The Malta Independent on Sunday
NGOs start benefiting from Microsoft Support in 2020
• A total of 87 NGOs being supported every month
While the short-term benefits of laughter include stimulation of the organs through increased intake of oxygen, the activation of stress response and soothing of tension, longer term benefits also include improvement of the immune system, the relief of pain, increase of personal satisfaction and improvement of general mood.
The healing power of humour has been recognised since antiquity and everyone knows that “laughter is the best medicine”, but international research continues to find real physiological and psychological benefits to patients.
Recent studies confirmed that children and adolescents who were in the presence of hospital clowns, either with or without a parent present, reported significantly less anxiety during a range of medical procedures, as well as improved psychological adjustment. Three studies that evaluated chronic conditions showed favourable results for the intervention of hospital clowns with significant reduction in stress, fatigue, pain and distress. ¹
“If there was a time when we needed to rely on laughter for our mental well-being was for sure last year. In fact, Dr Klown is one of the new NGOs that Microsoft started supporting last year through our technology and assisted by one of our partners BMIT,” said Angela Micallef, Philanthropies Lead at Microsoft Malta.
Microsoft has provided Dr Klown with free licences which enabled the NGO to provide all Dr Klown volunteers with a dedicated Dr Klown email address together with extra online storage which helped the NGO organise its files and documents, making them centrally accessible to all officers, clown doctors and volunteers. Together with BMIT, Microsoft also helped the NGO migrate its entire email infrastructure to a centralised system.
“Besides a more stable and integrated approach to planning our online meetings, this project came at a perfect time because it enabled us to carry on with our internal and external meetings despite the pandemic. Effectively, it gave us the tools to carry on virtual clowning,” explains Astride Camilleri from Dr Klown.
“We will soon hope to train our Dr Klown volunteers in the use of the more advanced features of Microsoft Teams by expanding the use of the technology as a collaborative environment for the storage of meeting videos and other resources in a secure manner. Using Microsoft’s Teams will also help us expand the scope of our services beyond hospital, even post pandemic, because now we are also able to visit the children when they are recovering at home and even when they are on treatment in the UK,” added Camilleri.
Currently, Microsoft Malta has a total of 87 NGOs benefiting from its cloud services with 3,461 assigned
seats, 34 of which have started enjoying Microsoft’s support since January of 2020.
Since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft’s support to NGOs, through monthly donations, increased by 37%. Over €2m have been donated in software, services and grants by Microsoft Malta to Malta’s NGOs.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on NGOs as their employees and volunteers
go beyond the call of duty to provide critical care and vital services to the community. We are pleased to see that more and more local NGOs are using Microsoft services and transitioning to a remote working environment. Microsoft deeply appreciates their valuable work and remains committed to provide software and access to online resources and training during this challenging time,” added Micallef.