Two Veoliaforce experts were mobilized for a mission to the heart of refugee and displaced persons camps in Eastern Chad. Faced with a major humanitarian emergency, they supported the UNHCR, the UN agency in charge of protecting displaced populations and refugees, to improve drinking water supplies.
A look back at recent collaborations with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the French Red Cross and the Bioforce Institute, while new Veoliaforce volunteers have just been trained in this area.
Meet A Travers les Murs (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Projet Solidaire d'Échange et de Partage au Sénégal (PSEPS, Icam) and Solidarité France-Népal (ESCP).
Severe storms hit southern Brazil, prompting a response from Veolia teams based in Brazil in coordination with the Veolia Foundation. Water treatment equipment and humanitarian emergency experts were mobilized to help the stricken population.
Find out more about the skills sponsorship projects carried out around the world, the projects supported in France and abroad, the authors honoured in 2023, the student initiatives rewarded...
Federico Soda, IOM Director of Operations, and David Poinard, Managing Director of the Veolia Foundation, signed the agreement on April 26, 2024.
A collaboration between UNICEF and the Veolia Foundation
10th World Water Forum
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In Bali, Indonesia, the 10th edition of the World Water Forum opens with several hundred participants to make water an absolute priority. With its institutional partners and NGOs present on site, the Veolia Foundation is promoting a partnership approach to better respond to humanitarian needs that are more pressing than ever.
2024 World Health Day
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Since 2012, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the Veolia Foundation have been cooperating in a wide range of contexts: humanitarian emergencies following natural disasters, the fight against epidemics, the management of health centers... It's this last subject that has mobilized several Veolia experts in response to a problem of contamination of water networks in Haiti.
Governance
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Thierry Vandevelde, Executive Director of the Veolia Foundation for 16 years, is stepping down. He will be succeeded by David Poinard, until now Deputy Executive Director.
Veoliaforce
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In a rural region of Senegal, a drinking water treatment plant has been installed by two desalination experts to provide the population with access to quality water.
Supported projects
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Inauguration of 10 2.0 and 3.0 kiosks in the presence of the Cambodian Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Economy.
World Day
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In Limay, to the west of Paris, a number of volunteers and permanent staff from the Veolia Foundation are taking it in turns to test a sanitation solution for the humanitarian sector: Saniforce.
Supported projets
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October saw the launch of the Bougainville Mission: a citizen research project attached to the French Navy fleet. The adventure is embodied by students from Sorbonne University who are being taken on board by the French military to carry out a homogeneous, participative, continuous and global measurement of the ocean microbiome.
Veoliaforce
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Four Veoliaforce experts, deployed by the French Red Cross via the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, took turns in Morocco to work on access to water following the earthquake on 8 September.
Veoliaforce
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Marie Gaveriaux - a Veoliaforce volunteer - was in Ukraine at the end of June to train Solidarités International teams in the deployment of mobile water purification units entrusted to her by the Veolia Foundation. Watch her testimony.
Training
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They are the lifeblood of Veoliaforce operations managed by the Veolia Foundation: some thirty Veolia employees have come to train in humanitarian operations alongside Foundation experts.
Veoliaforce
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After the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, a new solidarity operation is under way in Ukraine with the support of the Veolia foundation.
event
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A laboratory boat on the Saône and Rhône, a second-hand sportswear shop, a better protected Mé river... Discover the winning projects of the Student Solidarity Awards.
World Day
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At the Veolia Foundation, we support research to find solutions, raise awareness and advocate to halt the degradation of the oceans.
Publication
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Find out about the projects supported and the expert missions carried out around the world by the Veolia Foundation in 2022.
UN Conference
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United Nations Water Conference 2023: thousands of decision-makers, government representatives and private sector figures gathered to discuss the issue of drinking water. The Foundation was there to talk about water and health.
World Day
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The 2023 edition of World Water Day coincides with the start of the United Nations Water Conference, which takes place from 22 to 24 March in New York. The Veolia Foundation will focus on the importance of water in the fight against cholera and the vital nature of access to water in humanitarian situations.
Veoliaforce mission
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The Veolia Foundation has mobilized to help the populations affected by the earthquake that devastated southeast Turkey and northern Syria on February 6.
Event
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For two days, some fifty experts in access to water and sanitation in the humanitarian sector exchanged views at the invitation of the Veolia Foundation and the French Water Partnership.
Innovation
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The deployment of the Aquaforce RO, the latest addition to the Veolia Foundation's range of water purification plants, was tested and validated in mid-January during a trial run in the Pyrénées Orientales.
Word Day
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Faced with rising sea levels and an increase in extreme weather events, coastal cities are on the front line. With Sea’ties, local actors are getting together and committing themselves to face the risks that have become very real and to design solutions together.
Humanitarian
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The passage of tropical storm Fiona deprived several thousand Guadeloupeans of access to water and electricity. A Veoliaforce mission, conducted with the French Red Cross, enabled drinking water to be distributed to households in Vieux-Habitants.
event
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The scientific expedition Mission Microbiomes is coming to an end. Tara will touch the quay of the Cité de la Voile in Lorient on Saturday 16 October afternoon. Follow the schooner's arrival live.
Training
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For three days, some 30 Group volunteers were trained in emergency response techniques and equipment for access to essential services.
Publication
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Find out about the projects supported and the expert missions carried out throughout the world by the Veolia Foundation in 2021.
World Day
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Climate regulation, knowledge of marine ecosystems on which we depend in many ways, the ocean plays a major role in the ecological transformation we are about to experience.
World Day
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At the end of March, experts from the Veolia Foundation presented a new laboratory for the analysis and monitoring of wastewater systems. Designed with the Austrian Red Cross, this equipment completes the range of solutions for humanitarian intervention.
World Health Day
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Water-borne diseases are not inevitable! The Veolia Foundation has chosen access to water to fight, in particular, against cholera.
World Water Day
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Why can water transmit bacterial, viral and parasitic infections? What are the means of control and prevention? What are the priority Public Health issues related to freshwater?
Event
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With this 2022 edition of the Student Solidarity Award, the Veolia Foundation intends, once again, to encourage initiative and involvement of higher education students in projects of general interest. To your keyboards!
Veoliaforce
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Training for local teams and new vehicles to collect waste
World Day
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Working on sanitation issues means ensuring better health for populations and preserving the environment.
Humanitarian
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The Veolia Foundation was asked by UNICEF to intervene in the field and then analyze water samples in the laboratory after the explosion of a stockpile of munitions.
Veoliaforce
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Between the training of field operators, NGO employees and Veoliaforce volunteers, the Veolia Foundation is becoming a leading player in providing access to essential services in humanitarian contexts.
Publication
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Discover the projects supported in 2020, the operations carried out during the health crisis and the testimonies of our partners and Veoliaforce volunteers.
Humanitarian
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An expert from the Foundation went on a mission to Saint Vincent with the French Red Cross after the Soufrière volcano eruption.
Event
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Despite the health context, the Veolia Foundation wishes to continue to promote public interest projects through the Student Solidarity Prize and its 2021 edition.
Biodiversity
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On December 12, 2020, five years after the Paris Agreement was signed, the schooner Tara set sail again for a new expedition called "Mission Microbiomes" with the support of the Veolia Foundation.
Humanitarian
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Alongside the Aznavour Foundation and the NGO Electriciens sans Frontières, the Veolia Foundation has mobilized to ensure that humanitarian donations are delivered to the people affected by the conflict in Nagorno-Karaba.
Event
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At the end of October, at the invitation of French Water Partnership and the Veolia Foundation, experts took part in two days of discussions about access to water and sanitation in the context of humanitarian emergencies: the Humanitarian WASH Workshops.
Humanitarian
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Hit by heavy rains in late August, Niamey is partly under water. Several districts were strongly impacted with over 350,000 victims. The Veolia Foundation responded to the situation by sending Veoliaforce volunteers and equipment in partnership with the Société d’Exploitation des Eaux du Niger.
Humanitarian
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A month after the explosion that devastated Beirut on 4 August, the Veolia foundation’s action on the ground continues. An initial diagnosis assignment was carried out in mid-August and Veoliaforce volunteers are currently being re-deployed.
Humanitarian
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The Veolia Foundation undertakes an initial review of its humanitarian action to help the most disadvantaged people during the Covid-19 health crisis.
Publication
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Around forty projects supported, around twenty skill-based sponsorship missions carried out throughout the world... Find out more in the Foundation's 2019 Activity Report.
Humanitarian
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As Covid-19 swept around the world, the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo was experiencing violent flooding. The local authorities immediately galvanized into action and were supported by international actors to restore access to water and prevent Covid-19 from being compounded by a cholera outbreak.
Covid-19
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Access to water, the most important resource in barrier measures, is an indispensable precondition in fighting the spread of the virus. The Veolia Foundation is working particularly hard on this issue, especially in Africa where the virus could wreak havoc and where access to water is not widely shared.
Covid-19
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Together with Croix Rouge Insertion and Solidarités International, the Veolia Foundation is working to help people living on the streets protect themselves against Covid-19. Hygiene kits are being distributed to the homeless and in camps, squats and shantytowns.
Development Aid
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A scientific paper on the cholera control project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has just been published. The authors highlight the links between microbial contamination of water used and stored in households and access to safe drinking water.
Event
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Dedicated to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Uved's latest Mooc has been another success. The second session, updated and enriched with new videos, aroused the interest of 11600 students.
Humanitarian
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From 16 to 18 December in Geneva, numerous representatives of international organizations and States discussed the absolute necessity of everyone accepting responsibility for hosting refugees and managing their movements.
‘Making digital technology a synonym for opportunities in France’ ... The Google Impact Challenge’s goal is clear. A call for projects led the American group to select ten projects. Four of the associations in the finals were supported by the Veolia Foundation. And they won awards!
Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, former Prime Minister of Niger, C.E.O. of the African Union Development Agency, Chairman of the Global Alliance Against Cholera, a program sponsored by the Veolia Corporation, and member of the Veolia Foundation's Board of Directors, recently received the prestigious award of “Grand Cordon de l’Ordre du Soleil Levant” from His Excellency, Emperor Naruhito of Japan.
Academics, representatives of national authorities, NGOs and UN agencies met on the 24th of September in Washington DC to review the control and prevention of cholera in the fields of water, sanitation, and hygiene.
For over three weeks last summer, four divers lived confined in a bathyal station to perform 400 hours of diving and explore the sea bottom at depths of -60 and -144 metres. Named Gombessa 5, this expedition studied Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems; the initial results are now available.
In Yaounde, where several thousand people gathered on Monday the 7th of October for World Habitat Day, waste management, access to water, sanitation, and the necessary cooperation of all to improve everyone’s lives were discussed.
In Aubervilliers, Seine-Saint-Denis, the association Espaces undertook to cultivate crops on the roofs of shopping centres. Two years after the first harvests, it has just extended its cultivable area to 1,500 m²...
A partner of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs since 2014, the Veolia Foundation was invited to the annual meeting of French diplomats to talk about the humanitarian operation in Palu, Indonesia.
Designed with the support of the Veolia Foundation, the "Sustainable Development Goals" MOOC run by Uved is having a makeover. The Université Virtuelle Environnement & Développement Durable is launching a 2nd session with new videos and updates.
At the end of June, a tripartite meeting brought together the United Nations Special Envoy for the Oceans, the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute and the Veolia Foundation to strengthen mobilization focusing on the cause of the oceans. An opportunity to remember the crucial importance of the oceans in our climate and environmental balance.
From 26 to 28 June almost 30 Veolia employees participated in a training session designed enable them to leave on missions during humanitarian emergencies. On the agenda: deployment of Aquaforce units, interventions by the Foundation’s NGO partners, review of safety procedures...
They are all students with an international or local solidarity project reflecting the Veolia Foundation’s values... Four winners, selected from among 128 candidates from all over the world, were presented with their 11th Student Solidarity Award on 17 June. A prize list that was marked by commitment and innovation.
On 27 May 2019, the schooner Tara was back sailing the seas with the support of the Veolia Foundation. This new mission is dedicated to the leakage of plastic waste into the sea in Europe with the aim of understanding and better stemming the haemorrhage. This 6-month expedition, whose scientific aspects are coordinated by the CNRS, will sail along several coastlines in Europe and explore 10 major European rivers.
The coastal town of Beira in Mozambique was particularly hard hit when Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall in mid-March. Several thousand people lost their homes. The Veolia Foundation was approached by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs and is now undertaking a humanitarian emergency mission with its partners Médecins Sans Frontières, the French Red Cross, and Solidarités International.
The EcoBlock eco-friendly restoration programme, supported by the Veolia Foundation, has just received $5 million from the State of California to implement its residential neighbourhood renovation model.
Inaugurated in January 2018, the Niamey Oasis, a place dedicated to women's entrepreneurship, the circular economy and eco-responsibility, reviews its first year of operation. A look back at this innovative place that contributes to the economic and social development of the population
For the eleventh consecutive year, the Veolia Foundation and the Veolia Group's Human Resources Department will award a Student Solidarity Prize. The call for projects is open before pre-selection and pitch before the jury.
Over 13,000 learners have already followed the French language version of the MOOC on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This online course supported by the Veolia Foundation is now going international with five new language versions being launched.
Knowing how to respond to humanitarian emergencies means anticipating logistical issues. To strengthen its responsiveness in the event of a crisis, the Veolia Foundation has just installed its equipment stock alongside Croix-Rouge Insertion Logistique in Pantin. This was an opportunity for Veoliaforce volunteers mobilized during the move to demonstrate their commitment.
In Myanmar, where they are persecuted, the Rohingyas mostly live in camps on the outskirts of cities. With its partner Solidarités International, the Veolia Foundation intervened by sending two Veoliaforce experts to Sittwe with the objective of improving WWTP operation.
13,248 have signed up… 114 countries are represented… Produced by the UVED and supported by the Veolia Foundation, the Sustainable Development Goals MOOC has broken all records. Over a six-week period, 32 teachers have conducted about fifty suites of educational content.
Having sailed 100,000km across the Pacific Ocean, Tara's voyage ended in late October when the research schooner returned to her home port of Lorient. The Tara Pacific expedition, supported by the Veolia Foundation, has come to an end. The scientific research phase, during which the 36,000 samples taken will be studied, will now begin.
On September 28 at 6pm, an earthquake followed by a tsunami struck Indonesia. On the island of Sulawesi, the city of Palu (350,000 inhabitants) and its region were particularly affected, with more than 2,000 victims, 680 missing and more than 200,000 displaced. Involved in emergency humanitarian operations organized by the Crisis Centre of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Veolia Foundation sends two Veoliaforce experts to the field.
The Veolia Foundation has already partnered with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Red Cross, and the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs' Crisis and Support Centre, and has just signed a new agreement with Solidarités International. The aim is to improve the response to emerging crises provided by the NGO's regional office for West and Central Africa.
Thierry Vandevelde, the Veolia Foundation's executive officer, took part in a discussion morning arranged by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the French Foundation Centre. What was the topic? The role played by French foundations in philanthropy for development. The meeting was an opportunity to remember the Veolia Foundation's steadfast commitment to some of its focus areas.
In Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have crossed the border from Myanmar, The Veolia Foundation is supporting MSF by supplying water to Kutupalong-Balukhali refugee camp.
Last September 5th in Dakar, Veolia Foundation Executive Officer Thierry Vandevelde held discussions with the United Nations’ Special Advisor for the Sahel Ibrahim Thiaw. The talks focused on the access to water, rural development and renewable energy applied to farming.
The sanitation project which was launched in 2013 in Bangangté in Western Cameroon has reached a new milestone. A new sewer vacuum truck has been procured which will help take full advantage of the existing sewage treatment plant.
Libération journalists were hosted on board the Tara research sailing ship for a whole month to monitor the work performed by the expedition scientists who are examining the deteriorating coral reefs in the Pacific.
A great many players from the social and solidarity economy (ESS) gathered in mid-June at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris to attend the disclosure of those who had won the call for tenders for the “French Impact” project. Among them was Acta Vista, an association which has long been supported by the Veolia Foundation.
Urban innovation now possesses its own awards, and EcoBlock, a project supported by the Veolia Foundation, was distinguished at the Smart Cities 2018 ceremony held by Le Monde together with La Poste, EDF, Enedis and Citeo.
In recognizing the July 9th award of the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Water Prize for 2018 to Dr. Rita Colwell, Dr. Thierry Vandevelde, C.E.O. of the Veolia Foundation spoke of her "...outstanding contributions during the past 50 years toward solving the pathogen aspect of the world's water crisis through her technical and biological accomplishments, and her public advocacy of preventing cholera epidemics by removing its causative bacterial agent, Vibrio cholera, from drinking water sources".
Sponsored by the Veolia Foundation, the schooner Tara has initiated the crossing of one of the world’s areas most congested with plastic waste, namely the gyre located in the north-eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. A team of scientists is on board to study the life of marine organisms that develop in those kinds of plastic vortices. This provides an opportunity to remind ourselves that plastic pollution is a problem to be solved prior to its being poured into the world’s oceans.
By supporting the association Nanoé Développement, the Veolia Foundation is enabling experimentation with a new decentralized solar electrification model in Madagascar. The project relies in particular on "nano-entrepreneurs" trained in the management of these innovative "nano-grids". A revolution in the approach to providing access to energy.
Every year, the Veolia Student Solidarity Awards recognize innovative solidarity projects run by higher education students in France and internationally. The selected projects fall within the Veolia Foundation’s 3 areas of intervention: humanitarian emergencies and development aid, social and employment support, the environment and protection of biodiversity. Yesterday morning, Antoine Frérot, Veolia’s Chairman and CEO, presented the winners with their awards. They will receive financial support and technical sponsorship from the Group.
Plastic waste, a potential resource? This is the challenge taken up by the Plastic Odyssey team, with the support of the Veolia Foundation. This project to design a vessel fueled by recycled plastic waste has just passed a milestone. A prototype of the catamaran is being launched on 15 June.
Ten projects have been selected to compete for the Veolia Foundation’s 2018 Student Solidarity Award. A panel of industry professionals will select three of them but the fourth award winner will be chosen by you. Vote for your favourite project to help it win the Public Award! It’s time to get online!
Have you always wanted to know more about what the Veolia Foundation does? Go to our YouTube channel to view the Foundation’s new introductory film and our website to read the annual report.
Thanks to support from the Veolia Foundation, a new MOOC devoted to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has emerged. Intended for a launch next September, it will show how anyone can get involved and take part, on their own level, in this worldwide ambition to live more harmoniously together.
The social biscuit factory opened by La Cloche on 12 April aims to foster social cohesion and create jobs. This employment access scheme based on biscuit making is supported by the Veolia Foundation and recently came to fruition, with the biscuits being sold online on the website and in 10 sales outlets.
With support from the Veolia Foundation, the Tara Pacific expedition is forging ahead along its Asian circuit with a stopover in Taiwan. This is a perfect opportunity to raise awareness among many young people about the issue of oceans, echoing simultaneous efforts made by the Tara branch in Paris.
Thanks to a mission led by the Foundation in Uganda in March, it was possible for the very first time to install an Aquaforce 15000 unit to supply a refugee camp. Together with its partner MSF (Doctors Without Borders), the Foundation has successfully tested the latest model of mobile emergency water treatment units which it designed.
A pioneering association and a major player in the French microcredit sector, the ADIE is celebrating its 30 th anniversary! With support from the Veolia Foundation for the past twelve years, this outstanding organization has successfully achieved its aim to bring together professional insertion and entrepreneurship.
As a UNHCR partner, the Veolia Foundation travelled last March to Mbera refugee camp, Mauritania, to examine the water supply network of the site, located at the border with Mali and with the potential to move to solar energy.
For a three-week period, two Veoliaforce volunteers from the Veolia Foundation were busy training Iraqi Red Crescent in using emergency water supply solutions. The aim is to put together an autonomous task force able to respond out in the field as the needs happen.
Are you a higher education student? Are you running a general interest project that is in keeping with one of the Veolia Foundation’s three areas of intervention? The Student Solidarity Award might be just right for you...the 10th edition has just been launched and the winners will be crowned on 18 June.
Thierry Vandevelde, the Veolia Foundation’s executive officer, held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Mali, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, on 19 February. A water access programme in the north of the country was the main topic of discussion.
Over 11,000 students registered for the first Uved environmental engineering Mooc supported by the Veolia Foundation. Were you not one of them? A second course is starting on 23 April. Registration is now open.
Lulu Dans Ma Rue (Lulu on My Street) is a collective concierge service operating with support from the Veolia Foundation, and experiencing lasting exponential growth. A 9th venue has just opened up on Paris’ left bank, with a special feature… it is hosted inside an urban supermarket.
The Tara Oceans expedition (2009-2013) has enabled the collection of plankton samples in all of the world's oceans on board the schooner Tara, and the creation of catalogues of species and genes on a scale never before undertaken. These results are the subject of two articles published in the journal Nature Communications of 22 and 25 January 2018.
On Tuesday February 13th, four speakers will debate about “Connections - at the Core of the Circular Economy”, at the REcyclerie near Porte de Clignancourt in Paris. This new 2C conference will kick off the programming for 2018, focused on the topic of “4 Challenges for 4 Seasons”, with support from the Veolia Foundation.
In Niamey, Empow'Her, an international organization supporting women's entrepreneurship, and Veolia Foundation inaugurated L’Oasis in the presence of Dr Lalla Malika Issoufou, First Lady of Niger and the project’s sponsor. The purpose of this place dedicated to women is to facilitate their integration into the economy through entrepreneurship and raise their awareness of sustainable development issues.
A new first aid training centre opened last January 12th in Loumbila, Burkina Faso. With support from the Veolia Foundation, it was inaugurated in the presence of Prince Albert II of Monaco, another partner in this initiative conducted with the Monegasque and Burkinabe Red Cross.
Extramuros, which is an association supported by the Veolia Foundation, was asked to furnish a new building dedicated to the solidarity and innovative economy located in Bassin de la Villette, Paris. This is yet another demonstration of the association's expertise in upcycling.
Organized with the support of the Veolia Foundation, the Uved's Mooc on ecological engineering exceeded all expectations. 11,061 people registered for the four-week online course in the last quarter of 2017.
Already involved in several humanitarian operations alongside the Crisis and Support Centre, the Veolia Foundation renewed its partnership with the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. Signed by the Chairman of the Foundation, Antoine Frérot, who is also CEO of Veolia, and by Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, this agreement establishes the presence of private sector expertise in the French humanitarian emergency response framework.
The sixth Lulu dans ma rue kiosk has just opened in rue du Poteau in Paris' 18th arrondissement. This network of inclusive neighbourhood concierge services supported by the Foundation has enjoyed exponential success since it was launched three years ago. Here’s how they did it.
On 20-22 November, some 15 volunteers from the Paris Region lent a helping hand to the Foundation’s team at our Massy warehouse to pack equipment for future emergency relief work.
In Bafoussam in Cameroon the students at the Centre culturel francophone Victor Hugo (CCVH) will soon benefit from sustainable access to water. The borehole dug by Asomocam with the support of the Veolia Foundation has been a success.
A panel that met in mid-October selected the first furniture that Extramuros, supported by the Veolia Foundation, will start making. This is the first step of an ambitious project to create a pilot sector dedicated to upcycling and open to back-to-work jobs.