Our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

Synnefa defines its social responsibility as a "voluntary and strategic commitment that entails attempting to achieve business targets while complying strictly with its legal and contractual obligations, applying criteria of equity and stability to relationships with its stakeholders, thus contributing to meeting the current and future needs of society"

Synnefa defines its Corporate Environmental Responsibility “as a company’s duties to abstain from damaging natural environments’’

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Therefore, and to be able to achieve these goals appropriately, the following general and specific principles of action are hereby established.

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Compliance with International Commitments relating to Social Responsibility, Corporate Environmental Responsibility as subscribed to by Synnefa.

Synnefa voluntarily adheres to the UN Global Compact,

The voluntary adherence of any country or region to this type of international initiative has an impact on our reputation and entails compliance with the commitments assumed which include but are not limited to;

·         No poverty

·         Zero Hunger

·         Good Health and well being

·         Climate Action

·         Gender Equality

·         Clean water and sanitation

·         Affordable and clean energy

·         Decent Work and Economic growth 

Synnefa strives to advance the Sustainable Development Goals with a special focus on the following goals through direct and deliberate action

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Zero Hunger

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Synnefa is committed to advance zero hunger by allocating 10% of the company’s annual net profit to its CSR Budget which involves the construction of greenhouses for food production purposes.

Some of the initiatives undertaken under CSR projects is provision of heavily discounted greenhouses to community based organisations such as children's homes in order to reduce child malnutrition in the community. 

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Climate Action

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As part of its Corporate Environmental Responsibility, Synnefa recognises its priority to the environment and has allocated an annual budget for tree planting in order to reduce the carbon effect on the environment as a result of using wood as a main raw material in construction of wooden greenhouses. 

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Gender Equality

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Synnefa strives to ensure gender equality at the workplace and have an even male to female gender ratio among employees by consciously practising awareness during the recruitment and selection process. Through our CSR projects, we partner with community based organisations to support and invest in women’s entrepreneurship in local marginalized communities thus enriching their livelihood through donor funded projects

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Compliance with current national and international laws and regulations, Synnefa seeks to comply with all Kenyan labour laws and rules as prescribed in the ILO guidelines. 

Maintaining corporate governance practices based on ethics, business transparency and diversity: respecting the rules of the free market and free competition, and rejecting any illegal or fraudulent practice contrary to the rules of good governance, to Synnefa policies and procedures and the guidelines of the Anti Bribery and Corruption policy, in order to accrue business benefits.

Synnefa has internal mechanisms for preventing, monitoring, reporting and penalizing any practice described in the paragraph above that occurs within the company .  

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Commitment to Human Rights. Synnefa adherence to the United Nations Global Compact and its 10 principles directly commits us to the respect, defence and protection of Human Rights, contained in the International Bill of Human Rights, the Conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Therefore, in the Human Rights field, Synnefa undertakes to:

a)Avoid practices that are discriminatory or damage people's dignity.

b) Striving for a decent, safe and healthy working environment, adopting rules and procedures in the area of occupational health and prevention of occupational risks, avoiding any kind of discriminatory attitude, intimidation or violence, in any of their manifestations due to sex, race, creed, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual disposition, nationality, citizenship, marital status or socioeconomic status.

c) Rejecting child labour and forced or compulsory labor as expressed in our Anti-Child labour policy

d) To respect its employees' freedom of union, association and respect the role and responsibilities that apply to the representation of workers in accordance with current legislation. 

e) To provide decent employment:

 1. Synnefa pays its employees in a decent manner, adjusted to their skills, responsibilities and duties. This payment is aligned with applicable legislation and with conditions in the market where it operates, which allows them to meet their basic needs and those of their families. 

2. Synnefa  guarantees the right of its employees to a workday that respects their right to rest and that facilitates flexi-hours/flexi-work practices, acknowledging employees' need to balance their work life with other interests and responsibilities. 

3. To implement due diligence procedures to identify possible situations of greater risk in relation to human rights, and to develop mechanisms for preventing and mitigating these risks in its activities.

To facilitate compliance with these commitments, Synnefa will create a guide to the Practical Application of Human Rights, which takes the following action areas into consideration: 

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(a) internal, involving all company management and employees.

(b) external, which involves stakeholders that are related to the company, especially suppliers and contractors.

The Guide will be based on the recommendations in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Synnefa Staff Policies and Procedures Manual, and corporate policies that are determined in the general and specific principles of this CSR Policy.

Fiscal responsibility. Synnefa, aware that the payment of taxes has a direct impact on the financial and social development of the countries it operates in, meets its tax obligations in accordance with the fiscal legislation that exists in the country of operation, paying the corresponding taxes in accordance with the profit generated.

Conservation and promotion of the Environment.  Synnefa conducts its activity with a firm commitment to contribute to sustainability from an environmental perspective, materialized through the integration of the environment into the business, the promotion of environmental responsibility, preservation of biodiversity, prevention of pollution, efficient management of resources and adaptation and mitigation of climate change, in accordance with what is established in line with our Corporate Environment Responsibility beliefs.

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Synnefa’s commitment to stakeholders

Employees Synnefa has a staff policies and procedures manual and Anti-bribery and corruption policy  that establishes the rules that govern behavior and actions among employees and in their relationships with third parties. Furthermore, it promotes a working environment based on an atmosphere of mutual trust and commitment, which involves:

a)      Consolidating a culture of respect for people and behavior that is favorable and open to diversity faced with any of the Company's stakeholders.

b)     Guaranteeing the right to effective equal opportunities and dealings with all workers, which allows them, without exception,to develop personally and professionally. 

c)     Avoiding any type of occupational discrimination in the areas of access to employment, promotion, professional classification, training, compensation, work/life balance and other working conditions.

d)    Contributing to maintaining working environments that are free of harassment and behavior that is violent or offensive to people's rights and dignity, and guarantee that, if it occurs, there are appropriate procedures for dealing with the problem and correcting it.

e)     Achieving an optimal level of occupational security and achieving a working environment that allows Synnefa professionals to carry out their work in the best physical and well being conditions

f)     Promoting the establishment of payment conditions that guarantee a decent salary, acknowledging the effort and contribution of employees to the company profit.

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g) Ensuring that Synnefa staff treat the farmers we deal with a lot of respect and offering them support as the need arises.

Suppliers

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Synnefa has a supplier relationship and management model that attempts to ensure a socially responsible and ethical process in its action with all the participants in the value chain. This involves:

a)      Adopting responsible practices that generate mutual value, in addition to focusing on efficiency and the quality of products and/or services provided by Synnefa  suppliers.

b)      Ensuring that the value chain complies with Synnefa’s values and principles, Anti-bribery and Corruption policy and the principles established in this policy

Shareholders

Synnefa considers that its relationship with shareholders and investors, besides being based on trust, must have the goal of creating sustainable value, and undertakes to promote informed participation by shareholders by dealing with them in a transparent manner.

Society

Synnefa is committed to the economic and social development of the country where it carries out its activity and therefore: 

a) It is bound to those social activities or initiatives that benefit society and make the world a better place for the less fortunate. 

b ) It considers that it also contributes to the development of activities that lead to benefits for society through the community based organisation’s support program it is involved in  by offering discounted greenhouses to children's homes and coordinating funded for women groups in accordance with this CSR policy.