MIT is a core element of Henkel Smile - Henkel's corporate citizenship platform. Through MIT, Henkel supports the voluntary social engagement by employees and retirees in an effort to “Make an Impact on Tomorrow” (MIT). To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the initiative, a project in Guatemala was chosen as Anniversary Year 2008/2009 Project.

The objectives of the Guatemala Project are the advancement of schooling for children, access to clean water, the construction of a health center, and the improvement of agricultural productivity. In the beginning of July an international team of MIT volunteers is traveling to Guatemala, in order to actively support and engage with the Anniversary Project.

MIT enables the employees and retirees all over the world to help alleviate local problems while, as the project heads, they play a pivotal role as a link between the Company and its social environment. Within the last ten years more than 7000 community improvement projects in over 110 different countries have been initiated and actively managed by the volunteers.

As an accompaniment to the journey of the international volunteers, Henkel has launched the Henkel Smile MIT Blog. Via the blog, volunteers, co-workers, families and other readers can follow the project in real time and communicate on their experiences and impressions. Furthermore, the blog will stay online and serve as project platform for many other Henkel Smile initiatives in the future. The blog is open for comments.