Two months after launching the Tomorrow Rising fund to support Covid-19 emergency relief in April 2020, Schneider Electric’s Foundation moves forward to support recovery and resiliency through education and training programs.
The Tomorrow Rising Fund was launched to support emergency and longer-term reconstruction related to Covid-19 in all the countries where Schneider Electric operates. The Schneider Electric Foundation appealed to its leaders and employees to get involved and all their donations have been matched by the Group. Other external stakeholders and partners have also contributed.
Response, Recovery and Resilience as key priorities
The Fund underlines Schneider Electric’s sustainability commitments by upholding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to fight poverty, and promote good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth and quality education.
The Tomorrow Rising Fund focuses on three priorities:
- Response: crisis support for the immediate needs of low-income people in difficulty living close to Schneider Electric sites;
- Recovery: funding of education and vocational skills projects to rebuild pandemic-impacted communities, as part of the Group’s commitment to train 1 million disadvantaged people by 2025;
- Resilience: connecting Schneider Electric employees and charitable partners through its ambitious global VolunteerIn program.
Since the launch, the fundraising campaign has mobilized employees, customers and partners across more than 60 countries by supporting 65 projects which benefit +800,000 people.
“We’re experiencing unprecedented challenging times, affecting billions of people and many of the world’s disadvantaged young people and teenagers will be more likely to drop out of school due to today’s economic crisis,” explains Gilles Vermot Desroches, Schneider Electric’s Foundation General Delegate and Sustainable Development, Senior Vice-President. “Beyond our initial response, the Tomorrow Rising fund will now provide training and skills to help communities dealing with the consequences of the pandemic.”
Local responses to a global crisis
In Lebanon, Tomorrow Rising and Beit El Baraka provided emergency food relief and donations to maintain technical training during the pandemic with the Graines d’Espérance program and Institut Européen de Coopération et de Développement.
In Mexico, through collaboration with United Way (Fondo Unido Mexico), the fund supports local communities and hospitals with food, hygiene products and protective equipment.
In South Africa, the Embark Foundation distributed food to children and the elderly to ensure they received a decent meal even under lockdown.
In Spain, Fundación Ayuda en Acción works to alleviate child poverty and the fund helped +2,000 families with food and IT supplies for remote learning during strict lockdown.
In the USA, Schneider Electric and its employees have gifted over $230,000 to support our partners Feeding America, Direct Relief and the American Red Cross. These donations will contribute to providing over 880,000 meals, keeping 13,000 frontline healthcare workers safe and getting two blood mobiles on the roads to collect life-saving blood for those who need it.
In Vietnam, Tomorrow Rising is supporting Energies Sans Frontières to provide electrical training and tools for low-income young people to qualify as electricians and earn a steady income.
Learn more about the Tomorrow Rising projects in each country here.
The importance of educational programs to promote equal opportunities
From now on, all Tomorrow Rising funds raised will benefit international energy training projects to develop vocational skills which empower local communities. Since 2019, the Foundation has been supporting educational programs so young people can improve energy access in developing economies. To promote equal opportunities for professional development and social mobility, the Schneider Electric Foundation has built long-standing relationships with locally-run NGOs and training organizations which help young men and women gain experience and qualifications to enter the workforce. To date, Schneider Electric’s employees have clocked up 2,100 hours of voluntary service, sharing their technical expertise and other useful skills in 80 online training sessions to help communities across Brazil, France, Poland, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia and Kazakhstan.
The Tomorrow Rising fundraising and social media campaign will continue to showcase the educational work of Schneider Electric Foundation delegates and their local partners. As well as celebrating World Skills Day on July 15 and International Youth Day on August 12, regular live events on the projects and people benefitting from the fund will be shared via Facebook and Twitter.
To make donations to the Tomorrow Rising fund and show support at this most critical time, visit the Tomorrow Rising website.
