Road accident deaths drop by 50% in Saudi Arabia    SR 3.95 million fines for 3 employees of a company and 6-month jail for one for violating Capital Market Law    Qassim emir launches 52 health projects costing a total of SR456 million    BD and INS partner to elevate standards of infusion care in MENAT    Dubai Design Week launches its 10th edition, celebrating creativity and innovation    GASTAT: Passengers of public transport bus and train soar 176% and 33% respectively in 2023    Fakeeh Care Group reports 9M-2024 net profit of SR195.3 million, up 49% y-o-y driven by solid revenue growth and robust profitability    Italy's 'Libra' to arrive in Albania with just eight migrants on board    South Africa shuts border crossing with Mozambique over poll unrest    French families sue TikTok over harmful content that allegedly led to suicides    Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power    HRT does not impact life expectancy — UK health body    Liam Payne's body to be flown back to the UK    Suspect arrested for banking fraud totaling SR493 million as Nazaha pursues corruption charges    Arab leaders and heads of state congratulate US President-elect Donald Trump    Neymar suffers muscle tear, out for 4-6 weeks    Crown Prince hails Saudi medical team that performed world's first fully robotic heart transplant    Al Nassr secures 5-1 victory over Al Ain to edge closer to knockout stage    Al Ahli extends perfect start with 5-1 victory over Al Shorta    Mitrovic's hat-trick leads Al Hilal to 3-0 victory over Esteghlal    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Muted Eid celebrations for millions of Nigerian Muslims    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Enriching experience — Increasing the reach of CSR through e-learning
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 14 - 11 - 2015

Today, the objectives of many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs go beyond simply making monetary donations to good causes in the wider community. The goal of many is all about providing education, and raising awareness about necessary life skills. Educational CSR programs are expected to create a long-lasting and sustainable impact that can be evidenced and measured.
However, traditional classroom education can be limiting in terms due to the investment required to achieve geographic reach, and consistent training quality and overall impact. While the majority of investment in CSR education programs should be spent on the most important elements of developing the program content to meet the needs of its audience, and ensuring those most in need of the program have access to it.
Budgets often require huge amounts of time-consuming fundraising, not to mention costs, such as management expenditures associated with the staff required to deliver the program, sundries such as printing of materials, and analyzing results. This traditional approach is both inefficient and unsustainable.
The Riyali Financial Literacy CSR Program
The Riyali Financial Literacy Program is one example of CSR activity that has faced these challenges and chosen to embrace e-learning as viable and effective solution.
The youth program, developed by SEDCO Holding Group, addresses the need to educate the Saudi population on financial literacy and empower people with personal financial skills for the 21st century. In 2012, the program set itself a target to reach 50,000 young people within five years. Delivery was purely through traditional classroom-based training.
In the three years hence, Riyali has already reached its target, with over 400 active volunteers delivering the program in more than 90 schools and universities in 22 cities across Saudi Arabia.
As well as the extensive reach of the program, the impact on the beneficiaries themselves has proven to be positive. Both attitudes and behaviors were tested for students one year post completing the Riyali course versus their peers who had not taken the course.
A year on from completing the course, students who have taken the course had increased awareness of the pertinent issues towards savings by 50%, towards investing by 25%, towards borrowing by 65% and towards budgeting by 72%.
More importantly, their actual behaviors towards savings increased by 28%, towards budgeting by 20%, towards borrowing by 43% and towards investing by 36%, when compared to those who had not taken the course.
The fact that young people around the world — not just in Saudi — are more concerned with the "here and now" rather than investing for the future, reflects the low levels of awareness in investing.
The same applies to the ‘actual behaviors' figures. Riyali is all about equipping youth with the financial literacy they will need throughout their entire lifetime, and doesn't demand instant adherence to its credo. It's worth remembering that Riyali is an academic, exam-based course, and that 80% of participants pass the course.
The above figures were taken from 40 students on the course, half of whom were aware their responses were being monitored, and the other half not.
As 60% of Saudi Arabia's population of 30 million is under 25 years old, the potential audience that can benefit from such a program is huge, and SEDCO Holding Group are keen to expand the number of beneficiaries through a scalable and sustainable model
Riyali embraces e-learning
An up-front investment was made by SEDCO Holding Group to ensure that the new Riyali e-learning program (and its resultant impact) would rival that of any classroom learning. To enable the content to be online-friendly, Riyali used its top ten trainers to create video lessons, along with online reading materials, discussion boards and an exam.
New materials were also developed to bring the e-learning to life, including case studies from young entrepreneurs and celebrities providing their own advice about money management.
Riyali first made the content available on established e-learning platforms with a captive student base such as Duroob and Rwaq and will soon have their own e-learning site. Now more students can benefit from the course. Further, Riyali can focus both efforts and funds on program development rather than program delivery.
In July 2015, SEDCO piloted the new online Riyali Financial Literacy Program on the Rwaq platform. Through this popular Saudi-based e-learning platform, the program has so far reached 10,000 students in less than two months.
Initial feedback and results have been hugely positive, with 89% of students saying the course had changed their perception towards budgeting, 91% having changed perceptions towards savings, and 83% having perceptions changed towards borrowing. In addition to this, a staggering 98% of students who took part in the e-learning course said they would recommend it to a friend.
One student summarized his experience by saying: "All credit to SEDCO Holding Group and Rwaq for offering an enriching experience and insightful lessons through the Riyali Financial Literacy Program. I wish other companies would follow in their footsteps when it comes to serving the community. Thank you once again and best of luck for everyone."
Future of e-learning, and SEDCO's approach to CSR
The Riyali example is just one of many where e-learning has benefited educational CSR programs through reach, impact, and sustainability. With technology, the challenge of sustainability and scalability for most educational-based Corporate Social Responsibility Programs can become opportunities.
Whilst in-classroom training will remain for a long time, e-learning is certainly something to consider and the question now for Riyali and other Social Responsibility programs is how much time and effort will they be spending on e-learning vs. in classroom training.


Clic here to read the story from its source.