BrITE Foundation
The BrITE Foundation is a charity fund set up and run by Royal HaskoningDHV’s employees
A commitment we choose to make
People working at Royal HaskoningDHV want to make a real difference in the world. That’s why our employees through the BrITE Foundation contribute their own time, individual expertise and private money. The Foundation delivers small-scale charity projects for people and planet, close to their hearts and field of expertise. This is a commitment we choose to make; not because we have to. Our employees care about positively impacting the lives of vulnerable people and improving people's living environment. The BrITE Foundation enables our employees to enhance society.
Friendly wild bees find new home on Dutch fortresses
December 2024, we partnered with Dutch nature foundation Landschap Erfgoed Utrecht to help them restore Fort Rhijnauwen (photo) and Fort Ruigenhoek. New greenery will be added to provide a good habitat for the friendly wild bee that is threatened with extinction. The project will also contribute to the overall biodiversity as well as to the educational and recreational functions of the fortresses.This collaboration originated from a suggestion made by one of our colleagues in the Amersfoort office that is close by these fortresses. We are supporting the foundation with 10,000 euros.
Coral larvae for the Great Barrier Reef
October 2024, we decided to support Australia’s Reef Restoration Foundation to massively increase the spawning of coral stock in mobile nurseries to add billions of fertilised coral larvae back to the Great Barrier Reef.One of our Brisbane colleagues suggested we support them purchasing a special optics device that will help to mimic the wild environment where the coral will be taken from to achieve the best results. We donated 9,500 euros to assist with this.
Rewilding the Scottish Highlands
Put forward by our Edinburgh colleagues, we decided to support the Trees for Life charity in Scotland who are restoring a vital part of Scotland’s natural heritage by protecting and developing a living, thriving forest landscape where wildlife and people can flourish together. Not only did we donate 10,000 euros to support their wild seed collection project for enhancing the availability of more native trees, we also joined their seed collection day in the beautiful Glen Finglas in October 2024. During this event, 6.8kg of hawtorn berries were collected which could grow an estimated 11,000 hawtorn trees.
Rice for typhoon struck Philippine village
August 2024, BrITE doubled the funds raised by Royal HaskoningDHV’s team in the Philippines to aid families in the coastal village of Pamarawan who had been hit by devastating typhoon floods. The team has been collaborating with this community for over a year through its nature-based flood protection project. After reaching out to the village leaders, it became clear there was an urgent need for rice. On 9 September, 1,450 kg rice was handed over to the villagers.Supporting the Red Cross and Red Crescent
June 2024, we donated 25,000 euros to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to support the victims of the war in Gaza. Whilst we normally support small-scale projects, we decided to make an exception here just as we did when we donated to UNHCR for the Ukrainian refugees, because we are keen to do what we can in this moment of severe need.
In the Philippines, colleagues joined forces to clean up part of the Manila coastline.
Making an impact on World Cleanup Day
September 2024, BrITE together with YOUNG Royal HaskoningDHV, will again support the World Cleanup Day – a global one-day annual event aimed at creating awareness and combating the global litter problem. In 2023, colleagues from 35+ offices around the world joined forces and collected some 300 bags of waste.
South African children’s home gets safe drinking water
We are funding the drilling of a water borehole (May 2024) and purchase of a pump and tank to provide safe water to TLC Children’s Home in the under-resourced Sedibeng district in South Africa – suggested by our former colleagues from the Woodmead office. This will provide a reliable, safe water source for the Children’s home and surrounding community, unimpeded by load shedding and water shedding.
Educating children on the beach, Indonesia
On 3 December 2023, the Sekolah Pantai ‘beach school’ in Pacitan, East Java officially reopened following a much-needed revitalisation as the buildings were in a poor condition not having been used since the pandemic. BrITE supported the Indonesian NGO Project Child that is running the centre with an 8,500-euro donation to construct new classrooms for the centre allowing 70 children aged 4-12 years to learn about the environment, coastal conservation, water safety, health practices, develop their creativity, and play.Supporting sustainable employment in the Peruvian rainforest
In 2023, we proudly completed our support to the Bosques de Papel artisan paper-making workshop in Tarapoto, Peru. We supported them with 5,000 euro to renovate the workshop and facilities, enhancing safe working conditions. The workshop empowers local women to earn an income through the environmentally friendly production of paper and paper products. Improvements to the children's area and library were also completed, with the provision of new art materials, games and books to foster creativity, and to learn about the vital importance of preserving the rainforest.
Helping the deaf become self-reliant, Ghana
In April 2023, BrITE donated 3,600 euros to the Job Creation and Training Centre for the Deaf (JCTC) in Kumasi, Ghana, where deaf trainees get a chance to become independent. They are trained to be a caterer, hard- and software repairer, carpenter hairdresser and a seamstress. In addition, the centre opened the Sign of Silence Hostel to introduce tourists to life as a deaf person in Ghana and to use all income of the hostel for the centre. The BrITE Foundation contributed to the opening of the hostel by funding an access road, security gate and parking spaces.Supporting Stanislav with a power generator
In January 2023 we supported the people in the Ukrainian village of Stanislav with two power generators to help them get through the tough winter. This action was made possible due to many of our colleagues who donated their end-of-year gift. One powerful generator guarantees electricity for the central water supply, preventing it from freezing. A second, smaller generator, was supplied as back-up electricity for a local hospital. We donated 10,000 euro for the generators and the transport by road from Ouwerkerk (NL) to Stanislav (UA).
