For over 175 years, Prudential has been committed to making a positive societal impact within the various markets in which it operates.
Today, that positive impact is driven by the passion and hard work of volunteers on the ground – employees and agents alike – as well as Prudential leaders delivering and advocating for life-changing programmes in vulnerable communities.
Kasuba Sikamo is one example of these inspirational individuals, using her role for good to deliver real change with infectious enthusiasm and drive.
Driving meaningful impact on the ground in Zambia
Kasuba leads marketing communications and community investment initiatives for Prudential Life Assurance Zambia. Community investment in Zambia is focused on two main areas: supporting locally-funded initiatives and partnering with the Prudence Foundation – the community investment arm of Prudential – to deliver localised versions of regional programmes.
Prudential’s community investment initiatives are driven by a brilliant mix of internal volunteers across its employees and agents. For Kasuba, it’s the human connection that sits at the heart of her passion of working with local communities.
“Everyone’s really fired up about helping the communities. You start to uncover people’s stories and see how your intervention impacts their lives. That’s what really drives me.”
The team’s influence and community spirit has also garnered public recognition. In late 2022, the Zambia pensions and insurance authority recognised the achievements with an award for outstanding CSR initiatives in the insurance industry.
Shining the spotlight on Prudence Foundation initiatives
In collaboration with the Prudence Foundation, Kasuba leads the delivery of two exciting programmes: Safe Steps Road Safety (SSRS) and Cha-Ching.
SSRS is a regional programme delivered locally in Zambia that focuses on education and interventions around road safety. Cha-Ching is a financial literacy programme providing children with early foundations around basic money management, delivered in-person and through engaging digital media.
Both programmes run across all ten Zambian provinces, expanding in recent years to the communities with the greatest need. “Last year we made a deliberate move to target communities outside Lusaka (Zambia’s capital), which helped us find communities that really need the programmes,” Kasuba says.
When it comes to Safe Steps, Kasuba champions the collaboration with key strategic partnerships (such as with the Road Transport and Safety Agency, International Road Assessment Programme and Zambia Red Cross among others) to deliver a truly exceptional long-term campaign educating communities about road safety. The credibility, expertise, and reach of these partners are crucial factors in the effective delivery of life-saving impacts.
“Our partners are so important for delivery. We work closely with the Road Transport and Safety Agency. They deliver a yearly report highlighting road traffic accidents and deaths, high risk periods and hotspots. This helps us collaborate to identify key areas that need attention,” says Kasuba.
The Safe Steps campaign engages both vehicle drivers and pedestrians. Among the more rural areas, less cars on the road can mean more dangerous situations due to less public experience with motor vehicles. And with a limited emergency response network in Zambia, the efforts of the Safe Steps campaign can be a matter of life and death, which is where partnerships come to the fore again. “The Red Cross Society helps deliver first aid training in these rural communities, trying to mitigate the impact of road traffic accidents and deaths,” clarifies Kasuba.
“With our different campaigns across media platforms, we reach about five million Zambians every year,” she adds. New pedestrian crossings are positively impacting over 15,000 Zambian schoolchildren* and Zambian taxi drivers proudly wear Safe Steps-branded t-shirts following a driver education series as part of the programme. The positive impact of the programme is undoubtable, as is Kasuba’s pride in it.
Localising Safe Steps in Vietnam
The emphasis on long-term programmes such as Safe Steps and Cha-Ching impacts all markets, and especially permeates the communities in Vietnam just as it does in Zambia.
The Safe Steps Kids Road Safety (SSKRS) programme derives from Prudence Foundation’s overall strategy to focus on children as the next generation to make real change. Through a mix of teacher training, and education and learning materials, SSKRS is positively impacting children in Vietnam, collaborating with local authorities at various levels. Targeted provinces understand the importance of the programme and have invested government-funded budgets to develop the SSKRS model at high-risk local schools.
Once again, this reinforces that collaboration with partners who share Prudential’s integrity and values is key to the delivery of these programmes. “These initiatives can only be built with the expertise, strong commitment and integration of Prudential and our partners,” explains Phuong Tien Minh, CEO of Prudential Vietnam.
The future for Safe Steps in Vietnam is bright. The programme continues to grow, extending its scope from individual schools to inter-provincials and beyond. “Coupled with increasing communication campaigns to support this and other initiatives, there is a real opportunity to amplify the impact to the mass public,” adds Minh.
Fostering a culture of volunteering at Prudential
Kasuba and Minh undertake different roles in their respective markets, but their dedication to leading from the front and on the ground is clear. They exemplify a volunteering culture that can be attributed to Prudential employees and agents across its markets.
“I like to live by example. I show the employees my actions, participating in as many community investment activities on the ground as possible, spreading good values across the country” explains Minh.
Kasuba says, “If I could see the children’s faces light up every time they saw the (Cha-Ching) videos for the first time, I would!” following a Cha-Ching children’s camp delivered last year.
With an iconic brand of 175 years, Prudential’s community investment and volunteering programmes are creating change for local communities across its many markets and will continue to make a positive impact in years to come.
Find out more about how Prudential is delivering these programmes here.
*Data collected by the Road Transport and Safety Agency