Working for a sustainability-focused employer can be a rewarding career choice, enablng employees to know they are giving back.
On World Water Day DHL pledged to continue its commitment to sustainability.
"Projects like Keep Smiling are transforming the quality of life for residents of Tshikapa, Democratic Republic of Congo, working to improve clean water access in the DRC since 2018," said DHL.
Suffering an acute drinking water supply crisis
Despite having the largest freshwater resource in Africa, the DRC suffers from an acute drinking water supply crisis. Only 40.4 per cent of its urban population and less than one per cent of its rural population have access to drinking water on premises due to the lack of water infrastructure.
Focusing on the water crisis
First founded in 2014 by Torsten Braun and his colleagues to help people in the aftermath of typhoon Hayan in the Philippines, the Keep Smiling organization has been focusing on the water crisis in the DRC since 2018.
To that end, Keep Smiling set its sights on drilling new water wells in Tshikapa to provide access to clean drinking water.
Offering logistics support
Gathering the drilling equipment, however, was a long and tedious process, as the pandemic created multiple supply chain challenges, hence delaying the project.
To navigate the onerous logistics process, Keep Smiling reached out to DHL to arrange their shipments. The equipment purchased from Thailand was first sent to Germany, arriving in Hamburg in a 20-foot container.
The DHL Global Humanitarian Logistics Competence Center team then redirected the shipment to a small village in South-West Germany called Maikammer, where a local winery freed up space for the Keep Smiling team to store and consolidate their equipment. When the equipment arrived, the team repacked them in a 40-foot-high container to be shipped to the DRC.
Assisting non-profit organizations
"The DHL team kept us updated, answered our questions patiently, and that made the admin and paperwork a lot easier to digest,” said Torsten. He added that the DHL Global Humanitarian Logistics Competence Center team took over the customs administrative formalities and helped Keep Smiling clarify its status as a non-profit organization to engage a tax-free solution for their shipment.
Read more about the project.
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.