Chevron Bangladesh is active in community development in our areas of operation through activities and programs that focus primarily on education, health care services, capacity building, economic development and safety training. We provide resources that help the people in these areas gain the skills needed to improve their standard of living while preserving their culture.
We carry out most of these projects in partnership with leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Our employees also play key roles in community development projects by regularly participating in projects ranging from housing and work skills development to tree plantings, and health.
Chevron supports several work skills training programs, including the following:
- Programs near Chevron's Bibiyana, Moulavi Bazar and Jalalabad fields benefit more than 2,800 families living in 55 villages. One example is the Alternative Livelihood Program run by Friends in Villages Development in Bangladesh, an NGO that has provided training and resources to help families start new businesses.
- The Centre for Natural Resources Studies runs a project focused on the needs of about 1,000 families in two villages near the Moulavi Bazar field. The program offers literacy education and skills training in work such as animal rearing and home gardening, which could lead to higher income. Households and schools have received better cooking stoves, solar photovoltaic panels and biogas plants.
- Hathay Bunano operates a skills-training and employment-generation program for women living near the Moulavi Bazar field.
We work with partners on health and safety programs. Among them are the following:
- Three Smiling Sun clinics provide health care to an average of 6,000 villagers per month near the Bibiyana and Moulavi Bazar natural gas fields. These clinics are part of the Smiling Sun Franchise Program sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
- More than 5,000 families near the Bibiyana and Moulavi Bazar fields benefit from a sanitation program we support.
- We help provide equipment for the Jalalabad Eye Hospital and provide funds to build and renovate buildings for the Jalalabad Disabled Hospital & Rehabilitation Center.
- Chevron's Road Safety Awareness program offers free driver training to local drivers whether or not they work for Chevron.
Chevron also is involved in improving educational opportunities in Bangladesh. Examples include the following:
- In 2010, we provided additional teacher support at four schools and funded more than 900 scholarships for disadvantaged students.
- With our partners Friends in Village Development Bangladesh and Save the Children, Chevron supports a pre-primary program that serves 440 students in 15 schools in the Bibiyana area.
- We are helping to a fund a five-year program that offers scholarships and internships to students from South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East who attend the Asian University for Women.
- Chevron also supports an education endowment fund and helps pay for school uniforms, sports equipment and school furniture.
Chevron and our employees assist communities in other ways as well:
- Chevron supplied funds for relief and rehabilitation for the victims of Cyclones Sidr and Aila, which hit southern Bangladesh in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
- Our employees helped plant some 128,000 trees in the greater Sylhet District.
Updated: March 2011