AkzoNobel India and SOS Children’s Villages of India partner to paint the future of youth in India

AkzoNobel, a leading global Paints and Coatings company and makers of Dulux Paints in India, today announced their India partnership with SOS Children’s Villages of India. The collaboration aims to uplift the lives of young people under the care of SOS Children’s Villages of India through AkzoNobel’s “Let’s Colour” program, run under AkzoNobel’s flagship Dulux brand. The initiative is designed to use education and renovation to drive a positive impact on youth unemployment.

As part of the kick-off activity, employees of AkzoNobel India came together to paint the community hall as well as ten family homes of SOS Children’s Village Greenfield in Faridabad.

Speaking about the association, Rajiv Rajgopal, Managing Director, AkzoNobel India said, “Skill development has been a focus of our corporate social responsibility initiative in India. Supporting the Skill India Mission, 3500 underprivileged youth have been trained at AkzoNobel’s Paint Academies in India till date. We are delighted to launch the India chapter of our global partnership with SOS Children’s Villages of India. This association aims at supporting the youth under the care of SOS India to enhance their employability by means of improving their communication skills through training. More than 300 youth are expected to benefit from this association.”

Emphasising on the need of more such programmes, Anuja Bansal, Secretary General, SOS Children's Villages of India said, “Initiatives like these offer great encouragement and support to our efforts in transforming the lives of once parentless and abandoned children under our care and mainstreaming them in society. Proficiency in English is critical to shape the future of the youth; even more so since they belong to the vulnerable section of society. SOS India is happy to partner with AkzoNobel under its YouthCan! Initiative, in empowering these youth, while providing them the best of language skills to earn their living in the most dignified way.”

The global partnership between AkzoNobel and SOS Children’s Villages International, launched in 2017, is part of AkzoNobel’s Let’s Colour initiative, run under AkzoNobel’s well-known Dulux brand in India. Being a member of YouthCan! Platform AkzoNobel contributed creating more employment opportunities for young people at risk around the world. Through our Let’s Colour programs and professional painters academies we trained nearly 1,000 young people on painting, entrepreneurship- and soft skills across countries like Argentina, Belgium, China, Russia, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan and Indonesia. In 2018, Let’s Colour SOS Children’s Villages programs were activated across 10 countries and up to 14 countries is expected to be included in the program in 2019.