STEAG State Power Inc. (SPI) goes far beyond providing efficient and reliable electric power to Mindanao.
Besides sustainable business operations and adhering to the ethical standards of safety, environment, and good corporate governance, SPI actively contributes to the achievement of sustainable development goals by undertaking social development programs aimed at helping address a wide array of local community concerns.
For over 13 years SPI has shared its time, resources and expertise in helping secure more prosperous and developed communities.
SPI helped foster greater community collaboration by partnering with various development institutions.
SPI’s commitment to helping bring about the development of its host communities is expressed through its various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, focusing on Improving Education through the Social Empowerment through Education (SEEd) Program; Improving Income through the Livelihood and Economic Enterprise Development (LEED) Program; Improving Health through its Water, Sanitation, and Health (WaSH) Program; Improving Governance through the Enhancing Governance in Local Development (EGoLD) Program; Improving Access to Electricity through the Fostering Rural Electrification and Energizations (FREE) Program; Improving Quality of the Environment through the Environmental Conservation (ECo) Program; and Inspiring people to excel through a continuing Information, Education and Communications (IEC) Program.
SPI works with various government and non-government organizations to help address the priority development needs of its communities. The company is grateful for being part of these development endeavors.
Environmental Conservation (ECo) Program
SPI, together with its partners in the private and public sectors, is undertaking a comprehensive environmental conservation program. For more than a decade now, it has sustained the efforts through its flagship projects including the 1,200-hectare Mapawa Carbon Sink Project; 1,000-hectare Urban Forestry Project, and 16.4–hectare Mangrove Development and Rehabilitation Project.
In 2019, over 90,000 seedlings were propagated and distributed in various villages in Misamis Oriental.
Since the program launch more than a decade ago, over 490,000 trees have been grown. SPI’s target is to bring 1.2 million trees back to the forest by 2031.
Water, Sanitation, and Health (WaSH) Program
Some 3.4 million children in the Philippines have been found to be stunted, with over 300,000 underweight. Stunting can impair physical and mental development and is irreversible after the age of two.
SPI helps local efforts in addressing these problems by improving the capacity of domestic nutrition workers in child stunting and malnutrition monitoring.
In 2019, SPI equipped five municipalities with salter scales to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of community-based assessments of the affected children’s nutritional status.
In addition, some 110 parents attended the SPI-led Seminar on Responsible Parenting, Maternal Child Care and Nutrition conducted in partnership with local health workers.
Enhancing Governance in Local Development (EGoLD)
SPI is helping build and strengthen the local government and organized groups’ capabilities in community development, environmental conservation, and disaster-preparedness efforts.
Program milestones in 2019 includes 70 local emergency responders trained in fire prevention, firefighting, and rescue; 450 public utility vehicle drivers trained on defensive driving and basic electrical safety; 55 barangay leaders from eleven barangays trained on community development planning; 200 community-leaders in five barangays trained on Solid Waste Management.
Information, Education and Communications (IEC) Program
SPI has been recognized by the community as one of its partners in acquiring valuable knowledge, understanding, and inspiration in a wide array of topics and learning discussions on energy, social responsibility, and environmental conservation.
Moreover, SPI has now become one of the most preferred learning destinations for institutional benchmarking in Mindanao. Over 1,000 people have attended SPI’s Community Learning Sessions to learn about the company’s operational, social, and environmental practices.
For the last 14 years, SPI has been conducting the annual Steag Energy Quiz to encourage young people to excel in science and energy. In 2019, 26 junior high schools in the region joined this much-anticipated competition. Similarly, SPI has also organized the 15th Mapawa Environmental Youth Campattended by some 50 youth representatives from the local communities.
Social Empowerment through Education (SEED)
SPI believes in the power of education to transform lives. For over a decade now, SPI has been working with various community stakeholders in helping improve the quality of public education to provide young Filipinos with the opportunities realize their potentials.
SPI’s continuing advocacy for accessible quality education covers not only granting scholarships and direct assistance to students but also the overall improvement in the quality of learning by implementing programs and projects that benefit public schools and educators.
Together with its partners in the government and non-government sectors, SPI continues to plant and nurture the “seeds” of quality education by investing material, financial and technical support in a wide array of projects and activities designed to help improve access to quality education.
Among its beneficiaries are 286 Steag power scholars, 65 recipient of Project Aklat (school supplies for indigent children,) 215 out-of-school youths assisted through the Alternative Learning System (ALS); 65 public schools teachers trained on public service excellence; and 15 public schools assisted for various school improvements.
Aside from these community-based projects, SPI has also offered its workplace as a venue for the continuous learning and skills improvement of young Filipino engineers through its Cadet Engineering Training (CET). As of 2019, 126 Cadet Engineers have been trained, with 100% employment, 24 of who now work with SPI.
Livelihood and Economic Enterprise Development (LEED)
SPI has helped organized local women sustain their livelihood through the SPI-assisted Villa Kusina Multi-Purpose Cooperative and the San Roque Multi-Purpose Cooperative.
San Roque Multi-Purpose Cooperative expanded customer market base from only 5 groups in 2014 to 16 groups until 2019 ; Attained over P1-million gross sales; created 35 jobs and had their products cited and promoted in national and international markets and exhibitions.
Similarly, VK Multi-Purpose Cooperative attained over P10-million gross and combined sales (upcycling projects and manpower for power plant ancillary services; created 80 new jobs and had their products cited and promoted in national and international markets and exhibitions
Fostering Rural Electrification and Energization (FREE) Program
Around 2.8 million households are still without electric power, with over half from Mindanao. Without electricity, communities become literally and figuratively powerless, thus isolating them from the benefits of mainstream socioeconomic development.
SPI contributes to the solution of this problem through its FREE program. It works closely with the power utility companies and the country’s Department of Energy in bringing about development in the rural areas. SPI believes that provision of services will yield more opportunities for improved quality of life, greater access to essential services and better infrastructure for rural development.
As of 2019, the FREE program achieved a 100% village-level energization of its host communities in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental. More villages are up for energization in the coming years as SPI lines-up more electrification projects in the nearby towns.
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