International Coporate Citizenship

Caribbean: Jamaica

Setting CSR benchmarks

Berger Paints Jamaica's CSR activities are focused on community (neighbouring and wider communities), education, sports and culture.

Adopting school education

Berger Jamaica's association with its adopted school, Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Education, spans over 7 years and numerous initiatives. It facilitated the opening of a computer laboratory at the school in 2003 to impart the children an early start in acquiring computer skills. It also initiated the shares school feeding programme which provides every child with a nutritious lunch, daily.

The CSR acitivities has impacted the students, teachers and, by extension, the Riverton Meadows community. According to the Principal of Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Education, Mr. Junior Rowe, approximately 2,000 persons from the community and its environs have been impacted by Berger Jamaica's involvement.

Driving blood donation

Apart from education, Berger Jamaica feels it is a national duty to assist in areas that affects its people. Blood donation is one issue where Jamaica lags behind its national target. Hence it partnered the National Blood Bank transfusion service to facilitate a Blood Collection Drive at our Head Office and it is our aim and intent for the Drive to be an annual one. Companies in close proximity, business associates and employees were invited to donate blood.

Spreading colour

In its bid to assist growth and development of urban and rural organisations the company tries to assist as many projects through donation of paints as possible. The Scout Association is one such beneficiary. The association in all its outbound communication acknowledges Berger for its generous help.

The unit has been sponsoring the "Jamaica Teacher's Association Roll of Honour", the highest award conferred by the local teaching association, for the past 11 years. Besides, the unit provides a scholarship for the Masters programme tenable at the Caribbean School of Architecture at the University of Technology (UTECH).

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Caribbean: Barbados

Adding spice to the culture

Berger Barbados' major initiatives were towards the promotion of culture and sports. In the beginning of 2004, it sponsored the YMCA hockey team. It was a sponsor at the National Cultural Festival (crop over), a major annual event involving the entire nation. The unit sponsored a team (New Orleans Sports Club in conjunction with the Royal Barbados Police Force) for the National Road (Paddle) Tennis Tournament and hosted one tournament match at the Berger premises (Car Park). This is a rapidly growing local sport which is still restricted to the lower socio-economic community villages, but is widespread across the country. Besides these, the unit actively participated in another activity that is a national attraction - decorating and illuminating roundabouts across the country.

Spreading colour of happiness

Berger Barbados with assistance from Corporate Barbados made one family in Barbados 'House Proud' for the christmas season with a completely refurbished home. The recepients were Myrna Smith and her three children, Lon (19), Makela (9) and Daniel (3) suffering from learning and reading disability, deafness and Down syndrome respectively.

The newly outfitted home was painted with Berger's exclusive colour brands for the interior and exterior. The yard was outfitted with a new 'Dog House Proud' and Makela has a new play/dance house to practice her dance moves, all painted with Berger's 1320 colour range.

Making children happy is part of a day's job at Berger Barbados!!

Quizzing for a cause

Recently Berger Barbados partnered with the Royal Barbados Police Force in their annual Police Community Quiz competition, as a sponsor. The activity provided the unit an opportunity to foster greater alliances with the community and positively influence the children of Barbados.

The Community Quiz competition of the Royal Barbados Police Force is oranised with the purpose to inspire and enable all young children, especially the underprivileged to realise their potential as productive and responsible citizens of their countries in the areas of education and co-operation.

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Caribbean: Trinidad

Impetus to education

Berger Trinidad has adopted education as the central theme for its social initiatives. The unit provides two bursaries of TT$ 5000 each to the U.W.I Development and Endowment Fund at The University of West Indies, each academic year. These bursaries are given to the Best Student in the Faculty of Civil Engineering (Year II & Year III). One Prize each of TT$ 500 is given to the Best Student in Physics (Year II) and Chemistry (Year II) in the Faculty of Agriculture & Natural Sciences. A `Challenge Trophy` is also presented for the Best Practicum in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

In 2004-05, the unit sponsored the Necessary Arts School, a non-profit organisation, for their 'Big Hand' arts programme which is a twelve week workshop on thematic expression of social development through various art forms. The unit also painted the Tobago AIDS Society building, which provides shelter and care to people infected with HIV AIDS.

Colouring national pride

For Berger Trinidad, it was a journey back into history, as it embarked on a mission to beautify The Port of Spain Lighthouse, a national heritage structure standing tall since 1880. Historically known as the St. Vincent Jetty Light, its light could be seen from as far as ten miles.

Berger's effort in conjunction with the Ministry of Works and Transport Highway's Division, led to the transformation of the structure into a tower of national pride. The new design for The Port of Spain Lighthouse commemorates the qualification of the Soca Warriors' squad for the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany. It reflects the euphoria of an athlete draped in national colours, in his winning glory. The design would be modified on an ongoing basis to reflect the achievements of Trinidad & Tobago.

Lighting up the smiles on christmas

Berger Trinidad & Tobago, apart from lighting the lighthouse is involved with lighting up the smiles of small children as well. The employees of Berger Trinidad as part of their Christmas revelry, celebrated the season with the Kindergarten School for underprivileged children in their neighborhood during X-mas.

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Middle East: Bahrain

Helping the cause of education

As part of its effort to bring about a closer interaction between the academia and the industry, Berger Bahrain has initiated discussion with the University of Bahrain, the largest university in the country with over 20,000 students. To kick-start the intiative, the unit awarded certificates and prize money to the best projects done by students of the Civil & Architecture department.

Projects across 4 semesters were chosen. During the final presentation, the projects chosen by Berger Paints were screened seperately. This generated a lot of excitement among students, and were well received by the university faculty.

Middle East : Emirates

Touching the heart of Society

Berger Emirates conducted several social activities for the community during the year. The first among the activities was the visit of 'Special Needs' Children of the Rashid Pediatric Centre to the Berger Emirates factory where the children saw the functioning of the facility and tried their hands at painting. Besides this, the workers of the unit participated in the Dubai Municipality initiative 'Clean Up Your World'. During the massive disaster 'Tsunami', the entire unit came together to provide as much help as possible in the form of clothes, provisions and cash for the victims.

South Asia: Nepal

Preserving culture and heritage

Asian Paints Nepal has been fulfilling its responsibilities towards the community in three ways viz. heritage protection, promotion of the culture of Nepal and helping Government agencies and reputed NGOs. The unit is providing help in the form of paints or assistance in the restoration process for a number of heritage sights like ex-Dharahara, one of Kathmandu's landmarks, Ranipokhari Temple, Baieesdhara Park in Balaju, Shaheed Smarak Park in Hetauda, Vindyabashini temple in Pokhara etc.

The unit has also been active in road safety initatives including putting up traffic road signs and messages in Britanagar, Kathmandu in collaboration with the local ward committee. The unit has given assistance in restoring buildings in Maiti Nepal, a leading NGO and painting assistance was given to the 'Family Volunteer Services', another NGO working in the area of child education and development.

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South Asia: Thailand

Berger reaches out

In Thailand, Berger International (Subsidiary of Asian Paints) has been supporting numerous institutions that serve the local community. In 2005-06, the team literally coloured the working lives of the law keepers - the Police force. The unit donated various paints to the local police station at Samrong Tai. Attapon Dedduang, the Station Chief of Samrong Tai, on behalf of his team expressed gratitude and happiness over the cheerful work environment provided by Berger.

South Asia: Singapore

Anti drug campaign

Drug abuse is a nightmare for any modern society. Understanding this, Berger Paints Singapore co-sponsored the 'Anti-Drug Message Campaign' conducted by People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM) and the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA). During the campaign over 150 secondary schools were provided with canvas banners and paint (Vinyl Silk from Berger Paints Singapore) and students expressed their commitment against drug abuse by creating their palm prints on the banner. The exercise was also carried out at the community centres / clubs across the island and helped in generating a fair amount of awareness on the evils of drug abuse.

South Pacific: Vanuatu

Empowering local community

Apco Coatings, Vanuatu, conducted workshops for locals to impart knowledge on painting and paints. This was conducted by the Vanuatu unit at the Rawandi school at the request of the Aus Aid Project Supervisor, Steve Barton, and Tanna, an island of the Vanuatu group of islands.The purpose was to enhance the skills of the locals and provide them enough opportunities to become self sufficient. The training consisted of a brief presentation on paints and involved an exhaustive session on practical training. Certificates were issued to all participants.

South Pacific: Tonga

Careers and cleanliness

Apco Coatings, Tonga is actively involved with the local community, be it guiding its youth for a bright future or helping the beaches of its islands remain pristine.

The unit participated in "National Career Day" - an exhibition organised by the Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industries of Tonga in May 2005. Besides offering jobs for the youth of Tonga, employees at the stall also explained our manufacturing operations in the country. Around a thousand people visited the Apco Coatings stall.

In another drive to help the islands and beaches of Tonga maintain its pristine beauty, it organised the 'Clean up the World' day at Tonga on 17th Sept 2005. All the major islands of Tonga participated in this event. Apco Coatings sponsored the day's expenses like rubbish collection bags, boxes, transportation of collected rubbish to the dump yard etc.

South Pacific: Fiji

Apco Coatings partnering for progress

Apco Coatings Fiji partnered 'Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises 'N' Development', an NGO, working towards alleviating poverty, for a unique campaign.

The Mural painting project, aimed at developing partnerships to alleviate poverty, through widespread mural painting projects is planning to provide employment for youth, who due to lack of employment opportunity, were taking to crime. To ensure long-term development of these marginalised youth, the project promotes economic empowerment and education. These projects facilitate group discussions to identify collective needs and encourage communities to generate their own solutions. The paint for this project was supplied by Apco Coatings and the project will be now replicated across Fiji.

Taubmans Paints extending a helping hand

The Taubmans Fiji team places great emphasis on safety, health and environment and has been displaying this commitment in all its operations. As a good corporate citizen it has always extended a helping hand to the society in times of need. In 2004, the unit contributed to a number of charities including Red Cross Appeal, Blind Society, Salvation Army, International Women's Association and Tsunami Appeal. It also supported a fund raiser for Rotary with $100 vouchers and provided help to a few schools from which the children have represented Fiji at international forums.

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