Social Commitment

NORMA Clean Water

Long-term partnership with Plan International

For NORMA Group, the responsible use of water is directly related to its core business. For this reason, NORMA Group is also involved in this area with its social project NORMA Clean Water. The project aims to show how the challenges in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene can be met: through cooperation between business and civil society. Today, the NORMA Clean Water project can look back on a partnership of several years with children’s aid organization Plan International Deutschland, which implements projects in the respective countries.

Engagement in India and Brazil

From 2014 to 2017, NORMA Clean Water focused on the water supply and hygiene situation at Indian schools in the greater Pune area. In a total of 27 schools, construction measures for the repair or renovation of toilet facilities were implemented, and almost 18,000 students and around 600 teachers were trained in the use of clean drinking water and hygiene. Since 2017, the NORMA Clean Water project has been continued in various regions in northeastern Brazil in two project phases each lasting three years. Here too, there is a lack of safe access to clean water. The project therefore aims to improve the living and health conditions of children and their families. In fiscal year 2022, NORMA Clean Water Project won the SDG Award in the category “Civil Organizations/NGOs” in Brazil. The SDG Award is a reward for best practice examples and implementations of the Sustainable Development Goals. The prize is awarded by the SDG Strategy Network - an established Brazilian coalition that brings together

civil society, the private sector, local governments, academia and NGOs. All different actors work together and support each other in achieving the SDGs by 2030.

The new water supply system in the municipality of Horta officially went into operation in 2023. Thanks to this well, over 1,300 people now have access to clean drinking water, including almost 500 children. Community gardens have also been established in the municipalities of Axixá and São Benedito dos Colocados. Residents from the communities received guidance from experts on gardening and planting various types of fruit and vegetables. Five workshops were held in the communities of Cajazeiras and Horta to discuss topics such as basic hygiene practices, healthy living habits, menstruation and child protection. In 32 other workshops, over 400 children in total learned about equal opportunities. Among other things, the workshops looked at existing gender clichés and stereotypical role models from a critical perspective and the girls and boys were encouraged to take an active stance against gender discrimination. Workshops were also held in schools to reach as many children and young people as possible. Almost 500 girls and boys received basic information about puberty and menstruation. One of the important aspects covered was proper menstrual hygiene.

A three-year extension to the “NORMA Clean Water” project was agreed from November 2023. Planning for the content of the project is currently underway.

Corporate volunteering at NORMA Help Day

Civil society is of crucial importance for the functioning of society as a whole-Against the backdrop of the current social and ecological challenges, NORMA Group is committed to getting involved and playing an active role. The basis for promoting the civic and ecological involvement of employees was created with the NORMA Help Day, which was held for the first time in 2014 in Maintal. The program has spread internationally to all NORMA Group sites since 2015, with employee participation being voluntary. In recent years, more than 700 employees have regularly taken part in Help Day. Numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have benefited from the commitment of employees worldwide. Since the contributions or projects vary greatly from region to region, they are organized and implemented on a decentralized basis.

Numerous different projects were launched at various NORMA Group locations this year: For example, in Serbia and Mexico, colleagues renovated a local playground and a local elementary school respectively. In Sweden, employees supported an organization that runs summer camps for refugee children from Ukraine by organizing an afternoon for the children, and in Germany, a large insect hotel was built on the grounds of the children's and youth farm, saplings were nurtured and clean-up work was carried out in the local forest. Various forms of donation projects also took place, including in Australia, where donations were collected for an animal welfare organization.

NORMA Group has received a lot of positive feedback from participants and external project partners. Thus, the NORMA Help Day has been a success for NORMA Group and all participants and will be continued in the coming years.

Donations and sponsoring at the locations

NORMA Group has long supported local non-governmental organizations through donations and sponsorships with a focus on social, charitable and cultural projects in the regions. The approach here is also decentralized, as the efficiency of the support measures depends on the regional framework conditions.

Staggered approval processes apply to all donation and sponsorship activities, depending on the amount made available. The basis for this is the “Schedule for internal approval authority.” Donations to politicians, political parties and political organizations are expressly prohibited. Approval processes and reporting are also linked to NORMA Group’s internationally applicable compliance management COMPLIANCE In the past year, expenses for sponsoring and donations totaled around to EUR 70 thousand.

Cooperation with universities

In the spirit of giving back to our communities, NORMA Group’s US subsidiary NDS conducted its Annual NDS Cares Scholarship Contest in 2023. In 2023, four scholarships were awarded to students who will be attending college or are already at college. NDS Cares has awarded 20 scholarships since 2021. The candidates had to meet predefined applicant requirements (3.0 GPA, financial assistance need, career goals, involvement in extracurricular activities, actively enrolled in a college/ university and submission of an essay about why they think water management is important to modern day society.

The NORMA Group site in Michigan has also been awarding annual NORMA Cares Scholarships since 2021. The scholarship is aimed at students who are already studying. Here, too, previously defined requirements must be met (3.0 GPA, financial assistance need, career goals and involvement in extracurricular activities) and an essay must be submitted that describes their background, creative abilities and academic ambitions in greater detail. The location in Michigan awarded seven scholarships in 2023; since the program was introduced in 2021, a total of eleven scholarships have been awarded.