We Invest

Investing in people and communities

At Dole, we believe that the long-term interest of the business is best served when growth and profitability are accomplished alongside the development of our people and communities.

In the Philippines, with the assistance of our partner Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), we continue to invest in education, health, and livelihood programmes for our people and communities. We also have contributed to providing a better environment for our workers and communities by constructing a hospital and school, houses, and community buildings such as churches and sports centers.

Education

Through our Adopt-A-School Programme, we support approximately 60 public elementary schools in Mindanao Island through donations of textbooks, supplemental material, desks, chairs, media and laboratory equipment; teacher training; mobilisation of parent participation; and improvement of school facilities such as libraries. We have also partnered with international NGOs such as The Asia Foundation, Hearth House Health Care and Philippine Medical Society of Florida, to donate an additional 40,000 books to our adopted schools.

Supplementing our education initiatives and supporting the Philippine government's goal of raising the quality of education in the country and encouraging children to develop the love for and habit of reading, Dole sponsored the first Department of Education-initiated Library Hub in Mindanao Island housing over 75,000 books and benefiting all 285 public elementary schools or over 300,000 students in Davao City in 2005.

We also support scholarships programmes for students at all levels including partnering with the US Department of State on their English Access Microscholarship programme benefiting over a hundred public high school students in Mindanao with after-school English instruction in addition to actively promoting nutrition education in communities.

Health

In partnership with different sectors including the local government and other development agencies, Dole has initiated health programmes addressing high-risk illnesses such as tuberculosis or TB and pneumonia. We have been instrumental in the fight against TB in the Philippines by implementing the TB-DOTS (Tuberculosis Directly Observed Treatment Short Course) programme in 2004. TB-DOTS is considered the most effective method of treating TB and recognized by the World Health Organization. Dole is the first private sector partner of the government in Mindanao and as of 2009, more than 150 cases have been treated out of over 375 referrals and close to 6,000 individuals have already been educated. For our efforts, the New York-based Global Business Coalition on HIV / AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria commended us in 2007 for work combating the TB epidemic in the Philippines.

Another programme we launched was the Brigada Pneumonia Programme in North Cotabato in 2009. Its goal is to address the high cases of pneumonia in the province, especially children below the age of five, and prevent future occurrences. In partnership with the local government, community health workers have been trained, medicines have been made available for distribution to diagnosed patients, and education and awareness campaigns were launched. About 400 mothers have also been trained.

We also have been supporting medical missions across Mindanao Island since 2003 where people in hard to reach communities are given medical check ups, medicine, immunization, dental, and other health services. In addition, we support "Operation Smile", where patients receive cleft lip and palate surgery.

Among other health programmes we have, we work with local governments rehabilitating malnourished children and initiating feeding programmes that have benefited over 6,500 malnourished children in South Cotabato and General Santos City. We also assist people with disabilities with donations of wheelchairs. As of 2009, 585 wheelchairs have been distributed.

At the heart of good health is safe drinking water, and Dole has built over 100 water tanks to provide safe potable water for our workers and communities and also in areas in need of accessible, potable water. Each of these ferro-cement tanks supplies fresh water to about sixty families. Some tanks have been donated to public elementary schools where 5,000 public school children benefit. This particular initiative was recognized in 2007 by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines as the winner of its second CSR Excellence Award in the health category.

Livelihood

We support local initiatives in non-traditional community-based economic and enterprise activities that create opportunities for income augmentation.

Among the groups we support are a women's cooperative composed of non-working spouses from communities near our operations in Mindanao who engage in handicraft projects mainly by recycling plastic straps that can no longer be used (and are donated) by the company and converting them into weaved functional items such as bags, mats, baskets, and trays. These are sold eventually within the community or in nearby cities. Another women's groups supported by the company engages in the production of the company's personnel protective suits, a disposable protective over-all gear used by farm workers. The company contracts the regular production of these suits, thereby giving the skilled women an additional source of income.

We also support micro and small enterprises such as livestock dispersal to rural households in 55 different communities in Mindanao where over 1,300 rural households have already benefited and 700 farmers have already been trained.

In addition, we provide technical services to local farmer cooperatives in the Philippines to increase land productivity, access to credit for infrastructure improvements, and a stable market for farmer produce through our pineapple, papaya, and banana growership programme.