International Day of Education
Education is a human right, a public good and a public responsibility. Today, 244 million children and youth are out of school, and 771 million adults are illiterate.
The United Nations proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development. This year’s theme is “To invest in people, prioritize education”.
At Manuchar we have our social responsibility program, ManuCare, centered around the UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education) and 8 (Decent Work). As part of this commitment, we have several projects across the world to improve the access and quality of education of our local communities.
Latin America
During 2022, our colleagues in Guatemala renovated an elementary school in one of the communities near our warehouse in Puerto Quetzal. In Acajutla, El Salvador, we helped with the renovation of Los Almendros school, including the reconstruction of toilets and classrooms and the installation of a drinkable water tank. In Argentina, Manuchar built a vegetable garden with greenhouse at Gabriela Mistral school in Ibicuy, so students can enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year.
Another of our main projects was in Honduras during 2021, near our operations in Puerto Cortés. Here, we assisted with the full reconstruction of the Arturo Inocentis School, which was destroyed by a tropical storm. The renovations targeted the structure, foundations, electrical and sanitary installations, as well as providing new furniture and improvements in the security systems.
Asia
Also recently, our colleagues in Phu My, Vietnam, supported the construction of restrooms and playgrounds in Huu Nghi, a school destined for visually impaired children.
Manuchar Philippines provided schools with drinkable water thanks to a partnership with Manila Water Foundation, for which Manuchar supplied refrigerated drinking fountains to 3 schools in Taguig, Laguna and Batangas. We also donated used laptops, tablets, and mobile phones to support hybrid learning for our employees’ children and offered sponsorship for vocational short courses for out of school children or siblings of our employees.
In India, Manuchar provided tuition classes for almost 100 slum children from the Ganpat Patil slums, thanks to a partnership with Divine Foundation. We covered the teachers’ travel expenses for a year, provided stationery items and took students on a field trip.
Africa
Our colleagues in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, built an equipped recreational space, rehabilitated and equipped the kindergarden classrooms and the canteen of the Angokun-Kpangbassou public school. These actions were carried out to motivate parents to send their children to school very early in an area with a very low literacy rate.
In South Africa, Manuchar keeps supporting the LIV2Educuate foundation, which takes care of orphaned and vulnerable children, offering them a home and the necessary skills to find employment.
Through these initiatives, we strive to reduce the proportion of uneducated and unemployed people globally. Click here for more information on these and additional projects.
