Happy Philanthropy Day!

Young children wearing yellow t-shirts behind transparent box.

Since 1986, November 15 has been set aside as a day to celebrate the love for mankind – philanthropy. The day is observed to raise awareness and encourage people to be kind to one another and to give those who are making the world a better place, through their altruistic and selfless efforts, a pat on the back.

At Microsoft, across the Middle East and Africa, our efforts are focused on the fast-growing youth population to ensure that technology can benefit all youth to become tomorrow’s leaders. We do this to remind ourselves of our unwavering commitment to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.

As technology continues to make quantum leaps in innovation and access, much of its benefits still elude many people. Majority of the people in the Middle East and Africa still lack access to knowledge, skills and resources that would empower them to participate in the new digital economy. We are therefore overtly focused on this region to address the underlying challenges.

Our philanthropic contributions in Africa, for the past three years, equate to an investment of $33 million and touching the lives of over 8 million youths. We are committed to continuing our investment in Africa to empower 15 million youths and create economic opportunities for more than 200,000 by 2020.

In the first quarter of fiscal year nineteen (July-September 2018) alone, we have made a total Software, Cloud and Azure donation up to the tune of $5.8 million with 2,019 active non-profits. In partnership with Code.org and other local non-profits in the Middle East and Africa region, we have upskilled 554,180 youth online and offline on digital skills.

We continue to work with governments, international and local non-government organisations towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by harnessing technology to empower a sustainable future. Our sustainable development focus areas are: addressing the digital skills divide – especially the displaced youth, supporting humanitarian action to build stronger communities, and using technology to protect our planet.

We have partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in providing vital assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to violence, conflict or persecution.

In partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), we have launched the Coding for Employment initiative. The initiative will create over 25 million jobs across Africa and equip 50 million youths with the digital skills needed in today’s job market.

As the world celebrates philanthropists across the world, we also give a standing ovation to every team member who has enabled us to achieve these feats. The reward for a job well done, however, is more work.

Our role as a socially conscious organisation is not only to build exciting new products that make business processes more efficient but to be responsible to the society that has given us a platform to thrive. We remain relentless in our purpose at Microsoft Philanthropies to advance the company’s mission by making the opportunities of our rapidly evolving digital economy accessible to all people, particularly those most at risk of being left behind.

By Ghada Khalifa – Microsoft MEA Director for Philanthropies.

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