We have spoken with people from our circle to make sure we share the same understanding of technology and its growing uses, especially with regard to social programs. From that listening we obtained the picture we expected: we have in our hands a source of great opportunities, as long as we keep the dangers in check.
Technology is an inseparable and unavoidable companion. Almost daily we need those technological skills for everyday tasks, but we have to think very seriously about digital health. Unavoidable questions arise about the appropriateness of feeding artificial intelligence. About the environmental impact of electronic devices or about children’s exposure to screens. Faced with countless red flags, we face great challenges, but undoubtedly the greatest is that it doesn’t become a new form of exclusion—no one can be left without opportunities.
This is the essence of our digital transformation projects, and Marina Fuentes, CEO of United Way España, is clear about it: “We want to use technology to better reach our unmistakable goal: to transform society in favor of those with fewer opportunities.” Also, Kilian Zaragozá, CEO and co-founder of Naria, one of the companies guiding the foundation in its digital transformation, says: “Technology can be a catalyst for transforming society: it breaks down barriers, expands reach, empowers and fosters a fairer, more equitable reality for everyone.”
With these firm and forceful words about the goals, it’s time to talk about the path to achieving them. The starting point is listening, but in another environment: the one we want to transform. “We’re grateful to United Way for being out there on the ground”, Carmen Espinosa, Director of Social Projects at Cellnex, told us recently at our regional gathering. “They connect us with people, with young people who need an opportunity,” said Eduardo Martínez de Ubago, Business Director at John Deere, at the same event. And they’re right, because another of the challenges in this (and almost every) area is having a good diagnosis, knowing firsthand people’s real needs. That information is then put at the service of companies, generating the first spark of synergy between the corporate world and social entities. Darío García, Associate Director of the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University, also spoke about this and about the importance of “involving different social groups in the design of technological things, and there social organizations play an important role.”
There is great authority in all of this, the voice of the tech companies that work with us, because they bring the most human element: their volunteers.
Carlos Palacios, Head of Social Action and Volunteering at Fundación Telefónica, is clear about it: “Digitalization has been an essential factor in corporate volunteering. The change has been brutal in the three most important areas: management—I press a button and I can find out countless things, for example how an action has gone; participation, opening new formulas, reaching more people and better impacts. And, lastly, intervention. I can have a volunteer in Galicia participating in Seville.”
Watch out, because Carlos even dares to say this: “Corporate volunteering has to change the paradigm to become volunteering that generates participation from our employees to build better societies.” Elena Rodríguez, ESG Manager at Lilly, also knows a lot about this: “The best data point is knowing how you’ve changed people’s lives, asking yourself how many young people who were thinking about leaving school didn’t do so because you had a conversation with them; that you’ve even met, even online, with students or people looking for work.”
María Jesús Jiménez, Global Head of Digital Banking at NTT DATA, has led the TECH FOR CHANGE project, another example of how to use technology to keep children at risk of social exclusion from dropping out of school. The project has been running for five consecutive years at a school, changing the lives of its participants. “Our numbers are amazing, we’ve brought back many who haven’t dropped out of their studies, we teach them to do projects, or to develop software, it’s an investment in their future.”
We end with another headline: “That spark that connects you with a company when they’re looking for work; corporate volunteering can be that connection”. Shall we light the spark of that energy?
There’s little to add if digital transformation is so central to the NextGenerationEU funds that, through the grant supporting the modernization of Third Sector entities from the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, have allowed us to accelerate our commitment to innovation, which we were already immersed in under the IMPACT TECH umbrella.
In that process, another one of our tech allies has been of enormous help, neoCK, a leading Fourth Sector company that has helped us implement new social technology tools, especially useful for volunteering. Virtual reality tools, for example, to diagnose, train and enhance capabilities while volunteers do their work in our projects.
Rocío Pérez, its Head of Employability and Social Inclusion, defines very well the relevance of using these tools: “Corporate volunteering has a great impact, not only on social improvement, but also on business success, corporate culture, training and business development… Yes, on business too. Organizations are systematic, and are integrated into society, another big system. When it happens, you don’t lose, you receive. When you move a piece of the system in a good direction, the rest of the pieces move too.”