Regional Development

The Volkswagen Group sees itself as a partner of the locations and regions where it is active. This means that our corporate social responsibility does not end at the factory gate. Our commitment is confirmed by the large number of projects we have initiated or are supporting. The principle of our activities is to help people help themselves. Business start-up programmes, educational initiatives and a wide range of projects for homeless children in Central and South America as well as health projects in South America and Brazil bear witness to our approach.

Cluster management for Wolfsburg
Under the name of Wolfsburg AG, the Volkswagen Group operates in cooperation with the city of Wolfsburg a joint venture company to promote regional development. The objective of Wolfsburg AG is to secure long-term improvements in the industrial and employment prospects of Wolfsburg. The company links key areas of activity of the city including mobility, leisure pursuits, tourism, entertainment, information technology and the health sector. It coordinates industrial and scientific activities, promotes the relocation and establishment of companies, provides and trains qualified staff, and plays a key role in location marketing.

ILO and GTZ project
Driven by the aim of boosting occupational safety and the protection of employee health at supplier companies in developing and emerging economies, the Volkswagen Group, International Labour Organization (ILO) and German Corporation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) joined forces to launch a public-private partnership project in July 2004, in which eight supplier firms from South Africa, 13 from Mexico and eight from Brazil are now involved. The project sees Volkswagen experts and national occupational safety inspectors teaming up as part of a joint initiative to conduct what amounts to an audit at small and medium-sized supplier companies. In addition to a comprehensive inspection of the premises, these two-day audits also involve interviews not only with management, employees and specialists, but also with employee representatives. Once the audit is complete, the supplier firm is contacted with effective and useful recommendations that can be easily implemented. The experience gained in the audits is channelled into national training programmes for work inspectors, who are supported by the ILO.

The Volkswagen Group is to make best practice examples available to all suppliers via an online system.

Water pumps combat rural exodus
In a project launched in cooperation with the Misereor charity, Volkswagen is supporting the installation of manually operated groundwater pumps in an arid area in the north-east of Brazil. The sparsely populated area of about 900,000 square kilometres is regularly affected by long droughts, which force the rural population to migrate to the cities. The Volkswagen do Brasil Foundation has perfected a pump developed by a Dutch aid worker and has identified low-cost suppliers. The raw materials and pump parts are sourced within Brazil, reducing the cost by about one third compared with imported pumps. By February 2007, 250 pumps had already been installed, supplying water for a total of 56,450 people.

Offensive against HIV/AIDS
In many regions of the world, the HIV/AIDS epidemic poses a steadily growing threat. Especially at our locations in Brazil and South Africa, we have launched comprehensive HIV/AIDS programmes which have been repeatedly commended as exemplary business initiatives. The programmes focus on effective prevention, access to outstanding medical treatment for all employees, the reintegration of sufferers in the work process and, especially, on targeted health education campaigns.

Securing a sustainable future
The Volkswagen Group not only has humanitarian motives for protecting and improving the health of people around the world; there are sound economic reasons too. A high proportion of persons infected with HIV/AIDS in the workforce results in significantly higher personnel expenses. Programmes to combat HIV/AIDS are therefore strategically important projects for the long-term development of locations and their social environment. As a member of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS and the Global Health Initiative (GHI) of the World Economic Forum, the Volkswagen Group is part of an international alliance to combat the disease.