By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, June 19: Yayasan PETRONAS disbursed RM44.17 million in 2023 through various programmes and initiatives across three focus areas of community well-being, education and environment, benefitting 125,438 individuals across Malaysia.
Its chief executive officer Shariah Nelly Francis said the annual report this year reflected its commitment to empowering communities and enriching lives, as guided by the three focus areas.
“In an effort to deliver greater impact, we have also embedded the Theory of Change framework as a basis to assess our programmes across the three focus areas.
“We looked outside our existing contributions and collaborations which allowed us to identify areas where potential contributions may deliver even more significant impact,” she added in a media release today.
Since its inception, Yayasan PETRONAS has impacted over 400,000 people in Malaysia.
The report highlights the foundation’s strategic provision of grants, impactful partnerships, and commitment to building a sustainable future.
In education, Yayasan PETRONAS’ flagship programme, Program Duta Guru (PDG), focuses on enhancing the potential and skills of teachers within the STEM educational system. In 2023, 243 teachers graduated from PDG, bringing the total number to 496 since the programme began in 2019.
The impact was equally significant within Community Wellbeing and Development, as the foundation strives to create sustainable economic opportunities for underserved families in urban and rural areas through its upskilling and entrepreneurial trainings, where a total of 2,769 graduated from its flagship Memampankan Ekonomi Asas Rakyat (MEKAR) programme.
Spanning 47 districts nationwide, the foundation empowered 7,155 individuals from underserved communities through its grants, donations, and programmes.
Through its focus area, Yayasan PETRONAS hopes to bridge the gap and ensuring no one is left behind as the nation collectively progress.
Last year, Yayasan PETRONAS continued to work with communities across the nation in the effort to increase their resilience towards climate change impact through the planting of an additional 13,0638 trees, bringing the total number of trees planted to 74,652 trees.
This initiative earned the Foundation its first regional award with the Asean Green Initiative recognition in the Large-Scale Tree Planting Initiatives Category by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity.
Furthermore, under the Environment focus area, the Disaster Relief programme delivered 10,300 care packages to communities in high-risk zones, assisting over 40,000 families. — DayakDaily
