Education is key for inclusion and empowerment! Explore two of our local initiatives

Education is one of Mondi’s strategic social investment areas. Here are two great initiatives from Austria and Côte d’Ivoire: 

Mondi’s supports five Caritas Lerncafés in Austria 

Not all children can manage school requirements on their own. Unfortunately, many parents are unable to provide the necessary support to their children due to various reasons. This makes it difficult for pupils to keep up with the school requirements and achieve the learning success they’d like to.  

In Austria, Caritas has created a free learning and afternoon care service called “Lerncafés” for children and young people aged 6 to 15. Mondi is proud to support five Lerncafés in Austria, located near our operations of Mondi Neusiedler & Hilm, Mondi Frantschach, Mondi Zeltweg and Mondi Korneuburg. In total Mondi provides a social investment of €200,000 per school year. 

Here are some highlights: 

• Over 140 children have received free learning support and have finished school years successfully.
• Children from 24 different nations come together in the five Lerncafés supported by Mondi.
• The afternoons at the Caritas Lerncafés are filled with a lot of commitment, motivation and creativity encouraging children to learn and grow individually  
• Our support extends beyond academics, including where needed collaboration with youth welfare and social workers to assist in difficult situations at home or school and development of social competencies, conflict management skills and teambuilding 

Additionally, Mondi colleagues actively engage with the children by organising visits to our mills, giving Christmas presents, and planning excursions. 

Our Dual Vocation Training programme in Côte d’Ivoire  

Another great local education initiative comes from Côte d’Ivoire: In partnership with the Austrian Development Agency and other partners, we supported the development of a dual educational programme in Côte d’Ivoire that combines theoretical education in schools with practical training in companies.  

Our Mondi Paper Bags plant in Abidjan hosts 50 apprentices attending a four-year dual training course to become industrial maintenance technicians. Participating young people can gain extensive work experience and increase their chances in the labour market. At the same time, the programme supports companies in meeting increasing demand for qualified workers.  

Our project won the 2023 TRIGOS Award, which is Austria’s corporate social responsibility award for International Engagement.