Inditex and Caritas Spain have renewed their three-year collaborative agreement so that they can continue the job programme created in 2011 targeted at people at risk of social exclusion in Spain. In addition, the entities have signed humanitarian aid agreements for Cambodia and Bangladesh. The agreements were signed today by Pablo Isla, chairman and CEO of Inditex, and Rafael del Río, president of Caritas, at Inditex's hedquarters in Arteixo (Galicia).

To fund the new job programme between 2014 and 2016, Inditex has approved a new €3 million contribution which will enable Caritas to carry out training programmes for job-seekers, lend support for self-employment initiatives and start up and consolidate special purpose entities whose remit is that of workplace integration or job creation for members, among other job creation formulae.

The last collaborative arrangement between Inditex and Caritas, covering 2011-2013, to which Inditex similarly donated €3 million, gave more than 2,000 people the chance to participate, 700 of whom have since found work, implying a placement rate of 34%. According to Caritas, "this figure is all the more significant considering the people to which Caritas targets its services: vulnerable people largely excluded from society".

This agreement forms part of Inditex's commitment to job creation in Spain, having generated 1,200 jobs in the country in the last 12 months, putting its current Spanish headcount at over 40,000. Factoring in Inditex's 6,600 plus suppliers in Spain, the Group supports over 82,000 full time equivalent jobs in the country.

Humanitarian work in Bangladesh and Cambodia
As well as renewing its Spanish agreement, Inditex and Caritas have signed two humanitarian and healthcare aid agreements for rural populations in Bangladesh and Cambodia with total funding of €800,000. The programme in Bangladesh, funded with €500,000, will run for 17 months and is targeted at improving the living and sanitary conditions of the 'adivasi' rural population, one of the country's poorest and most vulnerable indigenous communities.

The Cambodia initiative is focused on the provision of development aid for community healthcare for extremely impoverished families in Siem Reap, Battambang, Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom. This one-year programme is funded with €300,000.

Caritas and Inditex
The collaborative relationship between Inditex and Caritas, which forms part of the Group's social investing strategy, dates back over a decade. It was originally formulated with the overriding goal of assisting the least privileged communities in emerging markets and victims of emergency situations. In 2010 the scope of the collaboration was expanded to include job support initiatives in Spain.

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