THE Malaysian Collective Impact Initiative (MCII) is a great platform for corporates to network, learn and collaborate on effective ways to get involved with and improve the educational landscape.

Yayasan Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng executive director Datin Joanne Wong said: “Current and future students in Malaysia are truly the key beneficiaries of such collaborations, and any members who are part of this collective get to enjoy effecting change while doing it together with a great bunch of people!”

Yayasan Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng is a CSR initiative of the IOI Group.

Lending a helping hand

The MCII was set up in 2015 when a steering committee comprising corporate and CSR foundation directors decided to act together to address gaps in the education system.

It uses a collective impact approach which is a successful social methodology pioneered in the United States and maximises the systemic impact by bringing together all stakeholders to agree to a common agenda, and to work together in a structured form of collaboration with common measures of success.

MCII’s primary role is to bridge gaps within literacy and career aspirations of Malaysian children by working in national schools to raise globally competitive leaders.

It is aligned to the shifts in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 and works in partnership with the school and community to identify school needs and maps these to member programmes in a coherent framework. In the spirit of collective impact, it gathers local religious and community leaders to be part of this conversation.

The MCII funding members include Credit Suisse, Hap Seng Group, Hong Leong Foundation, IOI Group, Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad, Westports Holdings and YTL Foundation. Members-in-kind are British Council, Petrosains and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Agensi Innovasi Malaysia (AIM) and Thoughts in Gear were instrumental partners during the set-up, while SOLS24/7 – an award winning humanitarian organisation joined as a member in 2016.

By working collectively, MCII members enjoy the benefits and economies of scale which are shared learning across the CSR field, building a strong network of partners and potential clients, and a systemised and consolidated manner of outreach to effect change in education.

Structured programme

A structured pilot collaboration model is taking place this year in 12 schools (national, Chinese and Tamil schools) in two clusters in Klang namely in Pandamaran and Kapar.

There have been over 37 programmes carried out in these schools, with a total in-school investment value of RM 2.02mil within the last two years.

MCII continues to grow as new relationships are formed. It continually engages with senior government officials in the Education Ministry, CSR leaders, corporate heads, schools, non-govermental organisations (NGOs), education experts and many more.

Aiming to effect change in national policies in the long term, MCII has already begun this process by being part of the current Malaysia Education Blueprint review with the Performance and Delivery Unit (PADU)

MCII is in the midst of creating an inclusive educational intervention model that can be replicated across Malaysia, with measured results of success.

Dipti Kumar, who joined MCII as the CEO last November, believes that the structured collective impact model, along with the passionate and focused support from core members is the winning combination.

In fact, MCII is a pioneer of collective impact in the region.

SK Pandamaran Jaya headmistress Noorkedah Mohd Yusof said: “MCII has helped bring forth students that are innovative with a high level of confidence.”

A Klang community leader Eric Jayabalan said: “MCII gathers all the groups interested in impacting our next generation.”

As MCII continues to work in schools, it aspires to provide an intervention model proven to effect sustainable change within the Malaysian landscape while promoting the values of collaboration to achieve social goals. It continually looks for new members, partners and friends to join the network and leverage on synergies to create lasting impact.