This has led to a firm understanding of local needs and the purpose of meeting broader social obligations that ultimately ensure the sustainability of those communities. The overall aim is to achieve sustainable socio-economic development for all beneficiaries in the belief that this will impact positively on the business itself.
bp Southern Africa is also sponsoring a skills development programme for young people with disabilities in partnership with Nthuse Foundation. Nthuse Foundation is a non-profit organisation which supports children from previously disadvantaged backgrounds who have battled at school and would have never been given an opportunity in life. They are then put on programmes which will enable them to grow and reach their potential. They are equipped with skills that will assist them to find gainful employment. In 2015, we supported 30 young people and spent ~R1m and in 2016 we are supporting 60 learners. The intention is to absorb some of them into bp employment when they finish the programmes. This will also assist us in meeting the 2% target of people with disabilities.
Since 2013, bp Southern Africa has participated as a sponsor in the Learner Focus Week (LFW), which is a Department of Energy (DoE) flagship project focusing on career awareness in the energy sector. The program targets High School learners from underprivileged backgrounds to enter the Science, Technology, Energy and Mathematics (STEM) fields during the winter school holidays.
In line with its long-standing commitment to education development, every year bp Southern Africa commemorates Mandela Month through learning improvement initiatives. In 2018, the organisation partnered with the SAME Foundation to refurbish a mathematics classroom at Lofentse Girls School in Orlando East, Soweto, which caters for underprivileged learners.
bp offers a number of exciting opportunities for students and recent graduates through its Graduate Programme.
The programme is targeted at students in their final tertiary year and those who have completed their qualifications but are unemployed. It empowers them with invaluable workplace skills and retains most of them at the end of the programme. Our learnership programme is a structured initiative designed to fast-track the development of previously disadvantaged individuals and give them the tools and experience they need to grow a rewarding career at bp. Learnership candidates get to work on real projects, deliver real results and learn what a career in the oil and gas industry really means.