DINANT PRIORITIZES SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION IN HONDURAS
Noticias
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lunes 13 noviembre 2023
DINANT PRIORITIZES SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION IN HONDURAS
Agribusiness Increases Investment in Local Students
Dinant regularly provides teaching supplies, snacks, and cleaning materials to local schools.
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, NOVEMBER 13, 2023: Dinant continues to align its extensive community engagement program with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals of providing quality education, ending hunger, and promoting health and well-being. It is in education where Dinant is having a considerable impact.
Roger Pineda Pinel, Dinant’s Director of Corporate Relations and Sustainability, commented, “Dinant takes very seriously its responsibility for local communities. This goes beyond providing local people with sustainable jobs, good wages and a range of health benefits; it means helping to raise the living standards of all community members. I’m particularly proud of the investments Dinant is making to provide better access to quality education in some of the most vulnerable parts of Honduras.”
- Since 2007, Dinant has financed the employment of 12 elementary and high school teachers in the Leán and Aguán valleys, providing direct education to more than 300 children per year and over 4,800 children since the program began.
- For the fourth consecutive year, Dinant donated 2,245 school kits to students at risk of dropping out of school. The kits include a backpack, pens, and notebooks.
- In March, Dinant signed a formal alliance with Escuela Agricola Zamorano, an international university that specializes in agribusiness, to give full scholarships to three students that require financial aid to pursue their careers.
- In May, Dinant donated US$10,700 to enable robotics students of the Sunshine School of Tegucigalpa to travel to Houston, USA, to represent Honduras at the international FIRST LEGO League.
- In June, Dinant partnered with local authorities in Tocoa on the “Trueque Verde” – or “Green Exchange” – initiative. School and university students exchanged 11 tons of recycled waste – including aluminum, PET and cardboard – for products such as cooking oils, sauce and snacks.
- Many kids in rural areas often go to school hungry. To reduce school absenteeism and improve the overall wellness of the kids, Dinant signed up to support the Honduras Food Bank’s “Programa de Bocadillo Escolar,” which provides over 28,600 lunches throughout the school year for kids in vulnerable situations.
- On learning that the 20 young children of La Flor community in Zacate Grande were being taught at their teacher’s house, Dinant provided building materials and willing volunteers to work alongside the teacher, parents and community members to construct a kindergarten class. After providing school supplies, Dinant attended the inauguration of the school in July.
- In partnership with the Catholic Relief Services of Honduras, Dinant hosted agribusiness students at its greenhouses in Comayagua where the Company grows bell peppers for export. The students, who live in a nearby vulnerable community, learned about cultivating their own vegetables and received advice on how to work the land efficiently.
Mr. Pineda continued, “Dinant is proud of its Honduran heritage. We are enhancing the lives of many people in our neighboring local communities by creating thousands of well-paid sustainable jobs with compensation levels well above the national minimum wage, and by significantly improving the skills and general health of the workforce. But support for education is where we believe we can make the most impact. We’ve achieved a lot, but there is a great deal more to be done.”
About Dinant
Dinant’s products are sold across Central America and the Dominican Republic. Dinant employs 7,600 people, who in turn support over 22,000 family members, as well as many thousands of contractors, vendors and suppliers.