Uzbekistan is actively implementing sustainable development and ESG principles, with a growing focus on the role of business in addressing social and environmental challenges. Large companies are increasingly moving beyond traditional charity by developing long-term programs aimed at creating sustainable, positive change in society. In this context, there is a growing demand for projects where business becomes a full-fledged partner to the government and society. Maktabga Xavfsiz Harakat is a Hayot Foundation project aimed at engaging businesses as donors to address an important social issue: ensuring a safe journey to school for children living in hard-to-reach areas. For some children, the journey to school takes 20 minutes. For others, it takes several hours. In remote regions of Uzbekistan, schoolchildren walk between 3 and 20 kilometers every day just to get to class. This happens far from the capital and rarely comes into the view of a wider audience. Across the country, more then 146,000 schoolchildren are forced to travel long distances to access education.
Problem
Despite the growing interest in ESG, a significant share of corporate social initiatives are still one-off or charitable in nature. Companies rarely combine their resources to implement large-scale, long-term programs with measurable social impact. At the same time, many socially important issues, such as child safety, access to education, and regional development, require systematic involvement from the private sector. One of Hayot Foundation’s goals was to reduce social risks and improve people’s quality of life. But how do you draw attention to a problem that most people simply never see? How do you show that for thousands of children, an ordinary journey to school becomes a daily challenge, and that access to education begins with the road?
Solution
Gross Insurance sees human safety as the foundation of its social responsibility. The company made a strategic decision to allocate a significant share of its marketing investments to long-term social programs that create measurable impact on society. To achieve this, Gross partnered with HAYOT Foundation, a specialized CSR platform that provides professional development, implementation, and scaling of social projects. This approach allowed the company to transform marketing budgets into sustainable ESG initiatives focused on addressing real social issues. We could have used the traditional tools commonly associated with foundations and other charitable organizations. Instead, we decided to use a communication channel familiar to everyone: documentary film. Together with Hayot Foundation, our creative team traveled to Karakalpakstan, to the village of Hokim Ota, where we met schoolchildren, teachers, and Quvonish, who walked 13 kilometers each way every day to get to school. This is how the documentary Quwonish Joli (Quvonish’s Journey) was created, telling the story of this journey through the eyes of its protagonist and his family. But this was only the first step of the long-term Maktabga Xavfsiz Harakat initiative. With the support of GROSS, as well as the first donors, Kapital Bank and the Republican Center Kelajak, Hayot Foundation was able to provide 4 buses to schools in remote regions of Uzbekistan. The project and documentary film were then presented to the public. The director’s cut of the film will be screened at Cinematica on September 15.
Results
Following the documentary’s premiere, more companies joined the initiative as donors. A new batch of buses is now being prepared for children who need them the most.
