“At Enel-Codensa-Emgesa we said: it is not enough just that the quality of what young people receive and what teachers impart is good if we do not have a good infrastructure that is in line with what one needs to be successful academically. As a result, we decided: if through certain programs we strengthen the quality of education, let’s design a program to strengthen the infrastructure, and that’s how we arrived at Good Energy for Your School”
Facilities that contribute to quality education
Since the program began in 2015, at Enel-Codensa and Enel-Emgesa we have identified a significant number of educational institutions located in our areas of operation that lack certain endowments necessary to foster learning. With the idea that children and young people need, in addition to quality education, an infrastructure in optimal conditions, we have dedicated our efforts not only to supply the electrical energy for schools, but also to provide open spaces, improve the quality of health services and strengthen the infrastructure so that students enjoy friendly, safe and healthy conditions in the spaces dedicated to their studies. In 2017, we carried out 16 interventions that benefited 2,500 students from municipalities such as Hobo, in Huila, where 200 pre-school and elementary school children now enjoy new sanitary units, better safety conditions and new ceiling plates in the multipurpose room of the Jacinto Ramos Garcia educational institution, and in 2018 we carried out interventions in ten other institutions.
All these activities are carried out involving our workers, who can take advantage of a benefit called Volunteering and Balance Day that allows them to carry out volunteer activities for four hours and take the rest of the day off. In addition parents and students also collaborate during the day. So besides dedicating ourselves to improving infrastructure, we have the opportunity to share with members of the community.
Our corporate volunteering program covers activities such as painting a soccer field, installing a basketball board, planting grass, trees and plants. For example, employees who work near a generation plant or an electrical substation collaborate with wall structure, they sand desks, paint doors, fix swings: they dedicate themselves, in short, to unskilled labor tasks that we can all perform independently of our technical knowledge.
We remain committed to the future of the country
During the last Family Day celebration, in May 2019, we formalized the delivery of the Lucerna School dining room in the rural area of the municipality of El Colegio. The work we carry out there allows 68 students to enjoy an appropriate and comfortable place to take their food and give the community a meeting space in the Lucerna village. Additionally, on the volunteering day, in which members of the educational community and the village community action board participated, the sports fields of the institution were marked and embellished, so that children can practice soccer, basketball and volleyball in suitable spaces for each sport.
“You participate in these activities for the satisfaction that comes when helping someone. One does not give up anything by helping others, but rather receive many satisfactions”
The goal of Good Energy for Your School is to intervene between ten and fifteen educational institutions this year, with works that transcend aesthetic improvements and, sometimes, as in the case of Lucerna, extend the benefit to the entire community. In Ubalá, for example, in addition to working on the improvements, we are going to install solar-powered panels so that this Cundinamarca village, which is far removed from the urban area and does not yet have lighting, finally has a renewable energy source. This will not only allow students to enjoy electricity, but will facilitate community meetings in the rural school once the afternoon falls thanks to access to lighted areas where they can carry out community activities. Thus, we not only fulfill the Enel Group's commitment to education and allow children to enjoy better facilities in their schools, but also provide spaces for the enjoyment of the entire community in the areas of Cundinamarca where we operate.
