skills that prepare them for life in real-world industries.

Samsung Tech Institutes also provide expert training, helping young people learn fundamental IT and engineering skills. Samsung operates 20 such institutes in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

One Village One Product (OVOP) in Indonesia

The One Village One Product (OVOP) program is a partnership that comprises: the Ministry of Cooperatives, the Korean Trade-Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and small- and medium-sized enterprises related with community development.

Together, they aim to help Indonesians living in rural areas to improve their business knowledge and skills, allowing them to gain financial independence and further develop the country’s small- and medium-sized business economy.

In the long term, the program seeks to improve the local economy and the welfare of those living in rural areas. It also seeks to boost local income and social solidarity by helping residents create unique and valuable products.

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.