Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) announced today that it is increasing its support to the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI) Foundation. Chevron is committing an additional $40 million over five years to expand a portfolio of programs and partnerships that have successfully promoted economic development, improved the capacity of civil society institutions, and helped reduced conflict in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region since 2010.

The additional funding brings the total social investment in NDPI to $90 million, the single largest in the corporation’s history.

Established in-part through a five-year, $50 million endowment by Chevron in 2010, NDPI is a special purpose foundation designed to work in partnership with other donors from the public and private sector, creating dynamic, multi-stakeholder partnerships to collaboratively support a range of projects designed to help reduce poverty and conflict in the Niger Delta region.

“Chevron recognizes that our business is fundamentally linked to economic prosperity, sustainable development and peaceful co-existence in regions where we operate,” said Rhonda Zygocki, executive vice president of Policy and Planning for Chevron Corporation. “The NDPI partnership exemplifies Chevron’s approach to social investment and further underscores the role the private sector can play in helping build stronger, stable communities around the world.”

This new financial commitment by Chevron, to be complemented by funding from other donors and partners, will allow NDPI to continue building upon its initial efforts to address the root causes of poverty and conflict in the Niger Delta Region by expanding and scaling-up effective partnerships and programs.

Since 2010, NDPI has directly benefited more than 10,000 people in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, by creating more than 600 jobs and supporting nearly 100 local businesses. The initiative has also trained more than 5,500 local community members and development practitioners and engaged 172 local partner organizations in the development and implementation of its projects.

“I am extremely proud of what NDPI has accomplished since 2010,” said Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company and chairman of the board of directors of the NDPI Foundation. “There is, however, more work to do. This funding will boost already successful efforts as the public and private sector continue to work together to improve quality of life and create greater prosperity in the region.”

“Partnering is at the core of what NDPI is all about,” said Dennis Flemming, executive director of the NDPI Foundation. “Our goal is to continue to engage partners from both the public and private sector donor community to leverage this $40 million and enhance our projects in ways that will create further substantive regional impact.”

Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. The company’s success is driven by the ingenuity and commitment of its employees and their application of the most innovative technologies in the world. Chevron is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. The company explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and other energy products; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

Source: Wall Street Journal