DHL Express is proud to celebrate its fourth year of involvement with the UK Schools for Africa Project. This year DHL has sent more boxes of school equipment to Africa than ever before - more than 1,300 boxes this year. The books, toys and other gifts will be sent to schools in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania - all to be delivered before Christmas and delivered on DHL's network.

The project, established four years ago by MP for Northampton North, Sally Keeble, aims to provide children in developing African countries with books and toys that are often lacking in their schools. The items donated by schoolchildren in the UK are collected by DHL and then transported to East Midlands airport, where they are flown to Africa. Local DHL offices across Africa deliver the packages to the end destination. DHL Express is the shipping partner for this project collecting the boxes from schools and local constituencies and delivering them free of charge to locations across Africa.

The high profile project was officially launched at the House of Commons on 8th October 2007. The launch was attended by Shahid Malik, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department of International Development, the Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown, Sally Keeble MP as well as more than 150 children from participating schools who had donated books, pencils, toys and other gifts to the project.

According to Suzanne Worrall, Corporate Responsibility Manager for DHL Express UK & Ireland, "DHL is delighted to continue its strong involvement in the UK Schools for Africa programme. As a business we have always focused on ways we can use our core strengths for positive benefits and this project demonstrates our commitment to engage with and help local communities across the globe."

DHL's growing involvement in the project highlights the company's strong corporate social responsibility policy. 'To accept social responsibilities' is one of DHL's 7 Corporate Values and lies at the heart of the company's CSR programme. Within this programme, there is a strong ethos of supporting future generations - a goal that DHL is addressing by its support for the UK Schools for Africa project.

MP Sally Keeble commented:
"Our partnership with DHL Express has now reached four years of growing success and achievement. The project would not be viable without the continued logistical contribution of DHL."

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