- Menudos Corazones, Vicente Ferrer and Aceesca were the NGOs picked in this year’s Ferrovial Stronger Together funding round.
- The program allocated close to 2 million euros to projects that seek to improve living standards in a range of communities.
- “Stronger Together”, “Social Infrastructure” and “Social Action in Spain” are the company’s community outreach initiatives, alongside the recently-created “Ferrovial Together COVID-19” fund.
Close to 200,000 people have experienced a significant improvement in living standards as a result of Ferrovial Stronger Together, the company’s corporate social responsibility program conducted in cooperation with NGOs in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. The program, which has received approximately 2 million euros, embodies the company’s goal of having a positive impact on communities and the environment, as well as contributing to the attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Menudos Corazones Foundation, Vicente Ferrer Foundation and Aceesca were the not-for-profit non-governmental organizations chosen in this year’s round of Ferrovial Stronger Together. Created in 2005, the program is based on the commitment, shared by Ferrovial and its employees, to improving living conditions for people at risk of social vulnerability. It is funded by employee donations which are matched by Ferrovial. To date, 42 projects have been funded by this program.
Carlos Cerezo, Ferrovial’s Chief Human Resources Officer, highlighted the company’s commitment to society in a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic impact, especially on families that were already in a vulnerable situation. “As it has done on many occasions, Ferrovial mobilized in time, and both the employees and the company responded generously to overcome obstacles in such a difficult period. At critical junctures, Ferrovial and its employees rise to the occasion.”
Projects selected in the fifteenth edition of Ferrovial Stronger Together
Menudos Corazones is a foundation that helps children with heart disease and their families. It is currently implementing “Igual que en casa” (Just like home), a project to provide safe accommodation free of charge to alleviate the difficulties faced by parents who must travel to Madrid for an operation on a child born with a heart problem. The funds from Ferrovial Stronger Together will enable the foundation to complete refurbishment and improvements to its house, so as to benefit over 240 people and continue providing safe, decent accommodation for many years to come.
Another beneficiary this year was the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in India. The funds will go to the new Anganwadi center, currently under construction in India. These new facilities will enable over 150 children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and disadvantaged teenagers from the village to receive specific care that is appropriate to their needs, such as pre-school education, nutritional supplements and social and healthcare for nursing mothers and pregnant women.
Additionally, to provide persons with intellectual disabilities with training and access to the labor market, Ferrovial will support Aceesca. The funds from Ferrovial Stronger Together will enable this association to build a facility of over 2,500 square meters where the association’s professional training school will be able to provide certified training to more than 200 students with intellectual disabilities through the Dual system, which combines classroom learning with work experience.
A global commitment
Ferrovial has other corporate social responsibility programs underway, such as “Social Infrastructure”, which has brought water to more than 238,000 people and guaranteed basic sanitation in several communities in Latin America and Africa. Ferrovial’s participation in this initiative, which has received 6.4 million euros to date, goes beyond the financial endowment, as it also contributes its knowledge and experience to these projects by involving its employees, who travel to the communities where each project is being implemented.
The company’s “Social Action in Spain” program is the first corporate responsibility program that the company implemented as a result of the economic crisis. It has provided support to NGOs such as the Red Cross, Caritas, Banco de Alimentos and the Altius Foundation, benefiting over 77,000 people by refurbishing and outfitting meal centers and food banks in such cities as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, La Coruña, Murcia, Santander, Seville, Cordoba and Granada.
As part of its unwavering commitment to society, Ferrovial also created “Ferrovial Juntos COVID-19”. This fund has distributed 8.7 million euros to institutions working to combat the pandemic in the social and healthcare dimensions and in research, in Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Poland and Portugal.
