Community projects

Our Community Program is a worldwide initiative that encourages employees to get involved in their local communities.

It’s an opportunity for AkzoNobel colleagues to contribute to local projects that need hands-on, professional support. We hope that over time these initiatives will become self-supporting.

The success of the Community Program relies on the enthusiasm of our employees – and so far, more than 2,500 of them have got involved in over 500 projects around the world.

Here are just a few of those projects:

1st Prize - 2007 Best Practices Competition

Little Sunshine House Visits to help children study, play and generally feel loved and happy, make a real difference at The Little Sunshine House. The youngsters there are seriously ill with kidney disease, and need love and care as well as financial support.

2nd Prize - 2007 Best Practices Competition

New school facilities for Sigaru Montessori School Purchase of land to build a new school in Chennai will allow beggars’ and other street children to study for and do Government-certified exams, opening up new and better opportunities in their lives.

3rd Prize - 2007 Best Practices Competition

Emercency flood in Jakarta Heavy rains since the 1st of February 2007 have caused massive flooding in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Floods are common in Indonesia during the rainy season but the level of devastation has made these floods the worst to hit Jakarta in five years.

1st Prize - 2006 Best Practices Competition

Key to life Children in the Itupeva area of São Roque da Chave in Brazil are learning the Key to Life and face a brighter future with better prospects, thanks to the innovative project which won first prize in Akzo Nobel’s Best Practice Competition.

2nd Prize - 2006 Best Practices Competition

Casa Familia and Vida The high rate of drug abuse, gang activity and prostitution means children from the Jandira suburb of São Paolo are at greater risk of homelessness than in many areas. Casa Familia & Vida provides a permanent home and gives youngsters a chance to live out their dreams.

3rd Prize - 2006 Best Practices Competition

Hui Xin Orphanage The lives of infants being cared for at the Hui Xin Orphanage in Shanghai are so much happier thanks to regular visits by employees from Akzo Nobel’s Marine & Protective Coatings.

Other projects

	La Hormoguita Kindergarten The renovation of La Hormiguita Kindergarten has had positive benefits for the whole community as well as the children that go there.
	Happy Children - Happy Youth For three weeks every year, 140 children aged from 6 to 15 enjoy a very special summer camp organized by the Elefsis Care Centre in Greece.
	Healthcare for the Elderly Reaching out to help an elderly lady as she fainted during the Sant Adrià de Besòs Festival was just the start of Francisco Garrote’s involvement with the Arsis Foundation.
	Social Playgrounds Employees of Decorative Coatings have helped to build a number of new play areas for children living in economically and socially deprived parts of Wloclawek, Poland.