Gazprom Neft takes first place in Leaders in Corporate Philanthropy – 2015 rankings
The company’s HomeTowns project in the Orenburg Region won its nomination for “Best Programme or Project Highlighting Policy in Corporate Philanthropy and the Principle of Corporate Social Responsibility,” endorsed by the RSPP. First place for “Best Programme or Project Promoting the Development of Infrastructure for NGOs, Charitable Initiatives and Volunteering”, endorsed by the Ministry of Economic Development, was won by Gazprom Neft’s CSR competitive grants initiative.
The Orenburg Oblast is a major exploration and production (E&P) location for Gazprom Neft. In 2011 the company undertook a range of investigations, revealing high demand among local residents for improvements to local infrastructure. The HomeTowns project was initiated in the region the following year. Since then Gazprom Neft has implemented more than 130 projects, almost half of which have been initiated by local residents. Over the past four years more than six children’s and six multi-functional sports facilities have been built, three medical facilities supported, and 13 schools and kindergartens refurbished, as well as five arts centres. As part of this initiative elderly people in seven population centres are receiving training in computer skills. The project enjoys considerable local support, with the number of proposals for neighbourhood enhancement, infrastructure improvements and better social services (as well as the number of volunteers recruited to implementing various programmes) increasing over the past year by more than a third.
The distribution of competitive grant awards in those regions in which the company operates has been ongoing since 2013. This approach envisages the direct participation of local residents and community associations, as well as local government agencies and NGOs, in resolving those issues of most immediate importance to them. Similar competitions have also been held in the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenetsk Okrugs, and the Orenburg, Tomsk and Omsk Oblasts, in 2015. Of 379 proposals submitted for review by local grant committees, members of which include independent experts, local government officials, community organisations and the media, 79 were selected for implementation. Training seminars in CSR project management were also held for grant applicants.
Alexander Dybal, Member of the Gazprom Neft Management Board commented: “Corporate social responsibility is, today, far more than just a recognised trend. Infrastructure investment and the establishment of partnerships with local residents in resolving those issues of most immediate importance to them is now being accorded strategic significance by commercial organisations in terms of the fulfilment of their long-term plans. The better life is in one region or another, the easier it is to recruit qualified staff and develop business processes. Gazprom Neft has, since 2013, brought all of its CSR initiatives together under the HomeTowns project. During that time we have facilitated more than 1,100 projects, on a total budget of more than 12 billion rubles. Their effectiveness is evidenced not just by greater activity, year after year, on the part of local communities, but by improvements in the attractiveness of various regions, for both life and work.”
The Gazprom Neft “Home Towns” project brings together the company’s various CSR initiatives and projects throughout those regions in which the company has a presence. Directed at improving living standards in these regions, the programme includes initiatives for neighbourhood enhancement, and for the development of children’s and public sports facilities, as well as programmes in education, health, and in preserving and supporting the culture of the indigenous populations of the Russian Far North.
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