Strong for women in Germany and worldwide
5min read
03/07/2018
Where do we stand in terms of gender equality in our society? How much corporate social responsibility is necessary? Two topics that are also discussed again and again in Germany.
The RAJA Group and Rajapack GmbH Germany have been active in this area for years and have been able to distribute more than 10 million euros in donations to charitable projects that strengthen and promote women in particular.
Commitment to equal opportunities
Yes, the RAJA Group is family-run, but a moody, oddball patriarch (which is what many think of when they think of family businesses) is definitely not owner Danièle Kapel-Marcovici. She is committed to her personal convictions and carries them into many European countries with the group’s corporate culture. As Europe’s number 1 in B2B packaging trade, the group faces up to its social responsibility to build a bridge between business and society. Assuming social responsibility is a natural part of the corporate culture in all subsidiaries. The same basic values are behind every commitment: it is about creating equal opportunities for women and men. The improvement of training conditions and opportunities for women and girls as well as the fight against violence against women and girls and environmental protection are the focus here.
The RAJA Foundation – Danièle Marcovici
With the establishment of the RAJA – Danièle Marcovici Foundation, a long-standing need came true for Managing Director Danièle Kapel-Marcovici. Since 2006, the foundation has supported 288 different institutions all over the world, with donations that now amount to 10 million euros. More than 100,000 women have already benefited from this. Executive Director Danièle-Kapel-Marcovici says about her motivation:
Apart from its economic role, I think the company plays an important role in society. But it is above all my personal convictions and my own career that have led me to get involved in a concrete way through a foundation. I created the Raja Danièle Marcovici Foundation to promote values that are important to me: Respect, equal opportunities, education for all.... in honour of all women.
Since September 2015, the RAJA Group branches have also been supporting the work of the foundation. Thus, the donation programme “Women and the Environment”, coordinated and responsible by the RAJA – Danièle Marcovici Foundation, was also introduced in Germany. For the sale of certain packaging products, 1€ per packaging unit went to selected projects in Togo, Cuba, Mozambique, Myanmar and India. Within one year, this programme raised €41,500 in Germany alone.
CSR concept at RAJA in Germany: Think globally, act locally
Since there are enough hotspots in Germany as well, Rajapack GmbH has been committed to the same basic values locally since the establishment of the branch. Initially, smaller donations in kind and money were made to various organisations, but in 2014, the establishment and expansion of a more and more strategic corporate social responsibility concept (CSR) began, which currently bases the exercise of social responsibility on 3 pillars:
Partner vor Ort
Cooperation with the Ettlingen-based women’s and family association effeff, e.V. – Rajapack GmbH supports effeff annually with regular monetary donations, which contribute to maintaining and even expanding the range of language support courses for female migrants
Deutschlandweites Engagement
Perspectives for Women as a long-term CSR – At the latest since the founding of the “Perspectives for Women” initiative in autumn 2016, Rajapack GmbH’s medium- and long-term CSR orientation has manifested itself. Under the auspices of the RAJA Foundation, Rajapack GmbH supports three organisations within Germany. The packaging mail order company donates one euro for each packaging unit of selected products sold to the “Perspectives for Women” programme. Thus, a total of 310,000 euros in donations have gone to the Verein zur beruflichen Förderung von Frauen e.V. in Frankfurt am Main, to HORIZONT e.V. for homeless mothers and their children in Munich and to the anonymous crisis facility for girls and young women with a migration background PAPATYA in Berlin since September 2016.
Einbinden der Mitarbeiter
Another fixed component of the commitment is the “Mobility Week”, in which employees at RAJA have the opportunity to “walk” with pedometers to raise money for a charitable project. For example, just over 2,000 euros were raised for the Karlsruhe Women’s Counselling Centre – donated by the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation.
This is CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that integrates social and environmental concerns into corporate activities and relationships with partners such as customers, suppliers and employees on a voluntary basis.
About effeff
The Ettlinger Frauen- und Familientreff e.V. effeff for short, was founded in 1995 and is an open meeting centre, designed and managed by women. Rajapack has been supporting the association with regular donations for four years now, thus making it possible to expand the range of language courses for migrant women.
About the Karlsruhe Women’s Counselling Centre
The Verein zum Schutz misshandelter Frauen und deren Kinder e.V. (Association for the Protection of Abused Women and their Children) was founded in 1981 as a non-profit association by women who are committed to reducing violence against women.
About Horizont
In the Horizont House, homeless women and their children find a safe temporary home. RAJA donations are used to finance a family coach. The trained social pedagogue supports mothers in building up or strengthening the mother-child relationship as well as in raising children, visiting doctors, learning German and finding a job.
About the vbff
The VbFF was founded in 1978 with the aim of improving professional opportunities for girls and women in order to open up alternative life perspectives for them. The VbFF supports girls and women with a wide range of services in the areas of vocational counselling and orientation, vocational preparation, (part-time) training and vocational re-entry.
About papatya
More than 1,800 girls and young women have already found shelter in the PAPATYA crisis centre. RAJA supports the online counselling service SIBEL: www.sibel-papatya.org from Papatya. It offers girls and women the opportunity to contact Papatya anonymously from Germany and abroad and find help.
