What we do for our communities
We are mindful that the health of our communities reflects on the health of our organization. To this end, we are committed to supporting our communities with health promotion initiatives in order to ensure wellbeing in the communities around our business. As such have been supporting communities on a Sensitization, Supply and Sustain basis.
Sensitisation
We have been driving public awareness to communities surrounding our operations. This has been done through communication posters strategically placed around high traffic areas in the communities surrounding our operations reaching a population of about 23 000 people. This is complemented with mobile phone messages to community leaders and groups for further dissemination to community members. The content of messages includes facts about COVID19, prevention measures and calls for hopeful fight with anticipation for a more resilient society post this season.
Supply
Under the Supply Pillar, the company supported the local poly clinic, which is the primary health care center with sets of PPE which includes surgical masks and surgical gloves. The company has also mobilised a group of young women from among the Shine: Simuka Upenye beneficiaries to manufacture face masks as part of response to COVID-19. With a target to manufacture five thousand masks, this project is funded by Lafarge and supported by the City of Harare who have deployed qualified personnel to assist with the quality assurance. The mask manufacturing project is set to improve availability of this critical protective equipment in the locality while also empowering the young women to earn an income from this venture.
Sustain
To Sustain, Lafarge Zimbabwe is using digital platforms to continue reinforcing prevention behavior in order to ensure sustained zero prevalence in our locality. The company designs and issues out daily communication to encourage adherence with national lockdown and prevention guidelines in combination with other hygiene measures to help create strong barriers to infection in communities that have not yet reported any cases. A stay at home social media challenge was launched on the company’s WhatsApp platforms to promote lockdown adherence behavior while obtaining daily feedback on the health and status of our people.
