Education and knowledge are the most important resources of any society. This holds true more than ever in an era of globalization. Henkel invests in education and knowledge through worldwide initiatives to support the education and further development of young people as a means to creating the conditions for an independent life based on equal opportunity for as many children in this world as possible. These include student exchange projects, language courses for immigrant children, co-operation with primary and secondary schools and prizes for universities.

50 years of investment in educating young people

The Dr. Jost Henkel Foundation, which was founded by Henkel as early as 1958, helps young people to finance their university studies. Henkel has endowed the foundation with capital of 3.3 million euros for this purpose. Preference is given to extremely gifted students who are unable to pay for their education either themselves or with the help of third parties. In 2008, to mark its 50th anniversary, the Dr. Jost Henkel Foundation increases its budget by 50 percent, so that it can finance additional activities.

Promoting economics

The Konrad Henkel Foundation, founded by Henkel in 1985, promotes economics research and teaching in a variety of ways at the Heinrich Heine University in Duesseldorf, Germany, and encourages the international exchange of knowledge in particular. The foundation is administered in trust by the Society of Friends and Supporters of the University of Duesseldorf as a dedicated special fund. Henkel provided an endowment of 1.6 million euros for this purpose.
 

In May 2006 a large earthquake struck the province of Yogyakarta in Central Java (Indonesia). As part of the Henkel Friendship Initiative (HFI) and as an expression of concern for the fellow humans affected by the disaster, Henkel Indonesia supported families of affected Henkel employees as well as the reconstruction of an elementary school with a total of 41,500 Euros. The structure of the SD Kanisius Manding elementary school had been seriously damaged by the earthquake. Entering the building could cause serious injury and death. Classes were therefore being held outside the school building in emergency tents. With the help of Henkel, the school was reconstructed within 4 month. The library of the new school building will be named “Henkel Library”.

Gina Ludwig has a mission: to get kids excited about chemistry and science. She and two other volunteers of Henkel in the Detroit, Michigan area started a chapter of “Kids and Chemistry”, a program sponsored by the American Chemical Society. The Program is geared to children ages 7 to 12 and uses plenty of hands-on experiments to spark the kids interest in science. For the past nine years, Gina has volunteered countless hours to the program, teaching children that chemistry is fun. In 2006, the program received funding from Henkel´s MIT Children´s Program, which will be used to purchase supplies for the experiments. For her volunteer work, Gina received awards from the American Chemical Society in 2003 and 2004.

The Bethlehem House of Bread is located in the squatter areas of the bustling town of Baliwag in Bulacan on the Philippines. It is a children´s center that was founded by Father Boyet Conception and cares for over 400 needy children, providing food and medical assistance to the very poor and malnourished children, as well as education. In 2006, employees from Henkel Philippines donated a generator set, computer and printer set, television and audio equipment that were needed by the center for their education program through Henkel´s Children Project.

Stony Creek School in suburban Chigago, IllinoisU.S.A., helps children with developmental delays catch up with their peers through a combination of physical therapy, indivudual and group intervention. Henkel employee, Michael Pierce, whose daughter had successfully attended the school, later volunteered to work in the school´s early childhood program. He formed a volunteer committee to help prevent cuts to the school district´s budget and raise funds. For the past two years now, Henkel MIT funds have helped the school purchase computers, mobility equipment and other classroom equipment. The MIT funds also support the “Parents First” program to educate parents on ways they can help their children overcome their delays.

The Bambiriada is the biggest event for children and youths in the Czech Republic. It is an open-air fair of nongovernmental institutions under the patronage of the Czech Council for Children and Youth and offers a wide range of courses and activities to the children, which aim at developing their personalities and skills. Over 30,000 children and parents visit the four-day fair every year. Henkel participates in the Bambiriada with the objective of educating the children in those areas where the Henkel employees have profound knowledge. Thus, Henkel offered chemical experiments and education prepared by colleagues from the departments laundry and home care division, awarding the children's efforts with Henkel product samples.

An alarming number of children in Turkey still are homeless. Many of these homeless children suffer from drug addiction, ill health and other problems caused by poverty. The best way to help those children is to help them get off the street. This is why Henkel Turkey supports a project in Gaziantep, Turkey, that is aimed at providing a vocational training for the homeless children of the city by building a vocation plant: For being employed is the most successful way of avoiding homelessness.

The children of Mongolian workers in Korea often live in poverty-stricken families and in isolation from the Korean society and their children. Henkel Korea maintains various programs in order to help the isolated Mongolian children in Korea. For example, Henkel Korea is hosting a free after-school soccer class once a week for children who attend a Mongolian school, which is cramped and has no playground. Friendly soccer matches with Korean children are set up so that Korean-Mongolian friendships are made possible. Furthermore, Henkel Korea founded an in-school library for Mongolian children who are not permitted to use local libraries due to their status as children of illegal immigrants. The goal of the Henkel Library is to allow these children to acquire essential learning skills.

In 2005, a group from the management team of Henkel Malaysia visited the New Horizons Society in order to gather information on the work being done there. This not-for-profit organization located not far from the Henkel site of Ipoh has, for ten years, been running a help center for babies, toddlers and pre-school children suffering from development problems and learning difficulties. The teachers and therapists of the center endeavor through educational games and exercises conducted with individuals and small groups to help the children develop in every respect, i.e. not only physically and intellectually but also in their emotional, spiritual, social and communicative capabilities. The managers from Henkel Malaysia found that they could not leave it at just that one visit. They soon came back, this time with a “fat check”, a donation of considerable generosity from Henkel Malaysia to the New Horizons Society development center.

Once again, Christian Gimonet, Customer Advisor at Henkel Loctite in France, has spent three weeks of his annual leave in Mali, Africa. Gimonet did not travel as a tourist to Mali in the west of the Black Continent, but rather as a helper. Together with other volunteers, he has for years been supporting two schools in the country. “One school is in Batouma, and the other in Dagodji. Both towns are in the north of Mali,” he reports. “The schools, which we have built up with support from, among others, the Henkel MIT Initiative, are now attended by around 160 children. We need to build more classrooms so that everyone has enough space.” Gimonet’s task as a volunteer consists primarily in doing the PR work for the two projects. “For this, I have to collect data and information on how the schools are contributing to making life easier for the people of Batouma and Dagodji,” he explains. “In fact, both schools act as drive motors for their respective towns. The people once more have hope for the future and are ready for a new beginning. During my three-week stay, I, together with some women, started a garden project. We have laid out a large vegetable patch not only for subsistence purposes but also to enable the women to take part of their harvest to market.”

Under the motto “Build on efforts” the Henkel brand “Ceresit” celebrated its 100th birthday. On the occasion of this anniversary an idea for a special project came up: The most successful German junior soccer teams got the opportunity to apply at Henkel for tricots with a value of 500 Euros each. And even more: For the promotion of social commitment among youngsters Henkel and its brand Ceresit asked the teams to participate in a social project: 25 soccer teams that promoted a social institution in their hometown received an extra bonus: As Henkel Smile ambassadors the new talents were asked to hand over a cheque over 1.000 Euros each for the respective social institution.

“Education for Children in Need” is the motto of a three-year project of the Henkel brand “Schauma” in cooperation with the UNESCO. The project partners work together to realize one extensive project per year. Well-known testimonials act as project partners. In 2006 “Schauma” together with the Klitschko Brothers supported the UNESCO in building a school in Namibia. In 2007, the Schauma brand started the education and life project in Western Kenya in cooperation with UNESCO. Through the financial contribution and the coordination measures and help of the UNESCO staff in Kenya, HIV-infected orphans can now receive medical care and attend school. The children therefore have prospects for the future. Katarina Wolf, Marketing Manager at Schwarzkopf & Henkel in the segment of hair care and responsible for “Schauma” summarizes: “Children need our help. The UNESCO foundation is the perfect partner for us in order to stand up for the needs of children”.

The project “A School for skilled trade in India” was brought to life in cooperation with the ice hockey association of Dusseldorf, Germany. During the play-off game of the DEG Metro Stars against the Hamburg Freezers on March 15th 2006 a big donations event took place: Henkel in cooperation with the DEG donated one Euro for every visitor of the match. In the end, 10,000 Euros, donated by the visitors, by Henkel and the DEG, could be given to a school for skilled trade in India for construction and equipment.

Already last year Henkel and the DEG Metro Stars collected money for the victims of the Tsunami catastrophe.  A handicraft school for one hundred adolescents in need was built and inaugurated in September 2006. “Everybody had waited for the school to open. It is so nice to see that the donated money is spent so well for the benefit of the local youngsters” stated Henkel employee Dr. Reimar Heucher enthusiastically. In 2005 Heucher had made an application for the support of a children´s project in India under the framework of the Henkel Smile program. The jury immediatly saw the potential to extend his project idea in order to found a school for skilled trade in this region.

The official opening of the school in the region of Pondicherry in the Southeast of India was accompanied by archbishop Dr. Antony Anandarayar and Mr. Augustin, managing director of the initiative “Industrial Growth and Investment in Pondicherry”. “In particular the future students were very delighted about the opening of the school”, summarizes Dr.Heucher, who participated as honorary guest in the opening ceremony in Pondicherry.

The new school for skilled trade in the region of Pondicherry allows one hundred adolescents to receive a vocational education. The coastal area of Pondicherry is strongly dominated by fishing business. The young males are going to be trained to become electricians and mechanics specialized in boats as well as carpenters and boat-builders. The girls receive training for becoming seamstresses. All, male and female, are taught the handling of personal computers.