CSR Activity Reports: FY2017

On March 29, a ceremony for the donation of a medical amubulance was held at the Health Post of Sinthiou Bamambe in Matam Region, in the northeast region of Senegal. This Health Post is the only medical institution in the area and did not have any functioning ambulances. Participants from the Ministry of Health and local residents expressed words of appreciation.

On March 19, a hand-over ceremony of three high speed braille printers to the Adaptive Technology Center for the Blind (ATCB) was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Blind and visually impaired people in Ethiopia are highly marginalized and have little or no access to facilities that enable them to acquire knowledge and proper education. ATCB is the only institution in the country trying to assist access to information technology and provide braille production services. ATCB prepares braille text books and reference materials for schools and public libraries, and the new printers will greatly improve the efficiency of the translation process. The new equipment is expected to print around 10,000 braille text books.

On February 16, the ceremony commemorating the donation of Tatami mats to the Japanese-Peruvian Association (APJ) was held in Peru. APJ's main mission is to represent Japanese citizens in Peru and to introduce Japanese traditional values, cultures and art to the general public. MC made a donation of 64 tatami mats to the dojo run by APJ in order to improve the facility's equipment and help teach youth etiquette and discipline through martial arts.

Mitsubishi Corporation, together with 5 Mitsubishi Group companies (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Bank of Mitsubishi UFJ, Tokio Marine & Nichido, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Motors) once again for the second year, jointly provided a 2-week internship program starting from Feb.13, for the Australian university students participating in the New Colombo Plan. The New Colombo Plan is the Australian Government’s signature initiative which aims to lift knowledge of Asia-Oceania in Australia by encouraging and supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region. This year, 16 students gained a deep understanding of the Mitsubishi Group’s business operations and philosophy through a variety of activities during the 2 week internship. This program’s aim is to contribute to educating future leaders of the Japan-Australia relationship.

Since 2012, Mitsubishi Corporation has invited approximately 20 students and teachers from four universities in Shandong (Qingdao University, Shandong University, Shandong Normal University, and Yantai University) as an exchange program based on collaboration between the Mitsubishi Group and the Shandong government. During the nine days period from February 4 to February 12, participants increased their understanding and knowledge of Japan by visiting Mitsubishi Group companies including MC's Head Office on February 5th.

On February 1, the ceremony for the opening of an elementary school building, donated by Mitsubishi Corporation, was held at Ngeue Village in Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique. About 400 villagers and students attended the ceremony.
Mozambique is one of the world's poorest nations and the human development index is very low. Amidst such an environment, Ngeue Village is focusing on education to help nurture future development. The new building is equipped with solar power and battery storage to provide lighting during night time. The new school building was donated to accommodate the growing number of students attending the school, but there are also plans to use the new facilities to hold agricultural education programs for adults. The latter use is expected to contribute to the promotion of agriculture in the area and increase income for the farmers to gain a better standard of living.

On January 22, support for the “New Life” Project run by the “La Dolorosa Foundation” was successfully implemented. The Foundation is a non-governmental organization that provides protection, quality care and comfort to children who are in vulnerable situations. Mitsubishi Corporation's support helped the foundation procure equipment and furniture to provide a better environment for the integral development of the children who live in the shelter. Some of the essential items provided include: beds, mattresses, dining tables and chairs, closets, washing and drying machines, the construction of a ramp for disabled children and computer equipment for educational use. This support will help the Foundation continue running programs that aid children in high risk situations, assist families searching for this type of support, and ensure that the shelter will be available to the community now and in the future.

On December 13, a Project Ceremony for educational support and empowerment of 1,000 children and youths in danger in Morocco was held at SOS Children's Village Dar Bouazza, Casablanca.
The objective of the project is to help vulnerable children and youths and to give them the means to become independent adults by offering educational support.

Mitsubishi Corporation has been supporting the Environmental Diary Program in Sri Lanka since 2012, which aims to enhance environmental education among 5th grade elementary school students through an awards-based program.
About 7,000 students participated in writing a diary focused on the environment for 3-months. The awards ceremony took place in Sri Lanka in November with the top four students winning the chance to attend the awards ceremony in Japan in December. While in Japan the students also visited MC's Head Office on December 8 and presented their award winning diaries.

On November 29, the ceremony for the donation of the Photovoltaic Micro-grid Training Innovative Platform was held at Ecole National d'Ingenieure de Tunis (ENIT), a leading engineering university in Tunisia.
Tunisia is targeting to have 30% of its electricity produced by renewable energy, including solar energy, by 2030.
This project is expected to contribute to the advancement of renewable energy in Tunisia through various experiments as well as human resource development using the new Micro-grid Platform.

On November 28, an opening ceremony was held at the University of Economics and Business in Vietnam to commemorate Mitsubishi Corporation's donation of educational equipment to upgrade a multifunctional classroom. The equipment will help the University to meet the urgent demand for study and research involving international integration and competitiveness while improving teaching and study quality.
Through the utilization of online resources and video-conferences, students will be able to interact with foreign teachers and professors to conduct research. The enhanced multifunction room will help contribute to raising the level of education and research for all students and teachers at the University.

On November 16, students and staff from the Griffith Clontarf Academy visited Mitsubishi Australia Melbourne Head Office. The Griffith Academy is run by the Clontarf Foundation which works with secondary schools across Australia to improve the education and future prospects for young Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander boys.
Mitsubishi Corporation supported the Foundation's end-of-year camp to Melbourne which they offered for the Indigenous students who showed a commitment to their school attendance and behavior and to Clontarf activities. During the camp, students were engaged with a variety of activities such as corporate office visits and sport facility visits.
At the office visit, the Griffith Academy students showed great interest in MC's business activities. The students also gave a presentation and shared their experiences at the academy and how their participation in the Clontarf programs changed their lives for the better.

On October 18, a ceremony was held in which the 138th Comprehensive School in Sofia, Bulgaria was presented with a Japanese-style classroom. Mitsubishi Corporation provided support for the renovation of the classroom, which was given the name “Shin” (meaning “formal” in Japanese tea ceremony and ikebana), to create an engaging learning environment and enable a full-featured program in which students learn not only the Japanese language, but also Japanese culture including ikebana and the art of the tea ceremony.

On September 22, the opening ceremony for the training course on “Agriculture 4.0” for Rice Mechanization was held at the National Agricultural Machinery Center (NAMC) of Kasetsart University of Thailand. The three-day training courses on efficiency of modern farm machinery for rice cultivation was attended by 270 farmers. This project is expected to contribute to sustainable agricultural development in Thailand.

On September 19, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO)'s string quartet visited students at Leeming Senior High School in Perth. Since 2008, Mitsubishi Corporation has been supporting the WASO's Harmony Music Program which offers students with special educational needs a world-class musical experience. The students learned the different sounds of the violin, viola and cello, and listened to various tunes from contemporary to classical music.

On September 7, an agreement to support the “Center for Study of Russian-Japanese Relations” was executed between Mitsubishi Corporation and the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) of Russia. The university, which is located in Vladivostok, has been established for the purpose of mutual understanding and research cooperation in the Asia Pacific region between Russia and Japan. MC's support will be used to provide scholarships to junior fellows of the Center.

Since 2012, Mitsubishi Corporation has provided opportunities for hands-on experiences in Japan for the students of the Applied Technology High School in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The Mitsubishi Study Tour introduces the students to advanced technologies in Japan and provides an opportunity to broaden their international perspectives.
For the 6th year of the program, 8 students toured factories and offices of Mitsubishi Group companies (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, and Mitsubishi Motors) from July 29 to August 7 and visited MC's Head Office on August 4 to give presentations on what they had experienced and learned during their time in Japan.

The Japan Association for the World Food Program* hosted a charity walk called 'Walk the World' on May 14th, 2017.
Taking place on a Sunday morning, the event attracted 4,439 participants including 45 Mitsubishi Corporation and MC Group Company employees and their families. The diverse crowd, ranging from adults to children, enjoyed a leisurely 5 or 10km walk along Yokohama's scenic Minato-Mirai Bay, and in doing so made a significant contribution towards raising funds for the organization's school lunch program. MC supports this event annually as a sponsor company.

Mitsubishi Corporation has been supporting activities aimed at preventing tuberculosis, one of the primary causes of death in Mongolia, for the past three years starting in 2014. With the goal of raising people's awareness about tuberculosis and promoting its early diagnosis and treatment, MC supported campaigns and events targeted at college students, which make up about 30% of people infected with tuberculosis. MC's support also helped with the organization of an art contest in 2016 for middle school students in Ulaanbaatar. The winning art pieces, which focused on tuberculosis prevention, were made into posters and displayed on the outside of public buses in the city until April, 2017.

Shwedagon Pagoda is the most holy place for Myanmar's buddist and it is also one of the most well known spot for sight seeing. MC is making donation to Shwedagon Pagoda since 2013. Myanmar's buddists are deeply devouted in buddhism, and the idea of a never-ending cycle of life and death, and they are strongly beleiving that doing good deeds make their next life better. Therefore, they are keen on donating to pagodas and monks. We are expecting the Pagoda and whole country's developent.

Mitsubishi Corporation has donated JPY 5.0 million (approximately US$45,454) to the Government of Colombia as emergency relief for the regions affected by massive flooding in the city of Mocoa in southern Colombia. We would like to express our sincere condolences to the victims of this tragedy, and pray for the earliest possible recovery of the afflicted areas.