THE CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
The primary responsibility of the Corporate Affairs Department is to build and maintain relationships with MTC's various stakeholders and to play the custodian role of projecting MTC as a socially responsible company that increasingly works towards the national development objectives, corporate social responsibility and business stimulation through innovation.
The primary objective of the division during the past year has been to position the MTC brand as a caring and responsible corporate citizen, working in the interest of Namibia and her people, particularly as far as technological investment is concerned.
This was done through media relations, stakeholder engagement, internal communication, sponsorships and events management.
MTC has become synonymous with corporate social investment, interweaving itself into the fabric of the Namibian society. MTC has consistently led the pack as the key catalyst for the creation of social impacts in society. Thus, social investment has become a culture and a way of life for MTC, its various stakeholders and the Namibian nation at large.
MTC's social investment totals one per cent of the company's revenue per annum and is deliberately geared to benefit the greater number of Namibians, as well as the environment.
By far the largest benefactor of sports in Namibia, MTC has this year spent N$17,5 million on football, rugby, cricket and golf. These sponsorships were viewed by MTC as the company's responsibility to improve administrative and athletic capacity. Through these sponsorships MTC has assisted with the creation of direct and indirect employment through wages for coaches, players and administrators. By enabling sports to be played at various venues around the country, additional income is also generated by the small traders who sell refreshments before, during and after these local competitions.
Over and above the 'normal' sponsorships to the four codes, MTC went the extra mile and exemplified its commitment towards sport when they sponsored the amount of N$1,6 million to the Namibia Rugby Union to enable the National Rugby Team to participate in the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. Without MTC's financial support, Namibia would have been denied representation at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
MTC also headlined as the main sponsor of the MTC/Namibia Sports Commission Annual Sports Awards which served as a perfect platform to conclude a sporting season where national and international sports achievements are celebrated.
Apart from sports sponsorships, MTC played a major role in contributing to road safety through its support to the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund's 'Xupifa Eemwenyo' road safety campaign. During the period under review, MTC 'adopted' the Swakopmund and Luiperdsvallei roadblocks, providing an assortment of equipment to the two roadblocks. Total contributions for this road safety effort totalled N$100, 000.
MTC also sponsored the Namibian Coastal Conservation and Management (NACOMA) Project of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to equip wildlife wardens with the necessary tools to police the coastline during the festive season. The object of this exercise is to prevent extensive damage to the fragile coastal ecology through improved monitoring of the holiday makers' activities.
As a responsible corporate citizen who has a special regard for the growth of small and medium entrepreneurs, MTC spent in excess N$2 million in sponsorships to various trade shows, expositions and trade fairs. The most notable of these was the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair which has grown in leaps and bounds due to MTC's unwavering support as the lead sponsor. The other shows which also received financial support from MTC during the year under consideration are: Caprivi Trade Fair, Eenhana Trade Fair, Helao Nafidi Trade Fair, Gobabis Show, Okakarara Trade Fair, Grootfontein Show, Otjiwarongo Show, Stampriet Show, Keetmanshoop Show, Oranjemund Cultural Festival, Tsumeb Copper Festival, Rehoboth Show and Erongo Expo.
MTC also extended its reach to mobile health initiatives and the protection of wildlife. On the mobile health front, MTC collaborated with the Ministry of Health, through Management Sciences for Health (MSH) funded by the United states Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop the Electronic Dispensing Tool (EDT) and National Database of Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) information data. The EDT is an electronic pharmacy tool which enables pharmacy staff at facility level to manage patients, plan follow-ups, monitor stock levels and quantify Anti-Retroviral Vaccines (ARV) needs. Strengthening ART stock management ensures continuous availability of ARVs at the facility level and prevents treatment interruptions.
The EDT is also used in patient management, thus improving patient outcomes and greatly reducing the risk of HIV drugresistance. The EDT is also used in scheduling appointments, monitoring facility workloads and monitoring adherence to ART.
The National Database serves as a query tool for national statistics on ART, including patient information from across Namibia. This database is an essential tool aimed at enhancing not only access, but also providing reliable data on the effectiveness of ART in
Namibia including:
- National ARV consumption,
- The number of patients on ART treatment nationwide,
- Regimen change among patients on ART and
- ARV stock usage across Namibia.
In addition to the EDT project, MTC has also started working with the Clinton Foundation on the tracking of people to and from malaria prone areas. The collaboration involves the use of anonymised mobile phone usage data to conduct seminal assessment and planning of the complete elimination of malaria from Namibia and other bordering countries.
Malaria is carried around the world by humans even making areas such as Europe and the United States vulnerable to outbreaks. As such, it is critical to understand how people – and therefore malaria parasites – move to and from countries that are attempting to eliminate the disease. These movements are typically very difficult to measure. However, anonymised mobile phone usage data represents an unprecedented and extremely valuable data source for doing so. Without comprising confidentiality, this data is used to determine overall population movements and can be linked to maps of malaria risk to estimate rates of infection importation to differing areas.
MTC is also assisting renowned international conservation organisation Biosphere Expeditions on a leopard research project near Windhoek. The project's aims are to gather reliable scientific data on the ecology of cat predators living on private game farms in Namibia.
The project wants to understand how leopards, as predators, form an important part of a healthy ecosystem on a game farm. At the end of the project it is hoped that there will be reliable data provided to farmers in Namibia and Southern Africa to help alleviate predator/game conflicts.
To conduct their research, scientists capture leopards and then fit them with a GSM collar with an MTC SIM card. The collar then uses the MTC network to send data to a computer whenever the leopard picks up a signal from a mobile phone tower. With the help of this data, precise information about leopard movements is obtained, also indicating what the animals are doing within their home ranges on game farms.
Other significant contributions include financial and material support to the Annual Conference and Dinner of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) and the Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX) Scholar Investment Challenge.
Through the MTC Foundation, MTC selected 13 foster care home or kindergartens - one centre in each political region – and donated an amount of N$100,000 to each of these to continue helping children who are infected or orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
As a leader in corporate social investment and as a demonstration of its high investment in social responsibility causes, MTC was awarded the "Best Corporate Responsible Company" award at the Namibia Business Awards function which coincided with the Namibia International Investment Forum in 2011.
