In an interview for the Nivell magazine, of the Balearic Builders’ Association, our Marketing Manager talks about her experience in India.
What have you cooperated on?
As Grupo Ferrá’s designated manager in charge of the implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility policies, I had been looking for a while for a trustworthy and transparent organisation that we felt we could trust. I had been given excellent feedback about the Vicente Ferrer Foundation (FVF – Fundación Vicente Ferrer), so I arranged a visit with them. After meeting the representative of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation for the Balearic Islands, Isabel Pizá, and starting to work together, I realised that I had finally found an organisation from which we could learn, and with which we could share experiences and grow in terms of corporate responsibility. Our company shares a common philosophy and core values with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, which is essential when choosing your allies.
In July 2016 we started to support the Habitat project of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, thus enabling the construction of homes for families belonging to the most disadvantaged sections of the Indian society and facilitating their access to dignified living conditions in a tiny village called Kogira, in the area of Penukonda, Madakasira region, in the country’s southeast. Getting involved in this home building project was a way of empowering women in India, given that the houses were registered in their names so that if they are abandoned by their husbands or widowed, no one can evict them from their homes, which unfortunately is a quite common occurrence in rural India.
After receiving the first report and the pictures showing the project’s implementation, we decided to renew our cooperation. However, we received a very unusual response from the Foundation, because Isabel Pizá told us: “Wait, before continuing your cooperation with us you need to travel to Anantapur to see the results of your solidarity first hand”. A few months later, a delegation from Grupo Ferrá flew to India in order to inaugurate the houses that we had built.
Getting to know and see the Foundation´s project with our own eyes, as well as the management transparency and everything else that we saw while on the ground was such a positive experience that it encouraged us to continue supporting the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and to remain at their side in the fight against the extreme poverty.
In July 2017 began new building work for the construction of houses in the village of Kanumpalli, in the Padini area, in northern Anantapur.
As an experience, what has it given you on a personal level?
The experience has been very enriching from all points of view, as well as an excellent opportunity for learning and transforming our company. Of course, it has also had quite a significant impact on a personal level, because getting in touch with other realities that are radically different from ours suddenly opens your eyes to new perspectives. It is not possible to see life again in the way that you did before.
Who has travelled to India on behalf of the Group?
Three members of the Grupo Ferrá team made the journey: Raquel Carrasco Barrio, Financial Director, Antoni Gurrera, Managing Director and me.
Will you continue this cooperation?
We have decided to renew our commitment with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and, as I have mentioned earlier, we are participating in the construction of more houses that will restore dignity to the inhabitants of Kanumpalli. We are extremely proud to be able to make a contribution, however small, to give families in one of the poorest areas of southern India access to a better life, because what would be considered to be a fundamental right in our society for them is a real opportunity to escape extreme poverty.
Is this the first time that you have executed Corporate Social Responsibility project abroad? What is your Corporate Social Responsibility policy in the Balearic Islands?
We do not distinguish between global and local action. Our commitment as a company is to implement any guidelines and practices necessary that may lead to the achievement of economic, environmental and social balance. In this context, such a distinction would make no sense.
We have recently started cooperating with the company 3 Glops from Mallorca, dedicated to the occupational integration of persons with mental illness through a special employment centre. We have also cooperated with AEA Solidaria, an NGO created and managed by the staff of the airline Air Europa, by sending clothes to children at risk of social exclusion in the municipal district of Boca Chica, in the Dominican Republic.