In 2011 Remote Site Solutions launched the Community First Foundation. The foundation is designed to align the shareholders and senior managements view on how we can contribute to the local communities in which we operate.
These communities are often forgotten amidst the pressures of commercial projects that have a severe impact on local every-day life. RSS are privileged to be welcomed by these communities and the Community first foundation helps us to offer our skills, experience, knowledge and capital to leave a lasting legacy for the local people.
Initiatives
The Community First Foundation is built around 5 core community initiatives to help improve the lives of some of the poorest and deprived communities in the world.
- Responsible local employment
- Engaging local suppliers and sub-contractors
- Educating on health and well being
- Training and development of employees
- Supporting local causes and projects
Ambassadors
Each of our local business units will assign a ‘Community First’ Ambassador. The primary role of the Ambassador will be to ensure that each of our Community based
initiatives are being applied to our operations and to act as a liaison to the local population. The Ambassador will also be responsible for:
- Identifying local projects in which RSS can get involved
- Monitoring and mentoring people who are undergoing training and development courses
- Reporting progress to RSS’s central Community Development Team.
Local Employment
Wherever possible RSS will employ people from the local villages, towns and regions that are close to the projects we operate. On many occasions we work with our clients to achieve maximum local content levels for our projects.
Diversity
Employment shall be based solely upon levels of skill and experience offering equal opportunities to all applicants. We employ people from all walks of life, race, religion and sex and commit to continue this drive for diversity across our employment structure.
Career Development
Our ‘promote from within’ ethos means that we invest in our employees futures. Many of our junior and senior managers have come through the ranks from the lower level roles within the business.
Supplier Engagement
Local supply is incredibly important to us due to the remote conditions in which we operate. As long as we can source goods locally, which meet our QHSE criteria and any contractual obligations, we will ensure that local suppliers are given priority over external vendors. Each supplier shall be assessed fairly on their ability to provide the goods in a safe, effective and timely manner.
Sub-contractor Agreements
On the vast majority of projects it is necessary for us to work with sub-contractors who have local knowledge and expertise and have the ability to deliver a service in the local environment. We will ensure that local sub-contractors are sourced prior to the engagement of regional, national or international organisations.
Food Safety Awareness
Raising awareness for factors such as nutrition and food safety. In the USA alone around 76 Million cases of food borne illnesses/disease are reported each year. Many of the countries in which we operate do not have good hospital/clinic facilities readily available so it is incredibly important that we pass our industry knowledge on to prevent these matters occurring.
Malaria Prevention
With half the worlds population at risk of Malaria and 216 million malaria cases every year we ensure that our employees are armed with the knowledge and resources to prevent this terrible disease. Malaria disease in high burden countries can also affect the countries economic stability reducing the GDP by over 1%. For some of the poorest countries in the world this has a dramatic effect on every day life for many communities. In a concerted effort to prevent Malaria effecting both the human and economic factors, RSS ensures that each employee takes part in an induction course which specifically educates about Malaria prevention and to ensure they are armed with the necessary information and support in the event Malaria is diagnosed.
HIV & Aids Awareness
Being in the epicenter of the epidemic means that Africa is forced to find ways to live through and beyond and emerge from it a far better society than it was before. HIV and AIDS gives the opportunity to develop new social understandings and meanings and to see how this long wave event can shape the country and the region in ways not yet seen or imagined and to ensure that the epidemic is the catalyst around which dramatic and positive social, political and personal change can be forged. Our role as part of our community first program is to encourage and steer this positive change by engaging the communities with new ideas, with vision and reflection, with hope and with possibility.
Support local causes and projects
RSS pledges time, expertise and capital to assist with the development of community projects. We are privileged to be strategic partners for the Kitchen Table Charities Trust founded by John Humphreys – BBC broadcaster, presenter and former diplomatic correspondent.
This trust has helped many thousands of people often in the most remote and poor communities to have a better standard of living, education and community pride.
Past projects include the improvement of water supply and sanitization in West Timor and Indonesia, building a rehabilitation and training centre for orphans and vulnerable children in South East Kenya and support for vulnerable and marginalized groups, and creating opportunities for disadvantaged women through skills training in Ghana.
Visit www.kitchentablecharities.org for further information.
A message from John Humphrys
Television Personality, Broadcaster, Award Winning Journalist and Founder of the Kitchen Table Charities Trust
Let me first congratulate Remote Site Solutions for creating the Community First Foundation. It’s a brilliant initiative and I am delighted that they have asked my own charity to become the Foundation’s first partner.
I set up the Kitchen Table Charities Trust (www.kitchentablecharities.org) in 2005 to help the many tiny charities around the world who do a superb job at a local level of helping desperately poor people (mostly children) get a decent start in life. Like KTCT they are virtually all run by unpaid volunteers. They have almost no overheads and whatever resources they have are devoted to the local community. But, inevitably, it’s not easy for them to raise funds and that’s where KTCT comes in.
If they meet our demanding standards, we pay them grants to help finance their projects. They might need help with a decent water supply and sanitisation or irrigating their crops or any one of a dozen different projects to improve the quality of their life and health. We have also financed income-generating projects and even built the occasional bridge. But mostly we want to see many more children (many of them orphans) getting a basic education. That seems to me to be the key to improving lives in a region like sub-Saharan Africa. If children can be taught to read and write they have a chance to do something with their lives. If not, they have no chance. So we help build new schools or improve existing ones. KTCT has made it possible for many thousands of children to go to school and we are immensely proud of that.
KTCT is run by volunteers from their own homes: hence the ‘Kitchen Table” in our name.
We have no fancy offices or pension funds to finance. Nor do we spend anything on advertising or glossy brochures. We pride ourselves on getting good value for money and spending virtually every penny we receive where it is most needed – on projects initiated mostly by the communities themselves. What we expect in return for our grants is that they pitch in. We might pay for the building materials, for instance, but local people will supply the labour. That keeps the cost down, but also generates pride and commitment in the village.
Inevitably in these difficult financial times KTCT has many more request for help than it has money to pay for them. RSS and the Community First Foundation can help in so many ways – especially with their local knowledge, experience and ability to raise funds and provide local charities with technical advice. I am confident that this new partnership will enable us to reach out to even more poor people who need our help. My KTCT Colleagues and I look forward to working closely with the Community First Foundation and wish it every success in its development and humanitarian work.
Case Studies
Name: Abdul Achim
Position: Stores Officer
Location: Palma Mozambique
Abdul was born in Quionga, Palma in Mozambique and at the age of six he moved across the border to Tanzania where he spent most of his life. His education was done at Chiokongola Primary and then later at Saba Secondary school both located in Mtwara. After School he wanted to further his education and joined the Tanzanian Institute of Accountancy and also an IT course.
Before joining RSS in 2008 as an Administrator Assistant he worked both as an Office Manager and later as a Field Supervisor. Abdul is now based at the ever growing Palma Camp and forms part as in important player in this integrated team which in a few years time will grow from strength to strength.
Abdul is a very dedicated and hard worker and is very eager to lean and he has shown that his past experience and knowledge comes well to play with the ever challenging demands set ahead for us in this region. He is also not a clock watcher and his loyalty stretches further than most employees and sometimes sits till late in the evening to finish tasks that need to be completed.
Name: Amani Chuma
Position: Food Supplier
Location: Tanzania
At aged 32, Amani was working as a small-scale grocery trader in Dar Es Salaam market selling his products to the local population.
RSS was introduced to Amani in 2005 through one of his friends that were working for our client at the time. RSS immediately saw potential in Amani through his attention to detail, professionalism, business acumen and product quality. Over the next few years RSS mentored Amani, giving him the skills and knowledge to supply to international companies. Amani ‘s company soon became one of the leading fresh and ambient food suppliers in Tanzania, supplying to many international organisations associated with the Oil and Gas and Mining Industries. Amani has now built his business portfolio to a fleet of 50 trucks and 90 light vehicles working with high profile customers such as Coca Cola and delivering to 5 countries in the region.
Amani and his family including wife Meja and have 4 children remain upstanding members of the community and remain close friends of RSS. Amani still supplies RSS with his products and services and we anticipate our relationship to continue for many years to come.
