The Holcim CSR approach is strategic, not philanthropic. This approach aims to build the capacity of people and organisations through investment and engagement, which goes beyond the act of corporate donation. Since the launch of Holcim’s CSR policy in 2003, all Holcim Group companies have integrated the approach in their business plan and have developed a CSR strategy based on local needs assessment and active stakeholder involvement in planning, management and evaluation of CSR engagement.
 
Holcim links CSR engagement with business activities and this Group focuses on projects in collaboration with local stakeholders, where Holcim expertise can contribute to achieving greater impacts. Engagement areas include the provision of education, contributions to building infrastructure and sustainable community development.

Ambuja Cements Limited and the ACC Limited became a part of the Holcim Group right from 2005. Since 1993, Ambuja Cements Limited has engaged in community development work around its manufacturing plants through its foundation, Ambuja Cements Foundation (ACF). Its mission is to energise, involve and enable communities to realise their potential, working alongside rural communities, local NGOs and governmental and international organisations. This approach helps generate a pool of knowledge and resources that can be leveraged to ensure that the value of every rupee invested is multiplied many times over in the community. The foundation currently works with 670 villages in 10 states.

During the previous years, the focus of the ACFs work has been around projects related to water management. In Kodinar, for example, Ambuja Cement’s plant and mines are located between the Arabian Sea and the Gir Sanctuary and National Park. Over-exploitation of natural resources, faulty cropping patterns, erratic rainfall and increasing populations have all contributed to higher salinity in the local water supply and reduced the availability of freshwater.

After consulting with the local communities, it became clear that these problems could be addressed through large-scale water harvesting, less water-intensive crop cultivation and adoption of micro-irrigation devices. Ambuja Cements and community members collaborated on water resource projects, and constructing streams, ponds and wells to ensure a consistent freshwater supply throughout the region, benefitting thousands of farmers.
 
In addition to these community projects implemented through the ACF, Ambuja Cements is making targeted efforts to transfer its knowledge in the building and construction sector. After the devastating earthquake in Kutch, Gujarat in 2001, the company saw the need to mitigate the demand for skilled construction workers by training the local unemployed youth and construction labourers. This training, a combination of classroom and field modules, helped to provide career and employment opportunities, created livelihoods and contributed to the rebuilding of the region. Following up on this positive experience, Ambuja Cements engaged in a partnership with the NGO AASK in 2005. The main purpose of the partnership was the development and the actual construction of a rural building centre that would provide vocational training for the masons. Ambuja partially financed this project, contributed in a significantly way to the development of the curriculum of the training courses, and oversaw both the implementation and method of examination.

ACC, India’s largest cement manufacturer with countrywide operations, focuses on one of India’s major public health issues. In addition to its long-standing and effective projects that contribute, for example, to the provision of education and health services in communities where the company operates, it felt the need to participate meaningfully in the national effort to combat HIV/AIDS. In 2006, ACC adopted a workplace policy for HIV/AIDS to safeguard the fundamental rights of any employee who may be affected, becoming one of the few companies in India to do so. The policy guarantees care and treatment for employees who may be affected and also aims at spreading awareness of this disease among employees, their families and the communities in the spheres of influence of the company.

In a bold and significant move, the company established two treatment centres in states with high prevalence of the disease. The first Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) Centre was set up in Wadi in Karnataka where ACC’s largest cement plant is located. Inaugurated in January 2007 it is equipped with all the facilities as prescribed by National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) ART guidelines. The centre provides voluntary counseling and testing services for patient outreach and awareness programmes. This centre works closely with highly committed local NGOs and has tied up with reputed hospitals in nearby Gulbarga for referral linkages. Condom-vending facilities have been installed at the ART centre as also other places. According to the Christian Medical College, the Wadi centre will help avert 250 deaths every year and give those afflicted a lease of life that can be extended by ten years.

These projects are representative of the numerous activities conducted by Holcim Group companies in all countries where the group is present and reflect the group’s sincere commitment to contribute to improving the quality of the lives of its stakeholders within its local spheres of influence. q

Stefanie Koch
Holcim Group Support Ltd.
stefanie.koch@holcim.com

 

Holcim is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates (crushed stone, gravel and sand) as well as further activities such as ready-mix concrete and asphalt including services. The group holds majority and minority interests in more than 70 countries on all the continents.
With inputs from CSR teams at ACC and Ambuja Cements.            

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