Our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals

We have aligned our business operations with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of globally agreed targets to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. We strive to advance the SDGs in all facets and capacities; we aim to highlight the importance of a sustainable humanitarian supply chain while raising awareness for refugees and displaced people worldwide. Below you find an overview of our actions and commitments towards the Global Goals.

To actively promote the SDGs in our community, we took part in the World’s Largest Lesson in 2019. Our colleagues in Dubai recently volunteered to introduce six graders at a local school to the Sustainable Development Goals to inspire them to take action by understanding the power of the SDGs.

At NRS Relief, we have zoomed into SDG 12 – Responsible Production and Consumption. Half of the targets under SDG 12 speak to humanitarian suppliers. We have directly worked hand-in-hand with our manufacturing arm and we have integrated them in our production strategy, such as Efficient use of natural resources; Reduce, recycle and reuse; Sustainability reporting and Sustainable procurement.

Our manufacturing arm, HSNDS, employs thousands of jobs and creates opportunities for decent work and upward social mobility. At the other end of the spectrum, in our headquarters in Dubai, we strive to create a safe, diverse and healthy environment with equal opportunities for all. This is reflected in the gender ratio, with women occupying 42% of jobs in our head office. In addition, in the year 2018-2019, there were zero fatalities or high-consequence work-related injuries across our operations.

Gender Equality is at the heart of our commitment to SDGs. We recognize that the inclusion of women in our workforce drives development and success as we take inspiration from SDG 5 – Gender Equality to guide our strategies and day-to-day operations. We have embraced the inclusion of women not only in management and administrative capacities but also in leadership and senior management positions. Under our new corporate structure, Ms. Francesca Cocozza, heads our team of experts in the Dubai head office.

In line with SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals, we follow a long-standing tradition of collaborating for impact. Our CSR initiatives are a testament to that. More recently, we have joined hands with a UK-based NGO Empathy Action and our women stitchers in Pakistan, to create gifts like the #PeaceDoves and #PeaceDoveBookmarks to send a message of peace, love and resilience all over the world. Similarly, our “Bags of Hope” are the result of our collaboration with Carrefour and UNICEF, currently being used as a fundraising tool to educate more than 100,000 out-of-school children in the region.