Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 103
Social Commitment
The natural sciences, mathematics, informatics, and technology
are among the drivers of economic development and
social progress around the world. In this context, ALTANA
wants to help introduce young people to these disciplines at
an early stage and to kindle their enthusiasm for them.
In addition, the ALTANA Group is involved in a number of
selected social projects. In cooperation with experienced
partners from the education sector, we support concrete projects,
often in the immediate proximity of our sites. To
maximize lasting impact, the company usually promotes these
projects over a period of several years. In 2020, events
that ALTANA has actively supported for many years had to be
canceled owing to the pandemic. These include, for example,
the Research Days, which ALTANA has accompanied for
many years as a network partner of the Germany-wide
foundation House of Junior Researchers, and the lighthouse
event of the civic foundation KREAKTIV. In the fight against
the coronavirus pandemic, we not only protected our own
employees at our sites from contracting the virus, but also,
especially at the beginning of the pandemic, helped out local
hospitals and first responders, for example, by providing
protective clothing, masks, and disinfectants that we did not
absolutely need ourselves. In addition, ALTANA and the
BYK, ECKART, ELANTAS, and ACTEGA divisions supported
numerous coronavirus aid projects in the year under review.
Educational Coaching of Elementary
Schoolchildren
ALTANA has supported the educational coaching project at
GGS Innenstadt, the largest public elementary school in
Wesel, for seven years now. The project was initiated by the
City of Wesel and implemented by the Klausenhof Academy
in close cooperation with GGS Innenstadt. The main aim is to
promote elementary schoolchildren and to achieve equal
opportunity for children with a migration background and
from socially deprived backgrounds. ALTANA financed the
personnel and material costs for a socio-educational expert
at the Klausenhof Academy. The expert assigns “personal
mentors” to each child, trains the mentors, and coordinates
their work. A total of 51 children have been supported
since the project began in 2014. Currently, 17 volunteer mentors
are taking part. They support and challenge the children
in their personal development according to their abilities.
The coronavirus pandemic has also posed a great challenge
to educational coaching. It is particularly important to
stay in contact in these times, especially with children and
parents from particularly socially strained backgrounds. The
specialist regularly exchanges ideas with the mentors, parents,
the school and, in some cases, with family aid and the
youth welfare office, working with them to find pragmatic
solutions that help the children cope in their everyday lives
and provide them with the best possible support despite
the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. At the beginning
of the year, the children were still able to meet regularly
with their personal mentors; during the first lockdown in
the spring, however, new possibilities had to be found
to support the children. For example, the children received
packages with craft ideas, puzzles, and books. Then,
during the summer months, the children and their sponsors
went on field trips again in local areas. Many of the mentors
also helped the kids with their homework by phone or
via digital tools. This was a tremendous help, especially
during the distance learning phases.
Youth Startups Competition
In 2020, ALTANA again supported the online competition
“Jugend gründet” (Youth Startups), sponsored by the
German Federal Government, offering a special prize in chem-