Social Welfare Area
- Argentina. Hermanas de la Cruz Congregation
- Peru. Hermanas Josefinas de la Caridad Congregation
- Mexico. Zimapán Community Support Foundation
- Chile. Construction of homes
- Brazil. Environmental awareness-raising and interaction with the community
- Nicaragua. Aid for children
- Spain. Aid for the elderly
Abengoa has a real commitment to society, especially the communities in which it is present, and for this reason it strives to grow together with them and through them by fostering the creation of ties that strengthen the company’s relationship with society in the long term and by promoting a respect for human rights and the environment within its sphere of influence.
Abengoa’s commitment to society, sustainable development and the environment is present in all of its activities, and it is particularly projected through the Focus-Abengoa Foundation.
Back in 1982, the year it was created, the Focus-Abengoa Foundation pledged itself to contributing to improving the living conditions of the most vulnerable social groups. Ever since then, the Foundation’s social welfare endeavours have been targeted at the integration of disadvantaged collectives, with special attention on disabled persons.
Argentina. Hermanas de la Cruz Congregation
The Focus-Abengoa Foundation works with the Hermanas de la Cruz Congregation, a religious entity founded by Saint Ángela de la Cruz that has been acting for almost 38 years non-stop in Argentina. The Santa Ángela Charitable Foundation was set up in 2008.
The Foundation’s social intervention revolves around groups that live in situations of vulnerability - poverty and indigence, inequality and discrimination due to their capacity or gender, lack of food and health safety, and educational risk - which prevents them from going through the normal stages of development and attaining better welfare conditions. These groups include:
- disabled individuals,
- children and adolescents in a situation of social risk, and
- young and adult women who have not finished primary and secondary school.
In 2008, the stress was placed on assisting poor families whose basic needs remained unmet. The activities take place at three different centres located in Quimilí and Monte Quemado, in the province of Santiago del Estero, and in Alderetes, in the province of Tucumán. Focus-Abengoa’s cooperation materialised by building spaces that are accessible to everyone; by implementing practices drawn up for those spaces; by direct contributions of food for the children eating at the cafeterias; and by supplying medicine for the healthcare centres.
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Focus-Abengoa’s action programme seeks to balance opportunities, ensure minorities’ access to social and cultural opportunities, and promote the integration and social participation of the discriminated groups.
The most important advances in 2008 in terms of both building infrastructures and the programmes themselves, were the following:
Infrastructure work |
| Quimilí |
| Completion of the building for the Cooking School Project, intended to teach and integrate people in a protected workshop. |
| Complete remodeling of the congregation bathrooms. |
| Installation of a new rainwater drainage system for the Home. |
| Monte Quemado |
| Construction of an irrigation system through underground water capture. |
| Adaptation of all bathrooms for live-in residents of the Monte Quemado Home, according to their disabilities. |
| Alderetes |
| Completion of the remodeling of the Holy Family property adjacent to the new convent for physical education activities, cooking workshop, academic and dance classes. |
| Furnishing of the cooking class areas, including garbage bags, stoves, ovens and exhaust fans. |
| Construction of a multi-purpose game room/gymnasium. |
Programmes
The working areas of the programmes in the different centres are:
- Non-formal Education (NFEA).
- Corporal Education and Sports (PSEA).
- Job Training (OTA).
Quimilí |
| PSEA |
| Annual assessment (FODA system), swimming practice in indoor and outdoor pool. |
| Increase in the number of beneficiaries in outdoor exercise activities by 46 mentally impaired, deaf or multi-handicapped children, teenagers and adults. |
| Continued therapeutic exercises led by a kinesthesiologist and an occupational therapy specialist. |
| Continued psychomotor exercises handled by a physical education teacher. |
| First-time implementation of sports workshops adapted for the disabled. |
| Second Annual “Let’s Play I Can” Social Awareness Seminar. |
| Design and implementation of the “Workshop on production and social integration for disabled adults”. |
| Improvement in the organization of the women’s “Play with Us” volleyball tournament and the adapted “Spring Day” track and field meet, with over 90 participants. |
| Implementation of basketball and soccer programs. |
| Organization of the “Yes to children’s sports, no to child labor” children’s tournament. |
| OTA |
| “Basic Computer Skills for Women” was offered for the second year in a row. |
| Inclusion into the calendar of sessions on social problems: tolerance, respect, inclusive and exclusive places, diversity and social advantages. |
| Initiation of work training in the cooking area, with 60 women registered. |
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Monte Quemado |
| The San Cayetano Home |
| NFEA |
| Planting of green spaces and supply of an irrigation system. |
| Increase in the number of boys and girls participating in boys’ and girls’ soccer program. |
| Academic support and follow-up. Detection of learning difficulties. |
| Local and regional tournaments. |
| Implementation of a balanced diet, based on local products. |
| Promotion of local care and hygiene. |
| Training of cooks in the use of the new kitchen and its utensils. |
| Mejora e incremento de los recursos humanos. |
| Work training in gardening and flower keeping for teenagers. |
| Home of Saint Angela |
| PSEA |
| Continued organization and participation in indoor bocce ball and basketball tournaments. |
| Work on disability-based discrimination: “I see, I see…What do you see? Your ability”. |
| Rise in the number of dancers and weekly hours, as well as improvements to the staging of integrated dance practice. |
| Festival organization and performance. |
| Town Festival, Copeño Cheese Fair, Autonomy Day. |
| Participation in tournaments and company events. |
| Support for various local children’s tournaments and the Chaco Santiagueño regional children’s tournament. |
| “Mini is Friendship” local boys’ and girls’ basketball tournament. |
| NFEA |
| Teamwork involving workshops and seminars. |
| Work on the school calendar and on involving local issues. |
| Second annual “My First Story” project with students from the San Cayetano Home. |
| Sixty stories were presented. |
| Implementation of the first “Computer-based Reading Project”, enabling teachers to take a basic computer skills class offered at the Congregation. |
| Creation of a psycho-pedagogical department for addressing emotional, family and developmental conflicts that hinder children’s learning. The department has a social worker and a phonoaudiologist who work under the supervision of a psycho-pedagogical specialist. |
| Second annual “Course on Physical Education and Therapy Theory”. Analysis of medical-healthcare principles during awareness sessions and tournaments. |
| Organization of dance and diversity sessions. |
| Computer skills course, for the second year in a row. |
| Increase in the number of computers: 20 in total. |
| Creation of the “From Inside to Inside” food bank, in order to supply canteens most in need in the area to the north of Santiago del Estereo. |
Alderetes |
| OTA |
| Implementation of a pre-workshop for operators under the age of 16. |
| Implementation of protected workshops for making baked products and confections, which was very popular, thanks, in part, to the availability of free transportation for attending classes. |
| PSEA |
| Adapted sports practice and integrated dance. |
| Execution of the first “Alderetes 2008. Let’s Play I Can” workshop. |
| Eradication of child labor and gender-based discrimination problems. |
| Basketball practice. |
| Organization of a women’s basketball championship for promoting equality. |
| Children’s soccer games in the “Los Gutiérrez” neighborhood, an area facing extreme social and health-related problems. |
| “Yes to children’s sports, no to child labor” children’s soccer tournament. |
| NFEA |
| Academic support and follow-up for children aged 8 to 13 from the “Los Gutiérrez” neighborhood, an area with a high school dropout rate. |
| “Creative Hands” drawing contest aimed at bringing children from the community together. |
Impacts on the communities of Quimilí, Alderetes and Monte Quemado
In 2008, several projects were completed with the local communities, while many others were launched, including the implementation of pioneering therapeutic formulas and the second edition of some programmes.
These communities’ participation in social, sports, artistic, educational and job practices, as well as in the inclusive, free-of-charge spaces set up by the Congregation and the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, is increasingly numerous and more active.
As a result of our ongoing support, the number of volunteers and disabled children and children from the lower social strata participating in all these activities has risen. Citizens’ awareness of the problems of gender and disability has also increased.
This year, Abengoa was awarded the “Charitable Entrepreneur” prize from the Social Ecumenical Forum in the category of companies thanks to its integration efforts in the community, a prize that is now in its 7th edition.
Peru. Hermanas Josefinas de la Caridad Congregation
Abengoa launched a social welfare programme to tend to the basic needs at the Hermanas Josefinas’
residences and nursery schools in Peru. In Spain, too, this order tends to the needs of the elderly living at the San Rafael Retirement Home and the La Milagrosa Foundation.
This institute was set up in Peru on the 11th of March 1982 by Sister Carmen Font, with whom Abengoa has been working since 2005.
The purpose of the programme is to improve the quality of life of children and the elderly through:
- healthcare and economic aid, and
- aid to repair the quarters (bedrooms, dining room, kitchen) or build new spaces.
The beneficiaries of this agreement are the more than 70 elderly people that the Hermanas Josefinas care for at three senior citizen centres, as well as the 70 children that receive care at the nursery school.
The programme’s more general goals include improving the healthcare and social conditions of the people tended to by the Congregation by ensuring that they have infrastructures that meet their needs, as well as fostering respect for the environment, teamwork and the social integration of collectives by promoting healthcare and social activities.
Its more specific and immediate goals include the project of training a group of at least 15 volunteers to participate continuously in social action programmes, to maintain the level and commitment of healthcare with the Hermanas de la Caridad, and to build a geriatric pavilion in the Madre Caterina Senior Citizens Residence in Comas, Lima (Peru).
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Action priorities in 2008
We are seeking the best match between the socioeconomic needs and quality of life of the different collectives and Abengoa’s social endeavours. The priority in the first stage of this process is caring for children and the elderly in situations of social and economic abandonment and aiding at religious centres.
In the month of April, a disease prevention campaign was held as part of the project entitled Extension and Improvement of the Drinking Water and Sewage project in Manchay, in an effort to determine their health status and detect possible illnesses. To accomplish this, the main clinics in the zone participated in this effort.
A total of 250 workers underwent medical check-ups, and another 200 employees received tetanus vaccines in conjunction with the Ministry of Health (MINSA).
Results |
| Mother Caterina geriatric home (Callao-Lima) |
| Assistance and care of 28 socially excluded senior citizens by 4 nuns and 11 assistants. |
| Infrastructures |
| Construction of the new geriatric ward to accommodate a further 28 senior citizens. |
| Equipment |
| Blankets and pajamas were distributed to the senior citizens, and an industrial clothes dryer was purchased for the residence. |
| Donation of various other small household appliances. |
| Saint Joseph geriatric residence (Chontabamba) |
| Twelve senior citizens over the age of 60 with serious economic problems are cared for here. The facility is managed by 3 nuns and an assistant worker. |
| Maintenance |
| Continued monthly donation. |
Mexico. Zimapán Community Support Foundation
Through the Zimapán Community Support Foundation (ACZ), the organisation created for this purpose, Abengoa sponsors diverse activities in the communities near its waste treatment plant in the Mexican town of Zimapán.
The main social problems in Zimapán include migration to both cities and nearby countries like the United States; the lack of jobs and opportunities for the local people; illiteracy due to poor quality education; difficult access to technical and professional levels; and a lack of financing, which prevents productive activities from being promoted, which is in turn reflected in the low or nonexistent transformation of the products.
In terms of the environment, the main problem lies in the soil, which is being depleted (deforestation, erosion and infertility), along with the lack of enough land or proper planning of the resources.
The main goal of the ACZ Foundation is to spearhead a social and organisational process made up of actions organised by the community in which the community also participates, as well as to develop the skills and capabilities that contribute to promoting social, economic and environmental development in order to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the community.
In order to accomplish this, community jobs are
being promoted, and in this way the common
benefits rise and the welfare and quality of life
improve through meetings and workshops.
Chile. Construction of homes
The NGO “Un Techo para Chile” (A Roof for Chile) was founded in 1997 when a Jesuit priest, today a chaplain, Felipe Berríos, and a group of young Chileans who were concerned about the country’s poverty decided to bring together students from different universities to construct several buildings in the town of Curanilahue in southern Chile. At that time, 350 dwellings were built for families living in extreme poverty. Despite the fact that this was a specific initiative without any future prospects, the resounding success of the project motivated these young adults to continue helping the neediest. Today, this institution is present in 12 countries in Latin America.
“Un Techo para Chile” works with poor families who are generally living in encampments and want to settle in a prosperous community with a decent life. The organisation tries to cover their most urgent needs, like housing (by building “mediaguas”, or temporary emergency homes) and social and educational needs, including schooling, managing micro-credits, opening up libraries and skills-building courses. It also tries to support them in creating new neighbourhoods.
As a volunteer with “Un Techo para Chile”, Abengoa helps to build homes in the different encampments where this NGO is present and offer families a temporary solution that might signal the start of an improvement in their quality of life.
To date, we have participated in the following projects:
- Waste management centre El Norte, in Antofagasta.
- Charrúa, near Chillán.
- Polpaico, north of Santiago.
- Santa Sofía Macul, in Santiago.
- Quillota San Luis, north of Santiago.
Brazil. Environmental awareness-raising and interaction with the community
Brazil is a country that is rich in diversity because of its cultural mix inherited through immigration. This reality has led Abengoa to launch several initiates to achieve higher environmental awareness in society and to foster interaction with the community.
The main activities conducted in 2008 were:
- Environmental awareness-raising campaign among parents, teachers and students in conjunction with Brazil’s IBAMA Fire Prevention Programme (PrevFogo) and the National System to Prevent and Combat Forest Fires.
- Aid for workers on leave of absence by delivering baskets with basic foodstuffs.
- Donation of sports equipment and supplies for the children’s and young adults’ football school.
- Donation of personal care products to the needy geriatric associations in the zones.
- Donation of food and clothing to different organisations that help needy families.
- “Winter without Cold” volunteer campaign to raise money and collect food and clothing for the neediest people in Santa Cruz das Palmeiras and Vargem Grande do Soul.
- Help for the flood victims in the Santa Catarina community in Brazil by contributing 4,000 school uniforms (trousers and shirt).
Nicaragua. Aid for children
Nicaragua is the poorest country in America after Haiti, a reality that is reflected in the thousands of orphaned or abandoned children, hence the high rates of child illiteracy, the prevalence of childhood illness, the sexual exploitation of children, child labour and other social ills.
The Hosanna Boarding School shelters abandoned children, covering their basic needs and offering them a proper education until they reach adulthood and join society.
This school has already rescued 30 abandoned children, almost all of them from the city of Tipitapa (Nicaragua) and the zone of Chureca (Managua), which is the home to the largest rubbish heap in Central America, where around 3,000 people live.
In 2008, Abengoa conducted numerous projects to improve the orphanage: installation of a tiled floor at the entrance to the school, construction of sanitation infrastructures, purchase of a purifier to make the water from the faucets drinkable, reinforcement of the equipment used to educate at the centre, purchase of furniture and computers and help for the school and nursing team.
Spain. Aid for the elderly
The elderly are a cornerstone of our society, hence the need to ensure that they are well cared for. To accomplish this, in 1991 Abengoa, through the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, helped the Company of Jesus to build the San Rafael Retirement Home. This building currently houses 60 elderly people in the Sevillian town of Dos Hermanas. Every year, Abengoa renews its commitment to them and contributes to the maintenance, improvement and modernisation of the facilities at the centre. The San Rafael Charitable Foundation was set up in 2008 in conjunction with the Company of Jesus.
Likewise, the Focus-Abengoa Foundation and the La Milagrosa Foundation in San Roque (Cádiz) signed an agreement to promote the practice of healthcare activities for the elderly, professional training for young adults and the unemployed, and social cooperation with the most disadvantaged members of society. In 2008, the construction of a residence was completed, furniture was purchased and the building was officially opened.
Both the San Rafael Charitable Foundation and the La Milagrosa Foundation are tended to by the Hermanas Josefinas de la Caridad Congregation, a religious institution linked to Abengoa and headquartered in Peru.
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