Building back better from COVID-19

More than 1 million people around the world contribute to our value chain, and many live in farming and fishing communities affected disproportionately by the pandemic. Thriving people and resilient communities are more essential than ever to our Purpose and business. As we work to build back better, we’re collaborating with key partners on emergency response and recovery efforts, working to reach the most-vulnerable people in the most effective ways.

A targeted response to deploy resources

The devastating effects of COVID-19 demand fast responses globally, especially in communities where Mars sources many of its raw materials, which are often rural and farther from support networks and health services. We took a targeted approach and worked with existing and new partners to determine where and how to deploy resources.

We have invested more than $42 million in cash and in-kind donations for COVID-19 relief response, including $5 million to global humanitarian organization CARE to target supply chain communities in West Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Our assessment involved layers of considerations, such as preexisting vulnerabilities, current risks to health, human rights and incomes, and gender-based risk assessments—to determine our response. Among other response activities, to date we have: