Airports Company South Africa - Corporate Social Investment

Corporate Social Investment

ACSA’s social investment is based on empowering local communities, particularly those surrounding ACSA’s airports, and marginalised groups in South Africa. It is deeply committed to building South Africa as a nation, and views corporate social investment (CSI) as a vital response to the socio-economic imperatives of the country. The maxim ‘moving people, changing lives’ represents our business focus and our role as a good corporate citizen in South Africa.

ACSA’s CSI vision is to empower and sustain South African communities while making a vital contribution to the South African economy by facilitating tourism and travel.

Our social investment spend is divided between focused flagship projects and community-based projects around local airports. The focus areas of these projects are:

health and welfare, with particular focus on marginalised and disabled groups
community development, with particular focus on the environment and crèches
education, with particular focus on projects that boost infrastructure and education based on promoting and generating tourism in South Africa
job creation

ACSA has identified several flagship projects funded at a national level:

wheelchair Tennis South Africa
wheel Power (including wheelchairs and bicycles for schools programmes)
crèche programmes
marginalised groups

We also support a host of specific projects and every year invest one percent of after-tax income in a variety of programmes. These benefit the community at large and the aviation industry in particular, and cover education and training, health, poverty alleviation, the environment and emergency services. We also contribute to government initiatives, such as the promotion of tourism, job creation, and the supply of fresh drinking water to rural communities to halt the spread of cholera.

Other initiatives include:

supporting HIV/Aids awareness and prevention programmes, including funding Cotlands Baby Sanctuary, a non-governmental organisation that takes care of abandoned and HIV-positive babies
forming the Aviation Training Academy to promote development of aviation-related skills, particularly among the previously disadvantaged, in 2004
donations to schools and sponsoring educational/cultural programmes and tours in poor communities
funding a number of community sporting events and development programmes including sponsoring several events under the auspices of Future Champs Promotions to develop professional boxing, especially among disadvantaged people in the Western Cape
providing funds, training and equipment to emergency services, and taking part in crime-prevention initiatives
employing best environmental practices - for example, using dogs to control bird strikes and helping immigration authorities enforce plant and health regulations.

See also our other CSI projects at our ten airports.

Moving people, changing lives

Based on the fundamental principle of “moving people, changing lives”, all ACSA’s CSI programmes are strongly linked to its business purpose that of facilitating the movement of people in and out of South Africa.

Fundamentally, ACSA seeks to empower and sustain South African communities by making a vital contribution to socioeconomic development and the fight against poverty.

ACSA’s CSI vision
ACSA CSI vision is to empower and sustain South African communities while making a vital contribution to redressing South Africa’s key development challenges.

ACSA CSI focus
The Company’s social investment expenditure in the year under review is focused on three main areas directly impacted by its business operations: mobility, environment and communities around local airports, and is directed at focused flagship projects intended to make a difference in ordinary people’s day-to-day lives:

Community development, with a particular focus on the disabled communities, by way of increasing their access to mobility and resources
Environment protection and education, with particular focus on projects that enhance environmental awareness, infrastructure rehabilitation and education based on promoting care for South Africa’s natural heritage
Job creation, and sustainable livelihood, especially in communities where ACSA’s airports are located.