Child Focus has been partnering with technology companies to raise awareness among fifth and sixth-year students about the safe and responsible use of the Internet. In March 2022, the Internet Safe & Fun campaign mobilised 118 volunteers, reaching more than 15.000 pupils. 

Surfing the net offers many possibilities, but at the same time can be a difficult exercise in which our young people must be supervised. It is therefore essential to prepare young people and children for the enriching and creative use of digital means, but also its safe and responsible use.

In March 2023, 19 Sopra Steria Benelux and Sopra Banking Benelux employees, on a voluntary basis, received training by Child Focus and contributed to raise awareness via this campaign. Either by attending schools they have a special connection with or being partnered with one, our volunteers contribute to the social and digital inclusion of our youth. We believe that by raising awareness around the use of the internet we can have a long-lasting impact in our communities. 

Handicap International works alongside people with disabilities and populations experiencing situations of extreme hardship. They take action and bear witness in order to respond to essential needs, improve living conditions and promote respect for dignity and fundamental rights. 

FACT: only 5 to 15% of disabled people in development countries has access to rehabilitation.

Each year, Sopra Steria employees can carry the Handicap International flag and run or walk the 20km of Brussels. Through this sporty commitment, we will enable Handicap International to provide crutches, physiotherapy, prostheses and wheelchairs for people with a disability.

In 2022, 25 Sopra Steria Benelux and Sopra Banking Benelux employees participated to run or walk the 20 km.

India is an Integral part of our global business strategy, with delivery centers based in Noida, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. Sopra Steria in India offers a full spectrum of services and solutions to help our customers reach new levels in their development and competitiveness. While India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is also one of the most unequal and poorest countries in the world.

Sopra Steria has been committed for over 10 years with an education programme in India aimed at combating poverty and reducing inequality. This programme is aimed at children from poor rural areas, in particular girls, who can benefit from public sector schools located close to the company’s sites. Over 70,000 children and young people, in 60 schools from primary to secondary level, benefit from the programme and are supported in their schooling by hundreds of Sopra Steria volunteers.

To facilitate access to higher education for young children, Sopra Steria has developed a major scholarship programme to provide financial assistance to bright young children from Sopra Steria supported schools to pursue a college/university education. These students come from extremely challenged backgrounds and who otherwise would be left with no option but to drop out after they complete their schooling.

Sopra Steria Benelux is currently sponsoring eleven Scholars, eight of them are young girls, in their road for a better and brighter future. We value and understand the opportunities that come out of having an education. For that reason, we are confident that the India Scholarship Program will open doors for children that otherwise would have been impossible to reach.

The International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (IYMF) is an international non-profit association established by royal decree in Brussels by Yehudi Menuhin in 1991.

The mission of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation is to remind political, cultural and educational institutions of the central role of art and creativity in any personal and societal development process.

The purpose is to actively contribute to intercultural dialogue and societal integration at both national and international levels through the creative arts, by:

• enabling co-creation and exchange of emerging and established musicians and artists, including minorities;
• promoting and implementing the use of the creative arts to educate children of all backgrounds. 

Sopra Steria Benelux has been an active sponsor of the Menuhin Foundation since 2015. We are convinced that engaging through music, allows children to express and develop in a richer environment. For that reason, we stand behind the IYMF and their mission, hopefully for years to come.

23 Sopra Steria and Sopra Banking teams participated and gave their absolute best. The proceeds of this tournament went to Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen and Caritas Luxembourg, good causes that work with/for refugees. 

Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen works to ensure that everyone can feel at home in Belgium.

Project “Startpunt”

This is a team of volunteers standing at the registration point:

• We give basic information about asylum procedure in different languages;
• We monitor in terms of the number of applications and the situation: this is how we stay best informed about what is going well and what is not going well.
  

Support Volunteers & campaigning

We support volunteers and their projects in Brussels and Flanders, by

• Creating a network;
• Bringing them together;
• Coaching them;
• Communicating about real stories with a positive tone to have an impact on social debate.
  

We influence policy

• We watch over the rights of people on the move;
• We are a discussion partner for governments, cabinets and political parties;
• We develop lobby work, for example around reception crises and Afghanistan;

​​​​​​​Caritas Luxembourg provides psycho-social support to about 20 refugee homes.

The teams at the centres consist of social workers and educators, who are assisted by mobile professionals (psychologists, interpreters, etc.). Each person undergoes a social evaluation and is offered training opportunities, intercultural meetings, empowering activities or involvement in other projects, depending on their individual needs, interests and possibilities. In fact, their integration begins at the centre, before they have even obtained refugee status, and every effort is made to ensure that they acquire the knowledge that will allow them to become more independent and start integrating into Luxembourg society.

Some of the shelters are exclusively for people who have fled the war in Ukraine and are granted temporary protection.

Regardless of being highly educated, immigrant job seekers can still have difficulties finding good employment opportunities just by lack of knowledge of our Belgian job market and culture. RiseSmart, part of the Randstad Group, offers free job coaching trajectories to these unemployed highly skilled people.

Sopra Steria Benelux employees can volunteer by assisting, coaching and guiding an unexperienced job seeker as a mentor. The purpose is to make the appointed mentee familiar with our job market and work culture, professional codes and sectors during a coaching period of 6 months.