Social responsibility as a management task

Long-term contribution to social and economic development

RWE Dea sees itself as an integral part of society and as such recognizes that it has a special social responsibility in the countries and regions where the company operates. Its aim is to make a long-term contribution towards the social and economic development of a country through carefully selected projects. Accordingly, a policy of social commitment is an integral part of RWE Dea’s corporate culture. In addition to volunteer work done by our employees in numerous RWE Companius projects, we supported non-profit organization with cash or non-cash donations on the one hand and concretely sponsored projects in the area of youth, education and social welfare, whose progress is being closely monitored by us, on the other.

Norway: scholarships for talented young musicians

Photo by John Petter Reinertsen  The RWE Dea Scholarship Programme in Music was created and launched in the year 2000. This programme is targeted at talented Norwegian music students, providing them with the opportunity to study in Germany, and is aimed at intensifying intercultural exchange between Norway and Germany. Each year, up to four scholarships are awarded for study periods of five to ten months. More than 40 students have since taken advantage of the programme to perfect their musical skills.

Scholarship Programme in Music

Germany: sponsoring young natural scientists

RWE Dea promotes discussions around the topics of energy and technology even among school-age children and aims to foster students’ interest in professions and studies centred on hydrocarbon exploration and production. With this in mind, RWE Dea sponsors a co-operative venture with the Domgymnasium Verden (grammar school). In a seminar course prepared jointly by schools and the upstream-industry, students learn all about applied natural sciences. This co-operative venture is part of a young talent promotion project launched by the Wirtschaftsverband Erdöl und Erdgasgewinnung (WEG), the association for crude oil and natural gas production, under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony. In order to meet its social responsibility and commitment in the field of training and education to an even greater extent, RWE Dea is also funding the remunerations and social security contributions for 20 to 30 trainees in medium-sized companies in the vicinity of our domestic operating sites. Without such funding, these companies would not be able to offer apprenticeships.

Egypt: sponsoring primary schools and adult education

In the concession areas where RWE Dea is operating in Egypt, we sponsor the renovation of school buildings or individual class rooms, the modernization of sanitary facilities and the provision of essential equipment such as blackboards and school desks as part of our social responsibility. By improving the learning environment, RWE Dea wants to contribute towards better education and enhancement of the general quality of life in Egypt. This included, for instance, the renovation of classrooms within twelve Health Units in the rural areas of the Kafr El Sheik Governerate. Women with no school-leaving qualifications are taught to read and write in these classrooms. In addition, they receive life-skills training in health care, family planning and conduct during pregnancy, handling of infants and adolescents or hygiene. Moreover, women having undergone such training are then used as multipliers and pass on their new skills and knowledge to friends or neighbours unable to attend such training. Other projects entailed the renovation of a girl's school in Badrasheen or providing support for much needed teaching and learning materials.

Libya: support for young disadvantaged Libyans

In Libya, RWE Dea is funding the school for the blind in Tripoli. This special funding scheme provides support for about 180 students and adults, who, for example, are taught Braille and how to use orientation aids. In addition, our office in Tripoli offers young Libyans with university degrees the opportunity to take part in a three-year trainee programme. During their first year of training, the focus will be on acquiring additional fundamental knowledge, such as IT and English language skills. Thereafter, the students will already be integrated into the workplace where they will be taught “on-the-job” how to put their theoretical knowledge into practice. Depending on their particular field of expertise, they will be deployed in various departments in the RWE Dea office in Tripoli where they will receive further assistance on an individualized basis during this period. In the third year of training, they will also be given the option of working abroad at RWE Dea in Hamburg.

RWE Companius

Strong commitment to social issues: Our employees also assume social responsibility in their social environment. Guided by the thought that people volunteering their time and effort in their private capacity usually also show a strong sense of responsibility and special commitment in their professional life, the RWE Group fully supports social commitments of its employees. The initiative “RWE Companius” was launched for this very purpose. The initiative takes a distinctly non-bureaucratic approach to sponsoring non-profit projects in education, social welfare, sports, culture, energy, environmental protection and nature conservation - as long as RWE employees are actively involved in these projects. Since the initiative was launched at RWE Dea in March 2009, more than 30 of our employees have implemented projects on a volunteer basis, sponsored by the company to the tune of EUR 23,000. The range of projects sponsored under this initiative extends from assisting young people in choosing a future career path to a car rally from the Allgäu region to Jordania to raise funds for Welthungerhilfe, an international food aid programme.