Page 12 - Plesner CSR 2019_UK

the pupils' personal character and help them to become good citizens," explains Nina Bech Damgaard Pedersen.
In practice, this means adjusting the struc- ture of the School Project which has so far involved monthly visits by the role models alternating with company visits. In the future, there will be fewer company visits in favour of more direct dialogue between the pupils and relevant professional individu- als from whom they can more easily take example.
"We want to meet the pupils where they are and involve them more actively. We will do
so by inviting guests to visit them in school and give short, practice-related talks. A talk could be given by a journalist, a nurse, a police officer or a politician or other professional in- dividuals who can tell about their work or give a talk about a current topic that is relevant to the pupils' everyday life. The short talk will be followed up by relevant case studies, exercises in how to work together or actual workshops where the young people are active them- selves."
Closer to the pupils
In recent years Plesner's employees have shown increasing interest in becoming part of the School Project and being role models. In the short term the involvement of more volunteers will mean new opportunities for the partnership. The plan is to divide the classes into small groups of approximately ten pupils and assign a Plesner contact person to each group. With closer relations to the pupils it will be easier to follow up on concrete matters, tasks and agreements.
"We will of course continue to draw on our external role models, a permanent group of resource persons who have chosen the School Project with their hearts. They have made
an enormous contribution for many years by making themselves available as mentors for the pupils. But they are also busy people with demanding jobs who are not always free to join in. Therefore, our own team of volunteers will play a bigger role in the School Project in future," tells Nina Bech Damgaard Petersen.
In the long term there are plans to involve former pupils as role models as well. For that purpose new initiatives will be initiated on social media, for example Facebook, that are to make it possible to stay in touch with both former and current pupils and follow the young people on their journey through education or jobs.
Network, network, network
Together with closer personal contact to the pupils, establishing a strong network is an important focal point for the School Project version 2.0.
"If you are a pupil at NPS you may feel that
the world is somewhat against you. But if
they open their eyes and look around, well-re- sourced people are ready to help. In the School Project we become part of their network, and we would like to show the pupils that it is OK to reach out and ask for help and mentor-
ing. We are just happy when they contact us directly because then we know that it works. If they are well prepared we are only pleased to help," says Hussain Ali Alhaidary.
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