In its 150th anniversary year, Voith is donating 150,000 Euro ($170,000.86) to the charity organization Theirworld to launch six new Voith Code Clubs in Tanzania. These clubs will help 720 girls and young women develop vital communications and leadership skills and learn technical coding skills to prepare them for the entry into an expanding tech sector across Africa. The clubs will launch in Fall 2017. Alongside the donation, the family-owned Voith joins the Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Education) founded by Theirworld in 2012.
“Voith has a strong tradition as a good corporate citizen that supports education,” said Bob Gallo, president & CEO of Voith Hydro U.S. “For this reason, we are very happy to celebrate our anniversary with the communities and locations that Voith has called home- in some cases for many decades- and to support valuable initiatives such as GBC-Education, which promotes education around the globe.”
According to Theirworld and the GBC-Education, more than 263 million children and youth around the world are out of school and at least 330 million children are not learning basic skills. The new Voith Code Clubs in Tanzania will expand Theirworld’s existing Code Clubs in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, contributing to a higher amount of women working in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Sarah Brown, executive chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education and president of Theirworld added, “We know that investing in a girl has social and economic returns that go beyond her, extending not only to her family and future children, but also to her community. Engaging private sector knowledge and mobilizing its resources are key to scaling these approaches to as many girls and young women as possible.”
The formal handover of the donation was completed by Voith family members and shareholders Benjamin Nick and Dr. Ophelia Nick, members of the Supervisory Board, together with representatives of the GBC-Education in New York. With the donation Voith joins GBC-Education that brings together the expertise and resources of 100 leading companies to help achieve global education for all.
The money was funded by Voith employees in the 150th anniversary Corporate Sports project in which Voith encouraged all employees worldwide to participate in a sporting event for this good cause. The kilometers covered in activities such as 5k runs, walks, cycling and other events was then transferred into euros for a total donation amount of 150.000 EUR.
In addition to this, Voith supports local social initiatives of its employees throughout its anniversary year. The 150 Good Causes are local projects supporting schools, education and science, social matters, sports and culture close to the respective Voith site.
