CAF has appointed Kimberley Sweet-Roberts in the newly created role of Social Value Manager to lead on delivering positive social change across the UK Rolling Stock and Rail Services businesses.
The new position demonstrates CAF’s commitment to its workforce and the communities in which they operate and will consolidate and develop the company’s social value activities.
Following a successful and well-managed recruitment process with our recruitment partner, Ford & Stanley, Kimberley joined CAF in May from construction firm Willmott Dixon where she was Social Value Manager for almost six years and is based at CAF’s Newport, South Wales, facility.
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Kimberley will drive CAF’s Social Value agenda, developing relationships with key stakeholders in the UK and Northern Ireland to create opportunities for community initiatives, educational experiences and engagement, targeted recruitment, environmental initiatives and supporting local businesses – particularly SMEs and VCSEs.
“Social value is increasingly being recognised as having wide-ranging benefits to companies and their workforce, the local communities in which they operate and the environment,” explains Kimberley.
“For CAF UK, social value is about our long-term, ongoing commitment to doing better by people, businesses and the planet.
“A great deal has, and is being done, within CAF and I will be building on and enhancing these activities to make them more meaningful and embed social value objectives at the heart of our projects and procedures.
“As human beings, it’s in our DNA to want to make a positive difference and part of my role will be educating our workforce of the opportunities to do this on business time.”
Key to CAF’s social value strategy is supporting meaningful community and charitable projects, where the company can make the biggest impact, through volunteering, fundraising, donations, and sponsorship.
Kimberley has already forged a partnership between CAF and Newport-based King’s Church which provides practical support to families living in poverty and deprivation.
She said: “The cost-of-living crisis has hit local families hard, and we have engaged with the lottery-funded Jesus Cares project, which delivers over 2,500 lifeline food hampers locally, to provide a long-term commitment including donating hygiene packs, volunteering to pick and pack items at its warehouse and holding a company Christmas appeal.
“This pilot project is just the first of many we will be rolling out across the communities in which we operate and work.
“The church, like every beneficiary, will complete a social impact measurement form which will be used to refine and improve future initiatives.”
Kimberley is also engaging with partners to create employment, apprenticeship and graduate opportunities and provide employability support for the long-term unemployed, underrepresented and disadvantaged, including interview techniques, CV writing, work experience and mentoring.
Working with education and training providers to increase awareness of opportunities within the rail sector and STEM-related roles in particular, CAF employees will engage with students through school visits, careers fairs and STEM-based activities. There will also be additional opportunities to participate in work experience.
“With initiatives to upskill and improve the health and resilience of our workforce and addressing environmental issues, such as net-zero carbon, our social value strategy will showcase that CAF is a business that cares about our workforce and makes a positive societal impact,” adds Kimberley.
Richard Garner, CAF UK Director, comments: “CAF is committed to enhancing the positive impacts of our organisation on our people and giving back to the communities where we operate and work.
“Kimberley brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the new position of Social Value Manager and will play a key role in helping to shape our five-year Sustainability Strategy.”
Photo credit: CAF UK
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