Social partners
Through our partnership with Mercy Corps, Shell helps people in China recover from crises or build better lives and transform their communities.
In 2016, Shell’s shipping business supported a programme in Somalia aimed at steering young people away from piracy and developing the local economy by funding infrastructure projects. Shell worked alongside the United Nations Development Programme, UK oil and gas company BP, Danish shipping group Maersk, Swedish shipping business Stena, Japanese shipping companies NYK, “K”-Line and MOL. We contributed $500,000 to the total $2.5 million the partnership spent on projects for roads, healthcare facilities and training centres.
In Iraq, we have worked in partnership with the AMAR International Charitable Foundation to build a girls’ school in Al Nashwa, close to our Majnoon operations near Basrah in southern Iraq. Together with AMAR, we have also established health projects including four mobile clinics that currently serve more than 30 remote villages. In addition, we have supported a primary health-care centre in Al Dayr that trains 40 women volunteers to deliver health awareness sessions in their local communities.
We have a global partnership with Mercy Corps, an international organisation that helps people to recover from crises, build better lives and transform their communities. In 2016, the partnership focused on creating jobs and promoting entrepreneurship to strengthen local economies. In Myanmar, for example, we worked with Mercy Corps to increase incomes and the resilience of households in Rakhine State, one of the nation’s poorest areas. We trained 1,782 vegetable farmers from households in 32 villages to improve their agricultural practices. We also provided access to advice and new technologies to an additional 1,399 commercial farmers.
In quarter four 2016 we commenced discussions about providing funds to support internally displaced persons affected by the conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria. This resulted in a donation in February 2017 of $2.2 million to Mercy Corps to support their humanitarian relief in the region.
Since 2011, Shell has funded a programme run by Shell Foundation and finance company Grofin that invests in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East and North Africa. The Nomou programme’s approach includes linking these businesses to the supply chains of large companies. Over the last five years it has made 103 investments worth $53 million and created more than 4,000 jobs.
We also continue to work with the Danish Institute of Human Rights to understand and respond to current and emerging human rights issues relevant to our business.
