We’d love to keep sharing our exciting developments in the Global Good community with you, but you’ll need to ‘opt-in’ to our communications. Read more about how we protect your data here >>
GGA 2020 finalists rally round in COVID-19 crisis
Who could have predicted how much things would change because of coronavirus? Now here we all are adapting to the many disruptions and adjustments affecting our daily lives. This year’s finalists in the Global Good Awards, sponsored by Revive and CH&Co, are no exception, many proving nimble and agile in responding to the crisis.

SUPERIOR ESSEX
Shortlisted in two categories – the Company of the Year and Circular Economy, as the US government classified the company as a provider of essential communications infrastructure, its employees are still working hard – and as safely as possible – in their manufacturing plants during the global pandemic.
The company has created ‘Gratitude Posters’ to thank their manufacturing plant workers for their work in keeping the world connected and communicating. It also hosts weekly, virtual, company-wide, video Hanging With Sessions with their top leadership to stay connected and learning together from afar. It’s published new product literature focused on how is cable is critical in the time of COVID-19, as it connects healthcare facilities. It runs a “Thank Cable” social media campaign too, as a reminder of all the contributions of cable and the vast amount of technologies it makes possible – including teleworking and video streaming.

YOUNG CHAMPION CONTENDERS CONTINUE TO MAKE THEIR MARK
AMY BRAY
During isolation, Amy is working on the Another Way Ambassador Programme, writing resources for other young environmentalists, as well as writing 30 Steps to help people live more sustainably, especially salient now many have a bit more time at home to stop and think about how our lives affect our planet and how we can change our habits permanently. Our two not-for-profit zero-waste shops, Another Weigh, are also responding by a delivery service for members, run by volunteers. Personally, Amy is upcycling old sheets into duvet covers and bags for university and creating a vegetable patch.
CHIMWEMWE CHITAMBALA
Embrace Her is a revolving project running in Chongwe district, Zambia it seeks to develop and improve small businesses run by young women between the ages of 18-30 who sell vegetables and fruits. With the presence of Covid-19 many business have been greatly affected with small ones feeling the pressure the most. Fortunately the project has a mandatory saving system which acts as a business relief fund to women on the project. This fund is accumulated through savings and is collected at the end of the project for business expansion and investments. Find out more here.
NICOLE FERNANDES DE SILVA
Having achieved 100 hours of volunteering, Nicole Fernandes de Silva has now qualified to started working as an Outreach Worker with south London youth charity, BIGKID Foundation. As an essential service providing vital continuity and stability for young people aged 11-25, BIGKID have transformed their sports and youth club sessions to deliver entirely online. Nicole is particularly involved with social action projects. Under the theme, ‘Through My Eyes’ BIGKID’s young people are working together remotely to create a film and virtual gallery (photos, art pieces) depicting young people’s perspective on life in lockdown.
AARON RAEDER
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Arron has got behind Binti‘s adapted ‘Sewing for a Good Cause’ project to produce protective face masks instead of period bags. The masks are donated to key workers and vulnerable people. Women have been working from the safety of their own homes, sewing masks whilst self isolating. Binti is also donating food and essential items including period products to local food banks aiding the delivery of care parcels to 6000+ households. Further to this Binti is providing a Community Outreach Service, supporting the elderly with services to keep them safe. Its new partnership with Fairshare has enabled Binti to provide food daily for 160 people.
SAMANTHA SMITH
During these difficult times, Ocean Hope is working more than ever to solidify the project and help their local community. The Ericeira beaches are in complete lockdown, but that doesn’t stop the mission of spreading the hope and the message that the ocean starts at home. As a young, non lucrative, project, Ocean Hope decided to gather lids from the local community to then donate to children in need in order to pay for procedures in a time where money is tight and hearts are heavy.
Follow The Hope In Our Instagram @oceanhopeproject.

RETHINK FOOD
Shortlisted in the Best Education category, the team at Rethink Food are working hard alongside their partners to deliver their Rethink Food Education programme. Part of this work involves the collection, processing and redistribution of surplus food to schools and their communities. In the last 6 weeks just over 64 tons of food has been saved from waste and redistributed to schools and community groups with any additional supplies being sent centrally to a hub run by Leeds City Council. Rethink Food Education provides people with access to a wide range of fresh and dried food produce.

WILD SHOTS OUTREACH
How do young South Africans in local communities view lockdown? Young photographers from Wild Shots Outreach (WSO) – a finalist in this year’s Best Education category – recently shared their images. These photographs provide a rare insight into the stories of young black photographers. The images were published in the South African media, including the Sunday Times.
WSO supports young South Africans in accessing their wildlife heritage and developing employment skills through photography. The WSO Media Team was formed from the programme’s the most talented photographers. During lockdown the Media Team were set photo assignments building up to the “Lockdown” theme. All the cameras have been donated through WSO.

TIDEWAY
Main works contractor Ferrovial Laing O’Rourke (FLO) for Tideway, a Company of the Year finalist, donated 800 masks and 250 disposable boiler suits to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington after an appeal for protective equipment. A company donation to mental health charity Mates in Mind will allow them to run online workshops for the self-employed and small businesses – some of those who have been hit hardest by the crisis. The company has also given donations to its staff charity partners’ emergency appeals; supported other charity partners by bringing forward scheduled 2020 payments; and offered support to its supply chain, who all face an uncertain time.

HORIZON THERAPEUTICS
When the repercussions of COVID-19 started to become clear, Horizon Therapeutics immediately sought out how best to lend support, landing on a $1.5 million donation, split amongst community nonprofits and foundations in Illinois, the city of Chicago, Lake County (IL), San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Dublin, Ireland. Additionally, Horizon helped seed two new funds with the Governor in Illinois. The first is focused on supporting communities throughout Illinois and the second is focused on the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers. More information on the PPE fund can be found here.
Horizon Therapeutics’ senior director for public affairs and CSR, Holly Copeland, has also been shortlisted in the Individual Leader of the Year category.

TOTM
During these times, Best Start-Up finalist, TOTM, continues to deliver period care to customers allowing them to stay safe at home. Since March, TOTM has extended its usual giveback work to support frontline staff struggling to access period care due to panic buying. So far, they have donated over 24,000 period products to NHS workers.
TOTM is working with charity partner, Binti International, to donate pantyliners for NHS worker care kits that Binti are providing with protective face masks. They are also donating 1,000 menstrual cups to Binti off the back of their recent crowdfunding campaign; these will go to local councils and food banks.

CHOOSE
Product of the Year contender, CHOOSE, is dedicated to helping fight against COVID-19 and are developing a brand new range of plastic-free hand sanitiser products to donate to care homes and people at risk in Edinburgh. Its lab is working out the final issues and hope to get it out by end of May. As well as this CHOOSE has a range of antibacterial soaps that available to everyone on its website.

JPA WORKSPACES
Throughout the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown, SME of the Year shortlister, JPA Workspaces, has remained open, devoting all available resources to the NHS. Beyond that, as a business, JPA has donated logistical services, manpower, storage and support in moving vital medical equipment between hospitals, as well as donating furniture for doctors’ and nurses’ wellbeing areas. In particular they are still in the process of helping the Team at Lister Hospital with a ‘Changing Rooms’ style makeover during the pandemic, transforming a tired and worn space into a badly needed area where doctors and nurses can take a break between shifts to refuel, recharge and rest. Find out more on their Linked In Page.

INVESTEC
The demand for food banks has increased 210% on average since the outbreak of Covid-19. On 6 April, Environmental Behaviour Change category contender Investec committed to providing the funds to ensure the supply to food banks across three London boroughs – Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets – for at least 12 weeks. Each food bank receives around 18,000 items weekly. Since then, Investec has extended this support to a further 15 food banks across the UK, providing vital support to communities local to all Investec’s offices.

BOROUGH MARKET
Community Partnership finalist Borough Market spearheaded the ‘Feed the Frontline’ campaign to provide free fresh fruit and vegetables to staff at four London hospitals. To date more than 24,000 bags have been delivered. Many stalls and restaurants are also involved in delivering meals to the NHS.
During the pandemic Borough Market is hosting a Community Facebook Group where those looking for culinary inspiration can access free recipes and swap tips. Cooking demos, cook-alongs and talks from a range of chefs are hosted regularly on Borough Market’s Instagram Live to inspire and connect those at home.

IGNITE WORLDWIDE
During COVID-19, Community Partnership category contender IGNITE Worldwide has launched a new Virtual Events programme to continue promoting STEM education and career advancement for girls and non-binary youth from historically marginalised communities. Virtual workshops and panel discussions teach students about education and career opportunities in STEM and connect them with role models who have achieved success in STEM fields. Since 27 March, it has hosted 10 virtual events, educating and inspiring more than 450 girls/non-binary students around the world. Events are also recorded as part of a digital library, so teachers and students can access these resources any time.

DOVE (UNILEVER)
Finalist in the Campaign of the Year, Unilever’s Dove brand has instigated a number of initiatives to address the pandemic:
- #CareFromDove – provides product donations and aiding government initiatives to deliver them to vulnerable people and medical staff, wherever possible.
- #WashToCare – shares the latest advice from the WHO on the importance of proper and frequent handwashing to help people care for themselves, their loved ones and the world.
- #SelfEsteemAtHome – the Dove Self-Esteem Project is helping parents, carers and guardians support young people’s mental health while schools are closed.
Find out more about the actions Dove is taking to care for communities here.

NATWEST
In response to the Covi-19 crisis and school closures, Natwest’s MoneySense – a finalist in the Best Education category – has created a toolkit of options for educating children at home. For parents, its new Home Learning section delivers fortnightly themed bundles of content that can be easily added to a home-schooling timetable, along with MoneySense Mondays – a weekly Facebook Live money lesson streamed on the NatWest Facebook and YouTube channels. For teachers, Distance Learning bundles provide an instant lesson plan that can be sent home to primary-aged children.

REDROW HOMES
Finalist in the Company of the Year category, Redrow, says it has been proud and privileged to support the mammoth effort being made by NHS trusts around the country, in particular contributing to keeping doctors, nurses, health workers and care staff safe while working and ‘looked after’ when off-duty. The housebuilder has donated PPE to various hospitals and health centres across England and Wales and even opened up decommissioned show homes in Essex so that NHS staff could self-isolate between shifts. Defibrillators have also been donated to Yorkshire Ambulance Services.

LEANPATH
Circular Economy category shortlister, Leanpath, has been actively working to assist foodservice organisations in the Covid-19 environment, starting early to help with tracking and collecting data on excess food that was being donated or discarded during rapid closures. Since then, Leanpath has focused on providing “reboot” scripts along with multiple educational resources to help foodservice stakeholders maintain a waste prevention focus in the critical restart period, including developing webinars, several tip-sharing blog posts (on food storage best practices and low-waste “grab and go” programmes), and a complete set of free resources (webinars and whitepapers) for anyone to minimise food waste and increase kitchen efficiency.

BARLEY COMMUNICATIONS
A finalist in the Campaign of the Year category, Barley Communications is supporting clients with vital communications throughout the COVD-19 pandemic. It is helping to spread the word about Borough Market’s online cooking classes and talks, and the #FeedTheFrontline campaign to get fresh fruit and vegetables to frontline NHS workers. Barley is working with Hubbub on #CommunityCalling to get phones to vulnerable people during lockdown, warning people about COVID-19 scams with National Trading Standards and filming samples being tested for COVID-19 at UK Biocentre. It is also helping raise vital funds for Guide Dogs, including a record-breaking virtual tea party which saw Martin Clunes interviewed in his pyjamas on national TV.

CAPGEMINI
Finalist in two categories, Best Education and Environmental Behaviour Change, Capgemini is applying expertise in technology to support charity partners and frontline health services. It is helping The Princes Trust accelerate its digital platform to provide young people vital support and increasing volunteer support for Code Your Future to ensure students still get access to the Capgemini experience and network.
Through innovative methods, Capgemini has been supporting hospitals and other frontline services by printing 3D face masks and creating applications to relieve pressure on the NHS via smart technology. It has also launched a new partnership with Digital Unite to boost digital skills for the most excluded by providing virtual training sessions.

ARUP
Community Partnership finalist, Arup, has developed CareBox, a modular system that enables hospitals and clinics to rapidly expand critical care capacity. Its team is also partnering with relevant NGOs and charities to bring vital hospital services to the Rohingya camp at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Its computational fluid dynamics experts have also collaborated on a new medical shield which captures airborne pathogens to protect NHS staff.

GARCON WINES
GGA Product of the Year contender and inventor of eco, flat wine bottles, Garçon Wines, says it has been pleased that its 21st century invention has been able to bring joy to wine-lovers during lockdown (by enabling the postage of a full-size bottle of wine safely and conveniently through an average UK letterbox). The company has also offered the possibility of using the letterbox-friendly bottle invention for non-wine related applications that could help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACTION THROUGH ENTERPRISE (ATE)
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Community Partnership contender ATE has been providing emergency distributions of food, soap and facemasks to vulnerable school children, disabled children and families to tackle hunger and hygiene in Lawra Municipal, Ghana. It has provided its frontline staff with ongoing training, guidance and hygiene packs to remain safe. With supply chains and trade affected, it has continued its small business mentorship and provided advice to enable small businesses to adapt and survive. It is currently running an urgent appeal through the immediate crisis, and preparing to help rebuild the lives of those that will be left more vulnerable beyond it.

SOPHIAMEDI
As the home care medical pioneer of Japan and finalist in this year’s Employee Engagement and Wellbeing category, Sophiamedi is conducting the following five actions to protect lives of patients receiving home care service:
•Establish the office operation rules to prevent the infection spread
•Prepare and publish the home care support guidance during the prevalence phase
•Build the dedicated team by recruiting applicants to assist positive individuals from inside/outside the company
•Publish how to make single-use protective equipment for home care.
•Provide medical and sanitary supplies to other providers.
It says it will maintain the quality of home care medicine of Japan by sharing these insights with other providers under the COVID-19 crisis.

UK WASTE SOLUTIONS (UKWSL)
Circular Economy category finalist UKWSL is continuing to support local communities through philanthropic donations. CDM Phillip Roache has developed SupplierMatch using UKWSL’s highly sophisticated network of customers. Customers who have supplies of food, PPE, hand sanitizer or excess stock of items such as toilet paper, disinfectants are matched with the most appropriate outlets via SupplierMatch to redistribute scarce resource. UKWSL has continued to support SME supplier base through regular communications and ensuring that they are paid on time.
UKWSL has also launched a comprehensive range of COVID19 cleaning services to aid companies in the challenge to get their businesses working safely again.

GREENZONE CLEANING & SUPPORT SERVICES
At GreenZone, our approach to the Pandemic has been one of people first; nurturing and supporting our employees, their families, their communities, and our customers. As a leading commercial cleaning company with sustainable practice at our heart, we recognise that COVID-19 fundamentally affects how buildings will now be used both in the immediate return to work, and longer term.
A more scientific and visual approach to cleaning is imperative to instill confidence that effective cleaning is being delivered. As a result, we are providing bespoke, tailor-made services to meet the individual needs of each client, offering a range of innovative solutions, products, and services to include viricidal and antimicrobial cleaning solutions. These sanitise and disinfect, while still maintaining our core proposition to deliver sustainable, environmentally friendly cleaning.
With future proofing in mind, these tackle not only the immediate issue of reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a broader view of protection from many types of infectious diseases which may affect society in future. For further details about our strategy for the return to work, please contact info@gzcss.co.uk to request a copy of our Post COVID-19 Return To Work Guide
The Global Good Awards 2020 have now closed.
To register your interest for 2021, please email karen@GlobalGoodComms.co.uk.