Building Stronger Communities Together
Our responsibility extends beyond the construction solutions we provide. We work with communities to create shared value, strengthen livelihoods and contribute to lasting social and economic development.
Creating Value Beyond Our Operations
At Hima Cement, communities are an important part of our journey.
We aim to build and maintain lasting relationships with the people and communities connected to our operations. Through meaningful engagement, local partnerships and community-focused programmes, we work to understand local priorities and develop initiatives that respond to real needs.
Our community programs focus on five key areas:
- Education
- Health
- Livelihood development
- Community infrastructure
- Environment
These areas reflect our commitment to creating a better future through and beyond the boundaries of our core business.
Supporting Education
Creating Better Learning Environments
Education provides a foundation for individual opportunity and community development.
Through the Green Schools Project, launched in 2008, Hima Cement has supported schools in Kasese, Kamwenge, Kabarole, Tororo and Kapchorwa. The program has contributed to the construction and renovation of classrooms in more than 30 schools.
Support provided through the initiative has included:
- Classroom construction and renovation
- Desks and classroom furniture
- Pit latrines and sanitation facilities
- Water-storage tanks
- Tree seedlings for school greening
- Health and safety education
Hima Cement has also supported high-performing students from neighboring communities through its community scholarship program, helping them access secondary-school education.
Improving Community Health
Supporting Healthier and Safer Communities
Healthy communities are better positioned to learn, work and prosper.
Our community health initiatives have included health education, disease prevention, counselling, treatment support and outreach services. Hima Cement has previously supported community access to HIV/AIDS-related services through counselling, laboratory analysis, nutritional education, treatment of opportunistic infections and access to antiretroviral therapy.
We also support community health and safety awareness, including programs delivered in schools and communities around our operations.
By working with health professionals, local authorities and community organizations, we aim to improve access to information and services that contribute to healthier lives.
Strengthening Livelihoods
Supporting Sustainable Household Incomes
We believe communities should be able to participate meaningfully in the economic opportunities created around our operations.
Our livelihood-development programs have supported agriculture, entrepreneurship, vocational training and community savings.
In Harugongo Sub-county, Hima Cement partnered with SOS Children’s Villages Fort Portal on a livelihood-development initiative designed to improve household incomes, food security and nutrition. The program supported more than 300 households through income-generating activities, agricultural inputs, Village Savings and Loan Associations, vocational skills and community health outreach.
Vocational support has included practical training in areas such as:
- Welding
- Tailoring
- Carpentry
- Hairdressing
- Agribusiness and crop production
- Savings and financial-management practices
The Hima Coffee Project
Connecting Livelihoods and Environmental Responsibility
The Hima Coffee Project was established to support coffee-growing communities in the Rwenzori region while contributing to a dependable source of renewable biomass.
Through the program, more than 16 million coffee seedlings have been distributed to farmers. The initiative supports household incomes, creates opportunities across the coffee value chain and enables coffee husks to be used as an alternative fuel in industrial operations.
The program demonstrates how partnerships can deliver both environmental and socioeconomic value.
Community Infrastructure
Supporting Essential Community Facilities
Infrastructure plays an important role in improving health, education, mobility and quality of life.
Our community infrastructure support has included classrooms, sanitation facilities, water-storage systems, desks and other essential facilities identified through engagement with local communities.
We seek to ensure that the projects we support are relevant, sustainable and capable of delivering long-term value.
Protecting the Environment Together
Environmental protection requires cooperation between businesses, communities, farmers, government institutions and civil-society organizations.
Our community environmental partnerships have supported:
- Tree planting and improved vegetation cover
- Sustainable land-management practices
- Soil and water conservation
- Riverbank protection
- Improved farming practices
- Environmental education
- Responsible use of natural resources
Hima Cement has worked with the World Wide Fund for Nature on sustainable land-management interventions in the River Mubuku watershed, including soil conservation, tree planting and protection of riverbanks.
Partnerships That Last
We recognise that sustainable community development cannot be achieved by one organisation working alone.
We therefore engage communities and collaborate with local government, schools, health institutions, civil-society organisations, farmers’ associations and development partners.
Together, we aim to create initiatives that are locally relevant, inclusive and capable of delivering lasting impact.