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Community Development

Our communities, Our lifeline

Communities are the single most valuable stakeholder for our operations. We seek to coexist harmoniously so that local communities, the environment and our business can thrive together. We understand that community empowerment is the foundation for our social license to operate.

Prior to the start-up of our mill operations, APR worked with RAPP’s Community Development team to meet with local communities in order to identify their needs. The three community development programs we identified form the pillars of our engagement.

Education

APR started working with five local elementary schools, and at the beginning of 2020, we distributed almost 1,400 uniforms made of our viscose fibre to their pupils. In 2021, we will add two more schools to this program.

We are also looking at ways to support the teachers with teaching materials and supplies.

Women’s Empowerment

APR supports Rumah Batik Andalan, a social enterprise in Pangkalan Kerinci which empowers local women to produce the colourful local cloth known as batik. This boosts their family income while also keeping alive an important element of Indonesian culture.

We have provided training on developing motifs and the use of natural dyes, and hope that some of our members will soon compete on the national stage.

In 2019 we also supported the formation of a second branch of Rumah Batik Andalan at Lalang Kabung Village. The two groups now involve 12 women.

The batik program is part of our effort to support small businesses in local communities, in line with the United National Sustainable Development Goals aimed at reducing poverty and improving quality of life.

Maternal health and early years intervention

Supporting community health

We are supporting 28 Posyandu community health centres to help expectant mothers, and to provide nutritional education in order to reduce stunting in children.

Our community development team educates health workers about the importance of proper nutrition during early childhood, assists the clinics with their organisation and management, and helps distribute nutritious food to those that visit the Posyandu centres for consultation.

We are also working to provide much-needed equipment, such as weighing scales to properly track toddlers’ development and identify those at risk of stunting.

Ramadhan provision market

Ramadan is one of the most important religious festivals in Indonesia. Each year APR provides food hampers consisting of daily necessities (including 5kg of rice, 2kg of cooking oil and 2kg of sugar) which are sold to the public at reduced prices, with the proceeds given to local orphanages.

It’s part of our support for the government’s program to reduce the financial burden on local communities ahead of the Idul Fitri festival.

Our community activities include:

VillagesProgrammeImpact (Direct)Impact (Indirect)
  • Sering
  • Lalang Kabung
  • Simpang Perak
  • Kerinci Kota
  • Kerinci Barat
  • Kerinci Timur
  • Pangkalan Delik

Posyandu
  • Capacity building and training
  • Improved facilities
  • Improve treatment health services for expectant mothers, mothers and toddlers
  • Better quality health offerings and facilities
School outreach
  • Uniform donations to schools
  • Improve student learning environment
  • In-kind support to families with limited income
Batik Training
  • Skills training
  • New competencies

  • Diversify product offerings and increase earning
Pasar Murah
  • Support communities with discounted festive food hampers
  • Financial support to local orphanages

  • Reducing the financial burden during Eid al-Fitr festivites
  • Partnership with local district offices to support communities

APR listens – hearing from our stakeholders

APR proactively pursues stakeholder engagements with community leaders, including hosting visits to our operations by customers and regional and local association members; attending regional and provincial level business expos to promote our company; and educating community residents and students about our products and businesses.

In 2019, APR took part in the following stakeholder activities:

  • January – Introduced APR at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Hosted an ‘Indonesia Evening reception’ for all participants and introduced viscose rayon from plantation to garment for the fashion industry.
  • Participated in a range of International multi-stakeholder fashion events, focusing on sustainability events, trade shows, regional fashion shows. At a National level, actively engaged in industry meetings promoting Indonesia textile, community events such as Riau Expo, Pelalawan Expo, KADIN Talk, Muslim Fashion Festival, and supported the Ministry of Industry’s event on SME development and the start-up of MOFP (Modest Fashion Project).
  • April – Hosted APR’s Commercial Gala Dinner and launched Everything Indonesia. The event was attended by a diverse group of APR’s stakeholders representing key industry partners, customers, business associations, representatives from government and members of the media, and fashion designers. APR’s executives were on hand to share the latest developments in the industry and how viscose rayon can alter the very fabric of global textile industry. 
  • August – Conducted a MULTI STAKEHOLDER FORUM: “Optimizing the Use of Indonesia-Made Viscose to Revitalize Indonesia’s Textile Sector” in Kerinci on 6 August 2019. The key objective was to open up discussion on the use of domestic raw materials in supporting the national textile industry.
  • September – APR hosted a series of mill stakeholder visits including Director of Textile, Leather and FootWear from the Ministry of Industry, local and provincial government representatives, Customers, Fashion designers and Fashion design students.
  • We hosted a delegation from the Wharton Business School to witness first-hand the sustainability practices in our complex.
  • August, September and November – APR founder’s day where our employees volunteered on community outreach programmes in Kerinci, Jakarta, and Singapore

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