| Clean water, bright future - Holcim Vietnam |
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Description Holcim's approach to community involvement - including needs assessments and stakeholder consultation - is amply demonstrated by the water supply and sanitation (WaSSan) project of Holcim Vietnam. |
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Objectives Scheduled for completion by mid-2004, the project brings clean water and sanitation to 12 schools in the Binh An region. Our aim, to help build livable communities, benefits Binh An's future in two ways - by developing infrastructure, and by supporting education. |
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ActivitiesTo define and better understand the needs of Holcim's local community, the company engaged an external consultant to conduct a socioeconomic and environmental assessment. The assessment concluded that an appropriate CSR project for Holcim would be the supply of clean water to the community, thereby also improving the environment. A joint project team was established with the People's Committee of the local commune. Responsibilities were assigned, the scope of work defined, and the design determined. Working in this way, Holcim develops a close relationship with the Binh An community to improve the future of the region, together. WaSSan has targeted three geographic areas. The first is within the municipal water grid. Four construction sites are involved - the first being the largest primary school of Hon Chong. Scheduled for renovation by provincial authorities in any case, WaSSan's work has contributed to a newly renovated school for some 540 students. By working hand-in-hand with the community on this site first, it provided a successful pilot for the other implementations. The second project area includes five sites that have no public water service, but potential water access from the drilling of wells. Here, the project team will work with the local parish to pipe water from the wells to local schools. Meanwhile, a third project area includes three schools without water service. Assessments are being conducted as to the best methods to integrate these schools into the project. Of critical importance to the long-term sustainability of WaSSan is hygiene-awareness training to ensure that the schools make best use of their new infrastructure. Courses are conducted at each school once work is complete. Students, school administrators and maintenance personnel, as well as the parent-teacher association, are all targeted by this training, to help teach the students good hygiene and to train schools how to properly maintain the systems. |
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Results Contribution from Holcim employees at corporate office in Switzerland through a previous Holcim Vietnam initiative, a national painting competition for school students, is helping to fund the project. The company matched this fund-raising - dollar for dollar. And now, CHF 50,000 can be channeled back into the community to make a tangible difference to these children's future - closing the loop, as well as ensuring that our employees have an opportunity to contribute, even from half a world away. Similar water supply and sanitation projects are now operating in Bangladesh and Croatia - the latter under the title of 'Water for Life'. Holcim's own community of practice can ensure that the experience gained by field work in one Holcim community is successfully multiplied to other locations where such needs are identified. |
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