Press releases
Inditex signs an agreement with Cáritas and Entreculturas to launch its aid project in Haiti
Inditex has signed an agreement with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Entreculturas and Cáritas Española to launch its aid project for reconstruction in Haiti, an effort financed by Inditex’s donation of 2 million euros. The project focuses on supporting the most vulnerable groups of people in Haiti, both in the short term –and particularly—in the medium and long term, in the specific areas in which this assistance is most needed.
Inditex has worked with both Cáritas and Entreculturas on previous projects for social investment in humanitarian crisis situations. Thanks to this joint cooperation and the experience the three parties drew from previous efforts, a specialised methodology was developed for planning the aid effort in Haiti. Its primary purpose is to select the most appropriate courses of action, calculate costs and required supplies and draw up a timeline for the programme, with the goal of achieving the utmost efficiency during project rollout.
Both groups have longstanding experience in Haiti. They have stable support infrastructure in place in the island nation through which they have carried out humanitarian assistance activities for many years.
Cáritas’ involvement is especially noteworthy, as the organization has worked in Haiti for more than 15 years and currently has 10 diocesan headquarters from which it has seized the initiative to help with the Haitian reconstruction effort. Indeed, the day after the disaster, Cáritas volunteers were already at work tending to victims at 200 hospitals. In addition, the group has established connection points in border provinces in the Dominican Republic through which it is able to deliver drinking water and sustainable agriculture products to Haiti. Cáritas is a confederation of 162 Catholic organisations dedicated to charity, community development and social services activities, and carries out aid projects in more than 200 countries and territories.
Meanwhile, Entreculturas, with which Inditex frequently works, is another of the most active NGOs in the Haitian reconstruction effort in the aftermath of the earthquake, via Entreculturas’ partner organisations Fe y Alegría and the Jesuit Refugee Service. From Santo Domingo in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, these organisations have established a network for getting aid to earthquake survivors. The groups are using what remains of a Jesuit novitiate building as a distribution hub for the aid they are delivering throughout Haiti. In its own words, Entreculturas is an NGO sponsored by the Jesuit religious order which promotes access to education among the world's most disadvantaged people as a means for encouraging social change, furthering justice and fostering cross-cultural understanding.