TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER FROM CEO 9 Every year when the time comes to put together this report, our CEO takes a step back and reflects on our social initiatives and our entire environmental work.
CLEAN WATER 11 Health, nutrition, clean water and sanitation programmes in India (UNICEF) Providing child survival in some of India’s most deprived areas.
FAIR LABOR 15 The program aims to create a protective environment for children in more than 1,200 villages of Andhra Pradesh.
GIVE BOOKS 19 UNICEF and IKEA are re-igniting enthusiasm for reading amongst a generation of children in Russia who have been deprived of books.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS 23 IKEA has committed to bridging this simple necessity for thousands of low income students in the war torn country Uganda. This will provide many with the means to attend school.
GOVERNANCE 26 Ikea is active in the communities in countries where we do business. We participate in a wide range of activities globally, nationally and locally.
TO CREATE A BETTER EVERYDAY LIFE.
ANDER DAHLV CEO LETTER Dear Stockholders, Every year when the time comes to put together this report, I like to take a step back and take some time to reflect on our social initiatives and our entire environmental work. So much has happened in the past decade. Ten years ago we had no real comprehensive plan for how to approach sustainability. None of us even agreed that this was important to our business. Social and environmental responsibility has become a truly integrated part of our everyday work. I’m proud of what IKEA has achieved. We’ve seen tremendous development over the years. We have taken important steps in the areas that we focused on first, such as the prevention of child labour, deforestation and working conditions. These areas are still important to IKEA, but our focus has shifted over the past few years, just like it has in society at large. Concerns about climate change and diminishing our natural resources that have led us to expand our environmental agenda.
Anders Dahlv President and CEO, IKEA Group
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CLEAN WATER INDONESIA Health, nutrition, clean water and sanitation programmes in India (UNICEF) These main programs were developed in 2007 and will continue through 2012. They aim at developing integrated, community-based, sustainable approaches to improve child survival in some of India’s most deprived areas. The initiative covers 18 states and is expected to reach 78 million children, four million adolescents and 10 million women by 2012. The focus is on improving the health and nutrition of children. We are providing infants with necessary immunization and vitamin supplements , advocating for breastfeeding and the importance of nutritious food for children, creating a healthy environment for children and their families at home and in school. and ensuring water safety and better sanitation, such as better access to new toilets and learning proper hygiene.
CLEAN WATER FOR CHILDREN IKEA promotes simple, innovative solutions for clean water in
Clean Water Initiative YTD 2011
disaster areas. We strive to achieve this mission through technical
A representation of the efforts IKEA has made in
excellence, responsible use of donor funds, and compassion for
the way of providing clean water to villages that
the needs of individuals overwhelmed by circumstances beyond
are in need.
their control. The initiative is intended to ensure that every child has access to clean water. Founded in 2007 by IKEA projects are focused on conflict affected areas of northern Indonesia. The clean water initiative is on track to directly impact the lives of more than 50,000 people by 2013. IKEA will continue beyond these limits to address the all expansive need for clean water. We will do this by continuing to expand our efforts into the most deprived of areas. Within 5 years, IKEA’s vision is to provide access to potable water to 50,000 people. Within 10 years IKEA will provide clean water to 250,000 people in need. We also hope to begin offering longer term solutions for the areas we will be working in. IKEA will begin establishing clean water grants in conjunction with UNICEF and local area government officials. The purpose of these small grants will be to provide seed funding for relief professionals looking to develop projects that will advance technical aspects of international clean water initiatives, with an emphasis on provision of essential services. Grant applications will come on-line as soon as we have sufficient funds to support the program.
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IKEA CLEAN WATER INITIATIVE
10
year committment
1500 villages supported
21k
portable waterbottles
equals 100
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FAIR LABOR INDIA The program aims to create a protective environment for children in more than 1,200 villages in India. Some 204,000 children below the age of 14 years are aimed to be impacted by: maintaining child labor rights, mainstreaming childrens formal education, and improving the quality of childrens education. Organizing collectives and empowering them to influence their communities is the key in making this initiative as successful as possible. An example of where our Child Labor initiative is making one of the largest impact is within the carpet production area of India.
FAIR LABOR PRACTICES Child labour is an unacceptable part of today’s reality in coun-
Child Labor Prevention | Children Reported
tries. We are aware of this and also of the complexity of the
Percentage of children aged 5 to 14 years of
problem. For many years, IKEA has actively worked on the issue
age involved in child labor activities at the
of child labor. Our goal is to make sure that no child labour is
time of the survey. A child is considered to be
involved in the manufacturing of IKEA products.
involved in child labor activities
As a company whose operations are international, IKEA has a responsibility to influence the conditions under which each of the products we sell are manufactured. We want to offer all of our customers well-designed, functional home furnishing products of good quality and at low prices, manufactured under acceptable working conditions by suppliers that care for people. IKEA operates and sources its products, without compromising the basic requirements regarding the rights of the child. We want our activities always to be in the best interests of children. We firmly believe that the best way IKEA can help to improve this situation for children, is through active business co-operation. Our presence gives us the possibility to raise the awareness and put demands in countries where child labor is part of today’s reality. IKEA does not accept child labor in factories owned by suppliers or by their sub-contractors. Children must be protected from child labor. That means from any work which interferes with a child’s right to healthy growth and development and especially denies her/him the right to quality education. HOW DOES IKEA WORK? IKEA supports the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), with the basic requirement to always put the best interests of the child in focus. Our work is also based on the ILO (International Labour Organzsation) Convention number 138 (1973) concerning minimum working ages, and the ILO Convention number 182 (1999) concerning worst forms of child labor. This is regulated in a special child labor code of conduct and enables more viable and sustainable alternatives for child labor.
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IKEA CHILD LABOR INITIATIVE
6%
2011 children reported
13%
2000 children reported
63%
1985 children reported
equals 1%
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GIVE BOOKS RUSSIA UNICEF has joined with IKEA at re–igniting enthusiasm for reading amongst a generation of children in Russia who have been long deprived of books. For almost two decades, libraries have been repurposed and school budgets slashed while the government has focused on transitioning to a democracy. Books have in turn become a scarce and expensive commodity, out of reach for many poor families. The resulting death of literature has left well over half of Russian children 15 years and younger unable to complete more than even the simplest of reading tasks.
GIVE BOOKS TO KIDS IKEA has committed in providing reading books and to restab-
Contributions shown YTD
lishing the all important message of literacy into the Russian
‘Russia Reads’ is a government initiative
cities and country side. This initiative will assist in bridging a ever
launched in 2006 to restore a culture of reading
widening gap that has been occuring in the Russia for the past
among the country’s youth.
decade. As education for children is bypassed for focus on government order, Russian children are falling victim to low standard education requirements. When IKEA furnishes reading books for these children, we are taking one step closer to helping literacy continue to grow. With 1 million from UNICEF’s largest corporate donor, the Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA, the ‘Albania Reads’ project aims to open a library in each of 850 schools. In collaboration with the government, libraries have already opened in 160 schools to the delight of children and teachers alike. “We know reading is very important for learning,” says UNICEF Representative in Albania Carrie Auer. “First you learn to read and then you read to learn. So if we want continuous achievement in school, reading is important.” It is not only school children who benefit from the project. With the ability to check out books to take home, children are able to share them with parents and siblings. Extending the reading experience to the whole family can help to raise literacy levels across the entire society. At the same time, teachers are being trained in new techniques to encourage reading, and a Russia Reads awareness campaign is planned to help establish the country’s culture of literacy. In the works are a children’s magazine and a national literary award with winners to be decided by young people.
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IKEA EVERY CHILD READS INITIATIVE
850 schools assisted
200K dollars spent on new
10M dollars committed
equals 1000
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SCHOOL
UNIFORMS UGANDA Something as simple as a school uniform, can be the escape from a child used in child labor practices, and providing them an outlet to attend a near by school. IKEA has committed to bridging this simple necessity for thousands of low-income students in the war torn country of Uganda. Most nomadic families in the area are involved in rag picking; in which small children collect garbage from around town and sort out items that can be sold by weight at a meager rate to recyclers. Providing uniforms to these children gives the family and student a sense of acceptance because schooling is viewed as a priveledge.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS FOR THE FUTURE Something as simple as a school uniform, can separate a chld
Education Center in Pakistan
used in child labor practices, and providing them an outlet to
The results of an intensive concentration of
attend a near by schools. IKEA has committed to bridging this
education efforts in the Uganda region. Year to
simple necessity for thousands of low-income students in the war
Date 2011 contributions.
torn country of Uganda. Uganda exhibits wide extremes of social and economic disparity. Amidst upmarket mansions with tall boundary walls and private security guards are the tattered tents of nomadic families squatting illegally by open sewers and railway tracks. Most nomadic families in Uganda and many other urban areas of Africa are involved in rag-picking: They collect garbage from around town and sort out items that can be sold by weight at meager rates to recyclers. During 2010, UNICEF’s corporate philanthropic partner, the IKEA Social Initiative, provided more than $90,000 to support 17 Education and Counseling Centers, or ECCs, in Uganda; the centers have benefitted nearly 7,300 children. In Uganda, around 700 children are currently enrolled in four ECCs located in disadvantaged areas. The centers were established in Uganda to create a protective environment for the most vulnerable children. To achieve this, they provide school uniforms, non-formal education in life skills, as well as recreational and vocational training, social support and referrals. These services help children who are out of school gain a basic education and learn to protect themselves from violence, abuse and exploitation. When IKEA & UNICEF partner to start a project like this, the idea is that the community assumes ownership once it is established and we pull out. The initial phase is the most difficult. The Hayat Foundation has done well to establish four centers in this city, and the financial support from the IKEA Social Initiative has been invaluable. The community has realized the importance of sending their children and women to these centers, and there is no turning back. Providing school uniforms have given many students the opportunity to see a larger picture to their life. It provides them with the human right of gaining a quality education.
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IKEA EDUCATION AND COUNSEL INITIATIVE
17
education centers
700
children enrolled
7300 ytd children benefited
equals 100
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COMPANY GOVERNANCE IKEA strives to build long term relationships with suppliers that share
At IKEA, we believe that all children have the
our values and who want to grow and develop together with IKEA.
right to a healthy, secure childhood and have
Our focus is to motivate and support suppliers to take more respon-
access to quality education, no matter where in
sibility and ownership themselves, so that developments become
the world they live. That’s why IKEA Foundation
sustainable and independent of IKEA presence.
supports long and short–term projects that give
IKEA SUPPLIERS AND THEIR WORKERS Every three years IKEA conducts a supplier survey to collect feed-
children a better start in life. 100 million children will benefit from current programs.
back on the relationship with IKEA from our suppliers. The suppliers fill in the survey anonymously. IKEA CO-WORKERS Our co-workers are our most valuable resource – when they grow, IKEA grows. IKEA is committed to being a good employer that offers a safe and healthy work environment together with development opportunities for each individual. IKEA has a yearly companywide survey to collect feedback from our co-workers. We want to learn what motivates them and what they are dissatisfied with. The survey is completed anonymously. COMMUNITIES IKEA Ikea’is active in the communities in countries where we do business. We participate in a wide range of activities globally, nationally and locally. Through our partnerships with carefully selected organizations that are generally regarded as specialists in their fields, we are able to support projects that are designed to best match the needs of the communities where they take place.
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IKEA COMPANY GOVERNANCE
THINGS REMAIN TO BE DONE. A GLORIOUS FUTURE!
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