The flagship social initiatives of Sistema and MTS are among UN SDG Good Practices

Since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were adopted in 2015, many governments as well as international, regional and national organisations, both commercials and NGO, have carried out numerous successful projects for sustainability and presented an array of inspiring cases to replicate and scale up all over the world. Having set out to create an SDG Good Practices database, a committee of UN experts studied submissions made over 2020 – early 2021 and picked 400 best cases from around the globe.

‘Lift to the Future’ programme targets four UN sustainable development goals: Quality Education (4), Decent Work & Economic Growth (8), Gender Equality (5), Reduced Inequalities (10).

The programme addresses several pressing problems of the Russian education system and labour market, such as a lack of understanding of available career options and employer needs among Russian high schoolers and undergraduates and first employment difficulties typically facing young graduates. The project's EdTech platform provides vocational guidance and helps users form an idea about their future professional tracks and develop soft and flexible skills employers value, offers an array of traineeship projects across the many companies of Sistema Group, and affords employment opportunities.

All learning programmes are free of charge and accessible to all users, whatever their geography, age, or gender. The learning materials draw on best national and international corporate governance practices, enabling young graduates to obtain employment in their respective specialisations and get off to a good career start. Helping young talents find employment is conductive to a steady economic growth.

A strong advertising campaign with focus on new professions attracted a lot of female users, who now make up 64% of the platform's audience. The project is also mostly led and managed by women.

Developing human capital and helping young talents in finding employment is a long-standing priority in social and community programmes pursued by Sistema PJSFC. In March of 2021, Sistema Charitable Foundation obtained the status of a partner to Russia's national projects in recognition of its vast contribution to national Education initiatives. The status was awarded by the nonprofit National Priorities of Russia upon scrutiny of Sistema's corporate practices entered into the library of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. SCF is among Russia's first corporate charities to have gained official recognition from the government for their social efforts.

MTS’s ‘Generation M’ initiative was launched in 2015 and aims to nurture childhood talent in the creative arts under the guidance of leading Russian cultural figures. Supported by the Russian Ministry of Culture, the program provides children opportunities to produce and display positive creative content in both online and offline formats, including at universities and art galleries.

To date, over 30 million children from across Russia have participated in the project’s online courses and master classes, and the program has organized more than 2,000 offline events reaching more than 3 million people. In addition, the project has assisted in raising and donating funds to provide critical medical treatment for more than 250 seriously ill children.

The initiative has been added to the UN’s global database of SDG Good Practices, which showcases public and private initiatives that are advancing one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The MTS entry in particular highlights the project’s contribution to five separate goals: Good Health and Well-being (3), Quality Education (4), Reduced Inequalities (10), Sustainable Cities & Communities (11), and Partnerships for Sustainable Development (17).