PEOPLE AND INNOVATION

TRUST IN THE FUTURE AND IN THE
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Social Responsibility

SDG 4

Algar Institute

Algar Telecom has been making social investments for more than 19 years through the Algar Institute, which issues guidelines and coordinates actions on the educational (activities and training for students and teachers) and tax incentive fronts (sponsorship to projects available under municipal, state and federal laws).

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has affected part of our projects in this cycle, we kept our commitment to investing in the communities in which we are based. In 2020, our educational initiatives involved 14 schools, 44 partner social organizations, culture and sports advocates, and 5,905 beneficiaries (children, adolescent and young adults) in 14 states and 31 cities in Brazil.

Imbued with the spirit of People serving People, we created in 2020 Ações que Transformam [Actions that Transform) web portal that records and accounts for change-promoting initiatives in Brazil, working as an inspirational tool that can foment best practices through leading by example.

Focus on educational improvement in Brazil

Our social investments continued to target educational programs in partnership with public schools and departments of education in the regions where we operate. We are present in 31 municipalities of 14 Brazilian states with the following programs:

This project brings change to children and adolescents through sports, arts and culture with a view to opening new paths and developing activities that stimulate discipline, self-control, respect, and the development of physical and psychological skills. Upon adaptation for the new COVID-19 scenario, the program offered online sports training activities, with a reality show created so we could increase student engagement, as well as remote drama play rehearsals and art workshops, all of which were livestreamed. Over the course of the year, 1,750 openings were offered for 10 cultural and 5 sports projects at 8 units located in 4 cities in states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo.

This project trains youths who completed or are still attending high school in the public school system for the job market by developing certain abilities and skills. In the second quarter of 2020, we created and applied the “Warm-up Trail” (Trilha de Aquecimento), featuring biweekly online challenges for youths. In the second half, we started a remote program via Google Classroom featuring more than 30 hours of asynchronous contents and live lessons nationwide. In 2020, we provided more than 500 hours of training, certified 115 students in 7 classes provided remotely in 12 cities (12 students were hired by AT).

Based on the Multifocal Intelligence Theory, by Dr. Augusto Cury, this program develops socioemotional education in the school environment. The program aims to improve learning indices, reduce indiscipline, improve inter-personal relationships and increase the participation of families in the full education of students. It serves more than 200,000 students in schools across Brazil. We continue supporting the Instituto Hortense’s program, which received in this atypical year 78 tons of food and donated 70,000 masks, 14,000 liters of milk, 7,000 hygiene and cleaning kits, and 15,000 pocket gel alcohol packs to 5,000 families on the outskirts of Uberlândia, Frutal and Divinópolis, Minas Gerais, as well as Sorriso and Canarana, Mato Grosso. In parallel to food distribution, Instituto Hortense created its distance learning platform to offer training for teachers and other audiences and story-telling for children.

Algar Telecom’s Compliance area, together with the Algar Institute, is working on the implementation of a social project called “Compass of Tomorrow” (Bússola do Amanhã), in reference to Compliance’s visual identity, which is represented by a compass. The purpose of this project is to point people to the best path, always prizing ethics and integrity.

Currently at the implementation stage, the project will work on compliance and ethics issues for children, helping to develop their critical sense for ethical issues in our society. The project is expected to launch in May, to commemorate the International Ethics Day.

Projects with tax incentives

Made possible by funds available under the incentive laws, projects registered reach our multidisciplinary committee, which consists of representatives of Algar Holding, the Algar Institute and Algar Telecom. This committee will determine whether each project meets all requisite criteria, such as being approved by the relevant regulatory agency and having a vision of contributing to the development of communities in which the Algar Group operates. Despite the pandemic situation, over R$6 million was allocated to projects that are covered by the federal law on culture, health and sports.

One of the highlights among projects with tax incentives in the year was Children – Creating Art II, which addresses literature in a fun, playful way, fostering the development of reading, writing and creative skills in children and adolescents. The project’s outcome was the distribution of a book of tales written by the 100 beneficiaries in the city of Birigui, São Paulo.

Volunteer Work

Created in 2003, this program encourages employees to take part in social activities carried out by the Algar Institute. Each employee is invited to contribute their time, work and talent for a better society. Education is the priority issue for volunteer work as well, with ongoing actions aimed at significantly contributing to the education of students that attend partner public schools, as well as one-off actions, which tend to be more far-ranging activities designed by our committees based on a specific need found in the community or on specific commemorative dates, such as Children’s Day and Christmas.

The chief challenge for 2020 was understanding the role of volunteers in the new context and remotely managing previous actions. Right at the outset of the pandemic, the Algar Institute, together with social leaders and co-leaders, engaged in an effort to map the most urgent needs of each community, as well as social movements already ongoing, in order to add strength and make a difference through specific actions, such as “Together for Uberlândia” (Juntos por Uberlândia), in the state of Minas Gerais, to raise funds for purchasing staple baskets (11,000 kits put together and distributed), distribution of 600 packed lunches to the homeless in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, and distribution of 130 toys for Children’s Day in Betim, Minas Gerais.

We also received more than 400 kilograms of beverage bottle caps and can pop-taps to sell as scrap metal, and the proceeds were distributed to various partner institutions so they could purchase wheelchairs. Our Christmas initiative turned our volunteers in Santa Claus helpers to answer more than 500 letters from children in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, and from the elderly in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. We also celebrated Kindness Day by fashioning more than a thousand flowers out of paper and recyclable materials, which sparked up reflections on sustainability in the seven cities where we operate.

Over the year, 228 volunteering actions were carried out, with 2,633 volunteers involved and 14,345 people benefitted in 24 cities.

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Complements of GRI indicators