ENI: Development is the new name for corporate social responsibility

The energy company’s commitment in Africa, inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Port Said, Egypt. In the ochre-coloured building in the country’s fifth most populous city, children are preparing to go to school. Some 800 students between the ages of 15 and 18, girls and boys, have been enrolled since last year in the Zohr Applied Technology School built by the international energy company Eni, with the involvement of more than 20 companies in the project and Cairo’s Don Bosco Institute, to train tomorrow’s professionals in the energy and IT sectors.

This is one of the local development projects carried out by the energy company in the countries where it is present. These initiatives are implemented in response to the needs of the territories and are therefore developed together with the relevant authorities at municipal, regional or national level, as a concrete contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, like improving access to energy, water, education and health services, as well as economic diversification. With a special focus on gender issues as well.

WOMEN AND YOUTH: A PRIORITY OBJECTIVE

In Egypt,  Eni, in collaboration with the Ministry of Oil and in partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Health, has launched some very interesting projects involving youth training and women’s empowerment, that to help strengthen basic and emergency health services in the governorate of Port Said, to meet the growing need for services in the country’s peripheral areas.

In Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire, Eni has launched a project to distribute 100,000 stoves over six years, to replace traditional biomass cooking methods. This will on one hand reduce pressure on forest, a primary asset in the country, and domestic pollution on the other.

In Ghana, a similar project has also started in the Ellembelle district in the west of the Country: Rural Clean Cooking, which primarily involves an awareness-raising campaign on the use of improved cookers to ensure access to more sustainable and modern energy sources.

In Mozambique, Eni inaugurated in July 2022 a 600sqm sports facility and children’s play area at the Cidadela das Crianças community primary school in Maputo, which houses around 500 students. The inclusion of sports activities in the curriculum allows for inclusive, equitable and quality education, and also contributes to expanding learning opportunities.

Also in Mozambique, Eni carried out a project aimed at preventing a type of cancers that most affects women, cervical cancer, which has a very significant impact on female mortality.

The project has three phases: securing equipment and supplies for 21 Health Centres; supporting training of health workers in screening methods and treatment of precancerous lesions; and, finally, to promoting public awareness activities, as it is estimated that regular screening could reduce mortality from this type of cancer by 25-30%. 

Not only education and health, but also access to water. In February 2022, Eni, Unicef and the European Union launched a $7 million project to improve water quality in Basra, Iraq, for 850,000 people, including 160,000 children.

The goal is to provide access to «quality, climate-resilient water services» to children, youth and their families in the Al-Baradiya and Al-Jiha water basin areas in Basra, which include 40 schools and 21 health centres, by 2024.

Through the this project, in partnership with the Basra Governorate and with the support of the Ministry of Oil and the Basra Oil Company, Eni is providing its water treatment plants in Al-Baradiya – with a capacity of 400,000 litres per hour each.