Brazil Programme

São Paulo is one of the Brazilian states that receives the highest number of immigrants working in the clothing manufacturing industry. Since 2013, in collaboration with the São Paulo Secretary of State for Justice and Defense of Citizenship, Inditex has funded a reference centre attending to the needs of the immigrant population in matters such as regularization, professional training and integration into the labour market. The Immigrant Integration Centre was opened in December 2014 and has the capacity to assist 1,000 people per day.

The programme to support social organizations – such as the Centre for Human Rights and Immigrant Citizenship (Centro de Direitos Humanos e Ciudadania do Imigrante), the Migrant Support Centre (Centro de Apoio ao Migrante) and Missao PAZ – reiterates Inditex’s commitment to promoting human rights and improving employment and social conditions within its supply chain. During 2014, some 17,524 immigrants in a situation of social risk have benefitted directly from this initiative.

Programme to promote employment in Spain for people suffering or at risk of suffering social exclusion

The programme to promote employment among people in a situation of risk of social exclusion is a collaborative project between Inditex and Cáritas Española to develop formulas that favour job creation and facilitate the entry into the labour market of the most vulnerable people in Spain. Since 2011, Inditex has supported more than 50 social entrepreneurship projects, both individual and collective, through projects that promote business creation in emerging sectors or the opening of new lines of business, cooperatives, or support for individual entrepreneurship.

In October 2014, Cáritas and Inditex renewed their commitment to collaborate on this initiative with the signing of a new agreement for the period 2014-2016, with a contribution of €3 million.

Bangladesh Programme

During 2014, different projects have been implemented in the areas of Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Mymensingh in Bangladesh in collaboration with the non-profit organization Cáritas. The projects aim to improve social and sanitary conditions for the rural Adivasi population, one of the poorest and most vulnerable indigenous communities in the country. These projects have helped to improve the living conditions of some 13,155 direct beneficiaries in a total of 321 villages. The programme has received €500,000 in funding for an implementation period of 17 months.

Cambodia Programme

Inditex, in collaboration with Cáritas, is involved in a programme in Cambodia to support community development and health among families living in extreme poverty in the provinces of Siem Reap, Battambang, Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom. The year-long programme has received funding to a sum of €300,000. The beneficiaries of the programme are families with scarce economic resources living in a situation of extreme poverty: landless peasants, small-scale farmers, the elderly, disabled and those with chronic illnesses, women with children, widows, and children.

The aim of these activities is to ensure that families have enough to eat throughout the year, improving nutritional levels – in particular among children aged under five.