Uniminuto

Environmental & Social Review Summary

This Environmental and Social Review Summary is prepared and distributed in advance of the IFC Board of Directors’ consideration of the proposed transaction. Its purpose is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities, and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board of Director’s decision. Board dates are estimates only.
Any documentation which is attached to this Environmental and Social Review Summary has been prepared by the project sponsor and authorization has been given for public release. IFC has reviewed this documentation and considers that it is of adequate quality to be released to the public but does not endorse the content.

Project number	27689
Country	Colombia
Sector	Education Services
Department	Health and Education
Company name	Corporacion Universitaria Minuto de Dios
Environmental category	B
Status	Pending Disbursement

Date ESRS disclosed	February 18, 2009

Previous Events	Signed: September 7, 2009 Approved: May 29, 2009

View Summary of Proposed Investment (SPI), click here

Overview

Category & Applicable Standards

Key Issues & Mitigation

Community Engagements

Client's Documentation

Overview of IFC's scope of review

IFC’s appraisal consisted of a review of social, environmental, health and safety and social/community information submitted by Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios (“Uniminuto” or the “Company”). The appraisal included a three-day site visit of the headquarters in Bogotá and the university campus in Medellín. During the visit to headquarters, IFC interviewed the Rector General of the university and members of his management team, including Company officers responsible for environmental and social matters and the Human Resources manager. The visit to the Medellín campus included an interview with the Academic Vice-Dean.

Project description

The proposed IFC investment is an A loan of up to $8.0 million (to be disbursed as a Peso-linked loan) in favor of Uniminuto, a mid-sized, rapidly growing higher education institution based in Bogotá offering technical, technological and university education in Colombia. Uniminuto currently operates through a wide national network, offering flexible, cost-competitive and quality education to lower and middle income students. In line with a five-year strategic plan (2008-2012) which targets expansion from a current level of 18,000 students to over 30,000 students by 2011, Uniminuto plans to undertake investments over the next 2 years which support the physical, technical, and institutional aspects required for such growth. The total corporate program for this period is estimated at US$18 million, of which US$10 million will be dedicated to expanding student capacity in three key locations (Bogotá, Soacha, Girardot), with an additional US$4 million required for the technology infrastructure which supports the overall educational network. Other important areas of investment relate to reinforcement of quality and efficiency throughout the system.

Key environmental and social issues and mitigation

PS1: Social and Environmental Assessment and Management Systems

In order to reach a greater amount of people Uniminuto purchases and leases office or educational buildings located in urban areas. Although potential environmental and social impacts from Uniminuto’s activities are limited, they still require a basic management system to ensure that they are properly managed according to applicable regulatory requirements and other applicable standards. Assessment of environmental and social concerns should be incorporated into the process of acquisition of new facilities and operation and maintenance of existing ones. Examples of applicable aspects that should be reviewed include the state of fire prevention and response systems, energy consumption (from lighting, cooling and other sources), and solid waste management from remodeling, offices, and food service operations. The environmental impacts of existing operations are very low, with no manipulation of dangerous chemicals or hazardous waste generation, no air emissions, no hazardous liquid effluents that require special treatment prior discharge and no significant sources of noise.

A Senior Infrastructure Manager with the corporate infrastructure department in the Company’s headquarters is responsible for coordinating all construction and maintenance activities including the implementation of applicable environmental, health and safety requirements. For every new remodeling or construction project, a construction contractor is hired through a bidding process. The construction contractor is contractually required to comply with applicable labor and occupational health and safety standards and to report to the Company on the implementation of project activities. The Infrastructure Department manages an annual budget for infrastructure investments and maintenance of properties, and conducts periodic site supervision visits when a new project is under development or quarterly routine inspection visits to evaluate physical facilities. A property manager, usually a civil engineer hired by the Company, is responsible for day-to-day property preventive and corrective maintenance, reporting monthly to headquarters on maintenance issues and occasional interventions needed. A Shared Services unit is responsible for providing services to the entire system which include human resources management, technology infrastructure and telecommunications, information systems and development of the physical plant.

Uniminuto offers its employees different types of scholarships in order to promote personal growth and career advancement in the corporation. The Company is now investing on a project of development of labor skills of its employees based on the profile desired per job description. Currently the project is in the stage of designing the profiles per field of competence. In order to do it, Uniminuto hired an External Consultancy in Strategic Management named Human Capital. Every unit counts with a property manager, a civil engineer with experience of handling preventive and corrective maintenance. The property manager is hired locally, and passes through the induction process organized by the human resources department in Bogotá, which presents the Company’s policies and aims together with a full description of the property manager role and obligations.

Uniminuto monitors various social and environmental indicators covering aspects of labor, health, and safety performance and consolidates the results in a publicly available Sustainability Report last published for the period of 2006 -2007 and organized according to the outline of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a widely used sustainability reporting framework which sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance. The report includes information about the labor force, generation of non-hazardous solid waste, energy consumption, and occupational health and safety.

PS2: Labor and Working Conditions

Currently Uniminuto has 1662 employees, outsourcing cleaning and security services. In the headquarters there are 803 employees (2007) divided into academic staff (519), administrative staff (249) and project dedicated staff (35).
Uniminuto has a clear Human Resource Policy elaborated in 2006, articulated through Internal Employment Rules, which is consistent with Local Colombian Labor Code and IFC’s Performance Standard 2. It defines such aspects as the hiring and induction process (including equal opportunity and non-discrimination); minimum age of employment; probation period; working hours (including overtime and flexible work schedules); employee labor rights and benefits; salary; taxes; social security contribution; occupational safety and health; disciplinary policies; and internal grievance mechanism and conflict resolution.

Uniminuto has an occupational health and safety management program developed in every unit under the coordination of the Human Resources department. There is a Joint Committee on Occupational Health or COPASO (Comité Paritario de Salud Ocupacional), which ensures that all employees are properly informed about applicable occupational hazards and trained to prevent or control them. The OHS program is divided into two different groups representing academic staff and administrative staff. The occupational health program for academic staff covers such aspects as potential loss of voice which can directly impact teaching capacity. Issues covering the administrative staff include ergonomic issues and the potential impact on health due to lack of physical activity. The Company develops an annual program together with the Association of Professional Risks (ARP) to address risks applicable to its employees. Policies are elaborated in a centralized manner for dissemination throughout its operations. For the 2006-2007 periods, the Company reports that health absences average 4 days per employee per year (although not necessarily related to occupational causes) with an accident rate of 0.28%. No occupational fatalities were reported for the period.

Contractors performing construction and maintenance activities are required to maintain health and safety plans, train and provide their employees necessary safety implements, and to maintain up to date risk insurance policies as well as to comply with their labor obligations according to local law.

PS3: Pollution Prevention and Abatement

By their nature, Uniminuto’s operations have very limited pollution related issues consisting mainly of non-hazardous solid waste. Uniminuto is currently developing plans at its headquarters to segregate at source into biodegradable organic waste (e.g. kitchen waste) and inorganic waste (e.g. metal, textile, paper). The recycling program in a joint initiative between the university and its students and will be gradually expanded to other facilities throughout Colombia. The recycling program is being managed by the students and all the collected material stored and exchanged with local recyclers. The non-recyclable waste is disposed via municipal waste collection services. The domestic liquid effluents are discharged into the local sewage network.

The Company reports the use of energy saving light fixtures and motion sensors in common use areas of its headquarters in Bogotá. However, the Company does not currently have a comprehensive energy conservation program applied throughout its operations. The Company will review and benchmark annual consumption and costs of energy and water used by all units.

PS4: Community Health, Safety and Security

The most significant community health and safety issue associated with Uniminuto’s activities in the need to prevent fires or other hazards and allow for the safe evacuation of building occupants in the event of an emergency. Uniminuto will review the status of fire safety systems, including such aspects related to fire prevention, means of egress, detection and alarm systems, and others to ensure compliance with local and internationally recognized standards. Currently the Company is working to implement the fire and emergency brigades in each unit. A fire drill program is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2009. Fire and Life Safety programs are managed by COE (Emergency Committee).

Uniminuto will provide evidence that new buildings design does or will meet IFC’s requirements defined in the General Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines. A fire safety professional acceptable to IFC has either to provide a formal written opinion that the building design meets IFC’s requirements or provide identified revisions to building design that when implemented will cause the building to meet IFC’s Life and fire Safety requirements. Uniminuto will commission a Fire and Safety professional to audit the Life and Fire Safety provisions of the existing properties where it is in charge of building operations and management. A life & fire safety management procedure checklist will be developed to be applied in all units.

Uniminuto acts also to reduce and control crime in the neighborhoods surrounding their facilities sponsoring the “Acuerdo de Autoregulacion” or Self-regulation Agreement, a collaborative program with neighbors to achieve a safer social environment. The agreement outlines such aspects as limitations in access to liquor for students and children, parking rules, street cleaning, noise level, police role, inspections to the surroundings shops and markets, and community safety awareness campaigns.

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