Focus Areas

1. Education Portfolio
We shall engage in Education projects that would impact on children from nursery to tertiary level. We shall strive to achieve the following objectives under the education projects:

• Empowerment through information and technology resources
• Enable skill acquisition, transfer and development
• Raise the literacy level among Nigerians
• Provide educational resources for effective learning
• Enhance educational infrastructure development

Current Project

• Child Friendly School Initiative (CFSI)
• MTN Schools Connect in Lagos, Enugu & Kaduna
• MTN Nigeria launched Book Aid programme in November 2002 where educational aids and books on Mathematics and Sciences were donated to 10,000 junior secondary schools. It is partnering with Education Tax Fund (ETF), Ministry of Education, and SchoolNet Nigeria in this project.
  
• Through the MTN Volunteer Scheme, staff volunteers go to teach in secondary schools. Specifically, MTN Volunteers taught pupils of St. Francis Primary School, Maryland in March 2004.
  
• The company endowed a Professorial Chair at the Calabar Polytechnic, Cross River State, for the research of Digital Wireless Telecommunications Technology and Systems.
  
• MTN Nigeria sponsored two students of the Society of Architecture Students, Department of Architecture, University of Lagos on an educational tour of six European countries tagged “Euro 2004.”

The aim is for them to be exposed to learning in these countries and come back to impart the knowledge on the larger students of Architecture in Nigerian Universities.

2. Health

MTN Nigeria Foundation will deploy resources to improve health challenges facing the country through strategic partnerships with both public and private organizations. We intend to achieve the following objectives:

• To contribute to the health challenges currently facing the country by strategic partnerships and facilitating a common response
• To contribute to national awareness campaign against HIV/AIDS scourge
• To generate awareness education programmes on environmental cleanliness and malaria prevention
  

Current Programmes

• Internal HIV/AIDS Campaign
• MTN Nigeria donated two Cyflow machines valued at $60,000 to the University Teaching Hospital, Jos, and the University College Hospital, Ibadan. The equipment has reduced the cost of white-blood cell count in patients on drug therapy for AIDS from N5,000 to N500.
• The company also empowered Family Care Association, a non-profit NGO working through volunteers and engaged in rural healthcare, with a Hilux truck which enables the organization to traverse local communities, administering health assistance.
• The Lagos State Government is also empowered with the state-of-the art ambulance to enable it offer quick response to accident victims. This shall be augmented with additional two ambulances to be donated to LASG this quarter.

3. Economic Empowerment

Economic Empowerment unit of MTN Nigeria Foundation will focus on improving the economy of the country by empowering Nigerians to improve their individual economies through the following areas:

• Poverty alleviation programmes
• Business support
• Venture capital funding
• Micro lending
• Capacity building
• Employment creation
• Technical skills transfer
• Agricultural development/food security
• Entrepreneurship
• Housing
  

Current Programme

1. Rural Areas Low Cost Housing Development
2. Since April 2002, MTN Nigeria had been running a rural phone project whereby women were empowered with communication tools such as telephone lines, cell handsets, recharge/booster cards, to enable them run telephone call services in their locality.
The scheme began with 65 women in Enugu, Akwa Ibom and Edo States, who got the tools on repayable loan, which, on repayment, is revolved to accommodate others in the scheme.
MTN has been partnering with Growing Businesses Foundation (GBF), an NGO, in this project. As at today, we have 95 women in the scheme with the recent launch in Ilorin.

Full rollout of the scheme began 5th June 2004 with 30 women recruited in Ilorin, Kwara State. Schedule for other locations is as follows:

• Borno State 25 women
• Oyo State 25 women
• Kano State 25 women
• FCT, Abuja 30 women

Our objective is to have 200 women in the scheme before end of August 2004.
MTN also donated 150 activated phones including airtime to the LASG to assist the rescue of January 27 bomb blasts.
It also donated relief items to needy women of Akabo in Ikeduru LG of Imo State, victims of Okobaba fire disaster and victims of the Shendan ethno-religious crisis located in Lafia, Nassarrawa State, Kano, and Bauchi States.

Project Selection, Execution, Post Evaluation and Impact Assessment Strategies

The Foundation will follow distinct criteria in selecting CSR projects to execute. Selected projects must have lasting and far-reaching impact on large groups within the society and must be sustainable. In addition, selected projects must also meet the following general conditions:

• Projects must be sustainable in the long term
• Congruence with MTNN’s CSR objectives
• Alignment of methodology with best international and local practice
• Cost effectiveness of proposed methodology
• Potential for community involvement or social engagement activities
• Capacity of executor (technical expertise and management capacity) e.g. reflected by previous projects
• Alignment with expectation of the local community
• Interventions will be in kind and not in cash

What MTN Nigeria Foundation cannot sponsor

• Start-up and general organizational costs
• Building, physical infrastructure and/or equipment that is not part of an MTN Nigeria Foundation project
• Individuals, political or religious projects
• Raffles and competitions
• Tours, overseas trips, transport, conferences and seminars, cocktail parties, dinners and award ceremonies that will not impact on other Nigerians
• Projects benefiting commercial organizations
• Projects whose beneficiaries are outside Nigeria, with the exception of African countries within which MTN Nigeria operates

General Principles Directing Social Investment

• MTN Nigeria Communications, as a responsible and caring corporate citizen, aims to make financial contributions to worthwhile social development initiatives.
  
• MTN will assume a leadership role in implementing social investment, moving beyond legal compliance and proactively seeking to emulate international best practice.
  
• Our decisions in implementing social investments will be informed by stakeholder expectations. We recognize that our stakeholders include government, shareholders, employees and their dependents, customers, our business partners, civil society, the communities and the environment in which we operate.
  
• It is MTNN Foundation’s policy to give special preference to initiatives that support the elevation of disadvantaged communities. While these have been identified as principal areas of investment, MTN will evaluate projects or initiatives based on the company’s criteria from time to time what warrant consideration.