Technology volunteer opportunities with Ericsson’s Connect to Learn program
First let’s introduce our volunteers:
Carlos Alberto Martinez Licona applied to join the Connect to Learn program two years ago and has been working in the Education for Peace Building Program together with the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI). Carlos volunteered to work with at the WPDI community center in Tijuana, Mexico, which has a reputation for being one of the most violent cities in the world.
Fulvio Panariello was a trainer at Ericsson’s Digital Lab in Rome where he worked with young students in order to drive them to the result. He saw this as an opportunity to understand the value of the Connect to Learn program.
Gabriela Souza is a strategic sourcing manager based in Sao Paolo, first volunteered to become involved in STEM projects between Ericsson and UNICEF and has since continued with other Ericsson Technology for Good projects where she has been active in local homeless communities.
Dávid Berke is a global customer support engineer based in Budapest has worked with ICT teachers in Hungary to improve awareness of software development; the Multimedia in Education Conference, to improve the connection between R&D and education; and other various sport activities to help take care of our employees’ health and wellbeing before and during the pandemic.
Salvatore Curatella has volunteered as a trainer at the Ericsson Digital Lab in Italy. This is an educational program for children between the ages of 11 and 18 years old, which teaches them the basic competences of programming, robotics, AI, and automation—to make it fun for them to learn and get involved in these kinds of opportunities.
What value has volunteering brought to you?
Carlos: I had the opportunity to go to Tijuana which is a city where WDPI has a community center in Mexico. I believe the experience has inspired me to continue doing this as much as I can. A lot of people, even myself sometimes, believe we are volunteering for our curriculum or somehow for ourselves, but think how you are impacting other people. We can really make change by volunteering.
Fulvio: For me personally, I wanted to start again from zero. I would summarize my experience with two words: fear and excitement. When we started there was a fear of not being able to understand the right approach with the young students. In the end, the fear became more or less exciting because we had the opportunity to share our knowledge with them, and this is one of the most important aspects of the Connect to Learn program.
Gabriela: It’s really nice to have the opportunity here at Ericsson. It’s a great experience where we learn more than we can learn doing our daily work, in books or in the university. It’s all about empathizing with people’s problems. We learn about people who have more difficulties than we can imagine. When I talk with the little girls, sometimes they don’t have big dreams because they don’t have the opportunity to dream. For homeless people, they have to go to the government shelters. In the time we spent together, they would say things to me which I imagine hearing from people at Ericsson who have a lot of degrees. We saw that we are really equal, but with different opportunities.
Dávid: The experience has helped me to be braver in certain situations and start more open discussions with everyone. It’s also helped me to be more responsible in my daily life, not just at Ericsson but also in my family life too. I have become a more open, proactive, and structured person.
Salvatore: For me it was a really fun experience that made me appreciate how smart the kids are, how they are able to learn fast about these important topics that they usually only see on a theoretical level. I was amazed and surprised by the student approach to the technologies; it’s completely different from a colleague my age. This generation has really great potential and they can do a lot if they get really interested in this.
What would you say to anyone thinking about volunteering via the Connect to Learn program?
Carlos: I believe the experience has inspired me to do more. To continue doing this as much as I can. For anyone thinking of volunteering, I would just advise them to go and do it. A lot of people, even myself sometimes, believe we are volunteering for our curriculum or somehow for ourselves, but think how you are impacting other people. We can really make change by volunteering. I have been involved in the program for almost two years now, I can’t even imagine how big the impact has been over the past 10 years. Just in Mexico in the last two years, we have impacted hundreds of young people. The impact is big and it’s a very great initiative.
Fulvio: I would suggest to just grab the opportunity. It creates new possibilities that we can use in our everyday life. To be able to share our competence with other people makes it a very important program.
Connect to Learn has had a big impact over the past ten years. For me, the most important thing about the program is that we can encourage young talents to grow. One student decided to continue her studies in the telecommunications field and is particularly excited about the idea of continuing with the analysis of telecommunication parts. It’s also important for us to continue to develop and extend this program.
Gabriela: For anyone thinking of volunteering, I would say just do it. Sometimes we think a lot about our time. I don’t get money of course, but I get to experience a lot of things that money can’t buy. I think after you have done one volunteer job, you want to be involved always in another. It can even be a little difference but if everyone does this little difference, we can change our world. Sometimes we think that we would like to do something different. But we stay doing the same things as the other people. Just do it.
I think the big impact of the Connect to Learn is to give the different people who participate a new perspective so they can dream again, they think different, they see a new future. This for me is the big impact.
Dávid: To volunteer is to do something different, something beyond our daily work. It is a way to challenge ourselves, take on a new adventure, learn more, meet and work with people outside of our daily routines. Perhaps you feel you don’t have enough time or energy, but in the long-term I would say it will be worth a lot—for others, for the company and even for yourself as well. For me, volunteering can be similar to medical services or religion in terms of trying to build a better world without being led by financial reports and the pressure of earning money. It’s all down to you.
Salvatore: Volunteering is a wonderful experience that everyone should try at least once in their life. Volunteering is giving. It’s giving to someone that maybe doesn’t have the chance to have something. It’s a way to provide the possibility for an experience that they usually cannot have.
To anyone that is thinking of joining the program, I would say they need to be open minded. They need to be ready to do everything because it’s something that you give, but at the same time you get back some learnings from this experience. Everyone can teach you something, even a student that is sixteen years old can teach you a lot. I was challenging myself to give back to someone, but in the end, I also got back something from them.
Today, thanks to the dedication of our employees, we’ve changed the lives of more than 200,000 students across some of the world’s most vulnerable, underprivileged and unrepresented communities.