Lyreco Sustainable Development Report
How Lyreco ensures business continuity in response to H1N1 Pandemic
At Lyreco, our employees and customer relationships are our most valuable assets. To protect them, we have put together a worldwide corporate strategy and action plan designed to focus on our employees and our ability to continue the delivery of our products and services to our customers.
Our plan is wide-ranging and includes:
- Prevention with regular employee communications
- Sanitary measures with masks and hydroalcoholic gels in stock, available to staff
- Crisis committees put in place in each subsidiary monitoring the situation on a regular basis
- Work site infection containment and control
- Procedures to address absenteeism in our key departments
- Staffing arrangements and work from home options
- World Health Organization recommendations monitoring and implementation
We also would like to take this opportunity to advise our customers to be safe and stock the relevant quantity of sensitive products in advance, allowing them to prevent any difficulty during the peak of the pandemic.
Lyreco remains vigilant and will continue to actively monitor and respond suitably to this evolving situation and issue updates when appropriate.
Eric Bigeard
CEO
Lyreco joins with AEA to support the education of young children in Vietnam
AEA (Aide et Action), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) for the development through education has set up a partnership with Lyreco, international supplier of office supplies, to support the education of young children in North Vietnam. As part of the programme “Lyreco for Education”, Lyreco is calling on all its employees from the 29 countries where the company is present in order to collect the greatest amount of funds.The partnership between AEA (Aide et Action) and Lyreco will help to finance a project supporting nursery schools located in North Vietnam thus enabling a better start in life for these young children. In Vietnam, early childhood is the area of education with the greatest difficulties. It suffers from a lack of infrastructures and equipment, health problems among children, malnutrition, etc. The rate of malnutrition in Vietnamese children is the highest in the world. In 2005, it concerned 1 child in 4 aged under 5 and is, according to the WHO (World Health Organisation), responsible for half of the infant mortality. This rate is particularly high in the mountains, in the countryside and in areas gathering ethnic minority groups: which is where AEA operates first.
Thanks to the Lyreco-AEA (Aide et Action) partnership with nursery schools of 4 villages of the district of Phu Luong (Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam), more than 2,000 children aged 0-5 years will receive better quality care and education, while their families get access to awareness raising activities about the importance of early childhood care and education. At the same time, some one hundred teachers will get training on teaching methods, educational themes, nutrition, design of toys… 4 nursery schools will get playgrounds; 20 classes will be renovated and equipped with educational kits and toys. In total, by the end of 2010, more than 8,000 families and 32,000 inhabitants will be directly or indirectly impacted by the awareness raising activities on care and education.
“The Lyreco for Education programme originated from the shared belief we have in education, as a strong lever of development. Through Lyreco for Education, we transform our conviction into real action and we commit ourselves over the long term to the support of education for children throughout the world” states Eric Bigeard - Lyreco CEO. “The Lyreco for Education programme has been welcomed with great enthusiasm by our 10,500 employees, who involve themselves concretely and personally in this fascinating project. We are proud and happy to join AEA this year and to contribute to the improvement of education for the children of Thai Nguyen in Vietnam.”
Claire Calosci - General Director of AEA (Aide et Action) International, adds: “AEA has been developing for a long time efficient partnership strategies with local players on the field. Today, we are turning towards companies to support us in these field projects. It is important to us to see economic actors such as Lyreco joining us to support education around the world. Ensuring a good start for children from their first years in life is crucial as this will allow them to grow in good physical and mental health and set solid bases for their future. It is essential that the economic world realises this.”
About Lyreco for Education
Lyreco for Education supports the education of children throughout the world. Having proper access to schooling ensures that children enter the education system, and benefit from appropriate care and nutrition, giving them a better chance to succeed in life. Lyreco for Education’s mission therefore consists in supporting projects which improve the education of children in developing countries. Each year, Lyreco for Education will support a project in a different country, in partnership with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) fully dedicated to that cause and selected with the greatest of care. For more information on this fascinating project, visit:
www.lyreco.com/lyrecoforeducation
About Lyreco
Lyreco is a leading supplier of office products in the B2B market. The privately-owned company, which was founded in 1926, is based in France, employing about 10,500 people. Worldwide it operates from some 180 locations in 29 countries. In 2008 the company generated sales of € 2.3billion. As well as being market leader in Europe, Lyreco is also present in Canada and Asia-Pacific.
About AEA (Aide et Action)
Since it was founded in 1981, AEA (Aide et Action) has expanded to reach twenty-two countries worldwide located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Through 120 programmes and with the help of its partners, AEA (Aide et Action) has improved access to quality education for more than five million children and adults. Monitored closely by “le Comité de la Charte” in France (a member of the International Committee on Fundraising Organisations) for private donations and/or publicly recognized contributions, AEA is supported by 63,000 sponsors and donors. Officially approved by the French Ministry of Education, AEA works towards a world where dignity is guaranteed to everyone through education and strengthening human development. Free from any political or religious attachments, our commitment to worldwide development issues is founded, above all, on the values of liberty, respect, solidarity, equality and integrity.
