Chris - this is really great. I believe that one of the most powerful ways for business to create impact on education and skills is by collaborating. I would be very interested to know about your international work in developing countries to see if we can work together. One idea would be that IBM has a volunteers portal where we have created assets / content for volunteers. This includes lots of material for STEM subjects. Currently we make these available to everyone through this link.
GSK reinvests 20% of profits generated in least developed countries to train frontline health workers. These health workers focus on maternal, neonatal and child health as these are often the most vulnerable groups from a mortality/morbidity perspective. We do this because it addresses a societal need and is aligned with our mission as a business. We don't link any of our products or commercial interests with this programme though improvement of health infrastructure beneftis GSK along with other pharma companies
Gerry's point on monitoring and keeping track of statistics related to the role of women in economic activities is extremely relevant. When we started the development of our retailer programme in LatAm, the fact that 60% of our small retailers are women pushed us to think of the best ways to involve them and come up with a programme which responded to their needs and expectations
From our experience it is key that businesses engage in sustainable livelihoods, the Shakti Unilever model that has been developed in different markets in the world has focused on empowering women to develop sustainable livelihoods. Creating opportunities is also a key way to support vulnerable groups, programmes like Citi's Microfinance programme and Barclays Banking on Change have ensured that women are able to start to fulfil their potential.
Thanks for a great discussion - one useful resource on this topic that I would recommend is the report by Harvard Kennedy School's CSR Initiative and Business Action for Africa on "A New Global Partnership with Business" - which looks at the role of business in helping deliver the Post-2015 Development Agenda and provides a number of case study examples: http://community.businessfightspoverty.org/profiles/blogs/jane-nelson-a-new-global
As a legal business we invest approximately £15m of our lawyers' time each year in tackling key social issues and within this the focus on developing countries is strong.
For us a key area of work has been reducing the impact of natural disasters. Often when disasters happen there can be real challenges in ensuring access for finances, supplies and key personnel. To help tackle this we have been working closely with the British Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross to create new legal frameworks. These make access easier and help support get to where it is needed.
GSK also supports a programme in Latin America named and delivered by Pro Mujer (For Women). This focuses on educating and empowering women, and supporting them with small loans to set up sustainable businesses. A portion of profits generated are used to invest in the health of their families (not related to GSK or its products in any way). This programme therefore improves the education, empowerment and health of vulnerable women and their families
SNV worked with Nestle in Latin america on empowering women as mobile points of sale and mini distributors for Nestle products. This had positive effects on income, social status, self esteem of these women and also involved training on health & nutrition with positive outcomes for the female sales persons and their customers.
However looking at many food supply chain companies / agricultural commodity traders we see that gender issues in the business model are not adressed enough. Many farmers in developing countries are women and special attention on productivity enhancement, product quality improvements should be targetted to women and its not yet mainstreamed. We ourselves are often struggling to adress it in our programs so know how easy it is to overlook or ignore it. Some programs like Better Cotton Initiative specifically adress it. But more must be done, perhaps by engaging companies on this subject more.
It is also important for business to consider how it can work together more on these issues. Organisations like BITC are key in finding ways that organisations from different sectors can come together and tackle key social issues. We are much more likely to have impact when we partner, rather than when we work alone.
Businesses supports economic development in many ways, from job creation to education and our R&D for new products and services as IBM is doing through the IBM Africa research lab in Kenya - 1 of only 12 IBM labs globally. Through this investment we expect to enable development in many areas that improve the lives of vulnerable communities - through improving access to water, energy, food, healthchare - working in partnership with government, other companies and NGOs http://ow.ly/qzFeB #IBMResearchAfrica
Thanks Richard, this is an excellent publication and one with great insights and stories, but also posting success and challenges. Our own publication Transforming the pace of change: The role of business , complements the above mentioned publication but also identifies the business and social benefits and the lessons learned.
Hello Panel, Such great examples of innovative programmes with business here...
One of the challenges we find for business to truly respond to the challenges of women in-particular (picking up on Gerry's point) and to develop innovation that can transform communities, is to invest in the time and space to understand the issues and be inspired by the opportunities. Linking key parts of the business, product and market development together with social innovation is key. But also connecting to NGOs to co-create. This requires real trust and space to learn.
Can you share examples of what you have done to engage different functions of your business and to create that trust, and understanding with NGOs. What difference has it made?
The best business can do to address poverty is go on doing their core business while including sustainability and quality job creation as key component of their long term strategy towards profitability. CSR can help at a small scale level, and is insufficient to address the root cause of poverty.
Focusing on quality employment (i.e. proper working condition, respecting labour and social rights, gender and promote skill training/education) and local sourcing, is a good way to penetrate a developing market and ensure local sustainability of that business. In doing so, international business can make profits while contributing to address poverty and vulnerability of women, men and children.
Hello, Ann Dickinson here from Hand in Hand. Small local businesses can transform communities by raising incomes but a major barrier is access to networks and markets. Can business help?
Employee volunteering where employees use their core skills to work with NGOs to develop innovative solutions to challenges they face is one such way. GSK runs a scheme called PULSE where up to 100 employees per year work for an NGO for up to 6 months using their core skills to deliver on a project
Francis I referenced IBM's Africa research lab that is investing in new solutions that directly address needs in Africa - that is one way we are working to impact poverty. We are applying cognitive computing to address issues such as public health, education and agriculture.
In many developing countries over 80% of people with disabilities remain underskilled, undereducated and unemployed. I work for Leonard Cheshire Disability, the world's leading NGO working for disabled people and we feel strongly that businesses can play a significant and positive role in turning around this situation.
Over the last 5 years, we have been delivering an innovative programme called Access to Livelihoods together with our partners Accenture, which has already given over 10,000 people with disabilities in Asia the skills and confidence to succeed in employment or enterprise. We've helped people take up positions in diverse organisations such as Vodafone, Saatchi & Saatchi and IBM, as well as start their own businesses, and who are now contributing to their economies' growth across South and East Asia.
We look forward to making this programme global and are seeking partners right now to join us. Please contact us if you're interested.