The final days of the 2022-2023 school year marked a special point in time when students across the country prepared themselves for a bustling summer vacation before continuing their schooling. CapitaLand Development Vietnam, a property developer with scores of projects in the country, chose the time to remind students of the time ahead. During a week-long event from May 24 to 29, 2023, the company donated special gifts to 1,400 pre-school and primary students at four schools, including pen cases, school bags, and thermos bottles.
During the event, over 50 volunteers of the company and The Ascott Limited joined forces to make donations at the four schools under the long-established corporate social responsibility (CSR) program financed by the company via its CapitaLand Hope Foundation.
The donations also marked the conclusion of a school nutrition program joinly executed by the foundation and the dairy company IDP. With this program, CapitaLand Development (CLD) donated 223,000 milk packs worth VND1.3 billion to the 1,400 students at the four schools in the school year, and conducted health exams for them. The program’s findings showed that 73% of the young children had seen marked physical improvement after one year’s milk intakes.
“CapitaLand Development pledges to create a better future for students of poor families via education and healthcare,” Ronald Tay, general director of the property developer, remarked on the CSR program.
Schools for poverty-stricken children
Donations of school utensils and milk for students are the so-called “software” support for students at the four “hardware” schools that have been developed by the company.
The first school named Thanh Phuoc A CapitaLand Hope School in Long An Province was developed by the company via its CapitaLand Hope Foundation under a program initiated in 2007, followed by Nang Yen CapitaLand Hope School in Phu Tho Province. The foundation has then developed two kindergartens in Hung Yen and Phu Tho provinces.
The foundation does not disclose the total cost for building the schools, but a company leader reveals that CapitaLand earmarks 0.5% of its annual profit for CSR activities with an aim to support community development, targeting to benefit vulnerable groups in the society by promoting education for them.
In executing its CSR programs, CapitaLand has also sought to engage other partners and its employees to spread the community development spirit. Apart from collaborations with The Ascott Limited and IDG mentioned above, CapitaLand last year also teamed up with the sanitaryware manufacturer TOTO to install sanitation devices at five schools in Bac Giang Province.
Such joint efforts benefiting the community belong to the campaign #GivingAsOne initiated by CapitaLand to rally support from customers, partners and employees to step up the community spirit across the country.
Apart from calling for direct donations from employees, CapitaLand has also created conditions for its management personnel and staff to join SCR activities on leave with full salaries to raise awareness on the social mission that the company has been pursuing. Over the years, over 750 volunteers of the company have spent 6,000 hours on social activities.
CapitaLand, which has been present in Vietnam for 30 years, has to date had under its portfolio a retail shopping center, a SOHO building combining workplace and residence, three multipurpose complexes and over 13,000 apartments across the country.
The company’s leadership maintained that while committing to long-term business in Vietnam, CapitaLand Development also attaches importance to CSR projects to support the development of the community.
Ronald Tay, the company’s CEO, said that CapitaLand Development is “committed to creating a better future for children of difficult family backrgounds […] Since 2007, via CapitaLand Hope Foundation, CapitaLand Development has contributed its part to upgrade school facilities to create a safe and convenient environment for students, and improve their access to education via other activities like provisions of school equipment, scholarships, and nutrition programs.” Such activities, said the CEO, are meant to help Vietnamese students prepare a better future for themselves.
