POSCO Supports Coding Education for Vulnerable Children in Korea with 130 Million KRW from Australian Iron Ore Supplier

Rio Tinto and GEM Fund Donation
$100,000 to 'Hope Friends Kia Daechuk'

POSCO has launched a talent development project for children in Korea in collaboration with Australian raw material supplier Rio Tinto.

On the 4th, POSCO announced that it had delivered $100,000 (about 130 million KRW) from the GEM Matching Fund (hereinafter GEM Fund) to Hope Friends Korea Food for the Hungry International (KFHI) together with Rio Tinto. Hope Friends KFHI is Korea's first international relief and development NGO that carries out welfare projects for vulnerable children both domestically and abroad. Hope Friends KFHI plans to use the fund to bridge the digital education gap for vulnerable children in Korea and to nurture future generation talents.

The GEM Fund is a global fund established by POSCO and its raw material suppliers in a one-to-one matching grant format to practice corporate citizenship management philosophy and social responsibility worldwide. Besides its dictionary meaning of "gem," GEM also stands for "Go Extra Mile," meaning to take a step further in social development.

This year, POSCO will provide coding program education opportunities to a total of 150 children at 15 local children's centers in Korea in partnership with Hope Friends KFHI. The target local children's centers will be finalized within this month, and each center will receive 10 sessions of education. The program aims to help vulnerable children, who usually have limited access to digital education, experience learning practical software skills such as data analysis and app development.

On the 3rd, POSCO delivered $100,000 from the GEM Matching Fund, jointly established with Rio Tinto, to Hope Friends Korea Food for the Hungry International. From the left: Ham Hyun-seok, Head of Corporate Sponsorship Division 1 at Hope Friends Korea Food for the Hungry International; Park Hyo-wook, Director of Raw Materials Division 2 at POSCO; Song Yong-gyu, Head of Iron Ore at Rio Tinto Korea Office.
[Photo by POSCO]

In October 2021, POSCO signed a two-year GEM Fund agreement with Rio Tinto, with both companies agreeing to contribute $50,000 each annually to mutually support talent development in Korea and Australia. Last year, they also contributed $100,000 to support maritime safety and leadership improvement education for Indigenous Australian youth.

Besides Rio Tinto, since 2019 POSCO has jointly established GEM Fund contributions with 10 overseas raw material suppliers, supporting talent development and biodiversity conservation activities. Companies like Brazil's Vale and Australia's FMG, which signed GEM Fund agreements and carried out social contribution projects in 2020, have recently agreed to raise a second fund and are reviewing new projects.

Meanwhile, Rio Tinto, a multinational mining company celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, was the world's largest iron ore producer as of last year. It owns iron ore and various mineral mines in Australia, Canada, and other countries. POSCO and Rio Tinto began trading high-quality iron ore in 1973.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.