Kosmos is committed to making a positive difference in the communities where it operates. We strongly support local employment in the countries where we do business. No country better illustrates this commitment than Ghana where 100% of our employees are Ghanaians.

In collaboration with its partners in the Jubilee field, Kosmos developed the Enterprise Development Center (EDC), a capacity building initiative that provides a range of services to small businesses, including business management training, advisory services in areas such as procurement, market access, access to financing, and business incubation.

Over the next five years, the number of basic school graduates in Ghana seeking skills development opportunities is expected to double. Kosmos and its partners considered this need and established the Jubilee Technical Training Center (JTTC) at Takoradi Polytechnic. The JTTC addresses current gaps in skills and competencies training in Ghana. Through the JTTC, competency-based training in instrumentation, mechanical, electrical and process vocational courses is offered. The curriculum also includes health and safety awareness and training.

To encourage continuing education, Kosmos helped create the Jubilee Livelihood Enhancement and Enterprise Development (Jubilee LEED), which works with members of the fishing industry and related fields, who have often faced difficulty accessing credit facilities from financial institutions. The main contributing factor to these issues is their lack of business and financial knowledge. Through Jubilee LEED, Kosmos helps fishermen and others gain access to credit while improving their business and finance skills. The Jubilee LEED program has been tailored to the needs of 26 selected communities in the six coastal districts of the Western Region.

Through other local initiatives, Kosmos helps to address public health needs. We partnered with Safe Water Network to construct water stations that bring clean drinking water to more than 20,000 people in Ghana’s Western Region, helping reduce the incidence of waterborne illness.

In 2011, Kosmos donated medical equipment such as medical waste incinerators, a blood bank refrigerator and infant weighing scales to local health care facilities. The modern equipment helped improve the facilities’ sanitation practices as well as their wellness and preventive care capabilities.

Ebola Preparedness

The Ebola outbreak in 2014 was a major public health challenge for several countries in West Africa. Kosmos supported Ghana’s emergency preparedness by donating critical equipment, such as generators and incinerators, to three Ebola treatment centers that were being constructed during the crisis. The donations enabled the cities of Tema, Kumasi, and Tamale to be prepared for a potential outbreak.

Similar to our activities in Ghana, Kosmos developed and led a clean water initiative in Cameroon. In the absence of reliable social data for the region, Kosmos commissioned a local NGO to conduct the first comprehensive baseline study of water, sanitation and health needs in the Bamusso subdivision. Based on the results of the study, Kosmos established a project to improve water and sanitation practices at the high school in Mbongo Balondo through construction of a solar-powered water well and a student-led outreach program on hygiene.

Although Kosmos no longer operates in Cameroon, it will continue to support these projects until they are completed.

Oil and gas operations in most countries are classified as national assets and thus state military forces often provide security to ensure the safety of the asset and foreign personnel. This was the case in Cameroon, where the Battalion d’Intervention Rapide (BIR), a special unit of Cameroon’s military, provided security for the Sipo-1 well.

Because the Sipo-1 well required BIR to work in close proximity to local villages unfamiliar with a military presence, Kosmos identified potential risks associated with this arrangement and took action. In keeping with our commitment to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, we worked with The Fund for Peace, a U.S.-based organization that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security, to develop and conduct community relations and human rights training for BIR personnel.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Fisheries, Kosmos provided funding for two women’s fishing cooperatives near Agadir in the towns of Sidi Abed and Sidi Ifni. Benefiting more than 200 women, our support is continuing work started under a U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation grant to promote cooperative development and management, product quality, hygiene and safety, entrepreneurship, and leadership development. The cooperative in Sidi Abed received training during the summer months, and has been packaging algae since August 2014. The Sidi Ifni cooperative is waiting on final government approvals to begin operating, and is expected to be producing fish products soon. Kosmos continues to support these cooperatives, with next steps focused on providing training in marketing and business skills.

Kosmos has partnered with Chevron to develop and fund a new program designed to advance capacity in Morocco across three areas: economic development, social development, and healthcare.

Kosmos, along with the implementing organization Mercy Corps, assisted in the establishment of a Center of Excellence that will serve as an economic and social development resource for ONHYM, private companies and social development organizations. The healthcare focus area has engaged U.S. medical universities and the organization HEARTT to develop train-the-trainer programs for Moroccan doctors, particularly in the field of maternal and child health.

For several years, Kosmos has supported the Morocco affiliate of Enactus, an international organization that connects students, academics and business leaders through entrepreneurial-based projects designed to transform opportunities into real, sustainable progress for local people and their communities.

Corps Africa matches Moroccan youth with local communities in Morocco to design projects that address poverty at local levels. Kosmos sponsored a Corps Africa fellow working on a clean water project in a village near Essaouira during the program’s inaugural year in 2013. Kosmos continues to support Corps Africa by sponsoring two fellows in villages to do our part to help build the next generation of development practitioners in Morocco

Founded in Morocco in 2007, INJAZ Al-Maghrib is a non-profit organization focused on delivering a broad base of entrepreneurship training opportunities to Moroccan youth by partnering with the private sector. Kosmos has supported INJAZ Al-Maghrib’s work in linking secondary and tertiary education with the business world and entrepreneurship for several years.

In 2016, Kosmos worked with INJAZ Al-Maghrib to bring its entrepreneurship program to Dakhla where students were engaged in the program. The Dakhla team made it to the final level of competition in Casablanca in September 2016.