Programmes and projects to engage and support affected communities

We establish partnerships with different institutions to identify and respond to social cohesion challenges in areas such as healthy eating, promoting reading habits, social inclusion and environmental awareness. Besides concrete projects, we also take part in corporate volunteering initiatives.

Healthy eating habits and lifestyles

Since 2016, and in Portugal, we have sponsored the Eco-Schools Alimentação Saudável e Sustentável (Healthy and Sustainable Food) programme, promoted by the Blue Flag Association for the Environment and Education (ABAAE – Associação Bandeira Azul de Ambiente e Educação). In 2024, our support for this programme, which raises awareness among students of issues such as eating habits, nutrition and the sustainability of agrifood production, amounted to around 32,000 euros. In the 2023/2024 edition, 359 entries were submitted by 357 schools from across the country. The works submitted tackled challenges such as:

• making people aware of the importance of more sustainable food choices, prioritising the consumption of seasonal and, where possible, organically grown local fruit and vegetables;
• involving families and guardians in the search for traditional Portuguese recipes to prove that Mediterranean ancestral recipes are rich in local ingredients, frugal, bring the family together around the table, and are the most sustainable;
• monitoring and recording behaviour in school canteens, and ensuring and promoting the adoption of good eating, hygiene and health habits, encouraging a reduction of food waste and noise in canteens and cafeterias;
• encouraging students to research and investigate the harmful effects of food additives and sugar in foods that children and young people regularly eat;
• promoting the Mediterranean diet through artistic and digital expression;
• creating and preparing complete menus, using local and seasonal ingredients, inspired by the Mediterranean diet and that can be implemented in school canteens.

Biedronka was once again the main sponsor of the Olimpiada Zdrowia PCK z Biedronką (Polish Red Cross and Biedronka Health Olympics), a competition that promotes healthy eating habits and lifestyles among schoolchildren consisting of a test on nutrition, health and ecology. After completing secondary school, the winners will be able to study at the nutrition faculties of the Medical University of Lodz or the University of Opole, both of which are honorary sponsors of the initiative.

Biedronka provides two types of support: financial support for the winners, including specific prizes awarded to the best works on healthy eating habits and healthy living in the local community, and consultancy support provided by the Company’s experts in quality and Private Brand, environment and sustainability. These Biedronka personnel are involved in designing questions and are jury members. In 2024, the Company channelled more than 51,000 euros to this project.

The 31^st edition saw over 16,000 students compete, with 32 students taking part in the final in May 2024. Biedronka awarded eight special prizes in the two age groups of the competition in the form of gift cards worth over 900 euros. The 32^nd edition of the competition was launched in November, with 21,980 students from 1,295 Polish schools taking part, focused on issues related to alternative diets and the role of sport in developing healthy habits.

Hebe also focuses its activities on supporting health-related causes, in particular common health diseases in women. In-kind and monetary support totalling over 110,000 euros was used to (i) support the organisation of and provide participation kits for the “Bieg Kobiet Zawsze Pier(w)si” run, aimed at raising awareness of breast and cervical cancer prevention, (ii) award prizes for the winners of the “Stowarzyszenie Sportowe Ich Własna” football league championship, and (iii) provide gifts for the participants of the festival organised by the Cancer Surgery Clinic of the Medical University of Lublin, aimed at providing medical tests, consultations, and awareness-raising workshops on breast cancer prevention.

Ara teamed up with three institutions (Fundación Leicy Santos, Fundación Manuela Vanegas and Fundación La Quinta.com) that promote sport, particularly football, as a healthy habit in vulnerable areas, involving 260 children from the Quibdó, Copacabana and Lorica regions. A total of 15.5 tonnes of food was donated.

Promoting literature and reading habits

Promoting family reading habits from an early age is a way of developing children’s literacy and contributing to more informed and prepared societies. To this end, and besides selling books at affordable prices, Pingo Doce and Biedronka also hold children’s literature competitions. The winners of the two stages of the competition – writing and illustration – are guaranteed publication of their book, sold exclusively in each of the banners’ stores. Each winner in each of the stages, both in Portugal and in Poland, receives a monetary prize of 25,000 euros.

In 2024, a total of 1,416 entries for the writing stage and 186 for the illustration stage were received in the 11^th edition of the Pingo Doce Children’s Literature Prize, the first to promote only already published authors. 1,400 copies of Eu e o segredo do Faraó (Me and the Pharaoh’s Secret), by Catarina Fonseca (text) and Mané Peixoto (illustration), were sold in 2024. The Pingo Doce Children’s Literature Prize is the largest national children’s literature prize, having already revealed 22 new talents and recognised two published authors.

Piórko (Biedronka Children’s Literature Prize) has been sponsored by the Polish Children’s Ombudsman since the first edition. The 10th edition received over 2,130 entries in the writing stage, with Moje Czarne Szczęście (My Black Happiness), by Agnieszka Piwoń, winning the competition and inspiring the more than 760 illustrators who submitted entries for the second stage, won by Dorota Zak. Since launch of the initiative in 2015, more than 580,000 copies of the ten winning books have been sold, with over 16,000 copies of the winning book in the 2024 edition sold in the year.

In Portugal, Pingo Doce was present at six book fairs in Portugal and launched 37 new exclusive titles (in line with the National Reading Plan), which it offered for sale in its stores at affordable prices. At these fairs, open to the general public and children, exclusive children’s books were sold and reading, and autograph sessions were held with the winners of the Pingo Doce Children’s Literature Prize.

To reassert itself in the ecosystem for promoting reading and children’s literature, Pingo Doce installed libraries with children’s books in children’s hospitals and inpatient wards across the country. Each library contains 30 exclusive Pingo Doce children’s books for children between the ages of 2 and 12. Several book houses are installed in each children’s ward, depending on the size of the inpatient ward, creating “Reading Neighbourhoods”. In 2024, a total of 72 book houses were delivered to 26 hospitals and over 2,600 books were donated.

Social inclusion and entrepreneurship

Most notably among the continued support provided is the investment of 75,000 euros in scholarships to students in Portuguese schools from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, supported by EPIS – Empresários pela Inclusão Social (Businessmen for Social Inclusion), an organisation we have supported since its establishment in 2006.

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 other children and young people from Poland, other European countries and the rest of the world.

The 15^th edition of the Polish championship was held in 2024, with 400 boys and girls from all over Poland coming to play in Warsaw. The best players were called up to play for the Polish national team in the 9^th edition of the world championship, which brought together teams from 27 countries, including Portugal. Biedronka invested more than 174,000 euros in the two initiatives.

To celebrate births in Poland, since 2021 Biedronka has offered packs of products to children born in the country and registered on the Dada Club website (the Company’s Private Brand range of hygiene and childcare products and market leader in the nappy segment). In 2024, over 38,000 packs were offered, which totalled 275,000 kits already distributed, which include nappies, food jars, wipes and cotton buds.

To help and support the integration of people with disabilities, in 2024 Biedronka donated more than 116,000 euros to the Podaj Dalej Foundation, an organisation whose mission is to help people with disabilities achieve independence and live active and happy lives. The Foundation organised several initiatives thanks to the support provided by Biedronka:

• art and sports camps for around 20 disabled children from various parts of Poland;
• a Youth Academy, which held several workshops for young people with disabilities, focusing on self-acceptance, discovering relationships, talents, and basic meals. Five young people aged 17 to 21 participated in the Youth Academy;
• workshops for 22 parents of children with disabilities on strengthening mechanisms, empowerment, relaxation and eating habits adapted to their children;
• presentation of a series of adventure stories about Ibisek the Fox, who befriends Ladybird (symbol of Biedronka), as a means to promote equality and friendship beyond differences.

In 2021, Biedronka was the first retailer in Poland to launch a programme dedicated to fighting period poverty¹, “Juntos Vamos Começar um Período de Mudança” (Together We’ll Start a Period of Change), in partnership with the Kulczyk Foundation. After the collaboration agreement ended in 2023, the Company continued to contribute to this cause through the “Action Menstruation in Your School” campaign, maintaining its collaboration with the Kulczyk Foundation. During the 2024/2025 academic year, Biedronka provided support to around 590 schools by offering more than 53,000 packs of tampons and sanitary pads, in an investment of 50,000 euros, impacting a total of 112,000 students.

Hebe continued its involvement in the initiative “Odkryj Siebie Z Hebe” (Discover yourself with Hebe), in partnership with the One Day Foundation, aimed at promoting the social and professional inclusion of young adults who enter working life after ageing out of orphanages. The 33 participants worked in 32 Hebe stores for two months² in the third edition of the programme. Hebe donated over 23,000 euros to support the Foundation in pursuing its social support objectives. In 2024, Biedronka joined this collaboration through the Dobry start z Biedronką (Good start with Biedronka) initiative.

Hebe also donated nearly 8,000 euros to the third edition of the TOP Women in e-business programme created by Fundacja Kobiety E-Biznesu (Foundation for Women in E-Business), the main goal of which is to support the establishment of online businesses run by women.

Ara maintained the support programme for low-income mothers with the distribution of welcome kits for the babies born in hospitals with the highest birth rates. More than 30,000 kits were offered containing nappies, shampoo, soaps and other essential products from the Bubu Private Brand range specialising in baby care, and also a micellar water and sanitary pads for the mothers. The initial aim of this project in 2023 was to support 1,500 families, a figure that was far exceeded in 2024.

To celebrate International Grandparents’ Day (26 July), Hussel teamed up with the “A Avó veio trabalhar” (Grandma came to work) association, inviting grandmothers to spend a morning in one of the Company’s stores.

Environmental education

Aware that environmental education and awareness play a vital role in driving positive behavioural change, encouraging more sustainable practices and the conservation of resources, we developed a set of actions aimed at raising awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving ecosystems and biodiversity among all members of the surrounding communities (consumers, students, children).

As regards protecting biodiversity and as we have been doing since 2019, we joined Portugal Chama, a campaign by the Agency for the Integrated Management of Forest Fires to raise public awareness, especially in areas most at risk of fire, of the importance of prevention during the hottest months of the year. Pingo Doce, Recheio and Amanhecer used their websites, social media platforms and in-store radio to convey the messages of fire prevention and good practice.

Under the “Mar Vivo” (Living Ocean) programme, and as in previous years, Pingo Doce joined Jerónimo Martins’ sustainability partnership with the MEO Surf League to promote six awareness actions with children from the places where the competitions took place, including beach cleanups. The Company also organised another edition of the Mar Vivo Brigade, the largest beach cleanup action with schools in the country. More than 64,000 students from 14 districts across the country collected 5.8 tonnes of rubbish.

Another programme implemented in 2024 by Pingo Doce was focused on protecting marine ecosystems, aimed at raising awareness among the younger generations of the importance of preserving the oceans. The “Leva a tua turma ao Oceanário” (Take your class to the Oceanarium) programme, in partnership with ABAAE, takes primary school students to the Lisbon Oceanarium and challenges them to study a species listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List as a way of sparking interest in the importance of marine biodiversity.

To raise awareness of the protection and preservation of pollinators, Ara has been spearheading the “Protect the Bees” project since 2021, in partnership with Fundabejaz. In 2024, the Company’s support helped:

• rescue one million bees, sent in hives to various nature reserves to recover and stabilise;
• deliver 1.4 million recovered bees to beekeepers and farmers;
• hold 91 awareness-raising campaigns involving 6,420 participants.

In Portugal, we held the “SOS Pollinators” campaign, in partnership with Quercus, which, since 2014, has been raising awareness of pollinator conservation and biodiversity among schoolchildren and providing training to different organisations (local entities, farmers, beekeepers and technicians). “SOS Pollinators” hosted the first edition of “Escolas Amigas dos Polinizadores” (Pollinator-Friendly Schools) in 18 schools in four municipalities and which saw 1,021 students participate, and the third edition of the “Constrói um Hotel para Insetos Polinizadores” (Build a Hotel for Pollinating Insects) competition, in which 28 schools took part. We also took part in an event held in Portalegre, in the library of the José Régio Primary School, which aimed to emphasise the role that companies, associations and school communities should play in preserving biodiversity – at the event, various initiatives promoted by JMA were presented.

In Poland, Biedronka has been supporting Salamandra (Polish Society for Nature Conservation) since 2021. In 2024 the partnership materialised by supporting the project “Support for wild insect pollinators”. The project consisted of three main activities: “Biedronka with Salamandra for wild-insect pollinators in natural gardens” grant competition, educational communication published in SALAMANDRA Nature Magazine (on the importance of respecting and protecting wild-insect pollinators) and sponsorship of building the Polish Red List of endangered species with special consideration of pollinators. Biedronka was awarded the title of “Patron of Nature Conservation 2024” by Salamandra for its commitment and contribution to biodiversity conservation.

We also host and promote several external events to raise awareness of environmental issues among the local population. The “A Graça Gracinha” awareness-raising initiative, developed by the Azambuja Town Council, was held at our distribution centre in Azambuja, on the outskirts of Lisbon. It included three awareness-raising activities for children from the local community focusing on protecting biodiversity, preserving the environment, and respecting nature.

Another mechanism for disseminating knowledge and raising environmental awareness is our social media platforms, through education campaigns. In 2024, of note is Ara’s Instagram campaign on International Forest Day, with questions about forests and biodiversity in Colombia, to raise awareness of nature conservation, and a post on its social media pages on Earth Day, with information about actions taken by the Company to protect ecosystems and mitigate its impact on the environment, in which it challenged customers to adopt good environmental practices.

Volunteering

In 2024, over a thousand employees took part in volunteering activities, donating more than 3,600 work hours and more than 9,000 hours of personal time. The following initiatives are particularly noteworthy:

• the “Voluntários Clientes 70+” (70+ Customer Volunteers), a programme created in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdowns to help elderly customers do their shopping and delivering their purchases to their homes. Since the programme was launched, 233 volunteers have done shopping for more than 370 customers, making over 4,500 deliveries (more than 115,000 products);
• as part of its agreement to support the GNR, Pingo Doce organised a volunteer initiative with its Campo Grande employees to offer food baskets to around 1,800 elderly people in extremely vulnerable situations;
• “JAP in a day”, a Junior Achievement Portugal programme, brought together around 50 employees who implemented the various programmes the organisation offers in a single day in 25 schools, focusing on entrepreneurship and citizenship, financial literacy, and employability skills;
• we welcomed four trainees from the Girl Move Association, an initiative we have supported since 2016 aimed at training and empowering young Mozambican women to become agents of development in their communities. The training took place over three weeks, one of which involved visits to various Group facilities to see the links in our value chain, followed by a two-week internship with eight tutors. An additional 20 employees also offered their time to teach the trainees;
• at Hebe, employees have one volunteering day per year. Hebe provides a list of social associations/organisations to employees, who are free to choose which one they would like to dedicate their volunteering day to. In 2024, a total of 17 employees participated in this initiative;
• Szlachetna Paczka (Noble Gift) is a social programme in Poland that supports people in need and social isolation (elderly people, large families, people injured in accidents, people who are ill, and people with disabilities). Biedronka employees are challenged to prepare baskets that are then delivered to the identified beneficiaries. In 2024, a total of 867 employees participated in this initiative;
• 72 Ara employees took part in a volunteering initiative organised in partnership with the TECHO Foundation (a Latin American NGO present in 19 countries working to build homes for people living in substandard housing and lacking basic standards of hygiene and comfort). Ara employees helped build three emergency homes for vulnerable families in Cali, Medellín and Barranquilla (24 employees in each city);
• more than 150 Ara employees planted 556 trees in various environmental volunteering actions: (i) in partnership with the Immensamente Foundation, 21 employees planted 100 trees in the Ganchancipa area; (ii) in collaboration with the Fundabejaz Foundation, in the Pereira area, 100 employees planted 206 trees; and (iii) together with the Efecto Mariposa Foundation, 32 employees planted 250 trees in the Bogotá Reserve;
• 28 Ara employees took part in a beach cleanup organised by the Chambacú Foundation (1.2 tonnes of rubbish was collected).

¹ According to a study conducted by the Kulczyk Foundation in 2020, one out of five women in Poland have difficulty buying suitable hygiene products and 40% of women with financial difficulties were forced to stop buying hygiene products.

² For more information about this programme, see “Own workforce”.