A few weeks ago, my service group and I sent out an email to the CBL company in Sri Lanka. They replied and organized a zoom meeting for November 24th after school, during which we could discuss our service group and our previous actions, as well as our expectations for a corporate partner.

After sending out the zoom link, we made sure everything was set up for the meeting. We had created a presentation of our service and expectations for our partnership and practiced prior to the meeting. During the meeting, we discussed with Ms. Wickramasinghe about our service, and outlined our expectations which were:

1. Establish a good working relationship to provide opportunity for the CBL group to have a meaningful social impact in the Hokandara neighborhood.  
2. Also monetary support – making any contributions to help with the infrastructure ( library building or roof repair) and other needs of our partner school
3. Offering resources available to help support our partner school and their needs for example they have just started a mid-day meal program.

Presenting our service using our slideshow

After presenting our service, she discussed the possibilities for collaboration. She expressed her desire to help our service, however mentioned that she had to check with the company board first before discussing anything further. As the company already gives out monetary support and resources to organisations, they communicated with us that they must discuss the possibility of expanding to our small scale service prior to any agreements. Despite this, I am happy with the outcome of the meeting, providing hope to our service and local school.

During the meeting, she communicated the possibility of providing some nutritional resources to the school, as well as mentioned the idea of library buses. This is a concept in Sri Lanka, in which there is an organization that works to use old or abandoned buses to build a library out of. We have expressed our openness in receiving any resources they are willing to offer, including nutritional resources. This would fit in to the schools new meal plan, allowing for us to accommodate to the needs of the school. This has shown me the amount of flexibility required when working with other organisations, making sure to not limit yourself to the direct boundaries of the primary goal. Being flexible based on the needs of the school and the resources offered to the group are essential to the success of the overall outcome.

Zoom call with our corporate sponsor

Learning Outcomes

Reaching out for corporate partnerships has been something very new to me, and as a result, has brought me new useful skills. This has allowed me to address the learning outcome of identifying strengths and developing areas of personal growth. I was able to identify my strength of presenting my group in a formal format, while developing my ability to collaborate with an external organisation. Alongside collaboration, I have also challenged my ability to be patient with other organisations, as my group feels ready to get started with a partnership while the organisation requires more time to think of the logistics. Despite this, I have recognized the benefits of collaboration, both internally and externally from the RTR group. I developed a stronger understanding of what the corporate sponsorship would bring to the group, permitting us to achieve our long term goals with our partner schools. Additionally, I was able to recognize how working alongside co-leader -Liam Modder- has been beneficial, as having the support of another student as well as bouncing off ideas has contributed significantly to the outcome of this experience. Specifically, working on building a effective presentation to communicate our goals and expectation for our corporate partnership was improved through the participation of Liam in the process. Lastly, this experience has allowed me to continue engaging with an issue with global significance, helping to provide proper reading facilities to improve literacy rates in Sri Lanka and student well being, especially in the aftermath of the rise of the pandemic.