CSR Connect. Winter Edition CSR Connect is a Network Managed by Kabbbara & Associates. 1. Aramex Electric Vehicles. 2. Alfa Chain of Love Panel

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1 CSR Connect Winter Edition 2018 Issue Aramex Electric Vehicles 3 Bank Audi BDL Basic Circular Alfa Chain of Love Panel 4. The 5th LafargeHolcim Award Competition 5. Pepsico Christmas Fun Day 6. NGO News 7. NGO & Regional News CSR Connect is a Network Managed by Kabbbara & Associates

2 Delivering the Future: Aramex Adds Electric Vehicles to its Fleet Aramex, the disruptive leader in the global logistics and transportation industry, recently announced the new addition of ten electric vehicles to its fleet in Amman, Jordan. This comes as part of a longer-term strategic move by Aramex to convert the entire fleet to electric vehicles, in order to reduce operational CO2 emissions and mitigate climate change. The successful pilot in Jordan will be followed by a rollout of more electric vehicles in the UAE, Egypt, and Lebanon over the next twelve months. Raji Hattar, Chief Sustainability Officer at Aramex, said; We pride ourselves on being a leader in sustainability across the region. Protecting the environment is an integral part of our Delivering Good platform, therefore, we are committed to reducing CO2 emissions from our operations by an additional 20% by 2020, over the initial target of 20% of CO2 reduction we achieved in Where regulations and infrastructure allow, we will be looking to introduce electric vehicles to all of the 72 markets in which we operate. Aramex s Delivering Good platform represents its commitment to promoting sustainability and helping communities grow. The company currently has CSR projects and initiatives in 97% of its global operations and is driven to deliver better future to the communities in the markets where they operate. This announcement follows the successful construction of the company s solar farm to generate 1.2 megawatt of power for Amman operations. Aramex is currently transforming its Dubai warehouse facility to incorporate similar technology, albeit on a grander scale; once fully operational it will generate over 7 megawatt of solar power. It is also aiming to introduce similar projects to all its facilities where the regulations permit in the coming years. 1

3 Chain of Love Panel takes place between Alfa and its partner NGOs within Alfa 4-Life : 11 years of success stories that have made a difference in the integration of People with Iron Will Beirut Lebanon- November 16, 2017: Under the patronage and in the presence of His Excellency the Minister of Telecommunications, Jamal Jarrah, and as part of the Alfa 4-Life CSR program, a panel discussion entitled Chain of Love brought together Alfa CEO and Chairman Marwan Hayek and representatives of the seven associations supported by Alfa. In addition to highlighting eleven years of cooperation, friendship and success stories, the dialogue also addressed the challenges faced by these associations and the means to strengthen cooperation with Alfa in order to support integration and achieve equality. Held on the campus of Innovation and Sports at Saint Joseph University, the panel discussion was moderated by journalist Majid Bou Hadir. It was attended by the President of SOS Children's Villages Afifa Arsanios, Sesobel's General Manager and Board President, Fadia Safi, Chairman of the Father Andeweg Institute for the Deaf, Toufic Takchi, the Head of the Francophone Association for Mental llnesses, Dr. Sami Richa, the Director of the Lebanese School for the Blind and Deaf, Mary Rose Gemayel, and the Marketing Manager of the Lebanese Autism Society, Caroline Arabdji. Interventions: Several films were screened during the panel discussion, highlighting the achievements of eleven years of cooperation between Alfa and the associations, as well as Alfa's journey in the field of sustainable development. Association representatives spoke of the importance of investment in human capabilities and capacities, as reflected in the partnership with Alfa, where the talents of children were discovered and developed to help them become productive. There was also talk about the need to activate the cooperation among the associations and between them and the private and public sectors in order to develop mechanisms to support the effective integration of the iron-willed in society, strengthen their role, and change the traditional concepts. 2

4 BDL Basic Cicular 458 in Support of The Disabled In April 2017, the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) requested all banks and other financial institutions to implement measures and policies that give disabled individuals easy access to banking premises and channels, by June Bank Audi had initiated this concept a year before the actual circular. In collaboration with various departments, the Bank has been transforming some of its services to make them accessible for all, adapting 173 ATMs and making them wheelchair-accessible. A special campaign ran on social media to create awareness around this initiative. Furthermore, Bank Audi continued its efforts to include all citizens by giving banking sessions targeted for visually impaired people. After the fruitful financial literacy session given to the Lebanese School of Blind and Deaf (LSDB), the Bank s CSR Unit in collaboration with several departments welcomed 15 members of the Lebanese University s League for the Blind (LULB) for a financial literacy session on July 25, including an overview of banking products and the latest technologies available making banking accessible for all. In addition, the CSR Unit trained staff at Hadath Branch on how to deal with visually impaired customers. 3

5 The 5th Competition Celebrated In partnership with the American University of Beirut (AUB), Holcim Lebanon honored architects, engineers, planners and young graduates who participated in the 5th cycle of the LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction, in the presence of academics, business people and professionals in the construction industry. On December 15, an exhibition, hosted by the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering & Architecture at AUB, showcased the various architecture and engineering projects in an effort to recognize the exceptional quality of projects and the record number of more than 50 submissions from Lebanon. A wide range of environmental, community and development projects, structural engineering, research and visionary ideas revealed the extent of diversity in approaching sustainable construction. The 5th International LafargeHolcim Awards for the region Africa Middle East recognized, in September, eleven winning projects from nine countries, two of them from Lebanon, for their sophisticated and multi-disciplinary responses to the challenges facing the building and construction industry. As such, the event was designed to also celebrate the two winning projects from Lebanon. The Bronze Award in the Main category was received by the talented Joana Dabaj, Riccardo Conti and Matteo Zerbi of CatalyticAction, for their project Pavilion re-claimed: Adaptive reuse for refugee education. The design team made use of an abandoned pavilion from Expo 2015 in Milan and transformed it into a school for children at a tented settlement in the Bekaa area. The project is now a finalist in the Global LafargeHolcim Awards. The 2nd prize in the Next Generation Category went to Nour Madi, Jad Melki and Ghaith Abi Ghanem for their project Rubble Recycling Units in Aleppo. The team proposed a non-classical approach to recycling concrete rubble from destroyed buildings of Aleppo. For more information on the LafargeHolcim Awards and the winning projects: AwardsLebanon 4

6 Christmas Fun - Lunch with 200 Orphans On December , Pepsico sponsored a full day of activities for 200 Orphan at City Centre - VOX Cienamas. The event was organized by G, a CSR Implementer, Ecopreneur Empowerer, and Green Building Consultant. The program included sharing a full day of fun with the Orphans by welcoming them with Mascots & playing with them, watching a movie, having lunch, playing at Magic Planet, and distributing gifts to them. 5

7 NGO News Kunhadi launched Save The Night project Nightclubs and Pubs Pillar during its 11th anniversary, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Nigh-Clubs & Pastries in Lebanon, and in partnership with Diageo, Uber, and Zomato. Save The Night project aims to improve night venues' safety, decrease car crashes happening at night and reduce underage drinking. It engages nightlife stakeholders in youth safety by providing their staff members with specialized trainings enabling them to create a safer environment for young partygoers. Kunhadi will be awarding a Save The Night label to nightclubs and valet parking companies whose staff members complete Kunhadi trainings and meet the safety requirements stated in the Nightclub Code created by Kunhadi in collaboration with the Ministry of tourism and the partnership of the Syndicate of Night Clubs. Failing to abide by the requirements in the future results in the removal of the label from the nightclub. The safety requirements include ensuring no entrance for underage people, no counterfeit alcohol and refusing to continue serving alcohol to intoxicated clients. It also includes guaranteeing secure taxi entrance, having an insurance license, being equipped with fire extinguishers and first aid kit, and reducing the music volume as required by law. #16Days of Activisim to End #ViolenceAgainstWomen November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women as well as the first day of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence. This campaign runs every year from 25 November until the Human Rights Day on December 10. It aims to raise public awareness and mobilize people everywhere to end violence against women and children and to achieve more equal world free of violence and abuse. Amel works to prevent and respond to all kind of violence against women and children. Through different projects focusing on health, education, vocational training, and protection, women and girls are empowered to claim their rights and play a valuable role in their community. 6

8 BUSSMA Center - Youth for Tomorrow Bussma Center is a youth community center that aims at providing youth with a safe space, where they can spend time learning new skills & facilitating new interactions between diverse communities. The program is in partnership with Mercy Corps, Akkarouna, and Nabad for Development, with the support of Global Affairs Canada. The Center targets 2500 young males and females between the ages of 12 and 19 on soft vocational skills. Along with other activities, the center helps the youth change their mindset of thinking from being a victim to taking responsibility in the community they are living in. The program includes components that support this process, including community events, advocacy campaigns, awareness sessions, livelihood opportunities, psychosocial support, CBOs support, and a community based protection network. The youth are from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. The soft vocational skills are chosen based on the needs of the youth in the communities targeted. Bussma Center is open in Saida, Tripoli, and Barja. Each center is led by one of the partners and the program allows the exchange of experiences along with capacity building for the partners teams. Regional News Emirates NBD Completes CSR Milestones Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region and a pioneer in private sector CSR volunteering in the UAE announced the milestones it has achieved under the three pillars of the UAE s Year of Giving initiative: Strengthening social responsibility in the private sector, Promoting a spirit of volunteering, and Strengthening the concept of serving the nation in new generations of Emiratis and expatriates. As the end of the year approaches, Emirates NBD s award-winning Exchanger programme has completed over 26,000 hours of volunteering service with over 4000 employees and partners participating. Orange Jordan Wins Gold Medal in CSR Orange Jordan has been awarded the esteemed Gold Medal of Excellence and a Certificate of Excellence in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the second consecutive year, in recognition of its contribution and ongoing efforts in the CSR field. Attended by leading and well-known figures in the region, the award ceremony took place during the regional meeting of the Arab Organization for Social Responsibility in Dubai. On behalf of Orange Jordan, the award was received by its CSR team leader, Samar Hijjawi. 7