Said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan.
Telenor Empowering Pakistan through Sustainable Development Initiatives
Sustainability Direction: Telenor Pakistan’s new sustainability direction now includes changing the way the company manages risks. It integrates operating principles for responsible business conduct more holistically across all its operations while enabling access to the internet as well as solutions that can address social, economic, and environmental problems, close the inequality gap, and empower societies. It also aims for a broader global imperative to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Innovation for betterment of Society: Innovation at Telenor is empowering the Pakistani society in the true sense of the word. The Digital Birth Registration (DBR) project, for instance, has seen remarkable results increasing the birth registration rates to over 200% in UCs of Sindh and Punjab where the service was piloted. Similarly, the ‘Khushhaal Zamindaar’ service, which provides localized, contextualized and customized agronomic and livestock information/advisory through text messages and calls, proved immensely popular with 1.4 million active users as of Dec, 2016, 20% of which are female farmers. Sustainability in Supply Chain: For Telenor Pakistan, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) of employees in the company as well as the supply chain is equally important. Over 4,000 man-hours of capacity building in supply chain on health and safety risks, and labor laws, including anti-corruption campaign in supply chain and driving safety campaign were conducted. Moreover, over 8,000 man-hours of competence development and awareness for employees and in-house contractors were organized on various HSE topics like driving safety (in collaboration with Motorway Police) and workplace ergonomics. The report also highlights Telenor Pakistan’s significant contributions to promoting Responsible Business in the country that include such integral factors as supply chain sustainability and anti-corruption, network resilience during disasters, climate and environment, occupational health & safety, human rights due diligence (HuRiDD), and emergency relief & communications.
