Kia completes handover of Green Light Project sites in Albania, Zimbabwe

Kia announced Friday that its global corporate social responsibility initiative, the Green Light Project, has completed its handover process in Albania and Zimbabwe, making them the 13th and 14th sites to transition to local self-management.

Kia recently held a formal handover ceremony in Albania, officially transferring operational authority over the self-sustaining model to the local community. Zimbabwe had already wrapped up its Green Light Project activities and completed its handover earlier.

Launched by Kia in 2012, the Green Light Project is the automaker's flagship global CSR program, operating across 19 sites in 15 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia over 15 years. It supports communities facing challenges in healthcare, education and economic development by building local infrastructure and providing mobility resources and self-reliance programs. Once a site stabilizes, Kia transfers operational authority to the local community to foster long-term independence.

In Albania, Kia has worked since 2023 to improve healthcare access for residents near Librazhd and support the economic independence of low-income families with disabilities. Librazhd has a high rate of disability linked to heavy-metal contamination from past mining activity, and mountainous terrain — covering more than 60 percent of the area — limits access to medical facilities.

Working with international relief and development NGO World Vision, Kia built a multipurpose treatment center for children with disabilities to provide medical and rehabilitation services, offered Kia mobility-based home rehabilitation visits for families in remote mountain areas, and ran mobile home-care training sessions for caregivers of children with disabilities.

As a result, more than 4,300 people received healthcare benefits and income-generating opportunities. The home rehabilitation visits drew particularly high marks from all participating caregivers. Kia also contributed to income growth for families with disabled children by supplying seeds for local specialty crops and assisting with the collection and transport of agricultural products to market.

In Zimbabwe's Hwedza district, Kia has partnered since 2023 with international relief NGO Korea Food for the Hungry International to help vulnerable communities achieve economic independence. Most residents in Hwedza rely on farming and mining, but climate change, low irrigation rates and poor infrastructure make stable crop production difficult. Mining productivity is also hampered by a lack of equipment, and working conditions remain poor.

For agriculture, Kia developed solar-powered water supply facilities, expanded production infrastructure including irrigation systems and fish farms, established facility management committees at each site, and provided training in facility management, operation and maintenance. For mining, the company supplied extraction and safety equipment and improved working-environment infrastructure.

In addition, Kia delivered outreach training in skills development, safety and equipment management to local residents, contributing to practical capacity-building and production expansion for community fiscal self-reliance. In total, about 34,000 local residents benefited from improved living conditions, increased income and self-reliance training.

Kia plans to monitor the self-sustaining operations at both the Albania and Zimbabwe sites for years to come to ensure stable management.

"The core of the Green Light Project is enabling locally led, sustainable operations even after the program period ends," said Lee Deok-hyeon, executive director of Kia's sustainability management division. "We plan to continue supporting the remaining five sites through 2027 and will keep working actively to address global social challenges."

Meanwhile, Kia has been carrying out a range of CSR activities, including co-hosting a traveling concert with Run Piano — the project team of world-renowned pianist and Seoul National University professor Park Jong-hwa — to expand cultural and arts opportunities for people with disabilities.