SPONSORSHIPS

Health and Welfare
On the sensitive issue of road safety, our policy focuses on the cultivation of road safety awareness by educating young people who make up a large percentage of the victims of traffic accidents in Cyprus. For this reason, we again organised road safety seminars for National Guard conscripts and all Secondary and Technical School leavers graduating at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year. This initiative confirms Cyta’s commitment to the European Road Safety Charter (which it signed in Dublin in 2004) and to the common European goal of halving the number of road fatalities by 2010.

Since we care about the welfare of those manning the National Guard, every year we issue and distribute "Camouflage" phonecards free of charge to newly-drafted National Guardsmen on their first day of military service. We also offer phonecards at Christmas to Greek officers and soldiers serving in the National Guard and the Greek Contingent in Cyprus, to needy National Guard soldiers and to prisoners.

Regarding health, for the fifth successive year we supported the Centre for Preventive Paediatrics, donating equipment for the detection of hearing impairment in newborn babies.

We remain consistent in our support for those less fortunate than ourselves. For the third successive year we supported the Cyprus Multiple Sclerosis Association, sponsoring its week-long campaign of information about the condition. At the same time, Cyta sponsored the printing of information leaflets on, among other topics, breast cancer prevention, thalassaemia and congenital heart disease. Also, during the Christmas holidays, Cyta officials visit hospitals and children’s homes with gifts for the children.

In the context of its strategy to provide substantial assistance to social groups requiring special treatment, Cytamobile-Vodafone sponsored Hearing-Impaired Information Week. The week featured activities and events to inform the public and make everyone more aware of people with impaired hearing and also to strengthen the self-esteem and self-confidence of the hearing-impaired. Moreover, mobile telephony was used as an alternative solution to communication in sign language. Specifically, 3G technology was used for videocalls which enable simultaneous visual and auditory communication.

In 2008 we continued to support the annual Radiomarathon as an Official Sponsor, by providing free of charge all the services required for its smooth and successful operation. At the same time we participated in various related activities, such as the "Love Fairs" and the fundraising kiosks. Combining the sectors of health and technology, we once again supported Medlook, the online health information website.

With the aim of offering telecommunications support to charity fundraising events, Cyta has, for some years now, provided the free Charity Direct service which enables people to make donations by telephone to the charitable organisation of their choice. We also operate several services with a four-digit telephone number via which free calls may be made to various emergency services.

 

Education In 2008 the Pefkios Georgiades Primary School was officially opened and, with Cyta’s help, transformed into a Model Electronic School. Specifically, we installed an extensive communications network in classrooms, consisting of computers, printers, interactive blackboards and digital screens. It is linked to the Ministry of Education’s educational network while all teaching areas have safe, monitored Internet access. In the framework of a special agreement between Cyta and the Ministry of Education and Culture, we have connected all the island’s schools to the Internet free of charge and offer a special low monthly subscription fee as well as free web hosting of school and teachers’ websites (with educational content).

Since 2001 Cytanet has made presentations to primary, secondary and technical schools on the subject “The Internet: A Tool for All” with the aim of educating students about electronic communications and promoting correct Internet usage. During the 2007-2008 school year we made 71 visits to schools and a total of 6.887 pupils and teachers attended the Cytanet presentations. From 2001 until 2008, we made over 330 visits to schools where the presentations were attended by 35.500 pupils and teachers.

We also make presentations on "The Internet and Our Children - Safe and Responsible Use" which are aimed primarily at parents with the purpose of informing them about correct Internet use, its traps and dangers, and how to deal with them. From 2006 until 2008 some 805 parents attended these presentations.

Also, in recent years Cyta has sponsored "JOTA-JOTI" (Jamboree on the Air, Jamboree on the Internet), the annual online event of the Cyprus Scouts Association.

Cyta also provides equipment and services to the Youth Board of Cyprus’ Youth Information Centres.

Every year we publish an activity book for children entitled "Playing, having fun and learning with Telis" which is distributed to all pre-school and primary school children throughout the island. The book contains educational and recreational material approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The book also contains announcements of painting competitions in which the best children’s paintings are subsequently chosen and prizes are awarded at a special ceremony. The winning paintings are included in a wall calendar published by Cyta and distributed to all pre-school and primary schools.

On the occasion of the adoption of our new corporate image, the 2008 edition of "Playing, having fun and learning with Telis" was a special one with more pages and subjects from the primary school curriculum.
In the framework of its support of extra-curricular activities for children, Cyta opens its doors to many schoolchildren. Usually they visit the Makarios Satellite Earth Station in order to learn about the Organisation, its services and history. We also welcome pupils and students on work experience projects.

Every year we enable prospective students to obtain their university entrance examination results as soon as they are announced by the Ministry of Education and Culture, either from the Cytanet homepage or by text message to their mobile phones via Cytamobile-Vodafone’s cybee service.

Our Organisation was the main supporter and telecommunications services partner in the creation of the Virtual Bus mobile Internet unit. The Virtual Bus aims to study the digital divide between rural and urban areas and, through research, to promote measures and activities to spread Internet use and its benefits, as well as information and communications technology throughout Cyprus, particularly in rural areas.


Environment
Our Organisation wishes to contribute to the strengthening of an environmental awareness among the people of Cyprus as part of its contribution to society, by implementing a variety of projects and activities. (Read more about Cyta’s internal environmental management later on in this chapter.)

In this context and with the aim of raising pubic awareness, particularly among young people, Cyta carried out an environmental protection campaign via a TV film, the press and outdoor placements. The theme of the campaign was "What kind of world are we leaving to our children?"

Today there are Cyta Parks in almost every district of Cyprus, created in collaboration with the respective Municipalities or Local Authorities. The development of the Cyta Parks stems from a decision taken by the Organisation in 2001 in the framework of its 40th anniversary celebrations.

Another well-established institution is our sponsorship of the activities of the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association (CYMEPA) which, among other things, offers environmental education programmes to schoolchildren. These include the "Young Journalists for the Environment" programme which is supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, coordinated by the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe and sponsored by Cyta. Within the framework of this programme, a thematic competition is held among junior and senior high school pupils, the winners of which are awarded prizes by our Organisation at a special Cyta ceremony.

It is also worth noting that we supported the first International Sea Festival which was organised with great success by the Evagoras and Kathleen Lanitis Foundation in Lemesos (Limassol) in September-October 2008. At the same time we enriched the event with additional activities of our own such as a Pupils’ Treasure Hunt aimed at making young people aware of the need to protect our seas and, more generally, the environment.

Since 2001, we have provided special paper recycling collection boxes (which we also use in our own offices at Cyta) and related posters to eco-schools and other interested schools. Specifically, between 2001 and 2008, around 1.700 such recycling boxes and posters have been donated to 140 schools for use in classrooms in order to develop environmental awareness in children.

 

Culture In 2008, Cyta continued its "Let’s Go to the Theatre" sponsorship programme of support for all of Cyprus’s independent professional theatre companies. In this context, it offered members of staff and the public some 3.000 free invitations for two to any production by one of the sponsored companies. At the same time, it carried out an advertising campaign aimed at encouraging the public to embrace the theatre and to applaud the theatre companies’ efforts. Also, in an effort to bring people closer to the theatre, on 27 March we celebrated World Theatre Day with the sponsored companies, offering everyone in Cyprus the opportunity to obtain a free ticket to a performance of their choice. This gesture was warmly received and the public responded with such enthusiasm that all seats for the performances in question were taken on the very day the special offer was announced.

In 2008, Cyta supported one of the biggest events ever held in Cyprus, the hosting by the CyBC of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, by providing all the necessary telecommunications equipment and services free of charge.
In its role as a sponsor of the arts and culture in Cyprus, Cyta supported the production of three CDs by Cypriot artists: "Welcome to our Guests" by Michalis Terlikkas, "The Dear Land" by Vasos Argyrides and "Cyprus" by Stavros Hadjisavvas and Leonidas Malenis.
We were also particularly proud to present to the Cypriot public a work reflecting our culture: George Theophanous’ concert performance entitled “I Sing of my Island”.

 

Sport Cyta is a major sponsor of sport in Cyprus. Since 2007 it has been one of the institutional sponsors of the Cyprus Olympic Committee and the Olympic House. It is also an official sponsor of the Cyprus Referees Association and the Cyprus Sportswriters Association as well as of other single but important activities of various sports associations and clubs. We actively support Cypriot football with a sponsorship programme that covers the Cyprus Football Association, all the teams in Division 1 and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Division championships. We also sponsor the Cyprus Basketball Federation and all the 1st and 2nd Division teams. Every year Cyta also supports the biggest event in the local motoring calendar, the Cyprus International Rally, by providing the organisers with all the telecommunications equipment required by this major event.

Technology and Research
As an organisation operating in an area of activity that is directly linked to technology, Cyta supports activities which are aimed at its development locally.

An innovative project to which we contributed with equipment, services and technical support in 2008 was the transformation of the Pefkios Georgiades Primary School into a Model Electronic School. The school makes optimum use of IT and electronic communications, thereby developing the Information Society in Cyprus.

Wishing to encourage young people to take up technology, we awarded prizes for the first time in 2008 to all graduating Lyceum and Technical School students who excelled in IT.

Furthermore, we continue to support the TechCulture website run by the ARTos Cultural and Research Foundation.
We also sponsored a number of conferences of which a main part of the work concerned technology and research, and the 3rd ICT Conference organised by the Cyprus Information Technology Enterprises Association.