Why are we working together:
M&G is a UK-based savings and investment business that aims to “make the world a little better” through how and where they invest their customers’ savings. Economic empowerment is a key part of M&G’s mission, and in 2020 they chose SOS Children’s Villages as a strategic partner to help them meet their goals because of our long-established global work in preventing family breakdown.
What are we doing:
The Empowering Families partnership was co-created to combine M&G’s reach and resources with SOS Children’s Villages’ expertise in supporting families and young people across the world. The Empowering Families partnership is key to our strategic aims as a charity as it supports our core work, making sure that families stay together, providing holistic alternative care for children and young people who need it, and helping young people to integrate into society and build a better future for themselves. The partnership extends to France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland and Spain, but M&G has also contributed to our programmes in South Africa and Greece.
What have we achieved
Highlights
At M&G, we are committed to building inclusive and resilient communities across the world. We are proud to partner with SOS Children’s Villages in supporting young adults into education and employment through school attendance, adult learning, employment training and access to vocational and entrepreneurship support. We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on the employment prospects of so many families and believe it is more important than ever to help rebuild communities and provide opportunities to prepare for their future.
Volunteering in action:
In 2021, M&G employees gave almost 600 hours of their time mentoring young people in India, South Africa, and Italy, mostly through SOS Children’s Villages’ virtual mentoring programme, YouthLinks. YouthLinks digitally connects young people aged 16-25 in SOS Children’s Villages’ programmes with mentors from the corporate world. Over eight weeks, M&G volunteers met virtually with young people covering a range of employability topics including CV writing, job interviewing, resilience, and confidence-building. This has made an immense impact on the lives of all the participants—100% of mentors would recommend the experience to their colleagues, and 100% of young people agree that their mentors have been a source of constant motivation.
