Roshan (telco) - Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

Roshan’s corporate social responsibility arm, Roshan Community aims to be a driver in the reconstruction of Afghanistan by investing in the communities which Roshan operates.

Roshan has developed and supported a wide range of programs aimed at improving the well-being of the people of Afghanistan and Roshan employees. These programs are focused on four key areas: health, education, commerce, and social welfare. Some of the programs supported by Roshan include:

Health:

- Established the Roshan Clinic, which provides Roshan employees and corporate partners, along with their families, full medical, dental and physiotherapy treatment. - Launched the first Afghan local employee medical and life insurance plan for all Roshan employees and corporate partners. - Established the Telemedicine project. The first phase of the project linked the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul to Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi, Pakistan, enabling access to medical expertise. The second phase linked Bamyan Hospital, a rural hospital to FMIC and AKUH. - Built 21 wells that help provide fresh and clean drinking water. - Providing ongoing subsidized health promotion and first aid training courses. - Committing for the past three years $100,000 each year to a welfare fund to help marginalized children access health care at FMIC and $75,000 each year to sponsor six beds at the children’s ward at FMIC.

Education:

- Built the Hakim Nasir Khusro School in Kabul which provides access to education for over 6,000 primary and secondary school pupils along with an e-learning laboratory and playground for the school. - Built 12 playgrounds. - Dubbed children’s educational programming in Dari and Pashto, which is aired on Tolo TV. - Supporting an Employee-Child Scholarship program; currently 17 children are receiving scholarships with 10 more added each year. - Project partner in the One Laptop Per Children program led by the Ministry of Education in partnership with Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, USAID’s Afghanistan Small and Medium Enterprise Development, which aims to bring low-cost computers and internet to classrooms across Afghanistan in order to improve both the teaching and learning environment. - Supporting 42 educational sponsorships for street working children at Aschiana in partnership with Dubai American Academy as well as other small organizations and individuals. - Equipping the Afghan Canadian Centre for Women in Kandahar with technology to deliver training and continuing provision of internet connection. - Providing funding for Cisco Net Academies in Kabul, Mazar and Herat from which 120 graduated in 2007/2008 and 240 will graduate in 2008/2009. - In partnership with Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), constructed the Kalan Gozar Girls School for over 650 girls in Baghlan Province.

Commerce:

- Launched TradeNet pilot project with Mercy Corps, a price information system to provide farmers, input suppliers, traders and wholesalers with access to pricing information through an SMS delivery system. - Providing employment opportunities for women to sustain their livelihoods through the Women’s Public Call Offices project. - Supporting the Pamir Energy Project, which brings electricity from Badakshan-Tajikistan to Badakshan, Afghanistan.

Social:

- Supporting Aschiana Educational activities in returnee/IDP camps and outreach centers in Kabul, Parwan and Mazar-e-Sharif by providing meals to children since 2005, serving nearly 500,000 meals a year.