Our community
In order to maximise our impact, Zurich takes both a local and global approach to investing in the communities in which we live and work.
Our local programs
Due to the commitment of a network of employee champions across the globe, our local programs take many different forms; from long established, employee run volunteer schemes, to flagship community investment programs through our Local Grants Program. Local initiatives include the funding of scholarships and provision of mentors to one of the poorest schools in Mexico, our job readiness programs for young people in Argentina and our telephone befriending service for isolated older people in the UK. Our flagship programs from the Local Grants Program include mental health awareness campaigns in Ireland, with the help of some of Ireland’s top rugby players, mentoring of impressionable young people in the Nordics and Germany, and the use of sport and nutritional education for parents to fight childhood obesity in Malaysia.
Our global flood resilience program
Of all the natural hazards we experience floods have the greatest impact on people globally, and cause some of the largest economic, social and humanitarian losses. Launched in 2013, our global flood resilience program aims to advance knowledge, develop robust expertise and design strategies that can be implemented to help communities strengthen their resilience to flood risk. The collaboration includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) with its 189 national societies; Practical Action, a UK-based international non-governmental organization; and two research institutes–the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.