QNET's Social Impact Arm and ASA Foundation Collaboration Project Wins Gold at ISDA Award 2021

HONG KONG, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A sports based social intervention program jointly launched by RYTHM Foundation and ASA Foundation was announced as the Gold winner at the recent 2021 Indonesian SDGs Award (ISDA). The award is part of an ongoing annual collaboration between The Corporate Forum for CSR Development (CFCD) and the Indonesian Ministry of National Development and Planning to support Indonesia's alignment towards the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

RYTHM Foundation is the social impact arm of QI Group, the parent company of QNET. QNET is a rising e-commerce based direct selling company with a long history in Indonesia. The foundation is built on the principles of empowerment, volunteerism, and resilience to create positive and sustainable change in the community.

In 2019, RYTHM Foundation joined hands with ASA Foundation, an education and empowerment focused NGO in Indonesia that strives to help vulnerable youth through sustainable social impact programs through schools and community-based projects, to fund and support a 3-Year Sports-Based Social Intervention Program. The award-winning program is designed to focus on UN's Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) by improving the quality of education for vulnerable youth and adults in Indonesia.

The project kicked off in 2019 with a 3-day Training-of-Trainer (ToT) workshop in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia, for 36 local teachers to develop their capacity to deliver an effective sports-based education development and empowerment programme to vulnerable male and female youth, focusing on key topics such as Health, Hygiene, Life Skills, and Gender Equality. The teachers were then placed in multiple junior high schools across Tangerang to implement their learnings, with the aim of transforming the lives of over 9,700 high school students throughout the program duration by equipping them with life skills, inculcating healthy behaviours, and instilling a positive attitude and good values to prepare them to enter society as responsible adults. Throughout the programme duration, ASA Foundation also conducted weekly mentorship and evaluation sessions with the teachers to monitor progress and teaching outcomes.

The 3-year program aims to achieve the following objectives:

• To transmit values associated with sports to promote positive attitude changes
• To promote physical activity and healthy behaviours through sports for youth and young adults
• To promote gender equality
• To help the participants feel empowered and develop self confidence
• To provide a safe space for meeting, dialogue, and exchange in order to promote cohesion and social inclusion
• To gain support from the local government departments (DINAS Pendidikan & DISPORA) for future CSR projects and activities

Malou Caluza, CEO of QNET, expresses her pride at the impact delivered by the partnership between RYTHM and ASA Foundation. "RYTHM Foundation has been our beacon of hope through the toughest times guiding us in serving the communities in which we operate. With support and guidance from RYTHM we were able to reach out and help vulnerable communities in more than 30 countries affected by COVID-19 this past year. In addition to this award-winning program, the partnership with ASA Foundation has allowed us to successfully deliver knowledge and awareness of COVID-19 virus prevention and health and sanitation measures using a virtual learning platform, to over 25,000 students across Indonesia."

Lee Hawkins, Founder & Technical Advisor of the ASA Foundation, says, "Although we have long been working on social impact projects across Indonesia, and have previously won a regional Stevie CSR award, this is our very first award received from ISDA. The award marks an important milestone for us. Still, the most pertinent thing is that the collaboration between ASA Foundation and RYTHM Foundation will result in increased quality of life for the people across Banten in West Java, which is the target area of our project. We hope this award can be a trigger for both ASA and RYTHM Foundations to strengthen future collaboration efforts for the development of youth in Indonesia."

According to the Chairman of CFCD, Thendri Supriatno, ISDA signals the head start of the government's efforts to educate and raise awareness among corporations with ample resources to develop equally and sustainably among people, the economy, and the environment.

"Offering fair evaluation through an awards competition like ISDA will encourage local and international organisations to improve on their environmental conversation and social intervention efforts in Indonesia. I hope that more companies will join ISDA to present their best social responsibility projects that will benefit multiple stakeholders and the overall local community," says Thenri.

Previously, RYTHM Foundation partnered with ASA Foundation to deliver a successful 12-month inclusive women empowerment and education development project across Subang, West Java, Indonesia; the project reached 30 female schoolteachers and over 5,000 youth with and without disabilities.

About QNET
QNET is one of Asia's leading e-commerce based direct selling companies offering a wide range of health, wellness and lifestyle products that enable people to lead better lives. QNET's grassroots business model fuelled by the power of e-commerce has helped empower millions of entrepreneurs in more than 100 countries worldwide.

QNET is headquartered in Hong Kong and has a presence in more than 25 countries around the world through subsidiaries, branch offices, agency partnerships, and franchisees.

QNET is a member of the Direct Selling Association in several countries, as well as the Hong Kong Health Food Association, the Health Supplements Industry Association of Singapore, and the Health and Dietary Supplements Association of Philippines.

QNET is also active in sports sponsorships around the world. Some of the more prominent partnerships include being the Direct Selling Partner of Manchester City Football Club and the African Club League Championships of CAF.

All of QNET's CSR programmes and community development activities are conducted through RYTHM Foundation. To learn more visit www.rythmfoundation.org.

For more information, please visit QNET's website at www.qnet.net.

About ASA Foundation
ASA Foundation is an Education & Empowerment NGO that aims to achieve sustainable behaviour change intervention directly through local schools and community-based projects. We use a combination of education with the power of sports to drive social impact programs that enhance learning skills together with the health, safety and well-being of vulnerable adults and youth across developing countries. Our social intervention programs support gender equality, diversity and inclusion, promote human rights, peace and tolerance and provide livelihood opportunities.

ASA Foundation was initially founded in 2001 as a sports-based empowerment institution for disadvantaged Indonesian youth by Lee Hawkins, a former Southampton FC trainee and soft skills education development consultant from the UK. Through Lee's work with international donors, governments and NGOs, especially during the Aceh tsunami (2004) and Yogyakarta earthquake (2006) natural disasters, ASA Foundation evolved into an Education & Empowerment NGO that currently works globally with long-term strategic partners as a trusted on-the-ground implementing organisation.

About The Corporate Forum for CSR Development (CFCD)
CFCD, which was founded in 2002, is an association of companies that are active in the discourse and advancement of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability in Indonesia.

CFCD has a vision to become the centre of a leading multi-stakeholder networking and learning CSR and Community Development network. CFCD's mission is to build awareness of the company's commitment to implementing social responsibility in a joint effort to empower communities around the company in a sustainable manner.

SOURCE QNET