The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are a common framework that emerged from the combination of the UN Millennium Declaration adopted at the September 2000 UN Millennium Summit, and the goals for international development advanced at key international conferences during the 1990s. Consisting of eight fields such as "Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger," "Achieve Universal Primary Education," and "Reduce Child Mortality," the overarching goal is to meet concrete numerical targets in these areas by 2015. MOL has positioned contributions to the UN Millennium Development Goals as a key principle guiding its social contribution activities, and will move proactively as a company growing in step with global economic and social development to realize these goals.
Burkina Faso
Transportation of Desks and Chairs by Sea
We provided marine transport for school desks and chairs used with care for many years before they were donated by elementary schools in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, to children in Burkina Faso. In June 2011,
the desks and chairs filled with the aspirations of children were donated to elementary schools in Burkina Faso, where they are now proving useful in a new location.
MOL Press Release:
MOL Transports Desks and Chairs for an Elementary School in Burkina Faso Received Commendation from Ambassador and Elementary School
Zambia
Transporting Shoes for Children
In 2010, MOL began helping in the transport of shoes donated to children in Zambia as the cosponsor of a project with the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP), an international NGO. Along with providing containers for shipment from Japan free of charge, MOL cooperates in ocean transport to the South African port of Durban, which also serves as the gateway port to Zambia.
(*)The project to donate shoes to children in Zambia
This project involves the donation to JOICFP of used shoes collected through a trade-in service offered by Sogo & Seibu Co., Ltd., as part of its global contribution commitment. JOICFP then donates the shoes to children at the health checks, which motivates residents to come in. This program serves as a useful health education measure that helps to prevent parasitic diseases, tetanus and other ailments.
MOL Press Release:
MOL Steps up to Transport Shoes for African Children
Cambodia
Transporting Medical Vehicles
Since 2010, MOL has been helping transport medical vehicles and other cargo to Phnom Penh in support of the certified NPO Side By Side International (SBSI). To date, we have shipped a total of 42 vehicles, including ambulances. These vehicles, which were handed over to medical institutions, including national hospitals in Cambodia, are serving at the frontline of emergency medical treatment.
MOL Press Release:
MOL Earns Commendation from Cambodian Government for Role in Transport of Medical Vehicles and Equipment
Paraguay
Transporting Fire Trucks
In August 2011, we transported five second-hand fire trucks from Yokohama to Paraguay. After arriving at the port of Puerto Fenix, the vehicles were delivered to the Volunteer Fire Department of Paraguay.
South Africa
Transporting Mobile Libraries
Since fiscal 1995, MOL has cooperated in the ocean transport of mobile library vehicles to the Republic of South Africa. Since 2009, MOL has taken part in activities by NPO SAPESI-Japan (South Africa Primary Education Support Initiative) as part of a project initiated to donating 100 such vehicles by 2014. MOL utilized its car carriers bound for Africa to deliver 12 mobile library vehicles to the South African port of Durban in fiscal 2009 and 2010, respectively, with plans to assist in shipping another 8 vehicles there in fiscal 2012.
(*)The SAPESI-Japan project is one component of an ambitious plan to increase literacy led by South Africa's Ministry of Education. Used mobile libraries no longer in use in Japan are acquired and sent to South Africa. Once there, the vehicles, in operation of the Education Ministry, travel to the many elementary and junior high schools across South Africa's provinces that lack libraries.
The mobile libraries are warmly welcomed wherever they go, bringing the joy of books to children and helping to improve educational quality.
MOL Press Release:
MOL Once Again Helps Out with Ocean Transport of Mobile Library Vehicles to South Africa
MOL Cooperates in Ocean Transport of Mobile Library Vehicles to South Africa
Refer to "Social Contribution Activities- Behind the Scenes of MOL Projects" for background information and post-implementation status regarding this project.
Vietnam
Transporting Wheelchairs for the Disabled
MOL provides assistance to Free Wheelchair Mission(FWM), an NPO dedicated to delivering wheelchairs to disabled persons in developing countries. FWM is a U.S.-based NPO established in 2001. The organization's founder devised a method for the low-cost manufacture of wheelchairs. After production at a factory in China, the wheelchairs have since passed through supply bases in the United States on their way to 86 different countries (as of August 2012).
Based on a proposal by U.S.-based subsidiary MOL (America) Inc., MOL began cooperating from 2006 on the transport of wheelchairs procured by FWM in China to the United States. By 2011, MOL had transported 22 40-foot containers of wheelchairs. In fiscal 2012, MOL plans to assist four 40-foot containers of wheelchairs, including those consigned directly from China to Vietnam.
Japan
Supporting UN World Food Programme and Participating in Related Events.
MOL participates in the Japan Association for the UN World Food Programme, an organization that coordinates private-sector support for the program, and provides support for it in the form of donations and the like. Employees also volunteer and participate continuously in a charity event, "WFP Walk the World," which is held to prevent children around the world from going hungry.
Kenya
Transporting Shoes to Children
Smile Africa Project / Photo:Masaru Suzuki
Since 2010, MOL is helping in the transport "Smile Africa Project," sponsored by the monthly SOTOKOTO magazine. United behind the slogan, "Donating shoes that bring smiles to children," the project collects unneeded shoes at schools and other sites across Japan to donate to children forced to go shoeless or very nearly so in developing countries. MOL transported a 20-foot container in fiscal 2010 and two 20-feet container in fiscal 2011. These containers were filled with children's shoes and the heartfelt wishes of those donating them to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
Thailand,Cambodia
Transporting Medical and Health Supplies
In October 2010, MOL lent its cooperation to the ocean transport of medical masks and other medical and health supplies to Thailand and Cambodia as part of measures to counter infectious disease by certified NPO PH-Japan(PHJ). PHJ's guiding philosophy is a dedication to helping people everywhere live healthy lives, with the NPO supporting developing countries primarily across Asia. The recent shipment of medical masks for distribution to healthcare providers at hospitals and clinics came at the request of both the Thai and Cambodian governments. MOL assisted in the transport of a total of three 20-foot equivalent units of containers of these materials.
MOL Press Release:
MOL Cooperates on Ocean Transport of Medical and Health Supplies to Thailand and Cambodia
UAE
Cooperation with UNHCR Activities
Since 2006, MOL has assisted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) through the transport of material aid and other needed assistance. UNHCR is a UN agency that works to protect and assist refugees forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict or persecution. Over the years, MOL has donated money for the purchase of emergency shelters and cooking stoves, and has transported a total of seven 20-foot equivalent units of containers of these materials free of charge from south China to the UNHCR supply base in the UAE. In June 2010, Mr. Amin Awad, a director from UNHCR Headquarters, paid a visit to MOL to express appreciation for its ongoing cooperation and support. Going forward, MOL will continue to assist in the activities of the UNHCR through the ocean transport of material assistance to those in need.
MOL Press Release
MOL Pledges to Assist with UNHCR Aid Transport and Purchase of Emergency Supplies
Paraguay
Transporting Wheelchairs for Children
In December 2010, MOL cooperated with the Volunteers Group to Send Wheelchairs to Overseas Children, a certified NPO, to transport two 40-foot containers of wheelchairs to the landlocked South American country of Paraguay. In Japan, children's wheelchairs tend to be replaced every two to three years as children outgrow them. The situation is different in developing countries, where the high price of these chairs makes them largely unattainable to those in need. As a result, many physically disabled children are unable to venture outside. The wheelchairs transported by MOL were donated to FUNDACIÓN TELETON, a government-certified NPO in Paraguay. In May 2011, His Excellency of the Embassy of the Republic of Paraguay in Japan visited MOL to express his appreciation for the company's cooperation.
Zambia
Transporting Material Assistance to Africa from Hong Kong
In December 2010, MOL assisted in transporting material assistance (two 40-foot containers) bound for Zambia from Hong Kong-based charitable organization Crossroads Foundation to as far as Tanzania. The foundation collects unused furniture, school supplies, clothing and other items from within Hong Kong for distribution to orphanages, schools, clinics, disaster victims and others in need within Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas. Based on a proposal by local subsidiary in Hong Kong MOL (Asia) Ltd., MOL decided to lend its cooperation to the foundation's work, which takes advantage of Hong Kong's geographic position as a global hub for container transport.
Tanzania
Transporting Clothing for Children
MOL provides transport assistance for With All Our Hearts(*), an international contribution project sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Justice. In this project, second-hand children's clothing salvaged by MIKI HOUSE Co., Ltd. at its 150 retail stores across Japan is sent to the Mine Rehabilitation Program Center in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where it is washed, sorted, embroidered and packaged by women correctional inmates. The clothing is then donated to children in Tanzania, where international cooperation NGO JOICFP is involved in support activities around health maintenance and sanitation. MOL's assistance ranges from the provision of a container for shipment from Japan free of charge to the ocean transport of this container to Tanzania. (The shipment is scheduled for February 2011.)
(*)The Ministry of Justice has issued a press release on the project.
MOL Press Release
MOL Pitches in to Provide Ocean Transport of Children's Clothing Donations for Tanzania
