Globally, our community activities are grounded in 3 key areas based on principles outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
Covid Pandemic Response
During the year, South America, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, EMEA and India clusters carried out more than 20 actions aimed at preventing Covid. Some of the main actions were:
- Awareness sessions on Health & Safety protocols for employees and external community
- Virtual session on Psychological wellness during pandemic for all employees (Bangladesh and South America)
- Distribution of Covid care Kits and PPEs for all employees and more than 2,000 kits were donated to people in need (external) and 3,000 for internal employees in South America cluster
In addition, the South America cluster held several campaigns with videos and materials about Covid prevention.
Health & Wellbeing
Bangladesh
Feeding program for Kids-One-Taka-Meal – Partnered with Bidyanondo Foundation (NGO). We were successful in raising nearly $3,000 as donations from both our colleagues and from Coats Bangladesh. Thanks to this overwhelming response, Coats Bangladesh and Bidyanondo successfully conducted the ‘Feeding program for Kids- One Taka Meal’ at Chattogram and Dhaka with the help of 15 volunteers from Coats Bangladesh. Over the 4-day long program a total of 2000 underprivileged children were provided a meal.
North America
Agent for Change (McDowell High School) – Collect 6044 plastic bags to create “plarn” or string from plastic bags Lightweight rugs (which help protect from cold, damp or heat) were crocheted from this recycled material and distributed to the homeless.
Vietnam
Coats donated medical commodities to the local community in the Hung Yen province to the value of 297,100,000VND. The donation was gratefully received by the local authority when the pandemic situation in the province spread rapidly.
Central America
The Coats Solidaria Program donated more than 4,000 items (clothes, toys, food, school supplies, threads, etc.) to the external community (UNAS and others NGO´s) in 2021. In order to encourage employees to take care of their mental health, we hired an online platform – Zenklub – of therapy, yoga, meditation and other activities for wired employees. In addition, we have social assistant and psychological support to non-wired employees. We also trained the leaders on how to deal with employee’s mental health.
Education / Textile Skills Development
South America
With the start of the Covid pandemic in South America last year, our handcraft classes had to be cancelled to prioritise the health and safety of everyone. In 2021, we ran remote classes taught by our handcraft teacher. The purpose of the course is to provide greater autonomy to families and generate a second income for the students, in the community and for employees. There were a total of 60 students. Threads were provided for free from Coats.
India
Coats India partnered with Shahi Exports in providing skill development training to women in Madurai and thereby become employable. Suitable employment opportunities were also referred to these women post training. This skill development has been planned over multiple groups, one of which was held with 30 women participants conducted during Feb – April 2021. Tailoring skills imparted to 2 batches of 60 women in the local community with the help of a skill development agency.
Çin
Summer Internship Program 2021 – Bridging the gap between business and academia, providing students opportunity to interact in a corporate business environment for their professional learning.
Headquarters
During the year, we developed 6 Mental Wellbeing Event for all employees to discuss and share ideas about mental health and wellbeing. Topics covered include Crisis Fatigue, Self Care and how to raise mental health with Peers or manager. The majority of talks were open to all employees and were recorded to enable anyone unable to join to access at a later date.
Coats takes pride in the work carried out to provide support to communities around the world. Our aim for the future is to raise awareness among both our own employees, and our suppliers, in terms of the importance of supporting the lives and livelihoods of those who live in areas where we operate. We would like to ensure that all of Coats employees are able to participate in voluntary community work, furthermore that our suppliers enable their employees the opportunity to volunteer and give back to their communities also.
