Empowering Communities: SMBC Aviation Capital's Partnership with Vita in Ethiopia

At SMBC Aviation Capital we strive to reflect the values of our staff, customers and shareholders by making a lasting, meaningful, authentic contribution to society through our CSR activities. Our values-led CSR programme is tailored to reflect our commitment to giving back to our communities at both local and international levels by contributing to vulnerable groups, investing in our local communities and engaging our staff. The areas of focus for our CSR activities are: Children and Education, Equality & Inclusion and Disadvantaged Communities. The environmental impact and sustainability of the projects we support are also considered as an underlying theme with all of our proposals.

Our CSR strategy acknowledges the global responsibility of our industry to help close the gap between developed and emerging economies. These initiatives exemplify our belief that sustainable growth must include the empowerment of disadvantaged communities, ensuring no one is left behind. As a business, SMBC Aviation Capital are proud to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and through our partnerships, we contribute meaningfully to SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, advancing equity and inclusion at a global scale and also locally.

In November 2025, our Chair of CSR, Carol O’Neill travelled to Ethiopia with a group of funding partners to visit the projects of one of SMBC Aviation Capital’s overseas CSR partners, Vita Impact who we have proudly supported for the past six years. Vita focus on delivering climate justice, social impact and gender equality in Ethiopia and Eritrea through innovative, community-driven programmes that deliver unprecedented scale and cost-effectiveness.

Vita’s model works on the basis of community-led, forward-focused, sustainable projects where people come together to help themselves, their families and their communities. The key to the huge success of all of Vita’s programmes is creating that ownership amongst communities, in particular women. Their programmes are by women, with women, for women and create leadership opportunities amongst the female population. In relation to the UN SDGs previously mentioned, our partnership with Vita highlights the focus on SDG 1 (No  Poverty) , SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-being) SDG 5 (Gender Equality)  (SDG 5) SDG 6 (Clean Water & Sanitation) SDG 7 (Affordable & Clean Energy) and SDG 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth) SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

The programmes are numerous and, in most instances, harness skills already in place within a particular village for example pottery making and weaving were casual cash  activities that have been organised into consistent income – generating co-operatives within communities. This organisation leads to the best prices for materials, transport and market value. The result is families start to make money to feed themselves, have better homes and then start producing surplus income. Each household contributes back into the cooperative, thus enabling its successful growth and expansion. Critically, most of these income-generating activities enable women to experience financial independence.

One of the programmes that really resonated with Carol during this trip was the cookstoves initiative and the positive, social impact it has brought to numerous communities almost immediately. It is scaling so quickly because the women leaders  are sharing the positive results with other communities who are then empowered to participate, repeating the process. Not only are the cookstoves embraced by the community, women are taught the skill of building these simple design stoves as well as maintenance and repair. There is a financial incentive as well as health and lifestyle benefits.

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This programme began in 2019. 100,000 households in the Gamo region are now free from traditional cookstoves which are a three rock setup that produces thick, black smoke and burns enormous amounts of fuel wood. Wood that is gathered by women and children. This impacts on school attendance, personal safety when gathering materials, produces massive health issues from carrying enormous loads which leads to having to spend money on hospital visits and medicines that families cannot afford.

With the new, fuel efficient cookstoves in place – one for boiling water and one for baking - disease has been reduced by 50%. Where women were once cooking in small, unventilated rooms filled with smoke for up to 10 hours per day, cooking time has now been halved. They are now protected from respiratory disease, miscarriage, eye and lung issues and serious burns. These new stoves are practically smokeless, creating a cleaner atmosphere. One of the village women who uses and promotes the use of the new stoves lauds them as the reason that she can now invite her friends over to her clean kitchen and spend time together socially. Deforestation has also been reduced by 50%. And this is just one of Vita’s programmes.

Another programme highlighting the scale of Vita’s impact is their access to clean water programme in Eritrea. During the visit, Carol learned that Vita have ‘completed’ Eritrea meaning that every single water pump in the country has been repaired or replaced, all communities now have access to clean water and also the skills to maintain and repair the pumps. Villages are organised in their water collection and households contribute a small monthly fee to ensure the pumps are kept safe and functioning. Completing a project of this scale, again with a very simple design and roll out, is virtually unheard of.  And yet, Vita strikes again through the empowerment of females and female led programmes to improve the livelihoods of an entire country. The access to clean water is now scaling in Ethiopia where 235,000 people have gained access since Sept 2023. 

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The greatest learning Carol took from this trip is that people want to help themselves as opposed to living off handouts. “Seeing Vita’s programmes first-hand you can see the pride, skill, and determination of every single person who plays a part in improving not only their own family’s lives but the lives of the wider community”  Carol continued “The Vita model is simple: support communities to support themselves, empower females with leadership roles, adopt small changes & produce massive positive, generational social impact.”

Great Ethiopian Run
To round out the field trip, Carol and the other donors had the incredible opportunity to participate in the 25th Great Ethiopian Run with 55,000 other participants. This was their opportunity to give back to Vita through their own fundraising efforts. 

Carol observed during the event that “Every person participating in the run was emanating pride and a lot of energy on the day. We ran, we jogged, we laughed and we danced… a lot. An incredible way to see the beautiful city and important hub of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.”  This is a country full of hope for a better future. A hope that is being fulfilled through Vita’s support and empowerment of women and communities to help themselves. We thank Carol for taking part in this extremely important trip and continuing to facilitate this valuable relationship with Vita.

 

Carol O'Neill, Chair of CSR at SMBC Aviation Capital