Marion Wambua, Senior Communication and CSR Executive at Airtel Networks Kenya, is a leading advocate for quality education. She has worked to design Airtel’s social responsibility strategies that address many of Kenya’s social and economic challenges.
Airtel is the second largest telecommunications company in Kenya and is an active participant in the UN Global Compact since August 2014. The company is innovating and diversifying to reach a wider segment of the market with portfolios that meet Kenyans needs, contribute to development, and balance network quality and reliability.
Marion has worked tirelessly to align Airtel’s corporate strategy with defined Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on good health and wellbeing (Goal 3), quality education (Goal 4), clean water and sanitation (Goal 6) and sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11) while leveraging on strategic partnerships to drive impact.
In delivering quality education in underserved communities, Marion is spearheading the Free Internet for Schools program, which has succeeded in connecting over 300 schools across 30 counties in Kenya. The program is providing access to information and educational resources to students thereby increasing opportunities for learning in and beyond the classroom. She is directly involved in vetting the schools to ensure they are suitable to participate in the program and provides follow up support to address any technical issues that may arise.
Marion also manages Project Ngulia, a partnership between Airtel and Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary located at Tsavo West National Park by offering tracking and monitoring services as well as providing water tanks to schools around the national park to address the challenges of human-wildlife conflict which have worsened over time due to water scarcity.
The two projects leverage on Airtel’s core strength in providing technological solutions to meet SDG challenges.
Marion has also been an avid advocate of the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact both within the company and externally with various partners- bringing them to awareness and sharing the good practices the company is embracing to advance SDGs.