As part of GCC Services’ commitment to gender equality, and to commemorate International Women’s Day, in 2021 GCC Services completed the refurbishment of Um Ayman Elementary School for Girls in El Fasher, Darfur/Sudan. 750 girls attend this school, and the project is expected to impact students for 5+ years. In this project 10 GCC Services team members worked with the local community to identify the school and complete the project using local contractors. The project included drilling a well, providing desks & chairs, painting, roof repair and floor work. In addition to improving education, each local contractor assigned the project was able to support their family while working on the project. This is GCC Services’ 4th school renovation in the Darfur region. School refurbishments projects directly support the team’s goals to improve education and employment in the communities in which it operates.

GCC Services partnered with the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) in Kenya, to sponsor a vocational training program supporting disabled trainees. GCC Services employees are assigned to be a mentor to groups of students, and a selected number of students follow the program with an internship at Agility Kenya. In December 2021, 21 students were selected for the program, who will complete vocational training programs in electrical wiring, food & beverage production, information communication technology  and motor vehicle maintenance.

Five Years Supporting UNHCR from Agility on Vimeo.

With Agility’s support over the past five years, UNHCR was able to help people in Malaysia, Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda with basic needs, from livelihoods, education to health interventions.

Photo Credit: International Rescue Committee

Agility, a leader in supply chain services, innovation and investment, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an organization that provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to populations affected by conflict and other catastrophes, have partnered to provide entrepreneurship and life skills training to youth in Côte d’Ivoire.

As part of the IRC’s Strengthening Opportunities for Youth Project (PRO-Jeunes), which also receives funding from the Mastercard Foundation and the Schneider Electric Foundation,  380 young people will be trained at Agility’s Logistics Park in Abidjan. The training focuses on financial management, entrepreneurship, gender equality awareness, and business plan development support. At the end of the program, students will have access to financial resources to start a business or will receive help finding jobs. The program also offers a vocational training track, focusing on agriculture or information and communications technology.

The Agility-IRC partnership is intended to help young people in Abidjan between the ages of 15 and 30, and at least 60% of participants are expected to be female.

Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Logistics Parks Africa, said: “Agility has continuously supported education through the global initiatives of its sustainability program. It is extremely important to provide youth with the necessary tools and resources to increase their chances to find suitable jobs and secure their futures. In Côte d’Ivoire and elsewhere, we aim to work closely with our partners at IRC to make sure students receive the support they need to grow in their fields.”

Patrice BOA, Coordonateur – Relance et Développement Economique, International Rescue Committee – Côte d’Ivoire, said, “Bringing IRC and Agility together to combine experience, relationships, material, funding and commitment, we’re able to give young people in Côte d’Ivoire access to quality life skills training, which we hope will enhance their future employability. With Agility’s assistance and the space they have provided, we’re able to include more young people into our PRO- Jeunes program in Abidjan.”

Agility established a similar program at the Agility Logistics Park in Tema, Ghana, where the company runs a vocational training program in collaboration with a local non-governmental organization. Since 2018, more than 380 students have graduated from the program, which provides free vocational and technical training and job-placement assistance. Agility is engaged in several long-term partnerships involving education and training programs that aim to improve employment opportunities in the communities where Agility operates. Agility focuses on secondary education and vocational training and aims to ensure that at least 50% of participants are girls and women.

In a partnership that started in 2007 with INJAZ, a local nonprofit organization, employees from Agility Kuwait and United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC), a leading commercial real estate and facilities management company and one of Agility’s infrastructure companies, hosted several Job Shadows, Interview and CV Writing workshops, and Innovation Camps, mentoring nearly 1,500 students from schools, colleges, and universities around Kuwait.

Agility Turkey donated more than 100 electronic tablets and laptops to support students and teachers amid COVID-19 related school shutdowns. With Agility’s donation, the students were able to continue their education at home, uninterrupted.

Agility also supported the local school by fixing an elevator for disabled students attending the school, in order to prepare for reopening in the near future.

Since 2010, Agility Pakistan has donated to The Citizens’ Foundation’s (TCF), funding campus activities for students at local schools across Pakistan.

In 2019, Agility Pakistan covered 54% of the running costs for Saya Campus, located in Steel Town. The funding helped support administrative costs, school activities, field monitoring, and teacher training and transportation for 210 students. With Agility’s support, the Saya Campus was able to ensure that children from low income families living in the area receive good quality, affordable education, and also provides employment opportunities for school faculty. Our long-term support has meant support for close to 1,000 students over the last 9 years.

In 2020, Agility Pakistan covered the cost of uniforms and books for 200 students enrolled in the 20-21 academic year.

In 2021, Agility Pakistan supported training for teachers employed by TCF to give quality education to students across Pakistan. Agility also initiated a partnership with the Saylani Welfare International Trust, a local nonprofit, to support more than 100 women receive textile training with guaranteed job placement opportunities.

Pakistan houses the world’s second largest out of school population. TCF is a professionally managed, non-profit organization set up in 1995 by a group of citizens concerned with the dismal state of education in Pakistan. It is now one of Pakistan’s leading organizations in the field of formal education. As of 2014, TCF has established 1,000 purpose-built school units across 100 towns and cities, providing education to 145,000 students.

Agility E-Services Center employees oversaw the reconstruction and refurbishment of a local school and paid for the teachers’ salaries; which led to an increase in enrollment from 46 to 315 student within three years.

As part of an ongoing education partnership that started in 2018, Agility E-Services helped the school build washrooms and a hand-washing station, donated sports equipment, planted trees, painted murals on the outer walls of the school, and donated benches and desks as the student headcount grew. As well, with Agility’s support, Kuknoor School was able to hire eight English teachers and school attendants, with Agility paying the salaries for the additional staff. Students attending the school now have a better chance of competing with private school students for further education in the future.