Community

In its commitment to the scope of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Ferrovial actively participates in the community through the development and execution of social programs to significantly improve people's lives. The company has a key role in the social and economic development of the countries where it carries out activities.

  • Community support projects

    332
  • Beneficiaries in water and sanitation projects (1)

    191,769

(1) Cummulative data since 2008.

As an infrastructure manager, the company is a key player insofar as reducing regional imbalances: contributing to the progress and development of the communities and countries where it operates because it generates employment, buttresses purchases from local suppliers, contributes by paying taxes, and transfers skills, knowledge, innovation and technology.

Ferrovial bases its investment in the community on a framework that is coherent with its business strategy and model. It thus runs different investment programs in the community with social action initiatives focused on groups of people at risk of social exclusion.

COMMUNITY INVESTMENT PROGRAMS

Social Infrastructures

The company has been working since 2011 on this development cooperation program, which extends access to water for human consumption and basic sanitation among socially vulnerable risk groups in Africa and Latin America. Doing so contributes to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 6 in the United Nations’ New Sustainable Development Agenda, namely to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.

Ferrovial partners with NGOs and local governments to develop infrastructures to satisfy needs related to the lack of water and/or sanitation coverage. Company employees in turn participate as volunteers, contributing with their knowledge and experience in the country where the intervention is being carried out.

Throughout 2016, the company carried out four projects benefiting 16,204 people, with an overall investment of 421,333€:

  • Buyende District, Uganda: improved access to quality water in 15 rural communities together with the Plan Internacional.
  • Municipality of Paccha, Cajamarca, Peru: increased access to water for the inhabitants of three rural communities after building three drinking water systems together with ANESVAD.
  • Township of El Salado, Bolivar province, Colombia: refurbishment and extension of the aqueduct system for the inhabitants of Centro Poblado, together with Ayuda en Acción.
  • Municipality of Lebrija. Santander province. Colombia: improved access and water quality for human consumption in a vulnerable area affected by conflict, together with Acción contra el Hambre.

Juntos Sumamos

This Ferrovial program has been running since its conception in 2005 and lets employees choose a social project to contribute a monthly amount that the company matches, thus doubling the initial donation.

The call is open to international cooperation projects, social action in Spain and the preservation of nature and biodiversity.

Three projects chosen by donating employees in the program were executed in 2016 following a technical preselection of the submitted proposals:

  • Adapting: together with the association La Rueca, retirement homes in Madrid were conditioned by 70 young adults at risk of exclusion who were trained in facility renovation (electricity, plumbing, carpentry), thus improving their prospects of employment and integration.
  • Joal Fadiouth Hospital: in collaboration with Arquitectura sin Fronteras, the company renovated the roof and improved the health conditions of the maternity ward in a Senegalese hospital.
  • Vulnerable childhood: with the NGO Mozambique Sur, Ferrovial helped 150 schoolchildren in Mozambique (providing scholastic materials, hygiene products, tuition and monthly fees for one year at an educational center, meal aid and medical treatment).

Social Action in Spain

Ferrovial supports the refurbishment and reconditioning of offices set up for distributing food and delivering social aid packages to underprivileged groups.

In 2016, Ferrovial provided support with World Vision España to improve conditions six food distribution centers and/or cafeterias in Madrid, Seville, Mieres, Valencia and Barcelona.

OTHER SOCIAL INITIATIVES

Ferrovial supports the activities of the Integra Foundation with a view to contributing to creating employment opportunities for groups of persons at risk of social exclusion. Since 2002, Ferrovial has helped find work for over 500 people through this partnership.

Regarding the integration of people with disabilities, Ferrovial and the Adecco Foundation work together through the Plan Familia to help the disabled family members of company employees. The program was created to improve their quality of life and help in their social and job integration. This plan has helped 58 families in 2016.

The company sponsors cultural institutions in Spain, prominently including the Guggenheim Museum, Liceu theater in Barcelona and Teatro Real in Madrid. The company also works together with different local governments in Spain to promote various cultural activities such as concerts, exhibitions and competitions.

Cadagua, in turn, participates in the Unidos Project, pioneer in academic and employment orientation for university students with disabilities while in school and for accessing the job market.

In 2016 Ferrovial Services Spain launched the “Escuela de Oficios” trade school for helping improve the prospects of employment for citizens at risk of social exclusion or with disabilities in the communities where the company operates. Ferrovial Services Spain employs this initiative to contribute to work placement for the unemployed in communities where the company has activities.

The company also partners with the Èxit Foundation’s “Coach”, a corporate volunteering initiative conceived to improve the integration of vulnerable young adults enter the job market by providing orientation and motivation to increase their employment prospects.

In the United Kingdom, Amey and the Duke of Edinburgh Foundation (DofE) have an agreement for improving the opportunities and employment prospects of thousands of young adults at risk of exclusion. The program is being run in Staffordshire, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield and Wales.

In the US, Ferrovial sponsors several educational projects such as “After School Matters”, “Black Creativity Gala” and “Illinois Military Families Fund”, in Chicago; and “National Math and Science Initiative” in Texas, to help young people further their studies in science, technology, math and engineering.

In Australia, Broadspectrum is building strong relationships with indigenous communities with a view to creating greater employment opportunities through the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), eliminating the life expectancy gap for the indigenous population, and increasing their participation in the company.

Milestones

  • Ferrovial’s social programs have exceeded 800,000(2) beneficiaries.
  • Investments are being made in communities throughout countries including Spain, the UK, US, Australia, Poland, Colombia and Peru.
  • Water and sanitation, social inclusion, support to culture and work with indigenous populations constitute a part of the main programs.

20.19 STRATEGIC CR PLAN

Reinforce Ferrovial’s voluntary social offering in tendering processes as a competitive advantage

Socio de Naciones Unidas en el desarrollo sostenible

The participation and involvement of the private sector will prove to be essential to overcome the challenges put forward in the New Sustainable Development Agenda (2015-2030). In this regard, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDGF) created a Private Sector Advisory Group. Ferrovial has joined as member of this Advisory Group, which comprises 13 companies selected worldwide and aims to foster the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In 2017, Ferrovial will also work together with the UN’s SDGF in a joint program “Productive and food secure territories for a peaceful and resilient Cauca” in Colombia’s Cauca region.