Methanex Egypt partnered with the Egyptian Food Bank to provide food boxes to 10,000 families in Damietta where it operates its Methanol production plant. The focus of the campaign is the provision of support to ‘Day Workers’– those who depend on their daily wages to survive one day at a time and who have been significantly impacted by the current curfew and call for social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Egyptian Food Bank distributed nine thousand boxes, and Methanex Egypt distributed one thousand boxes in cooperation with the National Council for Women in Kafr El-Batikh and Al-Senaniya Villages to support the affected families during the holy month of Ramadan.
This initiative comes as part of Methanex’s commitment to bring positive change to the communities within which it operates through sustainable initiatives that stem from the real needs of community. Methanex Egypt also set up an Employee Matching Fund whereby the company matched employee contributions to the Egyptian Food Bank campaign in full. The successful employee donation campaign has enabled Methanex to support more than 2,600 additional families bringing the total number of families supported by Methanex to 12,680.
Commenting on the initiative, Mohamed Shindy, Methanex Egypt’s Managing Director said, “We strongly believe in the important role companies can play to support communities, and that social responsibility should be an integral part of corporate activities and strategies. We are proud of our role in supporting the community in Damietta through partnering with the Egyptian Food Bank’s timely and targeted campaign to support day workers in Damietta particularly in light of the current COVID 19 pandemic..”
This initiative reflects Methanex Egypt’s commitment to Social Responsibility, a pillar of the company’s Responsible Care ethic, ensuring continued engagement with the surrounding communities through sustainable initiatives focusing on youth and women empowerment in addition to health, environment and education.
This campaign complements the two-year partnership agreement between Methanex Egypt and the International Labor Organization signed in February 2019 to extend ILO’s flagship project ‘Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People’ (“DJEP”), funded by Canada, to Damietta and aims to create decent employment opportunities for youth in the governorate of Damietta, focusing on employment creation through promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating job matching processes.
