ER Foundation Stakeholder Engagement Meeting: Shaping a more inclusive future

The ER Foundation brought together more than 80 representatives from NGOs, institutions, foundations, and academia for its first stakeholder engagement meeting. The event introduced the Foundation's mission, strategic priorities and Social Impact Strategy 2025-2035, continuing the ongoing dialogue to strengthen partnerships. 

Igniting climate and social impact  

Established following the merger of ENL and Rogers into ER Group in 2025, the ER Foundation brings together the legacies of the ENL and Rogers Foundations under a single entity.   

The Foundation operates within ER Group's Sustainability Strategy, which is built around two focus areas: Climate Resilience (energy transition, circular economy, biodiversity pillars) and Social Inclusion (inclusive development, vibrant communities, diversity & inclusion pillars) to ignite impact across its four key regions: Moka, the South-West, Savannah, and Port Louis.  

Sophie Desvaux de Marigny, Chief Sustainability Executive of the ER Group, shared: "ER Foundation was created to channel all our energy, our work and our efforts to fight, on one side, exclusion and, on the other, the impacts of climate change and the loss of biodiversity in Mauritius."

Enhancing lives, building communities  

Over 17 years, the Foundation has contributed to impacting more than 14,000 lives and developed over 50 partnerships across Mauritius.   

A key moment of the meeting was the presentation of ER Foundation's Social Impact Strategy 2025-2035, built around specific programmes under two pillars: Inclusive Development and Vibrant Communities. 

Priscille Noël, Head of Social Impact at ER Group stated that: "Our strategy calls for collaboration between field participants, as well as the State and the private sector, in order to achieve real and measurable results and impact over the long term, enabling, for example, a maximum number of children to access a better education and greater opportunities for the future, and a maximum number of unemployed persons to find a job and a stable income for their family."

Pillar 4: Inclusive Development  
 
Through the Inclusive Development, ER Foundation empowers people from underserved communities to build resilience and improve the quality of life through programmes such as:  

• Adult functional literacy  

• Education support for children  

• Youth and career development  

• Family support, and   

• Sexual & reproductive health/substance abuse   

In 2025, we implemented a total of 49 poverty alleviation projects, 32 through the Foundation, and 17 through our subsidiaries, directly addressing the realities faced by vulnerable households. For example, Aprann is an employability programme supporting beneficiaries through tailored training, mentoring, and resources. Another initiative is La Ferme Nou Leritaz, an ecological farm in L'Escalier that provides training and technical support to local families to improve their livelihoods. 

Pillar 5: Vibrant Communities  
 
Under the Vibrant Communities pillar, ER Foundation strengthens community bonds and preserve cultural identity through programmes such as:  

• Arts & culture promotion  

• Sports development  

• Capacity building for regional NGOs  

• Community infrastructure creation, and   

• Restoration of historical landmarks  

In 2025, we invested in arts, culture, sports, wellness, and heritage preservation, reaching over 270,000 individuals and supporting the work of 20 NGOs. One example is the Bouze Zenes programme, which has engaged more than 150 children and young people across Bel Ombre and neighbouring communities since April 2024, providing opportunities for personal growth and skills development through various activities.   
 
Key outcomes of the meeting  
 
At the meeting, ER Foundation also announced ImpACT, a new digital platform that gives the Foundation and its partners a live, accurate picture of where resources go and what they deliver, monitoring project progress, budgets, and outcomes in real time.   
 
Participants were also invited to contribute their views through a live poll, offering valuable insights into the country's social priorities. Looking ahead to the next five to ten years, respondents identified substance abuse as Mauritius' most pressing challenge, followed by education, mental health, and poverty alleviation. The poll also highlighted a strong wish for greater collaboration within the social sector, with 80% of participants believing that organisations still operate too much in silos. When asked about opportunities for partnership with ER Foundation, projects with social impact emerged as the area with the greatest potential, closely followed by education and youth empowerment. 

Building toward 2035  

The stakeholder engagement meeting reinforced the importance of collaboration in achieving ER Foundation’s long-term vision. By bringing together organisations and institutions that share common objectives into the same space, the event laid the groundwork for ongoing partnerships and collective action towards a more inclusive and sustainable future for Mauritius.  

Learn more about ER Foundation’s work and impact in our Sustainability Report 2025 here.