Social
We recognize that supporting our community not only means our neighborhood, nearby towns or villages, but also our internal community which makes up the culture of Six Senses. We promote hiring from our local area, and host intern and traineeships to support individuals advance in their careers. Mandatory training is provided on key sustainability issues such as Plastic Freedom, Climate Change, and all our hosts have the opportunity to participate in Earth Lab workshops, volunteering, and further training under our Mission Wellness initiative. In this way, Six Senses benefits the communities of our locations not only through employment, but also through sharing the knowledge of our Sustainability and Wellness experts.
What is ‘local’? To us, sourcing local means supporting suppliers, farmers, and artisans as close to our properties as possible, whilst maintaining high standards for our guests. All suppliers are actively engaged for collaboration within our Sustainable Purchasing Program. We would rather help our local suppliers become plastic free, than source from further afield. This not only cuts our associated carbon footprint but also promotes change within the industry to shift to responsible packaging.
All of us at Six Senses understand that sustainability is about celebrating what’s good in life, and assuring it remains for future generations. But we know we can do better. Regenerative tourism is about assuring our presence has a positive impact. Each property’s Sustainability Fund is spent on strategically chosen projects addressing the needs of each location, and in collaboration with local partners. These include improving access to education and gender equality, supporting public healthcare, waste management and infrastructure, and helping to develop alternative livelihood opportunities.
If we have knowledge and expertise, why not share it! Our collaborative projects plan by the principle of ‘give a woman a fish, she will eat for a day, teach a woman to fish, she will feed a village’. Our communities are at the centre of all our regenerative projects, both environmental and social. This means that the impacts of our initiatives, should long outlast our presence. Sharing our understanding of sustainable practices, and listening to local knowledge, memories, and needs, together we can make a lasting difference.
Access to clean drinking water is a fundamental necessity, which across many of our properties is a challenge for local communities. Building upon expertise from our in-house water filtering and bottling facilities, we have provided clean drinking water access points in publicly accessible areas including schools, hospitals, mosques, and police stations. Combined with educational programming, these initiatives crosscuts both public health and the reduction of single-use plastic water bottles.