Volunteering around the globe

“I wanted to contribute practically to the effect the pandemic had on the young,” explains Karin Danielsson, Contract Manager and Sustainability Manager. “As schools closed during the spring, the students’ access to support in order to achieve their assignments and meet requirements also reduced or even disappeared. I realized I could help with my knowledge and help those students achieve their goals.”

Karin, like so many Capgemini colleagues, has helped in the global struggle against the pandemic through volunteer work. Karin saw an opportunity in our partnership with the Red Cross to provide free homework support for secondary- and high-school students. Capgemini’s role in this initiative is to provide a Power BI solution that visualizes humanitarian needs in the helpline. The solution highlights the problems and challenges that children struggle with and helps to determine necessary actions and improve the services offered.

Karin is just one of many Capgemini employees using the power of connection and compassion to meet extraordinary circumstances with support and solutions, helping some of the most vulnerable communities in their time of need.

From Spain to Canada, employees are stepping up

All over the world, our employees are volunteering in order to do just that. In Spain, Capgemini employees are connecting to people who are socially isolated through two helplines. Estamos en Contacto via Adecco Foundation connects volunteers to people with disabilities through a mental health helpline to make their day-to-day life a little better as they face physical and emotional challenges. Capgemini provides financial support and volunteering support to the NGOs to make sure that our colleagues are equipped and ready to interact with beneficiaries by training and coaching them. Another service in Spain, Illumina Una Vida, connects volunteers with the elderly to combat loneliness.

Alvaro Felici Llacer, a volunteer for Estamos Contacto, explains his volunteer work, “It has been a very enriching experience. I have been making periodic calls to a person with a disability to check in how their day was going and if they need any additional help. I’m proud to work in a company that supports and motivates volunteer work.”

Volunteers in France are answering the call

A freephone service in France has received help from a team of 150 members from Samu Social International who are volunteering to respond to calls. Capgemini helped create SOS Confinement to listen and help those who are struggling with social isolation, feelings of exclusion, anxiety, or loneliness during the lockdown period. The helpline is based on Salesforce technology and Capgemini’s Odigo contact center platform, with a capacity of 2,500 calls per day.

Also in France, our partnership with Fondation des Femmes is helping at-risk communities find a safe location to shelter in place. Women who are facing abusive spouses during confinement will gain access to emergency overnight stays at hotels as well as food vouchers. The initiative is also providing the tools needed to keep helplines functioning.

In India, thousands are receiving help

In India, Capgemini volunteers are working with Parisar Asha, an organization that delivers meals and facilitates public health sessions on social media for children and parents to learn as well as an online chat service helpline. Thanks to these volunteers, 652,000 meals have been served and nearly one million people have been reached thus far.

North American volunteers are fighting hunger

In the United States and Canada, Capgemini employees are driving donations to Feeding America, with a goal of $10,000 in order to provide 100,000 meals to people facing hunger during this time.

The work must go on

As Karin, Alvaro and many others have realized that offering our most precious resources of time, and expertise can make a real impact on communities around the globe. And while it may seem that the scale of the work is overwhelming, so too is the compassion of Capgemini employees and their determination to make better futures for.