Language Bridges, One of Vodafone Qatar’s Programmes

 "Language Bridges", one of Vodafone Qatar's "World of Difference" initiatives, which provides free Basic English language classes to Nepalese workers, has started to make a world of difference in the lives of many.

Over the course of 20 weeks with 2 hour sessions a week, the programme is designed to teach functional English that will enable the workers to communicate on their construction site, in case of an emergency, at the exchange counter when sending money back home and other everyday basic communication.

The teachers involved in this programme are all volunteers, made up of 15 young Nepalese, supported by a professional native English mentor.

Language Bridges is aiming to provide these free classes to five hundred Nepalese workers in Qatar in the next twelve months. There are over 300,000 Nepalese workers in the country, 70% of them poorly skilled and employed in the construction industry. The language barrier triggers daily communication issues, decreases self-confidence and hinders the opportunity to socialize.

There are 50 students currently involved in the pilot programme and another 40 will begin in the next couple of weeks. Seeing the great benefits of the programme, Aject Microtunnelling and Techno Q were the first companies to encourage their students to actively take part in the programme.

"The Nepalese community has showed great appreciation and support for this programme and we are thrilled to know that giving these workers basic communication skills in English will mak a world of difference for them," said Margherita Trestini, Language Bridges' Project Manager.

"We are particularly grateful for the backing received from Mr Abdulla Alansari, Techno Q's Managing Director and Mr Luigi Ottavio Stefanelli, Aject Microtunnelling's General Manager who quickly agreed to involve their employees in the programme; seeing it as a positive opportunity for their staff and organisation. The real challenge now is to involve the major construction companies in Qatar so we can start engaging the thousands of their Nepalese employees," continued Margherita Trestini

"'World of Difference' is about enabling passionate people to complete a project that will make a sustained difference to the lives of others. We are proud to see that through Language Bridges we have already started to make a world of difference in the lives of many in the Nepalese community," Said Luisa Gentile, Vodafone Qatar's Head of Corporate Social Responsibility

The progress of the initiative is reported online at http://languagebridges.wordpress.com/ and the programme's Facebook page invites volunteers, fans and students to post their comments.

The community can support this programme and make it a success by giving funds for training the teachers, providing an equipped training space for the students and donating educational materials.

 

 

About "World of Difference"

World of Difference is a flagship programme part of "Better World" ; Vodafone Qatar's Corporate Social Responsibility scheme.

The ‘World of Difference' is a unique flagship project for several Vodafone companies across the world.  While many people dream of ‘making difference', constraints of time and money often curb the extent to which that dream can become a reality.

The programme is about connecting passionate people to a local need, so they can complete a project that will make a sustained difference to the lives of others. In fact, it does  enable individuals to work for a charity cause and be paid.
Launched in 2002, by the end of 2010, 700 people will have taken - or be taking - part all over the world number of Vodafone operating companies around the world.
To date, more than 100 projects have been completed, which have positively impacted the lives of thousands of people around the world.