Social InvestmentsMore detailed information is available in the MTS Group Sustainability Report for 2019.
MTS actively interacts with federal and regional government bodies and local communities under socially significant projects. We develop quality services, provide support to socially vulnerable sections of the population, and take measures to conserve valuable cultural sites in the regions, protect the environment and provide environmental education, provide many education and development opportunities for the inhabitants, and more. During 2019, a large number of partnership projects were implemented across the country with the participation of volunteer employees of MTS, which became especially important in the Year of the Volunteer.
Work with Local Communities
Since the end of 2016, MTS has been implementing a comprehensive program of social investments in the field of supporting local communities. In this regard, we interact with independent groups of people who, not being charitable foundations, try to solve social problems that are important for their local environment by uniting in communities of interest. A characteristic feature of such local groups is the social significance of their activities.
In 2019, MTS implemented 480 projects to help local communities across the country: we collected the necessary things for people in flood zones; helped large and low-income families send children to school; equipped sports grounds and bike paths; restored old houses; provided search teams with equipment necessary for their work; helped with equipping the sensory rooms and more.
A significant part of community activities is carried out with the participation of MTS volunteers – our employees participate in community work days, plant trees, modify buildings, and collect things for the homeless. Such social projects go beyond intra-corporate ones and become an important part of the Company’s dialogue with local communities.
MTS has a large volunteer movement which, according to data from 2019, is made up of more than 7,500 employees from various regions of Russia, and its online projects involve over 10 million people.
MTS volunteers take part in ecological events, cultural and educational events, donor programs, and they help organize the company’s large socially significant events for external audiences including veterans, children from social institutions and people with disabilities.
MTS’ MOST SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL PROJECTS IN 2019
Generation M
In 2014, MTS implemented its flagship social project, “Generation M”, the goal of which is to provide equal opportunities for creative education and development to children from all over the country, regardless of where they live or their family’s means. On the project’s online platforms – the website pokolenie.mts.ru, the group on VKontakte, the Instagram page and on TikTok – children from across the country can develop themselves by taking part in competitions, online workshops and interactive activities with Russian starson many different themes.
Today, the Generation M project is implemented with the help of more than two hundred partners in various areas of activity. These are primarily creative organizations which run the project’s competitions and offer unique opportunities to the winner – the Tretyakov Gallery, GITIS, Yeralash, Smeshariki, TikTok, Ekol producer center, the publishing house ACT and many more. The project is actively supported by the authorities, with whom more than ten agreements have been signed on the development of the socio-cultural environments of the regions, as well as large businesses, the mass media and non-profit organizations.
Awards and achievements of the Generation M project in 2019
Cultural Code
The “Cultural Code” project aims to preserve and support a territory’s unique cultural values and initiatives: development of creative technologies, conservation of cultural monuments, support for artisanal schools and unique craftspeople, enterprising local societies and movements and independent regional events, exhibitions and art installations.
By the end of 2019, the project covered 40 regions. Events were held under the slogan “People working for people” – volunteers single-handedly restored the historical garden of the Tsvetayev family in Tarusa, collected recipes for the national cuisine of the Evenki people in Khabarovsk Krai, restored the Michurin summerhouse in Tambov Oblast, helped to organize a an exhibition of works by children on the autism spectrum in Rostov-on-Don, supported unique Argun carving craftspeople in Vladimir Oblast, provided the Solikamsk Regional Natural History Museum with modern multimedia services, sent equipment for online streaming to the world’s only museum of ancient music named after Povetkin in Veliky Novgorod and trained their staff how to use it, and much more.
In 2019, the project came first in the “Working with Communities” nomination of the “Champions of Good Deeds” awards at the All-Russian Forum of Corporate Volunteering.
Memory of Victory
The purpose of the volunteer movement “Memory of Victory” is to preserve and help the reconstruction of regional monuments to the Second World War and memorials to local heroes who fell while fighting for their homeland, which have a special significance for the local population. Under the project, the areas around monuments are tidied, painted and plastered, trees are planted, flowers are laid, and ceremonial events are organized with the involvement of the local inhabitants. In 2019 the Memory of Victory project involved more than 1,500 people from 30 regions of Russia: from Kaliningrad to the Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous okrug.
Urban Legends
Under the “Urban Legends” project, MTS gets people involved in the creation of modern products in the field of tourism – city audio-guides with a focus on lesser-known places which perfectly reveal the spirit and uniqueness of the regions. The city audio-guides are designed to let people learn about points of interest on their own with the help of voice-guided tours, available on the world’s largest specialized platform for audio-guides, izi.TRAVEL and on the specialized mobile travel app “Surprise Me”. To begin a tour, all you need to do is download the free app on a smartphone and follow the guide’s suggestions. Audio-guides can even be used without an internet connection and at any time.
In 2019, the project was implemented in 15 regions of Russia. The ceremonial presentations involved representatives of municipal administrations, journalists, urban activists and local history experts.
MTS/Media Educational Project
MTS/Media is a unique media platform which contains educational and helpful content, available on the websites media.mts.ru and mts.ru, the My MTS app (stories format), and in a blog on Yandex.Zen. The goal of the MTS/Media publication is to explain difficult technological topics using simple language. Building the materials into direct client channels (SMS, email marketing, welcome programs and others) allows us to promote MTS products and services, and improve MTS’ image as a digital company which offers a whole range of innovative services the mass and business markets.
In 2019, more than 2,000 publications were released in various VKontakte groups with MTS/Media materials about the company’s digital products – lifestyle apps, media products, B2B services. The total coverage was over 100 million people. More than 1,200 publications dedicated to CSR content based on MTS/Media were released. They explained how to pay taxes, what social payments are available to Russians, what to do if your social media account is hacked, how to protect yourself from fraud and more.
Social Idea 2019
Searching, collecting and supporting social projects based on digital technologies which bring about positive changes in society, including MTS’ regions of operation: Social Idea won the TIME OF INNOVATIONS prize in the “Social Innovation of the Year” nomination and “Best Project for Popularizing Innovative Activities” in the “TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES” category.
Project “MTS – a Company for Everyone”
“MTS – a Company for Everyone” targets the 40+ audience. Its goals are to seek, train and retrain older candidates for future work with subscribers and clients of various ages and to simplify the search for jobs in the mass segment.
The results of 2019:
Career Path
Career Path is a competition for people with limited capabilities. Its goal is the professional involvement and employment of driven and talented specialists with disabilities in leading Russian and international companies.
Theater for Everyone
“Theater for Everyone” was the winner of an MTS competition in the “Best Federal Inclusive Project 2019” nomination and is geared towards children with hearing difficulties. The project’s goal is to create equal opportunities for all audiences. “MTS Mobile Fairytale Theater” puppet shows with sign interpretation in Russian sign language were watched by more than 2,600 viewers from 20 of MTS’ cities of operation with the involvement of 380 company volunteers.
World of Knowledge with MTS
A federal project and the winner of MTS’ competition in the “Best Educational Project 2019” nomination. Its goal is to make scientific knowledge more accessible and popular among children from social institutions. The project consists of three units: workshops, an internet safety lesson and a journey into virtual reality called “Virtual Planetarium”.
Become a star of financial literacy together with MTS Bank
Become a star of financial literacy together with MTS Bank – a federal educational project, the aim of which is to provide education in financial literacy to older students and children from social institutions.
Results of 2019
A number of programs and events implemented by MTS are aimed at creating a barrier-free environment and supporting people with disabilities:
- Conducting an audit of the accessibility of MTS and RTK offices in Moscow and the adjacent territory for people with limited mobility, including people with disabilities.
- Support for a training program for deaf and hard of hearing guides-translators and guides for working in Russian sign language in museum spaces of the Russian regions.
- Support for activities to create an accessible educational environment for children and young people with disabilities in the framework of the international program “Notebook of Friendship”: 8,300 children, teachers and parents, 23 participating regions and 3 foreign countries.
- “Theater for All” is the best federal inclusive project aimed at children with hearing impairment, whose task is to create equal opportunities for all audiences: 20 participating cities, 2600 spectators, 380 volunteers.