Would be great to see some synergies and coordinated policy messages between OECD, Business at OECD, G20, ICC, WHO at al on responses to COVID-19.
Hi Eery one . It is such a great idea for BFP and other stakeholders to organise this discussion. Yes its real that the CO-VID -19 is with us with reported New infections and deaths. Why the disease is moe critical to us iin Africa especially the SMEs is that people do not see the disease or death buth they look at what they will get from their sales of hardwares and vegetables. These are prone to be infected or transmit the Virus. I think more concerted efforts will need to be addressed on ceating more awareness on how to prevent infection . This is through proper hand washing and having simple equipment on thier sides of the stalls for customers to wash their hands before any buyig or sellin g is done.
This has already started and we are doing the training through mobile phone on our training platform called LEAP
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I want to just add, we have not yet seen the real impact on business or others in Africa and some other parts of the Global South. It is hard to imagine what that might look like. But we need to be preparing. Preparing more than we did in 2008. Huge injections are going to be needed.
I think that it is important point. Although every crisis is different, of course, there is much to learn from teh crisis response following the financial crisis in 2008. We should not re-invent the wheel, but meake ful use of the lessons learned.
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Question number two:
Sub question: What is the role of business and its brands in driving effective measures to prevent and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, including handwashing?
Here are some more general tips about What I think the role is for businesses:
It should go without saying that the most important asset of any business is their staff. Equally no business is an island and we rely on interconnectedness with communities to succeed.
Given these two factors I suggest the following approach for businesses:
1) Look after your own first.
By this I mean make sure you do as much within your workplace as possible and influence your partners to do the same. Here are a few simple ideas to do:
⢠Every workplace should have easy access to handwashing facilities or hand sanitiser. These should be at the entrance and in areas where people gather (e.g. where people eat). If this sounds difficult here are some tips for building desirable but affordable handwashing facilities. Having handwashing facilities will make people 60% more likely to wash their hands.
⢠Add cues to trigger and remind people about handwashing. Lots of people have put up posters near handwashing facilities reminding people of the steps to follow. This is a good start but people will quickly get bored so you need to change it up a bit. Here are some examples of how to get peopleâs attention while handwashing â changing up the messages or fun nudges
⢠Check in with staff and make plans. Start asking yourself what will happen if our operations have to reduce or cease and make plans to mitigate issues. Think about how you might maintain salaries, keep staff connected remotely and support people caring for other family members or from a mental health perspective.
2) Thinking about what you can do for others
⢠Reflect on whether your business has speciality skills that could be of use in preventing COVID-19. Particular examples of useful skills could be marketing or information sharing capacity (graphic design, media development, IT skills, website design, etc) or product or technical capacity (e.g. you sell soap or other basic products that people need, you have laboratory staff that could support the national health system). Here is a particularly interesting example of a perfume company adapting to produce hand sanitiser: Note that if you want to offer your services do so in a targeted way. Identify who could benefit from your expertise and reach out to them. Be careful not to overwhelm national systems with your kindness!
⢠Channel resources to those in the best position to help. Lots of organisations have swung into action already. Many of this are non-government organisations who already have experience in disease prevention, behaviour change and hygiene promotion. Try to identify local organisations who may have this experience and if you can financially support them in scaling up their work then do. In some cases these organisations may feel overwhelmed by the task and may need your support to develop materials (based on national guidelines) and think of creative ways of sharing information and changing behaviour.
⢠Identify potential volunteers
In some cases local-level organisations might have a clear plan but do not have the human resources to scale up quickly enough. Work with your employees and your families to create a database of healthy volunteers and any skills they may have. These people should low risk individuals such as people under the age of 40 and those who do not have pre-existing medical conditions (such as high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, cancer or diabetes). Non-government organisations may be able to train staff to rapidly provide support within their programmes or these volunteers might be able to work at a local level to support individuals who may be self-isolating. [Here is an example](: https://covidmutualaid.org/ ) of how this is being done in the UK where 900 volunteer groups have sprung up in the last few days
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Do they understand how the transmission is done and the role of prevention measures like handwashing with soap for examples?
The Singapore / Malaysia border is facing a similar crisis. Malaysia closed the border - and Malaysians who work in Singapore are left sleeping in the subway station.
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I think there are a number of dimensions to this. The first is time - working alongside government and civil society to support immediate preparedness in some countries and regions, and urgent responses in others.
Second, businesses can think about how they can leverage both their core business (eg brands, products, services) and their philanthropic donations.
And third, I think that the focus should be on the short-term who are most vulnerable in their supply chains, and in the communities in which they operate - including on short-term health and their long-term livelihoods.
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From: Ali Karami Ruiz, Senior Director for Strategic Engagement and Communications, Business, OECD
Business has been ahead of the curve both in terms of implementing stewardship efforts for its own employees, developing internal communications and guidelines, and communicating safety messages for businesses that are entirely consumer-facing. We have seen clear and effective âcampaignsâ from delivery partners, digital apps, and other solutions providers about the importance of handwashing, and in the COVID 19 context, the importance of social distancing, and so-called ââbarrier movesââ to avoid human transmission of the virus.
¡ However, as with the emergence of any new communicable disease, it is important to collaborate with governments to ensure awareness raising efforts can: 1) develop a common understanding of how the pathogen is transmitted, its risks to health, and symptoms, and 2) galvanize a standard response on actions from citizens to take to mitigate and minimize the risk of exposure and transmission. In the case of COVID 19, the first weeks focused only on identifying potential symptoms of the disease, while researchers and epidemiologists highlighted that in a majority of cases (the latest modelling concluded that 9 out of 10 cases in China went under the radar) the virus did not manifest symptoms in humans. Turning this knowledge into guidance would have meant the early adoption of appropriate measures to contain its spread.
Ensuring a stable continuation of income and benefits despite flexible working arrangements: Staying off work because of illness, quarantine or caring for a sick family member may result in lost pay or lost jobs. Ensuring a continuation of income in these cases with special attention to female workers who often take the burden of care and workers in precarious employment situations, such as low-paid workers, contractual workers and workers without any social protection coverage.
These are all good recommendations, but how about allowing suppliers to do the same? Keeping up with sustainable procurement practices is very important.
Ha good one. I tweeted a week ago, that this is time to pilot Universal Basic Income in UK, as we know that is what we need in a decade or two in an AI world. I paused on âpostâ wondering if it was too unrealistic. Just one week later we have Donald Trump about to send out cheques. I think UBI is now really urgent and this is the time to pilot and test it urgently.
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Hi Luna, IOE is networking Partner of the B20 Future of Work and Skills Taskforce. There we try to ensure that this coherent Business messages are given towards G20, ILO and other relevant international organisations.
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I think adaptability is a crucial skill and mindset that is needed to shape a new model, a new world
Hi Jen. At AB InBev we are 200,000 employees in more than 50 countries with a large value chaing. The health and safety our AB InBevâs colleagues is our priority and support groups of people such us:small retailers, small suppliers, contractors.
We daily inform, provide guidelines and encourage daily to observe preventive and self-quarantine measures .
We work with local public health and government officials and develop collective action between international, national and local efforts.
We have a Business Continuity Plan Committee working in full coordination with the 5 regions.
China overcome the COVID and they are back to work. We have designed in China a Guideline for Return-to-Work so that the employees can arrange their return time properly per their current location and destination, taking COVID prevention measures and following the quarantine days strictly according to the requirements of the local governments to ensure their own safety and health.
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Thank you David. Covid changed the whole customer relationship paradigm and it is nothing to sneeze at (pun intended). How do you think Corporation A will be able to sell products to communities it hid from in their hour of need. All of a sudden no one is âbullet proofâ!
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Myriamâ
I agree we need to find creative ways for media and communication industries to engage. This includes the news media on advancing evidence-based information.
One example of a new partnership to communicate with the public on COVID-19 the US is by efforts of NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, iHeartMedia, The Atlantic and Disney/ABC Television linking with the Ad Council, the non-profit organization that has helped to craft some of the best-known cause-related promotions in the US such as Smokey Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and talking crash-test dummies. Along with guidance from the White House and the CDC, the media outlets will donate advertising inventory for the campaigns that will advise consumers about social distancing, steps that can be taken to protect the public, and more.
We can thinks of these unique approaches with multisector approaches bringing together partners with diverse interests, qualities and competencies in order to achieve common goals.
CDC The Presidentâs Coronavirus Guidelines for America: 15 Days to Slow the Spread
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ICC has focussed on two specific tracks: the G20 and the WHO engagement already mentioned.
G20 - ICC Secretary General, John Denton AO wrote â along with ICC Chair Paul Polman â to the Saudi G20 Presidency last week calling for an emergency leaders summit to agree on a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are pleased that a virtual meeting of G20 leaders will be convened next week. Business has an important role in shaping the outcomes of this extraordinary summit.
From a business perspective, it is vital that world leaders agree on a comprehensive set of coordinated measures to mitigate the spread of the virus and stabilize the global economy. The private sector has a key role to play in ensuring that next weekâs summit delivers meaningful commitments from the worldâs largest economies at a moment where international cooperation appears dangerously fragile.
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