Through these programs, we promote entrepreneurship, employability, and a culture of self-management and capacity development in communities. Examples of these programs include Yo Construyo, which promotes self-employment in construction, and the Community Environmental Restoration Program, which promotes local networks for environmental initiatives development.

Through multidisciplinary research, we evaluate communities surrounding our operations, aiming to improve access to safe, affordable services, while making them more resilient and self-sufficient, contributing directly to SDG 11 through targets 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, and 11.6. The Center has conducted 14 socio-economic baseline studies of communities in Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. Through these studies, a multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Center generate models to reconfigure urban and rural areas involving inhabitants to create proposals for community improvement.

In addition to our Responsible Business Process, our Company, through the CEMEX-Tecnológico de Monterrey Center, considers international initiatives, such as the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Program (ESCs) from IDB, the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) and the City Prosperity Index (UN), as a framework to design social baseline studies within our operations.

CEMEX considers urban development, economic, social and environmental criteria, based on the Model of Sustainable Communities (see below) developed by the CEMEX-TEC Center, which establishes the ideal features that a community must fulfill on its path towards sustainability.

Model of Sustainable Communities

The Center creates a unique social impact ecosystem comprised of innovative students, social and community entrepreneurs, and leaders of multi-sectoral collaborative action initiatives, and recognizes social innovation through the CEMEX-TEC Award and its continued relationship with the ecosystem.

CEMEX-TEC Award annually recognizes entrepreneurs and students who develop high-impact projects that foster sustainable development and social innovation. The Award includes training, financing, and networking, contributing directly to SDG 8 targets 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, and 8.6. And is open to students, entrepreneurs, and new micro, small, and medium social enterprises (MSMEs) from all over the globe. In 2019, this Award recognized 33 high-impact projects from entrepreneurs and innovators in 16 different countries. In addition to the Award’s existing Transforming Communities and Social Entrepreneurs categories, this year we launched two new categories: Community Entrepreneurship and Collaborative Action. Throughout its history, the CEMEX-TEC Award has built an ecosystem of 3,700 social innovators and projects from 74 countries. To achieve this worldwide participation, the CEMEX-TEC Award partners with important and innovative global institutions such as Ashoka, MassChallenge, Impact Hub, Makesense, and the Sirolli Institute, together with 600 universities and more than 100 academic partners.

Watch a video of our CEMEX-TEC Award 2019.

Projects can be submitted from February to May of every year, please follow this link in order to find out more.

We are part of an intersectoral collaboration platform of more than 28 thousand alliances through our global network, facilitating leadership, application of models and connectivity between academia, entrepreneurs, companies, NGOs, multilaterals, and community partners, with the objective of fulfilling the UN 2030 Agenda. We are active members in networks such as UN Global Compact, ARISE, RedEAmérica, and Red SumaRSE. UN Global Compact facilitates action for social progress, ARISE aims to increase resilience, RedEAmérica promotes sustainable communities, and SumaRSE executes joint high-impact initiatives at the local level.