At Standard Chartered, staff are offered three days volunteering leave each year to support their local communities, build relationships with colleagues and learn new skills. Employee volunteering is a very rewarding experience and is in line with our brand promise of ‘here for good’.
The month of July 2023 was declared Employee Volunteering Month across the bank. Over 100 staff across the bank volunteered their skills during this special EV month, engaging in various activities to give back to the communities that we serve.
- Reading Ambassadors
We kicked-off our activities with Reading Ambassadors volunteering for the Standard Chartered Reading Club Project at the Kanda Cluster of Schools and Islamic Basic Schools. This is a special project being implemented in these schools by the bank in partnership with United Way Ghana for a year. Young learners have been provided with age-appropriate books and are engaged in a 2-hour weekly reading and literacy activities by employee volunteers from the bank, volunteers from the community and class teachers. This forms part of our commitment to contributing in improving literacy at basic schools and overall achievement of the United Nations SDG 4 – Quality Education.
- Blood donation drive
In partnership with the National Blood Service, staff donated blood to mark World Blood Donor Day. Leveraging the bank’s partnership with Liverpool FC, the bank celebrates World Blood Donor Day with a special campaign dubbed Give Red. This is our own special way of celebrating and thanking voluntary donors around the world for their gift of blood. In Ghana, staff played their part toward achieving universal access to safe blood transfusions by coming out in their number to donate blood.
- Environmental protection
Caring for the environment was not left out of the activities. Staff volunteered their skills to plant 500 trees at the Sakumono Lagoon basin. We partnered with the Forestry Commission and Sabon Sake, a regenerative agricultural company that is into sustainably manufacturing bio-carbon soil solutions. In addition to planting trees, the focus was also on improving soil health. Soils with adequate stable organic carbon and nutrients fixed within their ecosystem positively contribute to soil fertility, biodiversity, water retention and, more importantly, enhances soil carbon sequestration. It is hoped that through this continued effort we can establish the Sakumono Lagoon basin into an active carbon sink and ultimately a thriving ecosystem.
- Coaching the next generation
To wrap-up the activities, a special Mentor’s Den – Men Mentoring Men – was held at the bank’s head office. The mentors were male employees of the bank and mentees were male beneficiaries of its Youth to Work programme – which equips youths with relevant skills for the workplace. It was an interesting time of conversation, hearing from and exchanging current ideas with the next generation of future leaders.
Volunteering activities will continue throughout the year as we continue to partner with our clients, local communities and business in line with our strategic priorities.
