As part of our responsibility strategy, we establish partnerships with different institutions to identify and address challenges of social cohesion in the countries where we do business. The priority areas we have defined are healthy eating and lifestyles, promoting reading habits, and social inclusion.
In Portugal, and since 2016, the Group has taken part in the Eco-Schools’ programme Alimentação Saudável e Sustentável (Healthy and Sustainable Food), promoted by ABAE – Associação Bandeira Azul da Europa (European Blue Flag Association), aimed at raising awareness among students about topics such as food, nutrition and the sustainability of agrifood production.
Young people respond to challenges such as healthier food choices, how to reuse part of normally discarded food, and the Mediterranean diet as seen through artistic expression and digital art. The participating teams receive financial donations and the winning schools receive prizes.
In 2021, Ara joined Misión Nutrición (Mission Nutrition), a campaign to fight malnutrition, a public health problem aggravated by the lack of quality information on healthy eating habits. Misión Nutrición assesses the nutritional needs in various regions and identifies the foods sold at Ara that can meet those needs.
Promoting children’s literature is one of the areas on which the Group focuses as a way to encourage family reading habits from an early age, helping to develop child literacy and contributing to more informed societies.
Every year, Pingo Doce and Biedronka organise children’s literature competitions that promote new authors and illustrators. The winners of the two stages of the competition – writing and illustration – are guaranteed publication of their work and that the book is sold exclusively in the banners’ stores. In both the Pingo Doce Children’s Literature Prize and the Biedronka Piorko Prize, each winner receives a cash prize of around 25,000 euros.
Since the prizes were created, more than 140,000 prize-winning books have been sold in Portugal and more than 465,000 in Poland. The Biedronka Children’s Literature Prize has been sponsored by the Children’s Ombudsman in Poland since the first edition in 2015.
Books are also sold at very affordable prices. Between 2005 and 2021, Pingo Doce launched more than 440 exclusive titles and helped more than 2 million books reach the hands of Portuguese families.
Pingo Doce has booths at the Lisbon and Porto Book Fairs in Portugal, where exclusive children’s books are sold and reading sessions, book presentations and autograph sessions are held for the general public and also for children supported by charities.
The book launched by Biedronka in late 2020 sold 276,000 copies and raised 501,000 euros in meals for disadvantaged children supported by the NGO Polish Humanitarian Action.
The book, launched by Biedronka in 2021, was dedicated to endangered native species in Poland. Over 328,000 euros were donated to Polskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Przyrody “Salamandra” (Polish Society for Nature Conservation), an organisation that focuses its efforts on the conservation of species such as the European bison, the wolf, the lynx, the hedgehog, the pygmy-owl and the Amazon River dolphin – the heroes of the story.
In 2022, Pingo Doce launched the Frumania collection, which included an album of collectible cards and soft toys alluding to the Minions' characters and aimed at teaching children about the health benefits of more than 80 fruits and vegetables, and sharing healthy recipes. For each album sold 20 cents was donated to projects promoting children's rights, in partnership with the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and the Protection of Children and Young People (CNPDPCJ). More than 53,000 euros were donated.
Pingo Doce donated more than 98,000 euros to LPN (Portuguese League for Nature Protection) in 2021. The money was raised in 2020 with the sale of about 197,000 copies of the book, with LPN involving over 660 students from 18 schools in education and environmental awareness.
This campaign was launched in 2021 and, in addition to the book, starred eight soft toy animals. More than 110,000 euros were raised, half of which used for collecting marine litter and the other half donated to environmental education project “In Search of the Usual Suspects” promoted by ABAE (European Blue Flag Association), which encompasses around 2,000 schools.
To foster social entrepreneurship and the financial sustainability of third sector organisations, Pingo Doce sells products developed by institutions that are dedicated to fighting social exclusion. Since 2011, the company has actively supported CEERDL – Centro de Educação Especial Rainha Dona Leonor, a cooperative that provides services to improve the quality of life of 500 people with a disability or mental illness.
Biedronka has been the main sponsor of the Nadzieja Na Mundial Association (Hope for Mundial) since 2018. The association supports the development of children in institutions, helping them to socialise through sport and holding football tournaments with children and young people from Poland, other European countries and the rest of the world.
The initiative “Find yourself with Hebe”, in partnership with the One Day Foundation, aimed at promoting the social and professional inclusion of young adults who age out of orphanages and enter working life, saw 16 participants working at Hebe for three months in 2022.
