Ooredoo Oman - CSR Program of the Year
Company: Ooredoo Group / Ooredoo Oman
Entry Submitted By: FTI Consulting (Singapore)
Company Description: Ooredoo Group is a leading international communications company delivering the leading data experience across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year - in the Middle East and Africa
Nomination Title: Ooredoo Oman - Sensory Rooms Initiative
Operating in the Sultanate for the last 16 years, Ooredoo Oman is a community-focused telecommunications brand, guided by the vision of enriching peoples’ digital lives and leveraging integrated communications services to stimulate human growth. As Oman’s data experience leaders, Ooredoo Oman provides individuals and businesses with cutting-edge digital products and services. Ooredoo Oman has generated revenues of OMR 2.5 billion in 2020 and is listed on the Muscat Stock Market.
Beyond its business goals, Ooredoo Oman also considers itself an integral member of Omani society. To this end, the company’s CSR program is geared towards improving lives through social development and by assisting voluntary organisations, government, and non-government organisations.
Launched in 2005, the Ooredoo Goodwill Journey is a pillar of Ooredoo Oman’s CSR drive. It demonstrates the company’s commitment to the community and individuals through donations to charitable organisations and partnerships with volunteer associations across Oman. From 2005 to 2013, through the Ooredoo Goodwill Journey, Ooredoo Oman helped more than 140,000 people and families, and travelled thousands of kilometres across the Sultanate to spread smiles and provide important help and enablement to local communities.
In 2020, through the Ooredoo Goodwill Journey, Ooredoo Oman collaborated with the Omani Ministry of Social Development to launch special sensory rooms for disabled children. A total of seven sensory rooms in social welfare centres across the Sultanate were created, benefiting over 3,000 children from different wilayats (provinces), with more planned in the coming months.
These sensory rooms are safe spaces designed to help children with sensory issues by teaching them how to regulate the negative reactions they experience in their brains in response to external stimuli, helping them to develop coping skills for such experiences. Sensory rooms can be utilised for people with ADHD, downs syndrome, cerebral palsy and other developmental challenges. Ooredoo Oman’s sensory rooms can also be personalised to suit the child’s needs. The contents of each sensory room are fully customisable, given that each child facing extreme sensory issues will have different learning requirements. In some cases, the whole room may be utilised. Whereas in others, a small space, such as a corner of a larger room, will be reserved for the child.
As part of the initiative, the Al Wafa Center for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children was inaugurated in Al Amerat, where Ooredoo volunteers installed a carpentry room, a computer lab and a sensory learning room, in addition to opening of three sensory skills rooms in the Al Wafa Centers in Al Khaboura and Nizwa. The company also supported the Association for the Welfare of Handicapped Children in Barka, Al Musannah, and Saham.
The Ooredoo Goodwill Journey was launched in 2005 to make a change in people's lives through sustainable community initiatives. Ooredoo Oman has remained focused in achieving this goal, especially in serving disabled children. Given Ooredoo Oman’s expertise and commitment to the community, the company has also crafted a plan to implement innovative digital initiatives within the sensory rooms that will help people mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
As an extension of the sensory rooms, Ooredoo Oman inaugurated two ‘Digital Entertainment Rooms’ for the Pediatric Cancer and Pediatric Surgery wards at the Royal Hospital in Muscat. Designed and implemented by Ooredoo volunteers, these rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art video games, TV screens and tablets and serve more than 25,000 children each year.
In partnership with several charitable associations, Ooredoo Oman also created special SMS short codes for disabled children and their families. These included the Oman Charitable Organization, the Association for the Handicapped Children, and the Oman Association for the Hearing Impaired.
During the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2021, under the patronage of Omani Minister of Labour, His Excellency Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Baawain, Ooredoo Goodwill was recognised for its prominent role in supporting people who are in need.
Webpage: https://ooredoo.om/
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