Drawing on its 7,300 employees in offices in more than 40 countries and on its ability to innovate, the Artelia group contributes to social and economic development in the regions in which it operates.
Through the Artelia Foundation, the Group encourages skills-based volunteering by placing its greatest asset – the expertise of the men and women it employs – at the disposal of a number of civic and humanitarian causes.
The Artelia Foundation, a philanthropic organisation created in 2006, bases its assignments as a priority on an original form of skills-based sponsorship.
Over its 16 years of existence, the Artelia Foundation has supported more than 200 projects for 80 different associations.
More than 330 employees have carried out assignments with the Foundation, in 28 different countries.
The Foundation’s scope of action has gradually been broadened by other forms of support such as financial patronage, one-off events (e.g. seminars and races in support of charitable causes), longer-term commitments such as the sponsoring of young people, and fundraising through participating in sporting events such as the annual sports challenge, as well as new associations that need the specific skills we can provide.
Technical assignments
The first volunteers travelled to Africa and then Asia to provide technical support on water resource management projects.
Thus began the Foundation’s initial partnerships with organisations such as Kynarou, Amitiés Isère-Dagaba, Secours Catholique and Des jeunes pour la terre. Today, it is also working with La Banda de Musica, Cameleon, Hamap Humanitaire, Afrique en Vie, and many other associations around the world.
Its activities have gradually spread to Artelia’s other fields of activity, particularly building construction, with assignments in France for associations including Simon de Cyrène, Lazare, les Papillons Blancs de Paris, Interval and Point vert.
The Foundation selects projects requiring genuine technical assistance and covers the travel and living expenses of its volunteers during their assignments.
Mentoring and sponsorship
Training actions have also been developed in parallel. Over the years, dozens of employees have travelled to Phnom Penh to pass on their knowledge to students supported by Enfants du Mékong.
For staff members who are unable to commit themselves to this type of assignment, the Foundation has recently set up partnerships with French associations such as Proxité, Nos quartiers ont des talents and Job dans la ville, which help young people in disadvantaged areas to find employment.
Some fifty employees are now involved in mentoring and sponsorship in this way.
Sports Challenge
More recently, another programme was set up thanks to participation from the many sportsmen and women who work at Artelia all over the world.
Over the course of the year, they run to raise funds for an association in the context of various official events.
A budget of €15,000 is then divided up according to the number of kilometres completed and the corresponding donations are allocated to the beneficiaries.
A culture of building partnerships and reaching out to civil society
As an active member of SYNTEC Ingénierie, the French federation of engineering firms, Artelia is involved alongside 400 other companies in stimulating this job- and value-creating sector, to bring new ideas to fruition and design the world of tomorrow.
Tying in with this open, partnership-based approach, Artelia experts are constantly involved in collaborative research projects aiming to invent innovative solutions and improve our quality of life, in areas such as connected infrastructure, smart buildings, the industry of the future and sustainable cities.
In France, thanks to a network of more than 50 agencies spread throughout the country, Artelia also contributes to local community life. In the Seine Amont urban district (SE of Paris), for example, which includes the Group’s Patio Seine headquarters in Choisy-le-Roi, Artelia is actively involved in a ‘Water, Environment and Soil’ cluster examining micropollutants, Seine river bank development and ways to build partnerships between local authorities and businesses.
Last but not least, the responsible purchasing policy pursued by the Group is encouraging increased use of social enterprises for the procurement of certain services (e.g. copying and printing), which is a practical means of supporting the employment of people with disabilities.