We partner with other non-profit organisations on global education, health and community development
Along with projects that support local community development, the ArcelorMittal Foundation backs a number of social and economic development programmes with a global reach. Our aim is to enhance education, health and community development for as many people as possible, and we have partnered with other non-profit organisations on global initiatives whose objectives resonate with our own goals.
Since 2008, the Foundation has been working with Habitat for Humanity to build low-cost housing for economically disadvantaged communities. Together we have designed a light steel frame house, which is affordable, durable and environmentally friendly. This design can be implemented in different environments. To date, the ArcelorMittal Foundation has provided houses for families in Romania, Costa Rica, South Africa, Argentina, Macedonia, Mexico, Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago.
So far, we have provided homes to more than 597 families worldwide through this partnership. And this figure does not include the 2,000 upgradable shelters we provided in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010.
Our employees also support this partnership by volunteering at the construction sites as part of our solidarity holidays initiative.
Another of our major health initiatives involves a bone marrow registry programme. The Foundation has worked with the International Research Group on Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (IRGHET) for 20 years to set up one of the largest bone marrow registries in the world. Originating in France, the project now lists employee-donors in Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, and the US. Our local units also participate in events to create awareness, encourage new donors and raise funds. In Brazil, 5% of the 36,000 people on the national bone marrow registry are employees of ArcelorMittal, or families, suppliers and customers.
We are working with International Baccalaureate (IB), which is an educational programme accepted at schools worldwide. The programme has a challenging curriculum to develop students’ critical thinking, global awareness and understanding of different ways of tackling problems. We have provided scholarships to students for this programme in Bosnia & Herzegovina and supported teacher training in, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, Romania and South Africa.
The Foundation also works with Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) to give young people from different communities fair access to innovative and good-quality educational programmes. With JA-YE, we promote educational programmes that cultivate entrepreneurship by teaching young people about enterprise, business and economics in a practical way. The Foundation currently supports JA-YE programmes in Costa Rica, Czech Republic, India, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago.
In 2012, the ArcelorMittal Foundation entered a new partnership with Ashoka in order to support entrepreneurship among young people in Canada, Mexico and South Africa.