Social responsibility and volunteer work are at the core of the SEDCO Holding culture and the company’s employees now exceed the minimum required hours of volunteering on a regular basis. The holy month of Ramadan is an opportunity for the CSR team to mobilize its community activities under one main umbrella, which is the Journey of Giving initiative. The initiative enables the company’s employees to participate in community events and give back to those in need in partnership with Friends of SEDCO in order to make a sustainable impact on the lives of the orphans and employees alike.
Journey of Giving was launched last year with six programs that achieved great success. During its second year, SEDCO Holding decided to increase the number of programs to eight, starting with the Box of Joy program and several others, including the Champions Day program, where SEDCO volunteers and their children put smiles on the faces of orphans by participating in an entertainment program in cooperation with Al Birr Charity Society. The initiative concluded with the Eid Clothing program, where volunteers and their families took orphans out for an Eid shopping trip so everyone could celebrate Eid in a family atmosphere.
The initiative also included the 20-Day Volunteering Challenge, where SEDCO gave volunteers and their families a chance to choose different ideas for volunteering that could be done individually or as a group in order to promote the importance of giving during the holy month. The challenge included various ideas, such as organizing a family competition about Ramadan, helping fill in street pot holes by sending digital notices, preparing breakfast in participation with families, and other innovative ideas. Employees would send a message after each challenge to earn one hour of volunteering per challenge.
The SEDCO Group culture resulted in the company winning the Gulf Sustainability and CSR Award in the Charity Work category. It also won second place in the International Business Excellence Awards (IBX) for its Riyali program this year. In this context, during 2019 the company will place staff in leadership roles and motivate them to independently choose volunteer opportunities with minimal guidance from the CSR team.
