Ronald de Jong, Member of Philips Executive Committee and Chair of the Philips Foundation talks at the Dutch Business Summit on Refugees

Today, the Tent Partnership for Refugees is hosting its first ever Dutch Business Summit on Refugees in Utrecht, the Netherlands. 

Whether escaping from poverty, war or natural disaster, the escalating number of refugees fleeing different parts of the world typically lack access to timely and proper healthcare services in refugee camps and often struggle to access the labor market in the countries they settle in.  

At the Dutch Business Summit on Refugees, Ronald de Jong, Member of the Philips Executive Committee and Chair of the Philips Foundation Board, will highlight Philips and the Philips Foundation’s commitments to helping refugees in the Netherlands and overseas. 

The Philips Foundation, a registered charity established in July 2014 as the central platform for Philips’ CSR activities, plays an important role in Philips’ efforts to expand access to care.
 

The Philips Foundation’s mission is to reduce healthcare inequality by providing access to quality healthcare for disadvantaged communities. It strives to deliver on this mission by deploying Philips’ expertise, integrated services and solutions, and by innovative collaborations with key partners around the world. For example, together with ICRC, the Philips Foundation has developed a high-risk pregnancy toolkit specifically tailored for use in fragile settings.

As part of a determined effort to make an impact on displaced people’s access to quality healthcare, the Philips Foundation has collaborated with Hospitainer to provide medical equipment for a 50-bed field hospital plus a primary care and mother and childcare department in the Al-Hol refugee camp in Syria, helping to provide medical equipment to more than 70 thousand people in desperate need.

However, refugee camps are not the only places where help is needed. Many of the refugees currently arriving in Europe need support, not only in combatting poor health but also in establishing flourishing new lives for themselves and their loved ones. The Philips Foundation is partnering with Fermes d’Avenir to support the integration of refugees in France through a work-based program, providing them with education on the French healthcare system and on healthy nutrition habits using local food.

Philips has a long tradition of inclusion and diversity. For the last 30 years, Philips’ employment scheme in the Netherlands has actively enabled people distanced from the labor market to integrate into the workplace. The company already has programs in place that offer refugees training and mentoring support, and is committed to integrating refugees into its own workforce. At the April 8 Dutch Business Summit on Refugees, Philips will announce that it is stepping up this commitment and will strive to provide workplaces to 100 refugees over the 5-year period 2019 to 2024 in the Netherlands and Germany.

Tent Partnership for Refugees, the organization hosting the Dutch event, has a mission to mobilize the private sector to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 25 million men, women and children forcibly displaced from their home countries.

Speaker: Ronald de Jong

Chief Human Resources Officer at Royal Philips and Chair of the Philips Foundation Board

Ronald started his career at Philips in 1990 and held various leadership positions in marketing, sales, service, operations, supply chain and general management before being appointed to the position of Chief Human Resources Officer in April 2017. Since 2014, Ronald has additionally been Chairman of the Board of the Philips Foundation, set up to enable lasting social change in disadvantaged communities and access to healthcare through the application of innovation, talent and resources provided by Philips.