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Topics on this page:
Neighbours and Society
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Investing in the future
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Offering young people career opportunities
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BASF employees take the initiative
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Working together in the Knowledge Factory
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Developing Together as Good Neighbors |
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Our Values and Principles state our commitment to making a positive contribution to social development - not only through our business activities. Through our involvement in numerous projects worldwide, we actively support the communities in which our sites are located.
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Neighbours and Society
The BASF Group spent a total of €67.2 million on community-based, social, educational, scientific, sports, artistic and cultural projects in 2006 (2005: €56.8 million). Of the total amount, 33.6% was in the form of donations and 66.4% went toward sponsorship activities and our own community projects.
Our economic success also depends on the social acceptance of our activities. This applies especially in the communities and regions in which our sites are located. The projects we fund are as diverse as the locations involved. At some sites, financial support is needed to lay the foundation for sustainable development. At others, we enter into joint initiatives with partners. Local BASF decision-makers are responsible for selecting projects and choosing the appropriate form and level of assistance. Our involvement is intended to foster positive social development. That is why BASF acts as a partner to local government, institutions and associations. Our activities are focused above all on contributing to the education and well-being of young people. We also consider the voluntary work conducted by our employees to play an important part in maintaining a functioning community.
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Investing in the future
Education is a central issue for BASF. On the one hand, education is a key prerequisite for developing curiosity, imagination and creativity - the key elements of personal development in children and young people. On the other hand, socially just, economically and environmentally compatible development is directly linked to education. By investing in education, we will stay competitive in the long term and secure our future. This is why we are intensifying our commitment in education in the communities in which our sites are located and supporting activities around the world that provide and promote access to education.
In Africa, the support of BASF's social fund for the Lapdesk project has improved educational conditions for 100,000 schoolchildren. In India, we are helping young people from underprivileged backgrounds: Along with basic equipment such as exercise books and writing materials, we provide financial help to enable up to 140 students a year to attend school. BASF supports other school projects in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and the Philippines. In addition, we sponsor science students, for example, in Pakistan and the Philippines.
As the leading chemical company, we want to encourage an interest in science at an early age worldwide. For many years we have successfully offered our hands-on Kids' Lab to children and young people - in 12 countries to date. Children can carry out experiments and discover the exciting world of chemistry. In 2006, the lab visited Hong Kong for the first time.
In the Rhineland-Palatinate area of Germany, BASF sponsors the Young Researchers science competition for young people and has done so for more than 40 years.
In cooperation with other institutions, we bring science closer to children and young people. At our site in Guaratinguetá, Brazil, we launched the "ReAction" program in collaboration with the city of Guaratinguetá, the chemistry department of São Paulo University and the Espaço Eco Foundation. This program provides further training to science teachers. We also support public schools by providing equipment for experiments.
At our site in Guaratinguetá, Brazil, we launched the educational program "ReAction" in 2006 together with partners. The program aims to improve science teaching in schools. Around 500 teachers are receiving training courses in the pilot project. This benefits about 10,000 children aged between 6 and 14 years - not just with regard to science, since the program also builds language skills and creativity.
To encourage an interest in science and innovation among the wider public, BASF supported the Max Planck Society's Science Tunnel exhibition in Asia in 2006. This gave visitors in Singapore and Shanghai an opportunity to take a closer look at the world of science and the cutting edge of research in Germany.
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Offering young people career opportunities
Professional success usually depends on having recognized qualifications. BASF aims to offer as many young people as possible the opportunity of starting a career. In Germany, we have therefore trained far more young people than we actually need for our own requirements for many years. We also support numerous training projects in collaboration with partners from industry, labor unions and the political sphere. One example is the Training Verbund established by BASF in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. Every year we create additional trainee positions in cooperation with more than 600 partner companies. BASF helps the companies to recruit and supervise the trainees, and provides workshops and trainers. The practical part of the training takes place directly at the partner companies. As a result, the young adults receive first-class training and have good chances of being hired by the partner company once they have completed their training.
Together with the BASF Training Verbund, BASF trained a total of 3,135 young people in Germany in 2006. In the same year, 878 young people were taken on as trainees at BASF, thereof 476 within BASF's Training Verbund. A total of 133 of them were accepted on the "Career Launchpad" scheme, a one-year program that provides one-year internships as preparation for a subsequent traineeship for motivated young adults who otherwise have poor chances of finding a training place. In addition to the Training Verbund, BASF supports, the Training Initiative for the Palatinate (AiP) as part of the "We Help the Region Win" campaign. AiP sponsored around 300 new trainee positions in 2006 thanks to a BASF donation of €1.5 million. In 2006, BASF's social fund provided the "Jobchance 100" project with sponsorship totaling €2.5 million. This project helped 100 young unemployed people to improve their career skills and find a job or a trainee position.
In 2006, BASF provided its new "EXPRESS" initiative in Ludwigshafen for the first time. In doing so, we offered young adults the opportunity of applying for a traineeship at an early stage. A team of training experts provided information about whether the applicant's profile matched the company's requirements. Suitable candidates were accepted immediately for an aptitude test. If the candidates' profiles did not match the requirements for their ideal career, the experts also advised them on possible alternatives.
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BASF employees take the initiative
Employees at many of our sites carry out voluntary work, which BASF welcomes and supports. This helps people in distress and at the same time helps our employees to strengthen both specialist and social skills. Our employees act as important drivers for BASF's community projects, and campaigns are often launched as a result of their initiatives.
Helping children lies at the heart of many projects. In Shanghai, for example, BASF employees are involved in the Goodwill Teacher project for children from disadvantaged families. They use their skills to teach English to a group of schoolchildren on weekends. BASF employees in Turkey also help socially disadvantaged children: Volunteers renovated a children's home, thus improving the lives of more than 30 children. In Argentina, BASF employees also saw a need for action: They cooperate with other companies to combat malnutrition in children.
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Working together in the Knowledge Factory
We combine our regional projects in the Knowledge Factory initiative, of which we were a founding member in 2005. The member companies in this initiative aim to make Germany more sustainable as a business location. This is another area in which education plays a major role: The goal is to establish 1,000 educational partnerships between companies and kindergartens and schools in a move to promote a learning culture and creativity in Germany. The "How Does it Work" project provides elementary schoolchildren with specially prepared materials and substances in order to carry out experiments relating to water, air and food. In collaboration with the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, BASF has equipped around 1,000 elementary schools with the necessary experimental kits.
BASF's "Language Makes You Strong" project supports kindergartens and daycare centers in Ludwigshafen. Educational measures for children and their parents - especially those who have come from other countries - are used to promote language skills as the foundation for education.
In 2006, the Knowledge Factory launched the "Children at Work" competition, which focused on successful partnerships between companies and kindergartens or elementary schools. The competition looked for projects in which children dealt with technical, creative or scientific tasks and were able to benefit from the practical knowledge of the companies' employees.
The Knowledge Factory also pursues another goal: promoting entrepreneurship. Through a mentoring program, employees of the member companies provide professional support and advice to young entrepreneurs.
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