One of the first initiatives of the Acronis Foundation, established earlier this year to mark the company’s 15th anniversary, was a partnership with Singapore’s Yellow Ribbon project, focused on the rehabilitation of former offenders and their reintegration into society.
Just as in the Czech Republic, it is not easy to find employment in Singapore without a clean criminal record, and released prisoners not infrequently end up back in prison. Recidivism in the Czech Republic reaches 50 to 70%, while in Singapore it is “only” 26.5%. In addition to the offender, this situation also negatively affects their innocent family and immediate surroundings.
The partnership between the Acronis Foundation and the Yellow Ribbon project therefore resulted in a program to train former prisoners in the IT sector. It includes training in Microsoft Office, business communication, and more general interpersonal skills. Successful graduates receive—and the first ones already have received—an internationally recognized WSQ ICDL certificate.
The entire program is in line with Acronis’s long-standing belief in the dangers arising from a lack of knowledge and with its efforts to remove barriers to education, for the implementation of which the Acronis Foundation was established this year.
According to research by the American nonprofit organization RAND Corporation, involving prisoners and former prisoners in training programs can significantly reduce recidivism. In the sample studied, 43% more former offenders who completed some form of course avoided reoffending than those who completed none.
The first fifteen graduates
Fifteen residents of Singapore’s Jamiyah Halfway House completed the four-week course. Vladimir Zatsepin, Vice President and Head of Acronis’s Singapore Research and Development Department, attended the celebration held for the occasion. “The Acronis Foundation is proud to support a program that benefits our country,” said Zatsepin.
“We are very grateful to our partners, such as Acronis, SCORE and the Yellow Ribbon Fund, for initiatives like this—this program not only equips former offenders with essential IT skills, but also builds their self-confidence. And by involving their families in the process, it gives them strong motivation to succeed,” said Dr. Mohd Hasbi Abu Bakar, President of Jamiyah, the Muslim missionary organization that operates the halfway house. Representatives of the Yellow Ribbon project also attended the celebration. The organization of the courses relies heavily on their expertise in reintegrating former prisoners and their families into society, developed since 2004.
In April this year, Acronis committed to cooperating with the Yellow Ribbon project for another 10 years. It sealed the partnership with a donation of USD 100,000 and a commitment to fund joint activities with a minimum value of an additional one million dollars.
For more information about the Acronis Foundation and its IT program, prepared in cooperation with the Yellow Ribbon project, please visit Acronis.org.
Based on Acronis English-language sources.
Article author: ZEBR.ai editorial team
