The Local Development Institute “FAS” won on Thursday night, in Luanda, the Social Responsibility Award category of the 9th Sirius Awards, an event that recognizes and distinguishes companies, projects and individual personalities that excell in some fields during a year in Angola.
FAS, formerly known as the Social Support Fund, won the prize from a total of six companies, for presenting the Social Protection Strengthening Programme known as ‘Kwenda”.
Kwenda has registered more than one million vulnerable households, 700,000 of whom have already benefited from monetary transfers, as disclosed by the director general of this institute, Belarmino Jelembi.
Announcing the winner of the category during the awards gala, the First Lady of the Republic and president of the Sirius Awards jury, Ana Dias Lourenço, highlighted the geographic scope, effectiveness and credibility, as well as the commitment, budget and value addition of this programme as the main criteria that contributed to attribution of this prize to FAS.
The First Lady underlined that the analysis of the numerous applications received was particularly challenging for the jury, taking into account the high quality of the projects presented by the competitors.
According to Ana Dias Lourenço, the Social Responsibility Award was one of the most prominent categories in this edition, as it registered a greater number of competitors, with a wide range of companies operating in the most varied areas of Angolan society.
Ana Lourenço considered the list of nominees for the award as a demonstration that companies/organizations are on the right track for the preservation and development of local communities.
“Currently, social responsibility must be part of the list of strategic objectives of organizations, accepting a commitment to the values of protecting society, with the aim of repaying, in a fair way, what communities offer”, the First Lady clarified.
The category recognizes companies that run, essentially, programmes aimed at education, health, the fight against hunger and poverty, contributing to the reduction of regional asymmetries to aid the country’s development.
FAS general director, Belarmino Jelembi, on his turn, said the award received is a recognition that increasingly motivates the organization to continue working hard, with a view to achieving the set goals.
Several other companies were awarded honourable mentions, such as the commercial bank BFA, Carrinho business group (with the school food delivery programme), Sociedade Mineira de Catoca, Sonangol and Unitel (e-Health mobile health programme), who were honored with the attribution of honourable mentions.
The 9th edition of the Sirius Awards recorded a total of 34 competitors, including companies/projects, managers and entrepreneurs, distributed in eight categories.
Held under the motto ‘Distinguishing excellence, promoting the future’, the Sirius Awards was launched almost five years ago, however temporarily halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Deloitte CEO, José Barata, the initiative has resurfaced with reinforced ambition, maintaining the purpose of distinguishing and rewarding the main organisations, personalities and projects carried out during a year in Angola.
Under Deloitte promotion, the last edition (8th) of the Sirius Awards was held in November 2018, with the participation of 55 competitors (companies, managers and entrepreneurs) that competed for ten categories that were part of the event at that time.
Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)