Whitley, UK, Tuesday 6 October 2015 ‑ Jaguar Land Rover, one of the world's leading manufacturers of premium luxury vehicles, has launched a new project in Africa as part of its ambitious Global CSR Programme.

Jaguar Land Rover's ambition is to achieve long‑term responsible business growth by placing sustainability at the heart of its business strategy by reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations and making a positive impact on society, all through 'Environmental Innovation'. The company recently received a Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development for reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations.

Jaguar Land Rover's Global CSR Programme was launched in 2013 as part of its 'Environmental Innovation' strategy. The programme invests in education, technology, health, wellbeing and environmental projects which will positively impact 12 million people's lives by 2020. The programme builds on the success of its UK education and sponsorship initiatives and will make a positive impact on communities in some of the 170 global countries it operates in.

Working with expert partners ClimateCare and Vestergaard, Jaguar Land Rover is investing in a new smart water filtration technology project that will provide over 300,000 pupils in 375 schools across Bungoma County with safe water. The project will run for the next five years, helping improve students' health, education and employment prospects.  Teams of LifeStraw staff will visit the schools each term to see that they are used correctly and to carry out further education, as part of a robust monitoring process. During the launch week, a team of seven Jaguar Land Rover employees from the UK and South Africa participated in the distribution as part of the company's employee volunteering programme, visiting schools across the region to gain a deep insight into the LifeStraw safe water for schools programme.

Nigel Clarke, Operations Director of Jaguar Land Rover Sub‑Saharan Africa said, "As a responsible business which is pioneering new technologies and innovations to reduce the impact of our vehicles, it makes sense for us to invest in new technologies which are tackling other sustainability issues around the world. These ambitions are embedded into the core of our business. That's why we have set ourselves an ambitious target to create opportunities for 12 million people globally by 2020. Through our support, we hope to inspire and create opportunities for our future consumers and employees.

Africa is a key growth market for us. By supporting the provision of appropriate and effective water purifier technology we are creating opportunities for over 300,000 school‑children in western Kenya ‑ giving them the opportunity for a better education and greater opportunity to learn and excel. By 2020, we will create opportunities for three million people in Africa, which will reaffirm our commitment to grow our global business sustainably and responsibly.' 

ClimateCare Director Tom Morton added, "At ClimateCare, our focus is on creating smart, integrated and cost effective programmes for our partners, using their investments to deliver maximum positive impact for people and the environment. This project to provide safe water to schools in Bungoma is a great example. Not only does it create an immediate, positive change, it will also leave a lasting legacy ‑ supporting a better education for a whole generation of school children."

Stephen Buchunju, Director of Visionary Academy in Bungoma Central, Kenya, who is also a primary school teacher, commented, "We are delighted to welcome Jaguar Land Rover, ClimateCare and Vestergaard staff to the school for the launch of this new project. Our children get illnesses such as typhoid and diarrhoea from dirty water which affects their education. The new LifeStraw Community filters will ensure we have a safe water supply which will improve their health and education prospects of our students and give them the best start to life."

Benjamin Masinde, aged 11, is in class 5 at Visionary Academy. Benjamin said, "I caught typhoid from dirty water at school last term and went to hospital. I was off school for a week which was bad as I don't want to miss any school so I can get good exam results and become an engineer. The new LifeStraw Community filters will make our water safe so we can all be healthy and never miss school."

ENDS