Concor highlights its efforts to positively impact local communities and broader society by strengthening education and skills development.

Concor senior corporate affairs manager Donique de Figueiredo explains that the company’s core business is building infrastructure for the development of communities in which the company operates.

“To do this sustainably, we need a strong pipeline of skills and talent, particularly in construction, civils and the broader built environment,” De Figueiredo says. “However, the impact of our corporate social investment (CSI) extends well beyond our own human resource needs. By focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines, we support efforts to address South Africa’s wider skills gap.”

De Figueiredo explains that the company’s socioeconomic development initiatives focus on multi-year, monitored interventions that support early learning programmes while also addressing foundational learning gaps in senior primary and secondary school learners.

“We partner with carefully selected well established non-profit organisations with proven expertise in education which allows us to track real impact over many years,” she says. “These programmes are deliberately designed to work across the education pipeline - from early childhood development and primary school through to secondary education.”

The selected non-governmental organisation partners provide structured academic support, as well as access to better-resourced learning environments. Progress is tracked against baseline assessments, with improvement targets other than grades alone, set for individual learners.

The company’s social responsibility also extends to people living with disabilities, with projects which support learners with visual impairments through funding the translation of curriculum materials into Braille and providing technology skills training. Concor also contributed to the development of “My Safety Workshop” materials, designed to enhance personal safety for children with neurodivergent learning needs.

De Figueiredo adds that the company’s CSI initiatives are aligned with its operational footprint and are guided by the realities and immediate challenges of the communities surrounding its projects, such as food security, access to health care and basic resources.