Canon Middle East to educate underprivileged Senegalese children, part of Africas 167 million illiterate
As part of its commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates, Canon Middle East, a leader in imaging solutions, is constructing a school in Senegal in partnership with non-profit buildOn, building further on its support to Dubai Cares, the philanthropic organisation founded by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
buildOn, is an international organisation committed to breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education.
The innovative digital leader will promote primary education for children between the ages of six and twelve in the village of Soupe Serere as part of its social responsibility towards the those in need in Africa, one of its fastest growing markets. The primary school, which is being built with the aid of 13 Canon employees who visited Senegal from July 20 26, will be complete 12 weeks hence. There are over 167 million illiterate people in Africa.
The Canon employees worked side by side with the local community members during their visit to start construction on the school. buildOn and the community signed a covenant stating each partys contribution to the project before construction begins. The covenant states that buildOn provides the engineering, materials, skilled labour and project supervision for the school. The community provides a gender-equal leadership team, voluntary unskilled labour, land for the school, local materials and a promise that girls and boys must be sent to school in equal numbers.
The week-long volunteering initiative complements the Adopt a School initiative by Dubai Cares, which Canon ME had supported last year by donating over AED 100,000 raised by its employees. The new school will provide a safe area for children to learn and for teachers to teach in the village of Soupe Serere. Following the construction of the school, Dubai Cares, along with its partner buildOn, will engage a minimum of 60 illiterate adults in an 18-month adult literacy and life skills class taught in the new school.
Moreover, Canon Middle East and Canon Emirates, along with their customers and Facebook fans collected textbooks and educational materials, through the Books4Cause campaign from July to October 2014. These will be directly donated by Canon to the school for its library.
Currently, the existing school building houses 92 students, and less than half of these are girls. They are tutored by two teachers who oversee grades 1 3, in an area where the closest other school is a four kilometre walk. With the addition of the new 2-classroom school, more children in the village will have access to primary education. The new furnished school will seat 150 students per school and will be equipped with separated Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines for girls and boys. It will also offer an 18-month adult literacy and life skills class for 60 adult men and women.
Anurag Agrawal, Managing Director, Canon Middle East said: Our support to building the school in Senegal underlines our commitment to make a positive difference in the world. It reflects our Kyosei philosophy of serving the communities with active participation from our team members. We are thankful to Dubai Cares for the opportunity to partner in this initiative. With the campaign, and the opening of the school at the end of 2015, we are helping to shape future citizens by providing primary education to them.
Rosann Jager, Vice President International Programs, buildOn said: The partnership with Dubai Cares and the support of Canon Middle East has allowed buildOn to expand our programs and provide a safe and inspiring environment for learning. The contribution of Canon Middle East goes far beyond the donation to build the school. We have found that the presence of a donor group in the village living and working side by side the villages promotes the importance of education for all children in the community, but even more for girls. It allows an intimate connection between the donor and the villagers which is very unique to buildOn. We look forward to connecting Canon ME to other villages in the developing world and breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations together.
Thanking Canon Middle East for its on-going support, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Cares said: There are millions of children in the developing world who have no recourse to education, making these nations vulnerable to crippling socio-economic crises in the coming years. As global citizens, we need to confront this situation and take decisive action in countering it. The corporate world has a significant role to play in this and Canon, through their ongoing support for our programs, has emerged as an example of effective corporate citizenship and social leadership.
Canon Middle East serves as an active partner in the communities it operates in, by working with governments, scientific, academic, humanitarian, and arts and culture organisations, to integrate corporate social responsibility across all elements of the business.
For further details of Canon Middle East, global operations, products and services visit www.canon-me.com.
