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People from all over the world who are active in
local community affairs on behalf of BP came
together in June 1994 for the first time. One
result is the international report ‘BP in the
community’, which offers a coherent account of what
they are all doing.
It sets out their aims: earning local trust and
understanding; fulfilling local expectations;
encouraging employees to help local communities;
helping to improve local economies. It stresses
health, safety and environment, community
development and backing for education. It features
BP’s Colombia programme.
The Prince of Wales says in a letter: “I hope
this report will help to show something of the
encouraging results which can be quickly achieved
once business leaders come to understand the
contribution they can make to the improvement of
their communities, and of the world at large.
BP’s chairman contributes a foreword headed: ‘A
global corporate citizen’.
Education in the report includes promoting
English-teaching in Vietnam, English and business
teaching in Azerbaijan, and science in 500 schools
in south-east Asia. Under environment, the report
mentions recycling initiatives in Singapore,
efforts to shield nesting turtles from two
Malaysian chemical plants, and the supply of a
million safety caps for paraffin bottles in South
Africa (where many children die from drinking
paraffin).
BP has helped fund archaeological digs on New
Stone Age sites, extending Abu Dhabi’s knowledge of
its history by 7,000 years. BP is a sponsor of
South African TV’s health series, Soul City. In
Papua New Guinea, BP staff work with villagers in
their spare time and an agricultural officer
encourages pig rearing and vegetable-growing.
In Vietnam, BP has put nearly £500,000 into
a Save the Children Fund programme to combat
malnutrition. An SCF team found that mothers of
well-nourished children fed them crabs and shrimps
from the rice paddies, and the team encouraged
other mothers to do the same.
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