Skills-based Volunteerism in Action · Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Dow Sustainability Corps partnered Steve Popovich, an I/T architect at Dow, with the NGO for

Skills-basedVolunteerismin Action

Dow Sustainability CorpsEngaging employees to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

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Dow Sustainability Corps

Dow Sustainability Corps volunteer James Torain overlooks the slums of Honduras while developing a sustainable transportation plan to ensure the Honduran medical facilities always have medical supplies on hand.

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What is the Dow Sustainability Corps? Dow Sustainability Corps is a skills-based volunteer program that draws on the Dow employee’s area of expertise to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Through Dow Sustainability Corps (DSC), Dow matches interested and capable employees with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social entrepreneurs and government agencies that need support for sustainable development projects, especially in emerging geographies and areas of growth for Dow. Employees who take assignments as part of DSC use their time, professional skills and knowledge to help improve the lives of people around the world.


Each day, people around the globe seek solutions to the complex environmental, economic and social challenges facing our world. Through Dow Sustainability Corps, Dow puts into action the company’s commitment of addressing these needs and advancing human progress.

Dow Sustainability Corps Volunteers

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Dow Sustainability Corps Projects


Educating Beyond Tomorrow Medical Outreach to Remote Villages

The pressing problem of providing adequate education globally sparked the initiative for “Tanzania beyond Tomorrow,” a national project of the Tanzania Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Dow Sustainability Corps partnered Steve Popovich, an I/T architect at Dow, with the NGO for 15 life changing days. His challenge: to create a virtual network of schools in Tanzania. Steve’s efforts provided remote students access to world-class knowledge and skills, and the opportunity to receive an adequate education.

A birth defect left Christian without the use of his left leg. Being born in Honduras meant two things: finding proper health care would be difficult, and a life without soccer would be heartbreaking. Central American Medical Outreach (CAMO) provided Christian with a prosthetic limb and a chance at playing soccer. Dow employees Marie-Josee Rancourt, Public Affairs, and James Torain, Supply Chain and Logistics, partnered with CAMO for separate projects. Marie-Josee created marketing materials to help CAMO gain vital funding, and James developed a sustainable transportation plan to ensure that the Honduran medical facilities always have medical supplies on hand.

Who Benefits from Dow Sustainability Corps? The most obvious benefactors of DSC projects are the individuals, families and communities whose lives are forever changed through education, access to clean water, better health care and other initiatives. Dow employees also benefit by gaining a better understanding of world problems and global businesses while developing leadership skills. These projects put “action” behind the company’s global citizenship commitment, while supporting corporate business strategies for increased insight into communities and markets. DSC is aligned with Dow’s 2015 Sustainability Goals by “Setting the Standard for Sustainability,” through both the Breakthrough to World Challenges and Partnering for Change goals.

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Creating Solutions for Smallholder Farmers Water, Water Everywhere

Drought, disease, pests and price instability force farmers to make difficult decisions related to the success or failure of their crops. In Colombia, farmers make these decisions without the basic information necessary to choose wisely. Carlos Madrid and Liliana Velandia Centina, Dow AgroSciences-Colombia, partnered with Grameen Foundation and Bankers without Borders to develop a database of information useful to impoverished Colombian farmers. Their newfound ability to gain access to information through mobile phones has improved farmer productivity and provided stability in farmers’ lives.

The World Health Organization estimates 3.4 million people die each year from water-borne illnesses. Dow employee Kristi Galus, Supply Chain planner, traveled to the Dominican Republic in support of the Safe Water Team to create a solid business plan for distributing Hydraid® BioSand water filters. These filters provide up to 50 gallons of safe water for a family in an underdeveloped country every day for 10 years. Dow has committed to supplying 2 million pounds of resin for Safe Water Team filters.

Corporate Citizenship in Action Collaboration is a philosophical principle that is fundamental to Dow Sustainability Corps projects. Addressing complex societal challenges is not something any individual or company can do alone. For this reason Dow partners with peer companies, non-profit organizations, NGOs and governments to identify and address critical needs. One important partner is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center. Dow engages with BCLC to bring together resources and expertise to affect change. BCLC’s “Business for Good Map,” which Dow helped develop, is a global repository of citizenship projects and an excellent resource for many stakeholder groups.

Photo by Alexander Rierser

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Global Problems to Address


WaterWater supports all aspects of life around the world, however millions of people use unsafe sources of drinking water and also do not have basic sanitation. As a result, more than 4 million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne illnesses. HousingAbout 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing and 100 million are homeless. Additionally, 32 percent of the world’s total urban populations live in slums. Slum inhabitants are expected to grow to 2 billion people by 2030.

Climate & Energy ChangeChanges in the world’s climate and environment impact everyone, however the poorest communities are most vulnerable since they lack resources to prevent and reduce the impact of climate change. Without additional action, emissions of the six main greenhouse gases are projected to rise 25–90 percent by 2030, compared to 2000.

EducationAround the world, 114 million children do not receive a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate. Educating women holds a key to improving conditions for future generations since children of educated mothers are 50 percent more likely to be immunized and 40 percent more likely to survive childhood than those children from uneducated mothers.

AgricultureMalnutrition is rampant in developing countries. Around 850 million people suffer from under-nourishment representing 13 percent of the world’s population. Every year, 15 million children die from hunger; every 3.6 seconds another person dies from starvation.

Public Health & Sanitation Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation coupled with poor hygiene kills and sickens thousands of children every day. Some 2.5 billion people in developing countries – around 50 percent of their population – lack improved sanitation facilities and over 884 million still use unsafe drinking water sources. Additionally, more than 11 million children die each year from preventable health issues like malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia.

The Dow Sustainability Corps works with Dow employees and NGOs to determine where need is the greatest and the type of assignments DSC will take on. A majority of projects fall under one of the following categories and represent the core needs of the global population.

• 1 billion are malnourished• 1 billion are without safe

drinking water• 4 million die each year from

water-related illness• Hundreds of millions have

inadequate shelter• Hundreds of millions live in

cities with poor air quality

• The world’s population in 2050 will be around 9-10 billion

• The world must double our agricultural production by 2050 to meet projected population demands

The world’s current population is 7 billion, of which…

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The destruction of Hurricane Katrina left communities without roofs over their heads. DSC deployed volunteers to train veterans on how to install FROTH-PAK™ foam insulation in houses left destroyed, creating an economic driver for the area and creating sustainable living spaces for locals.

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Dow Sustainability Corps Projects


Rebuilding After Mother Nature Strikes Mobile Apps go Global

For years, Sande G. lived in a trailer in front of her unrepaired home in New Orleans, Louisiana, after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Sande was a victim of contractor fraud and had recently lost her husband to a fatal heart attack. She was left hopeless to find a solution to her housing need. Dow stepped in along with non-profit organization St. Bernard Project (SBP) to help. SBP provides resources and expertise to help families rebuild their homes affected by weather disaster in Louisiana and throughout the U.S. One aspect of Dow’s support included training for veterans of the U.S. military who learned how to install FROTH-PAK™ foam insulation in houses still left destroyed by the hurricane. The value of these efforts provided housing for hurricane victims such as Sande G., and created an economic driver for the area with veteran employment.

Mobile application technology reached all the way from the U.S to Kenya and Nicaragua when Dow I/S Technical Specialist Nick Theile helped develop a sustainable solution for Aqua Clara International (ACI) in order to produce safe and affordable drinking water. With leading consultants Lamarr Cook, Dow Associate Director of Telecom Delivery, and Mike Weideman, Dow Solution Delivery Leader, a mobile application and comprehensive database were created to track activities related to building, maintaining and monitoring ACI’s water purification technologies, while tracking water quality and health/behavior outcomes in Kenya.

DSC Project Examples• Artemisinin Antimalarial Drug Development (Kenya)

• Employment Training, Social Welfare and Communications (Brazil)

• Financial Management for Microfinance Institutions (India)

• Global Water Challenge NGO Development and Support (Washington, D.C.)

• Micro-finance Opportunity Assessment (Latin America and Caribbean)

• Clean Drinking Water for Zanzibar (Zanzibar)

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Turning Trash into Treasure A DSC First: Group Project Focus

Millions of pounds of garbage, much of it plastic, washed across the Caribbean island nation after the Haiti earthquake, clogging canals, fouling landscapes and harboring disease. Through Executives without Borders, Dow was able to sponsor the creation of recycling centers around Haiti. The recycling centers were set up across Haiti to promote a cleaner environment while providing a sustainable income for local residents. Haitians nicknamed the project Ramase Lajan, which means “picking up money.” Dow photographer, Dan Denardo and Dow videographer, Ron Sim were deployed to Haiti to tell the community’s story and solution to the excess plastic waste.

Dow Sustainability Corps partnered with Dow’s Global Talent Management Organization to deploy a group of 36 high potential employees from all over the globe to work on seven projects in Ghana, Africa. Through a collaboration with CDC Solutions, the effort involved non-profits, NGOs and social entrepreneurs from throughout the bustling city of Accra, Ghana. Dow project teams worked virtually to meet the needs of their “clients,” bringing together their diverse talents and skills to address multiple community issues. Project topics included developing a strategy to domesticate medicinal plants, creating a “water-on-the-go” system for local residents and providing shelter through shared contribution, among others.

DSC Project Examples (continued)• Sourcing PET Water Bottles for Recycling (Haiti)

• Water Filtration Implementation (Kenya and Ghana)

• e-Warehouse Finance (Virtual, Kenya)

• Financial Management for Microfinance Institutions (India)

• Web-based Fundraising and Supply Chain/Logistics Support (Honduras)

• Haiti UF Unit Commissioning (Haiti)

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A Haitian local returns gathered plastic at one of the Ramase Lajan recycling centers Dow sponsored. These centers promote a cleaner environment while providing a sustainable income for local residents.

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How to Get Involved DSC is global in scope and Dow seeks employee volunteers, retirees, corporate collaborators, non-profit partners and NGO participation from all regions of the world. Individuals can get involved by becoming a partner or collaborator for change through direct project engagement, or providing support to a Dow employee taking part in a project team.

For Dow EmployeesGlobally through DSC, Dow supports multiple projects a year. These projects can vary widely from consulting from a base location for a few hours per week, to traveling to project locations in the field to full-time work. Dow employees may self-nominate to be considered for a project, go to key wordDow Sustainability Corps.

For Dow RetireesDow retirees interested in volunteering their time in making a global impact can apply to participate in one of the DSC projects. Retirees with a passion for making a global change and interested in teamwork should contact DSC at [email protected] to receive a DSC retiree application form.

For more information about Dow’s commitment to global citizenship, go to www.dow.com.


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Documents

Skills-based Volunteerism in Action · Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Dow Sustainability Corps partnered Steve Popovich, an I/T architect at Dow, with the NGO for