SAINT-GOBAIN INITIATIVES FOUNDATION

Through the Saint-Gobain Initiatives Foundation, the company funds or provides technical expertise for projects nominated and sponsored by current employees and retirees. In sub-Saharan Africa, many projects for school renovations have been supported by the Saint-Gobain Initiatives Foundation.

KINBU PRIMARY SCHOOL (GHANA)

Built in 1997 with UNICEF aid and then renovated with the support of the Saint-Gobain Initiatives Foundation, this school was inaugurated in October 2015.

The foundation funded the restoration of the playground, which was initially made of laterite (red brick).

NAGUM PRIMARY SCHOOL (KENYA)

This school was identified in 2014 by a Saint-Gobain employee and the foundation contributed to the complete rebuilding of four classrooms, replacing the former timber buildings.

Working alongside project leader France Kenya Sport Solidarité, the parties involved local economic, social and political stakeholders.

Local companies were consulted to perform the work under strict budgetary conditions.

The Saint-Gobain Initiatives Foundation funded the foundations and walls of the four classrooms, in which 370 pupils take turns for their lessons.

ADOPT-A-SCHOOL FOUNDATION (SOUTH AFRICA)

Saint-Gobain partnered with the Adopt-a-School Foundation, a non-profit organisation that supports the creation and enhancement of a better learning and teaching environment in disadvantaged schools.

Three schools that desperately needed additional facilities were identified in 2015.

- Sonwabo Primary School in Gugulethu (Western Cape), was in desperate need of additional classrooms to alleviate the overcrowding.

- Inyonemhlophe Secondary School in Isipingo (KwaZulu-Natal) needed a kitchen facility for the provision of a feeding scheme for the learners, as some of them rely on meals provided by the school as their only source of nourishment.

- Mvelaphanda Primary School in Tembisa (Gauteng) had 850 learners making do with very limited ablution facilities. It now has a modern, safe and hygienic ablution facility consisting of eight girls’ toilets and eight boys’ toilets, a handicapped toilet and five washbasins in each bathroom.

Saint-Gobain financed the building of the additional facilities at all the schools and supplied various construction solutions from its various brands, including Saint-Gobain Gyproc (ceiling boards and grids), Saint-Gobain Isover (ceiling insulation), Saint-Gobain Weber (tiling products and surface preparation for floor and wall tiles), and Saint-Gobain PAM (water and drain pipes).

In addition, temporary workers from the local communities were employed and trained to install the products correctly, ensuring the facilities are of the highest standard.

The project manager and the quality assurance manager appointed on the projects monitored the safety of labourers, who were provided with personal protective equipment when on site, to ensure their safety was not compromised.

“We had incredible support from local partners for each project, we are most grateful to BUCO, Andersons, Casabella, Franke, MPR Foundation, SPAR Build-it, Imports International Limited and J&K Transporters for their generous contributions towards the individual projects,”

David Anderson, General Delegate - sub-Saharan Africa Delegation, Saint-Gobain.