The Sustainability Learning Forum

Petrobras Development & Citizenship Program

Editorial Team

The Petrobras Development & Citizenship Program brings together the company’s principal investments in social projects in Brazil. Designed to have a long-term vision, the program is aligned with the company’s Social Responsibility Policy and has the same time horizon as the Petrobras Business Plan. The program invests in social projects that contribute to promoting development with equal opportunities and harnessing local potential. more[...]

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Petrobras Development & Citizenship Program

Petrobras

The Petrobras Development & Citizenship Program brings together the company’s principal investments in social projects in Brazil. Designed to have a long-term vision, the program is aligned with the company’s Social Responsibility Policy and has the same time horizon as the Petrobras Business Plan. The program invests in social projects that contribute to promoting development with equal opportunities and harnessing local potential. more[...]

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Factory of the Future – The Otto Grameen Textile Company

Editorial Team

Over two million people work in the textile industry in Bangladesh, with women accounting for 80 percent of the workforce in clothing factories. The clothing industry is one of the region’s key employers and plays an important role as a source of income for the poorest strata of society. These people need the jobs, yet all too often they have to work in textile factories under poor safety conditions for wages that do not even cover their basic needs. more[...] login_required

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Factory of the Future – The Otto Grameen Textile Company

Andreas Streubig, Otto Group
Otto Group

Over two million people work in the textile industry in Bangladesh, with women accounting for 80 percent of the workforce in clothing factories. The clothing industry is one of the region’s key employers and plays an important role as a source of income for the poorest strata of society. These people need the jobs, yet all too often they have to work in textile factories under poor safety conditions for wages that do not even cover their basic needs. more[...]

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Aid for children from the cocoa supply chain in Ghana

Charlotte Thorø Berghof, Toms Gruppen A/S
Toms Group

The recurrent focus on the issue of child labour in the cocoa bean supply chain caused Danish chocolate manufacturer, Toms, to partner with Danida and IBIS, a Danish aid NGO. This partnership has resulted in a Toms education project in Ghana, improving the quality of schooling for 15,000 children in cocoa producing areas. more[...] login_required

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Danish partnership benefits children from the cocoa supply chain in Ghana

Charlotte Thorø Berghof, Toms Gruppen A/S
Toms Group

The recurrent focus on the issue of child labour in the cocoa bean supply chain caused Danish chocolate manufacturer, Toms, to partner with Danida and IBIS, a Danish aid NGO. This partnership has resulted in a Toms education project in Ghana, improving the quality of schooling for 15,000 children in cocoa producing areas. more[...]

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Imagine What We Can Do Together: Randstad – VSO Partnership

Eveline Kramers, Randstad

“We strongly believe that companies have no reason to exist if they don’t add value to society,” says Ben Noteboom, CEO of Randstad Holding nv. “Our core activity, putting people to work, means improving people’s lives. But we want to do something extra. Working with development organization VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) is a perfect match because we can help them select the right people, something we do every day. And: All of our employees can play a role in this partnership.” Randstad supports VSO financially, through in-kind donations and by providing expertise in recruitment & selection. Most importantly we stimulate our employees, who come from varied backgrounds -IT, HR, finance, etc.- to volunteer or raise awareness or funds for VSO. So far over 75 Randstad employees have volunteered with VSO in developing countries reaching thousands of beneficiaries. more[...] login_required

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Putting our skills to work in pursuit of the MDGs

Editorial Team

Our people are getting involved in hundreds of citizenship projects around the world, and our member firms are developing initiatives to suit their local communities and environments. By harnessing the skills we use every day and applying them to the world and communities around us, we can help make positive changes in our communities – locally and across the world. more[...]

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Putting our skills to work in pursuit of the MDGs

Lord Michael Hastings, KPMG International

Our people are getting involved in hundreds of citizenship projects around the world, and our member firms are developing initiatives to suit their local communities and environments. By harnessing the skills we use every day and applying them to the world and communities around us, we can help make positive changes in our communities – locally and across the world. more[...]

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Master Plan for Mauritius

Gerd Pfitzenmeier
Medine

Established on the island of Mauritius in 1911, Medine originally grew and processed sugar cane. But since then, the importance of tourism and other service areas has steadily grown. The ‘Fondation Medine Horizons’(FMH), which the company established for this purpose, promotes optimism and entrepreneurial self-help, states the GC report “Africa leads”. more[...] login_required

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When Water Becomes Sustainable Business

Carsten Bo Kvistgaard, Grundfos
Grundfos

By pairing existing technologies with an innovative business model, Grundfos LIFELINK responsibly changes the way of operating and managing rural water supply systems. more[...] login_required

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Hope Through Honey

Gerd Pfitzenmeier

“Fight poverty, maintain ecological equilibrium and so shape sustainable development.” These three clear goals are the essence of this truly mammoth project, Bhusan Shrestha says. The large Nepalese beekeeper Gandaki Bee Concern (GBC) wants to make money and at the same time bring progress to the small Asian country in the Himalayas. The company, founded in 1990 in the capital Kathmandu, wants to do no less than help more and more Nepalese “gain a source of income and at the same time conserve the quality of nature for the future.” more[...] login_required

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The microfinance revolution has only just begun

Prof. Hanns Michael Hölz
Deutsche Bank AG

Microcredits have proven to be powerful instruments in the fight against poverty. However, they will reach their full impact only if they manage to limit their reliance on the charitable sector. “The genocide brought the destruction of my parents’ retail shop“, Nsengiyma Gilbert from Rwanda explains. “It ended in ruins and in the brutal killing of my father. After the war, I dropped out of school, crisscrossed Kigali in search for a job to no avail. Then the idea of selling milk to a nearby kindergarten school near my home came to me. However, the earnings from this business were not enough to buy me a refrigerator and enable me rent a bigger place to start a restaurant,” Gilbert says. more[...]

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Light at Home: Sustainable Energy Access in Isolated Rural Areas

Juan Ramón Silva Ferrada, Acciona

The ACCIONA Microenergy Foundation was created to focus the Company’s efforts on social development activities that could meet the real demands and basic needs of the rural population in developing countries. The Foundation’s goal is to work with others to increase access to basic energy, water, or infrastructure services for people and communities that lack the means to acquire such basic services. more[...]

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Indigenously Produced Organic Fruit

Gerd Pfitzenmeier
Amazon Carribean Guayana

In his factory hidden in the jungle, the French adventurer Pierre Saint-Arroman has taught indigenous workers how to harvest certified organic hearts of palm and pineapples, pack them in cans and ship them to customers in Europe’s organic stores and U.S. malls. With these goods, Amcar and the indigenous people create “benefits for everyone involved”, Richard notes in summarizing the basic business idea. Economic success is, of course, important to him and Pierre Saint-Arroman – but at the same time, they want to help the inhabitants of the Orionoco Delta. “In the first 15 years of our work, Guyana went through economic crises,” Xavier Richard remembers. “Today, the people earn a secure income from Amcar.” more[...] login_required

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