In March 2020, the mandatory confinement measures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in many companies and services putting an end to face-to-face relations. Social distancing became the new norm. Schools were unable to bypass this rule and also closed their doors. This was when digital took on a whole new dimension and became a leading player in the battle being fought to defeat an unknown coronavirus. Consequently, distance learning entered the scene, which soon revealed the fact that many children and young people didn´t have their own computer with which to attend online classes. However, the need to continue to encourage them to continue their schooling was still very much there as a means of guaranteeing access to technology in order to reduce social inequalities.
More than 3200 pieces of equipment donated
Recondition and reuse to support learners. This was the motto under which the Galp Foundation launched its programme to allocate computers to students, striving to extend the useful life of computer equipment whose requirements no longer allowed it to be used for professional purposes.
Based on a logical framework of a circular economy and investment in education, Galp went ahead with the initiative to distribute desktops, laptops and monitors back in 2020. This equipment is evaluated internally and then reconditioned, ensuring all the quality requirements with regard to reuse are met.
The Galp Foundation programme has already ensured the delivery of more than 3200 pieces of equipment including desktops, laptops and monitors
More than 200 pieces of equipment were delivered to different beneficiaries in that first year of the initiative, including employees' children, social organisations, schools and others. This number exceeded 1100 in 2021 and 160 items were donated in the first quarter of this year.
Support at both home and abroad
The programme has already benefitted more than 20 school groups, including students accompanied by Galp mentors, homes in Matosinhos, the Portuguese Red Cross, Banco de Bens Doados and Apps for Good, the educational programme designed to bring students and teachers closer to the latest technologies.
At the international level, the programme managed to reach 14 refugee students from Mozambique (Cabo Delgado), who began studying at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in 2022, in addition to students in São Tomé and Principe in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation Helpo.
Within the scope of the partnership between the Galp Foundation and Student Keep, a solidarity platform created in the midst of the 2020 lockdown with the aim of collecting computer equipment to be donated to students at a later date, 300 monitors were offered to schools, most of which were located in the hinterlands and more remote areas of the country, which lack support due to being so far away from the main towns and cities.
