Employee commitment to the future of children and villages

The digital technologies represent a motor for development and a means of imagining new innovative strategies for solidarity in all countries. We already support education centres in the countries in which we are present with the digital schools. But digital technologies cannot solve everything. That is why, so long as large numbers of people do not have access to basic facilities, we will devise solutions such as Orange Villages.

Schools represent the backbone of our Villages programme. Given that, in many countries in which we are active, improving access to education for girls is about changing mentalities, we are building facilities to bring an end to this exclusion by overcoming physical and psychological barriers: separate toilets to provide privacy, but also real schools, healthcare centre, and water points to relieve girls from the duty of fetching water and allowing them to attend school, like their brothers.

Growing numbers of boys and girls at the Orange Village schools.

Several years after setting up the Villages programme, although much remains to be done, we are delighted to announce positive results. The Village schools are attracting more and more students. Currently, 100 villages in 11 countries benefit over 500,000 people.

The foundation: access to drinking water

In the most isolated villages in Africa, access to water is often a complicated matter. Fetching water is a time-consuming activity which prevents girls, who are charged with this task, from accessing education. There are also public health implications. We provide each of our villages with a hydraulic pump. While the basic principles are the same, each Village is different. Take the example of Amphitra in Madagascar. This village is now served by a more effective drinking water irrigation system. In addition to the pump, we have trained local masons to construct more resilient wells and public toilets which meet sanitary standards. Amphitra was built in September 2013. Six months later, it had 2,588 inhabitants and 200 school children. All these people now have access to a quality school and sanitary facilities.

Village health : A local, well-equipped health centre

In our Villages, each healthcare centre is furnished with essential equipment and managed by trained staff. In Côte d’Ivoire, the closest healthcare centre was 10km from the residents of Gbandbo. Since the Village was developed, the 3,500 inhabitants and locals from the other five neighbouring villages have enjoyed access to their own healthcare centre. Depending on local needs, we also provide other facilities alongside these essential structures: housing for healthcare staff and teachers, or a canteen.

In fact, an Orange Village is not just “a water point, a healthcare centre and school”… It is also a place where families can live together securely, work, provide for themselves and imagine a future for their children.

Currently, 100 villages in 11 countries benefit over 500,000 people.

Our employees are involved as volunteers

Our employees are involved in every project: proposing Villages, working on projects, donating books… Every one of them offers a little of their time or makes a donation to these people who are in want of so much. In the Village of Bir Salah, our first Village in Tunisia, our volunteers decided to address desertification alongside education, planting over 500 trees. Beyond the traditional education sessions, everybody donated a few hours of their time to provide digital training.

Get involved. Your contribution will make a difference!