Tokyo, Japan —Save the Children Japan (“Save the Children”) and Sony Corporation (“Sony”) jointly announced today that they have entered into an agreement to launch a new partnership on April 1, 2021 to further strengthen their ongoing collaboration since 2010.

Under the new partnership, the two organizations will work to make ongoing contributions to reliability and safety for children in communities and schools by jointly promoting the development of resilient communities against disasters both in and outside of Japan. To support this goal, Sony will donate a total of 45 million yen to Save the Children over a period of three years lasting through 2023.

It has been ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, and extreme disasters are occurring more frequently around the globe. In this context, it is more important than ever to create frameworks that not only provide for conventional emergency response and reconstruction support, but also improve preparedness for disasters before they occur.

Save the Children and Sony will tackle this challenge head-on by jointly promoting the development of resilient communities by strengthening disaster preparedness in local communities and schools, thereby helping to provide reliability and safety for children. As part of this initiative, the two organizations will enhance Safe Schools program. This program, carried out by Save the Children in over 40 countries, is an all-inclusive, all hazards approach to keep children safe in and around schools.

More specifically, the two organizations plan to support a school safety program in India. This program provides disaster preparedness educational programs at elementary and junior high schools to help students and teachers enhance their disaster responsiveness and also establish task forces to strengthen the safety management mechanisms at schools and create safe learning environments for students. The project will also aim to strengthen partnership and collaboration with relevant stakeholders including the government and local communities. Based on knowledge gained from these initiatives, Save the Children and Sony aim to provide insights on further improving and strengthening the global scheme of Safe Schools program and also aim to support implementing the projects in other countries.

In addition to helping to fund these initiatives, Sony is also considering dispatching employees to local sites, as part of an effort to make the most of Sony technology and personnel to help resolve social issues. Another goal of sending employees to local sites is to foster their awareness of sustainability issues.

In addition to the work through the Safe Schools program, Save the Children and Sony are planning medium to long-term collaborative efforts in a wide variety of areas, starting with initiatives related to developing resilient communities and protecting children.

In 2011, Save the Children and Sony jointly launched the RESTART JAPAN Support Project*1 as a way to support rebuilding after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Then, in 2016, after the Kumamoto earthquake, the two organizations launched the Emergency Disaster and Recovery Fund for Children*2. In both cases, Sony and Save the Children sought to actively support children, who will grow up to shape the future of the world.

Sony has supported children for many years under the slogan “For the Next Generation,” and Save the Children’s vision is to make children’s rights to survival, development, protection and participation a reality worldwide. They hope to further strengthen their collaboration through this partnership by working together to build a world where every child can be safe and enjoy peace of mind.

*1: The RESTART JAPAN support project, which ran from 2011 to 2016, conducted various programs helping protect and care for children in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, with a focus on education and creative activities. See the following link for further details: https://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/csr/ForTheNextGeneration/restart/

*2: The Emergency Disaster and Recovery Fund for Children has contributed nearly 100 million yen for disaster relief around the world starting in 2016, distributing relief supplies and conducting other support initiatives such as opening Child Friendly Spaces. See the following link for further details:
https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr/ForTheNextGeneration/emergencyfund/