Volunteerismin Discovery

South Africa as a nation of givers

• A recent report, compiled by David Everatt and Geetesh Solanki of Strategy & Tactics for the Centre for Civil Society, SAGA and NDA, clearly identifies South Africa as a nation of givers.

A democracy built by volunteers

• Volunteerism at community level is not new to our society

• In our recent history we saw the emergence of an unprecedented volunteer movement mobilised under one banner to end Apartheid

• Another great example of volunteerism and the mobilisation of communities around basic rights is that of a Grassroots Community Newspaper, started in the early 80s in the Western Cape

• It has become clear that our democracy was built on the shoulders of community volunteerism.

Working towards a new social order

• Whilst transformation in our society has taken place, we need to be cognisant of a couple of important elements:

– The need to defend our new democracy.– The importance of entrenching our much-hailed constitution into every

element of our society.

• In the process we will be addressing the legacy of Apartheid where vast disparities still exist within our society.

Forging new partnerships

• The South African government has launched the Vuk’uzenzele programme, which means, “Wake up and do it for ourselves”.

• The challenges of poverty and underdevelopment do not rest with government and civil society alone – we as the corporate sector need to take action.

Discovery’s approach toCSI and Volunteerism

Discovery’s role in South Africa

• Discovery is a South African company, and proud of it.• Whilst our products and services bring quality private

health care to our clients, many of our social investment initiatives work to make quality affordable health care available to disadvantaged communities.

• We accept that the responsibility for social development and regeneration does not just lie with government and broader society, but is rather a shared objective with the corporate sector.

• Through the Discovery Fund, we are committed to working with government, the private sector and civil society by investing in health infrastructure and delivery.

• Discovery’s philosophy of making people healthier and enhancing and protecting their lifestyles is inherent in every area of our business.

Aligning CSI with our corebusiness purpose and values

Maintaining our CSI focus through Health & Wellness projects, underscored by our Employee Volunteer

Programme (EVP)

• Health projects: The Discovery Fund

• Wellness projects: The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation of South Africa

Supporting Health and Wellness initiatives through CSI

• Discovery believes that social consciousness should extend to all its employees.

• Social responsibility is a corporate value.

Aligning volunteerism with our overall CSI philosophy

Why do we encourage volunteerism?

• Employee volunteers bring unique skills and experience tothe table.

• Active volunteerism fosters greater awareness and understanding of the challenges facing our country.

• Volunteerism assists in building relationships with important stakeholders and potential partners.

• Employees were not aware of our CSI programme in the past – thus the key to their involvement was effective communication.

• We embarked on a communication campaign to highlight what the employee volunteer programme entails.

• This communications campaign included:– Arts and crafts marketplace.– Hosting of projects.– Encounters photo exhibition.– Utilising our internal communication system.– Project visits.– Public acknowledgement of employee initiatives.

How we have encouraged Employee Volunteerism?

• Through these various forms of communication, champions emerged.

• Giving changed drastically – employees who were less inclined towards giving financially, rather gave more of their time, expertise and skills.

Employee engagement through effective communication

The birth of the Discovery CSI Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP)

A specialised CSI Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP)

committee was formed to:

• Support and facilitate activities of the Employee Volunteer Programme.• Provide long-term direction to the programme.• Represent Discovery employees broadly.• Serve as a general governance and oversight body.

Long-term EVP strategy

• The aim is for our employees to adopt projects at a departmental level, for a period of one or more years.

• The employees in these departments not only provide financial assistance to their project, but also offer their expertise, resources and time.

Long-term EVP strategy examples:

Project Activities Departments Involved

Adopt-A-Room project

(Zaziwe Hospice)The hospice provides health care services and facilities for terminally ill homeless HIV/AIDS patients. It forms part of the Impilo Health Care Programme.

Several departments adopted children’s rooms at the recently launched “Kids Need Care” section which provides care to terminally ill children.

The assistance from employees includes:• Initial refurbishment of the rooms. • Ongoing monthly financial support.

• Developing relationships with the children by playing with them and organising activity days.• Individual employees are extending their participation by assisting the Programme Manager of the Zaziwe Hospice with marketing and fundraising.

• Health Operations• Marketing Services• Marketing Operations

Project Activities Departments Involved

Harriet Shezi ClinicThe clinic caters for children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

• Activities involve raising funds, giving of time, offering medical expertise, etc

• Discovery Care (This department focuses specifically on HIV/AIDS)

Long-term EVP strategy examples:

Project Activities Departments Involved

Lukholweni Cancer Care Centre A regional office of the Cancer Association of SA, situated in Orlando East, Soweto. They’ve extended their services to HIV-positive cancer patients (who make up 40-60% of the centre’s patients)

• Activities involve raising funds, giving of time, offering medical expertise, etc

• Oncology Department

Laureus Sport for Good Foundation“Playing for Peace Projects”

• Activities involve raising funds, giving of time, raising funds, organising activities for the children.

• KwaZulu-Natal Office

Long-term EVP strategy examples:

Short-term EVP strategy

• This involves mostly once-off events, where employees raise funds for charity.

Project Activities Departments Involved

Harriet Shezi Clinic • Hosting Children’s “Celebrate Life!” Party for all kids on ARVs at the three academic hospitals in the JHB region (Chris Hani Baragwanath; Coronation & Joburg) and their outreach clinics.

• Discovery Care

Impilo Fun Run • Fundraiser for Impilo Health Care Programme’s Zaziwe Hospice • Health Operations

Team-building exercise

• CSI drafted a project plan / activities for the teams. • In contrast to traditional team-building exercises the focus is shifting increasingly towards community-based initiatives.

• KAPPA Service Team• Marketing Associates• Discovery Life Group Risk• Client Research

Short-term EVP strategy examples:

Project Activities Departments Involved

Business Trust Long Run

• This is an annual event which kicked off with 10 employees participating in a 10km run from Nelspruit in October 2004.• Once, again employees volunteered their time over a weekend.• This activity gives us an opportunity to highlight the work of the Business Trust and the company’s commitment to it.

• Discovery runners from Sandton office

Short-term EVP strategy examples:

Project Activities Departments Involved

The Marketplace (As part of World Aids Day)

• The Marketplace aims to support HIV & AIDS projects by providing them with the space to display and sell their crafts.• The presents an opportunity for employees to purchase goods whilst raising awareness and generating an income for these projects.

• Across departments – Sandton Office

Spinathon • Fundraising event for Zaziwe Hospice. 50 Discovery employees participated in the spinathon fundraiser in October 2004.

• Across departments – Sandton Office

Short-term EVP strategy examples:

The Red Cross Children’s Hospital• Employees took Discovery’s involvement further

by independently raising funds toward the building of a playground

• Employees used their free time to paint the colourful “Voyage of Discovery” mural.

Adopt-a-Room at Zaziwe Hospice• The employees from three

departments – namely Health Operations, MarketingServices and Marketing Operations – pooled their

resources and expertise to embrace this initiative.

Other achievements of the Employee Volunteer Programme

Discovery employees support the FirstRand Volunteers Discovery employees donated a variety of

winter warmers to the children at the

Othandweni Children’s Home.

Other achievements of the Employee Volunteer Programme

Alex Clinic, Zaziwe Hospice &Othandweni Children’s HomeDiscovery managers proved their commitment to CSI by painting these facilities during our recent Leadership Volunteer Week in March 2005.

Other achievements of the Employee Volunteer Programme

• Volunteering truly emphasises the human aspect of social development. Discovery is a business about people, and we believe in empowering all our people.

• By allowing our employees the opportunity to invest in their communities, we are affording them the chance to contribute to the growth of the nation in a concrete way.

The benefits for our employee volunteers