Natural gas transmission company invests heavily in communities along the path of its pipeline

Responsible for one of the largest natural gas pipelines in the world (1,850 km), the joint venture Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline aims to supply natural gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Europe. Although the project is committed to exceeding safety, social and environmental standards, the organization also established the TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programme (SEIP) in 2015 to support economic development leading to environmental and socioeconomic benefits within communities along the pipeline. For its efforts, SEIP’s work has earned first place in the “Community Affairs” category of PR Daily’s Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.

SEIP’s work covers 20 provinces, 67 districts and 600 villages, mainly through grants distributed to some 1,000 social and environmental projects. The work was supported by a needs assessment drafted following site visits on the pipeline route.

With the research in hand, SEIP established priority areas and spread the word about the availability of grants. The social effort so far has reached 20,115 children, 6,909 women and 4,310 persons with disabilities through a number of programs.

The environmental component of the effort included planting more than 600,000 saplings in 12 provinces, bringing drinking water to 91 villages in Central Anatolia, building modern irrigation systems in more than 23 villages and providing fully-equipped ambulances to 33 hospitals and/or health care centers.

The program also led to the training of teachers and families of children with autism, setting up special classrooms for children on the autism spectrum, supporting farmers, equipping schools, helping villages build out infrastructure and much more.

Communication efforts were more focused on building awareness of opportunities for pipeline-affected people than getting credit for the work. Still, more than 1,350 articles about the project were published in newspapers, magazines and news portals in 2018, and engagement on social media posts has been impressive.

Congratulations each of the 51 staff members involved in TANAP’s effort.