Zain Group, a major mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, has published its fourth annual sustainability report entitled "Sustainability report 2014: Facing challenges with innovation."

The report underlines main CSR initiatives during 2014 for all group companies, highlighting the projects supported by Zain Saudi Arabia such as providing 50,000 meals for iftar in the month of Ramadan, supporting the inclusion of women into the work force via Hadafi Program, and demonstrating its support for skill development and local innovation by hosting the 2014 Arab Mobile App Competition in Saudi Arabia.

The report is being publicized at a momentous time in Zain’s development as the company faces a challenging operational context, yet continues to hold its regional leadership role in pursuing its sustainability agenda and supporting its communities through outreach activities such as capacity-building, education, socioeconomic development, and environmental stewardship.

As in previous editions, the report adheres to the G4 reporting guidelines as set by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and highlights the lengths Zain is willing to go to in order to represent itself transparently and honestly.

This year’s report, which is published exclusively online through an interactive interface that is user-friendly, received "limited assurance" by Deloitte’s enterprises risk services arm, confirming the accuracy of the content provided.