As a key component of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, education or ADVANCING SCHOOLS, a global initiative by Hi ACTA is a unique business grouping of dedicated global sustainability champions focused on empowering local schools, teachers and secondary students with unique learning tools.
Launched in January 2022, just over 30 companies from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore have joined this global platform to help public school secondary-level students (nearly 436,000 students at 872 schools) in their host communities develop a global perspective.
These corporate champions understand they will be strong only when they evolve in tandem with their social responsibility of supporting schools in their neighbouring district, village, town, city or across the country
The goal of ADVANCING SCHOOLS however, is not simply to offer cash handouts, scholarships or philanthropic support for facilities.
Instead, we aim to create shared impact across public schools through soft-skills learning and thereby, collaboratively reshape local communities.
To magnify the impact, companies around the world are increasingly recognising the need to invest at the formative stage of schooling (between the ages 11-17).
By supporting global exposure and learning via Hi ACTA, in its local community today, our corporate partners of ADVANCING SCHOOLS are able to deploy a circular approach by putting in place the mutually dependent foundation for businesses to grow for decades to come, catalysing community development through community investment.
In the end, we recognise (1) self-inquiry; (2) access to quality learning tools; and (3) formal education - is one powerful combined strategy that can be used to transcend future generations to come.
Considering how transformation often begins on a local scale and with a single project:
Providing critical enablers to those aged between 11-17 to learn, lies at the very core of what we do.
WHAT IS Hi ACTA?
While scholarships, reliable internet access, facilities, teacher training and collaborative learning spaces are all important, quality content and accessibility to ICT learning tools are sometimes side-stepped by many companies involved in CSR/sustainability projects.
At Hi ACTA, our focus via ADVANCING SCHOOLS, is on holistically bridging the gap of quality content and syllabus by providing uninterrupted access to everyone, at neighbourhood schools in your company’ area of operations.
Instead of empty photo-ops and going beyond mere compliance, we are laser focused on providing uninteruppted access to analytical and synthetic learning materials that can provide communities (including those at the bottommost rung of the ladder) long-term benefits.
In the end for us, change has to mean measurable progress, something our donors can tangibly scale up and periodically report back to their stakeholders.
FUNDING:
To our select corporate partners we refer to as ‘agents of change’, Hi ACTA hopes to play a collaborative role in helping you contribute to nation-building with the next generation of local youth i.e., learners at the grassroots level at neighbourhood schools in your company’ local area of operations.
We therefore hope you will support Hi ACTA striving to achieve inclusive learning across public schools and join ADVANCING SCHOOLS, a business grouping of dedicated global sustainability champions:
Our singular aim is to exert a direct impact on local beneficiaries (schools, teachers & secondary students) in your host country, and help you, our corporate partners strengthen your market reputation.
TANGIBLE OUTCOMES:
With Hi ACTA we aim to deliver tangible outcomes placing digital technology at the heart of societal advancement.
In our local partner therefore we are seeking responsible corporate stewards who are committed to contributing long-term education solutions to tackle poverty and societal inequalities, in communities they operate in.
Put simply, up to 10,150 students can directly benefit annually from Hi ACTA through the US$20,000 funding received.
Nonetheless we will uphold local wisdom so that Hi ACTA is implemented according to needs of the school, utilizing the guidance of the local community, and not conflicting with existing learning materials already in the community.
In the end, our short-term aim is to build a network of between 15-30 corporate donors in each country (or cover approximately 435+ schools per country).
TRANSPARENCY:
To meet the benchmarks and recommendations set by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) indicators, Hi ACTA believes in timely and transparent disclosure, as part of its goal tracking and stakeholder participation:
- 95% of funds received are channelled directly to the programme with the balance (maximum US$1,000) allocated for audit & administration;
- Since the school learning tool is accessed via an App by teachers and learners alike, we are able to streamline costs and utilise tracking tools for reporting, with a minimum headcount;
- All donors receive a detailed integrated report of schools enlisted under the ADVANCING SCHOOLS programme at the end of a twelve-month cycle (and periodic updates in between to allow for inputs and suggestions from stakeholders);
- Each report will be broadly based on four key pillars: (I) stakeholder engagement (input), (II) sustainability context (material aspects), (III) materiality (social impact), and (IV) completeness (conclusive data and information);
- Each report will be accompanied with internationally applicable data measuring techniques that are directly relevant to the project, so as to help our donors fully understand the operational impact of the US$20,000 net annual funding;
- For benchmarking purposes, quantitative data in subsequent years will be presented using the comparability principle, spread across two calendar years or more.
