Sustainability r e p o r t - Sabesp

comply with the Code of Ethics in its Citizenship value, we created the CorporateVolunteers Program to attain the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG).“Our Agent”SO1 The mission of program is to get Sabesp closer to society, especially inlower-income communities, through partnership with the community’s differentsegments (organized society, public institutions, businesses and population ingeneral) to improve the quality of living.The “Our Agent” program creates a synergy and partnerships necessary to ensurethe actions in favor of the environment, the water and the watershed are in factperceived and understood by the population. With the training of communityagents, this communication with the inhabitants on the sanitation actions gainsthe special format and characteristics capable of getting across the social fabric.In São Paulo, we have approximately 50 agents that speak the communities’language and create an important communication channel between the populationand Sabesp. In 2009, the program served a population of 1,310,811 people,through 15,405 technical visits, 12,000 telephone calls, 1,034 events, 680educational lectures, and 56 meetings with community leads, resulting in theregularization of 23,246 water connections and 10,020 sewage connections.Sabesp Corporate Volunteers ProgramCommunity work during Children’s Day in East End, São Paulo.We use in our relationship with the outside community, a large network ofvolunteers, from all our units and locations, who work in social projects all overthe State of São Paulo. They total more than 2,000 volunteers, who throughtheir commitment to society and society progress have reached more than11,000 people in 2009, in particular the neediest population and our neighboringcommunities. The work of the volunteers resulted in gathering and distributingmore than 800 toys, the donation of 12 tonnes of food, the plantation of 3,000young trees, and the collection of more than 10,000 liters of cooking oil.These actions are developed in order to generate a positive impact on thepopulation’s quality of life, with qualification, rehabilitation and social inclusionto encourage people excluded from the labor market. To improve this work andWe conducted several meetings with representatives from the entire Companyand executives to structure the program, performed the development of aspecific procedure, and trained 900 employees. We also created a volunteerwork webpage where it is possible to register, divulge, monitor, and know all ourvolunteer work projects. It worth mentioning that this program is also extendedto retired employees who work in Company facilities.An example of volunteer work was the partnership between Sabesp and InstitutoCriança Cidadã, which, in a pioneering initiative, got together to promote theSolidarity Cooking Course, to train chefs to work in high-class restaurants. Theobjective was to contribute to the professionalization of people and allow them toincrease income of families living near the school circus. Another example is theEast Educate Program, a college preparatory course offered in association withthe NGO Educafro, in the facilities of the East Business Unit. Aimed at employees,employees’ children and the community, 40 students attended the program in2009, and it has benefited 440 people since it was created in 2002. Anotherexample is the Solidarity Hands Group, formed by volunteer employees for thepurpose of providing people basic things like comfort, food and care. In 2009,the actions of the group benefited more than 700 people and 26,000 people werebenefited since the program started its activities.The strength of our volunteers is also reflected in projects such as the TeachingHow to Fish. The North Business Unit created this project in 2004 to teachlower income people basic plumbing, through a partnership with the Servicefor Industrial Training (SENAI), Grupo Tejofran, GMF Gestão de Medição eFaturamento, Enorsul Serviços em Saenamento, Instituto de Educação e CiênciasAplicadas (Neotropica), Amanco Brasil Ltda, Savic - Sociedade Amigos da VilaConstança, Programa Ação Família, Ascosif - Associação Comunitária Sitio dosFrancos, and NGO Gol de Letra. Training courses are conducted in Sabesp facilitiesby volunteer employees with different professional backgrounds and training, inthe evening, consisting of theoretical and hands-on classes. The project, whoseobjective is to generate income and education for the rational use of water, hasalready trained 550 people since its inception.142 Relatório de Sustentabilidade 2009 143