Clariant promotes the interest and enthusiasm of students for technically, mathematically and scientifically oriented subjects (STEM subjects) in the USA and Canada. In 2015, the Clariant Business Unit OMS received the McCullough Middle School Science Bowl Team at the Texas location in The Woodlands. This team is participating in the National Science Bowl®, a competition organized by the US Department of Energy for students particularly interested in STEM subjects. Students learned about the composition of chemicals in crude oil production and the numerous uses of petroleum in laboratory demonstrations by the Research & Development Department in The Woodlands.

At the Guatemala City location, Clariant promotes the continuing education of teachers from 20 schools. The participants in the ¡Haz tu parte! (“Do your part!”) project get a lot of new knowledge about the environment, which they can then pass on to the roughly 10,000 students in their schools. The focus is on sharing more environmental awareness and knowledge about how to avoid waste. The program is supported by the country’s export industry.

For the World Malaria Day on 25 April 2015, Clariant and its partner, the US-based company Disease Control Technologies (DCT), donated 600 mosquito nets with the most up-to-date technology to charitable institutions in Nicaragua with the goal of combating the spread of malaria, dengue fever and chikungunya fever. Clariant wants to make an effective contribution to the fight against malaria with the high-quality nets, which continuously release an integrated insecticide over a long period of time.

The organization “Asociación Hoy Por Mañana” (“Today for Tomorrow”) operates several hostels including “Hogar San Jose Protector,” which provides shelter to 70 girls aged 3 to 18 from poor families. The new mosquito nets are used in both the hostel and in the homes of these children’s families. Mosquito nets were also donated to two hospitals in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua.

“The donation will help the children and their families to protect themselves from infection with these diseases,” explains Ena Flinn, Director of the charity “Asociación Hoy Por Mañana.”

At the Suzano location in Brazil, since 2010, Clariant has supported the project “The music won” (A Música Venceu) for children’s musical education. The project was developed in cooperation with the Bachiana Foundation, an initiative of the well-known Brazilian conductor, João Carlos Martins. As part of the project, more than 100 children and adolescents have been trained in classical instruments like the violin, cello, viola, and percussion instruments, as well as in singing. The project is not only of great significance for students in their education, the imparting of cultural values to them, and their personal development; it also has a positive influence on their families, classmates and the immediate neighborhood. These efforts were celebrated in September 2015 with a large concert in Suzano, conducted by João Carlos Martins.

Clariant supports the Macmillan organization in Aberdeen, Scotland, which cares for cancer patients and their families. The organization provides visits by specially trained nurses at the hospital or at home, psychological care for relatives as well as financial and organizational consulting. Clariant employees organize the “Macmillan Coffee Morning” with home-made pastries, to which the company employees and external guests are invited. The proceeds benefit the organization.

Since 2013, Clariant has supported the “Know your Strengths” vacation and training camps at the German sites. These camps are a concept jointly developed by Olympic decathlon champion Christian Schenk along with educators for dealing with the topics of exercise, health, nutrition, creativity, community and nature. They are meant to awaken and strengthen in teens an interest for a healthy lifestyle, active recreational activities and motivating community experiences. The realization of the training camp program is done according to the highest educational standards. In 2015, these events took place in Frankfurt and Gersthofen, Bavaria.

At the Taluka Roha location in western India, Clariant was there to provide help for the expansion of Ghosala secondary school in words and actions. In 2015, Clariant supported the construction of an additional multi-purpose classroom, which can be used as a computer room, a conference room and a library. As a result, Ghosala secondary school can offer students activities that complement and round out the regular classes. The financial assistance from Clariant also enabled a computer lab to be established for the students at the J.M. Rathi secondary school. In the northern Indian city of Vadodara, the Clariant subsidiary Süd-Chemie contributed financially to the modernization of the Nandesari Vidyalaya comprehensive school. The funds were used for the renovation of the building and the supplying of new furniture. In the future, a scientific branch will be set up for 1,200 students, for which classrooms with special equipment are required.

More than 350 units of blood are needed every day in Singapore – one unit can save up to three lives. As part of a non-profit volunteer campaign with the Red Cross, over 50 Clariant employees donated blood together at the Singapore location’s blood drive in October 2015.

In 2014, Clariant China launched a program to promote school education with the title HOPES (Healthy, Open-minded, Positive, Explorative and Sustainable). HOPES, which also has social purposes, focuses on cities where Clariant is located. The first partnership agreement was made with an elementary school in Zhenjiang. The project includes donations of books and faculty activities, but also the support of extracurricular activities and scholarships to students whose parents cannot afford to pay the school fees. The lessons in language, science, music, creative crafts and sustainability are held by volunteer instructors from the Clariant workforce. At the first event in April 2015, more than 50 volunteers from Clariant participated with over 700 students. Hand-crafted souvenirs – such as cases for mobile phones, which were imprinted with images from the photo contest in the spring – were sold at a charity bazaar in the fall of 2015. The revenue generated was given back to the HOPES program. In this manner, an ideal combination of employee engagement and a charitable initiative were able to be established.

At the Indonesian location of Tangerang, since 2012, Clariant has become a patron for the training of teachers and the education of students, together with the renowned local Putera Sampoerna Foundation. Clariant supports children financially so that attending school is even possible for them, and so that they may pursue a secondary school diploma. In addition, nearly 100 teachers have been trained so far as part of this project over a period of six months each, with about a quarter of them in the vicinity of the Clariant location. The new capabilities of the participating teachers now benefit around 700 pupils each year.