The ChamberPost

"Good Faith" Information Will Speed Aid

by Steve Gunderson

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, "Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works," will focus on solving problems that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of problem-solving.]

Although international philanthropic giving from U.S. corporations is growing rapidly, the overall environment for international giving remains challenging.

With global corporations responding in larger measure to international disasters, the need for ease of doing business is essential to philanthropy. U.S. tax regulations for private foundations, including corporate foundations, require a level of due diligence concerning prospective grantees that exacts a high toll in terms of staff, time, and patience — and not just on the corporation but also on the non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

It is a measure of the commitment of corporate grantmakers that they are figuring out what they need to do and finding ways to do it responsively and responsibly.

Currently, grantmakers may take advantage of the IRS "equivalency determination" option to make direct grants to non-U.S. based NGOs that do not have IRS 501(c)(3) status.

That is, a private foundation may determine that an organization is the equivalent of a U.S. public charity. Obtaining information to meet the equivalency determination rule is both time-consuming and expensive.

Grantmakers spend an average $30,000 to $50,000 annually and use hundreds of hours of often very limited staff time to make equivalency determinations.

A centralized repository of information on non-U.S. based NGOs could save millions of dollars.

Finding an NGO Partner in China

by Richard Brubaker

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of those factors.]

Finding the right non-governmental organization (NGO) partner in China is important. So what does that mean for an organization designing their CSR program?

More so than ever before, multinational companies have the ability to put together comprehensive corporate social responsibility programs in China that leverage the core ideas and programs of headquarters to have a measurable impact on the community.

For the last 10 years, corporations have been focused on finding economic stability in China. For some, that was establishing distribution channels while, for others, getting suppliers to meet standards was the critical focus. 

Understandably, this left little time or attention for the construction of or focus on CSR programs in China, even if they were well established in home markets. Couple these organizational needs with a higher level of difficulty of constructing programs, and you had underdeveloped programs in China.

With many companies now stable, CSR has become a focus in China. Improving community outreach programs have been the most visible due to their high public-relations value, and there has been a dramatic increase of personnel responsible for CSR in Shanghai in the last year alone.

As with everything in China, taking baby steps is the best way to go.

There are numerous differences between establishing programs in China and the United States, and for companies that have only recently stabilized in China, it is important to understand this. Finding an organization, big or small, to work with can be difficult and time-consuming for many. Depending on the scale of the program, partners may be few and less than ideal. 

The Megacommunity

by Don Pressley

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of those factors.]

As the United States enters the final months of its 2008 presidential election, the national dialogue reflects a complex and interdependent world.

Admittedly, this is not a provocative statement. Thomas L. Friedman spoke to the causes and impacts of globalization in his famous book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and later, in The World Is Flat.

Just as complexity and interdependency have given rise to new and exciting opportunities, our challenges have become bigger, more complex, and more urgent.  Poverty, infectious disease, energy, the environment, global security — issues that may have once inspired hand-wringing now must inspire action.

Yet, these challenges are too great and too complex to be addressed by a single organization, sector, or nation alone. 

The increasing complexity of the world’s toughest challenges necessitates more flexible and inclusive approaches, which we are, thankfully, starting to see. In the fight against HIV/AIDS, for example, a coalition of public, private, and non-governmental organizations working under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has reduced the cost of HIV/AIDS drugs through collaborative solutions to global supply chain management. 

Business as a Vital Development Partner

by Djordjija Petkoski and Michael Jarvis

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of those factors.]

There is no doubt that the private sector is and must remain a key partner in international development. Innovative business contributions, ranging from combating communicable diseases to addressing climate change and providing educational opportunities, are crucial in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Private-sector action is not simply altruistic, but reflects a growing overlap in interests as development challenges are increasingly impacting the ability of firms to operate effectively.

Business, governments, and civil society organizations are the key actors in achieving effective partnerships for development. However, we believe that there is also an important role for multilateral development institutions to play in supporting this process and facilitating more effective private sector roles in development.

One component is for international agencies to support reforms that improve the business environment and so enable business-led growth and the creation of economic opportunities that are core to lifting people out of poverty.

Also of importance is their capacity-building role. Building successful partnerships requires addressing many nuanced and difficult questions, from transparency of motivations to the partnering process to how to measure results. We cannot take for granted that all partners in an initiative are equally equipped to play their roles and to ensure that broader social benefits result.

Capacity building is therefore necessary within the private sector to strengthen relevant competencies and skills, and also within governments and the international development community to recognize and facilitate private sector contributions.

For today’s globalized operating environment, we need a generation of leaders, managers, technical specialists, development practitioners, and policymakers with the relevant partnering skills and competencies to manage institutional, organizational, and cultural differences.

The Role of Business in Community Change

by Teresa Hall Bartels

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of those factors.]

In recent years, corporations have taken a greater responsibility for their potential physical effects on the environments in which they hope to grow, often in developing countries. "Sustainability," "carbon footprint," and other terms are buzz words for that growing sense of environmental responsibility.

It is just as important for businesses to consider their effects on the sustainability of communities. CSR makes good business sense because it considers potential markets and employees. Healthy businesses need strong communities.

Communities can be more robust with businesses that are successful, responsible corporate citizens providing employment opportunities and other resources to fuel local economic engines. 

As the world becomes more interdependent, the health and well-being of all communities is the basic building block for creating markets for consumer goods and services, as well as a competent workforce. Especially in developing countries, business can play an important role as a positive force for creating vibrant communities.

The problems of health, education and poverty do not respond neatly to simple solutions.  There are no clean lines to delineate the roles of government, business, and nonprofits in addressing these problems.

However, business has the potential to provide thought leaders for the kinds of collaborative partnerships required to build effective solutions.

$25 Could Change a Life

by Jessica Jackley Flannery

[Editor’s Note: Jessica Jackley Flannery will be the keynote speaker at BCLC’s Global Corporate Citizenship Conference on Sept. 18-19.]

About four and a half years ago, I was on a plane to Kenya, about to begin a new job doing microenterprise development throughout East Africa.  The next three months would change my life, as I’d meet over 100 entrepreneurs whose stories would inspire the creation of Kiva.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person microlending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in a developing country.  Combining microfinance with the power of the Internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.

From a handful of friends and family lending $3,000 to 7 entrepreneurs in Uganda, in less than three years since Kiva’s inception the organization has facilitated nearly $40 million in loans from 330,000 lenders to 60,000 entrepreneurs worldwide.

Kiva has had a number of outstanding corporate partners along the way, catalyzing our work and helping us create a long-lasting internet public good.  For example, PayPal provides Kiva with access to technology, research, workplace resources and employee volunteers  - and provides Kiva with free payment processing (Kiva's largest variable cost) thus enabling 100% of the loaned funds to reach entrepreneurs in developing countries. 

Oliver Wyman provides dedicated, on-going support from their consultants, who spend between 4-6 months at Kiva's San Francisco office working alongside Kiva staff to tackle pressing business issues. 

Yahoo! provides free Yahoo! Search Marketing keywords, and several Yahoo! employees are helping Kiva develop a more robust online platform.  There are many more.  We’re deeply grateful to all of these innovative, socially-minded organizations for their partnership.

And we’ve been thinking more and more about the individuals who make up those companies, and the tools they need to participate together on Kiva more easily.  Soon, Kiva will make it even easier for any group of individuals – whether a corporation, school, religious organization, family, group of friends, etc. – to get involved as a group, and show organization-level support.

This fall, Kiva will launch a new feature allowing Kiva users to create or join lending teams.  Each lending team will have a page on the Kiva website to track and summarize the lending activity of all individual lenders associated with that team.

The way Kiva works is not changing. People will still make loans as individuals.  But now, they’ll also have the added option of teaming up with likeminded lenders, inviting others to join in and having your loans count towards a team total.  Our hope is that lending teams will provide an easier way for Kiva enthusiasts to spread the word at work, at school, and elsewhere.  Keep an eye out for this exciting new feature!

Kiva operates on a simple, but powerful premise: a loan of $25 can change a life.  We hope lending teams encourage people to get involved and then involve others in a meaningful way.

Jessica Jackley Flannery is the co-founder of Kiva.

Patrimonio Hoy

by Israel Moreno Barceló

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of those factors.]

Adequate housing is a basic human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, Mexico faces a severe housing shortage that affects the daily lives of more than 20 million people.

In 1998, CEMEX decided to invest in research in order to better understand this segment’s behavior and find out if it was possible to design value offers that would contribute significantly to a better quality of life for low income communities through better housing conditions.

The northeast section of the city of Guadalajara was selected for this purpose, and our team worked to establish daily, direct, and close contact with this community.

We learned that the traditional construction process turned out to be intrinsically intermittent due to the inability to obtain resources, lack of knowledge, and access to technical guidance.

A low level of service resulted from a low buying power, causing a slow building process. This process was also very costly due to waste stemming from surplus materials that could not be stored for lack of space.

Our challenge was to produce a package that would solve most of the restrictions. As a result, we created Patrimonio Hoy, which has become a progressive housing program serving low-income communities.

Through the program, packages of materials are fragmented and ordered in an adequate sequence according to needs. The acquisition of these packages is facilitated by means of micro-financing.

With a previous saving of 20 percent of the materials needed for completing the construction project, credit is granted for the resting 80 percent.

The weekly charge per family is $180 Mexican pesos (about USD$16.50), $151 (about USD$14) of which pays for the materials, and the remaining $29 (USD$2.50) of which covers the services, including free access to technical consultants, fixed prices guaranteed for 70 weeks, one year of materials storage, and home delivery of materials packages.

The program creates a collaborative network within the community: families in need of better housing conditions, CEMEX distributors with presence in the regions who are in charge of delivering materials, and CEMEX providing families directly with financial services and technical advice.

By the end of May 2008, a total of 205,000 Mexican families had benefited through Patrimonio Hoy, building the equivalent of 105,000 ten-square meter rooms.

As a result, credits for USD $94 million had been granted, with an on-time payment rate of more than 99%.

The program has been successfully implemented in Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The idea is to assess the potential replication of Patrimonio Hoy in other markets where CEMEX operates and where the socio-economic conditions could make possible its financial viability.

Israel Moreno Barceló is founder and general manager of Patrimonio Hoy for CEMEX in Mexico.

Partnering to Conserve Biodiversity

by Tam Nguyen

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, provides an example of those factors.]

Biological diversity provides a variety of economic, ecological, cultural, and esthetic benefits to society, while also supplying food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and medicine.

To recognize the value of diversity in ecosystems, Chevron requires biodiversity assessments of new capital projects and the inclusion of biodiversity conservation in its management system.

These assessments have resulted in cross-sectoral partnerships around the world to protect ecosystems, species, and genes, as well as the ecological processes that support them.

From protecting sea turtles to helping restore natural forests on former ranch lands, Chevron makes a positive contribution to biodiversity conservation in areas where we operate.

Sea turtles face threats in several areas where Chevron operates. In Indonesia, a sea turtle egg can sell for $17, significantly above the daily income for half the population.  Working with partners including the Nature Conservancy, Chevron protects turtles from poaching through education, monitoring, and sustainable livelihood programs.

In Australia, Chevron ecologists are monitoring the Flatback sea turtle to mitigate the impact of any future operations on Barrow Island, a nature preserve where Chevron has been operating since 1964.

With the Wildlife Conservation Society in Angola, Chevron has launched a public-outreach campaign to educate local fisherman, children, and villagers on sea turtle biology and conservation.

In Indonesia, Chevron’s Salak geothermal field is located in the Gunung Halimun Salak National Park, known for its diversity of plants and animals. Working with the park staff, the Wildlife Trust, and the Center for Conservation and Insect Studies, Chevron has helped to protect forests and wildlife while promoting sustainable farming and collecting data on the biodiversity of insect populations.

With the Nigerian Conservation Center, Chevron developed the Lekki Conservation Center in 1992. The center preserves local flora and fauna, with lookouts and paths to provide educational opportunities to thousands of school children, as well as environmental research opportunities. The animal population includes mona monkeys, bush bucks, maxwell duikers, tree pangolin, mongooses, and the red-headed agama.

Chevron has contributed biodiversity data to Project SERPENT, a project using remotely operated vehicle technology to make biodiversity data more accessible and to share knowledge in the scientific community. Remotely operated vehicles that are used during underwater drilling are mounted with high-resolution camera systems to provide rare images of deepwater fish species. Chevron’s operations in Europe and the Gulf of Mexico are also involved in the SERPENT project.

Since 2001, Chevron, The Nature Conservancy, and the Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education have been growing seedlings of native species to reforest former ranch land near Antonina in Paraná, Brazil.

Tam Nguyen is global issues and policy Advisor at Chevron.

Solving the Global Water Crisis

by Scott Noesen

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, provides an example of those factors.]

More than 1 billion people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and diseases related to unsafe water kill between 2 million and 5 million people every year. Per day, 6,000 people — mostly women and children — die because of it.

As a world leader in chemistry, Dow is uniquely positioned to provide breakthroughs that supply cleaner and safer water to those in need — breakthroughs like lower-cost desalination technologies, more effective ultrafiltration systems to drive water reuse, materials to improve the sustainability of water infrastructure, sustainable business models for small community water systems, innovative ways to increase awareness of the issue, and other solutions not yet imagined.

Dow supports the United Nations Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015 and has developed a robust portfolio of water investments and activities to help support this effort. We collaborate with an extensive network of NGOs, corporations, and government agencies that are working together to address the global water issue.

Dow is a 30 percent owner of WaterHealth International (WHI), and recently provided a $30 million loan guarantee to help WHI finance 2,000 small systems that will supply clean water to more than 10 million people in rural India.

As both a sponsor of the 2007 Blue Planet Run, an unprecedented 15,200-mile run around the world to raise awareness of the drinking water and sanitation crisis, and as a founding member of the Global Water Challenge, Dow is dedicated to ending the needless suffering and death caused by lack of access to safe water.

Earlier this year Dow also signed the United Nation’s CEO Water Mandate, a set of comprehensive commitments designed to focus on developing strategies and solutions to combat the drinking water crisis.

Dow is also committed to a partnership with International Aid, a Michigan-based humanitarian organization. The company is providing 2.1 million pounds of plastic resin, which will be used to manufacture 300,000 HydrAid™ BioSand Water Filters. These lightweight water purification devices provide point-of-use water treatment and are currently being distributed by International Aid and its partners worldwide. This enables International Aid to give 2 million people access to clean drinking water over the next three years.

Dow’s commitment to the global water crisis is making an impact that we believe will improve the lives of future generations and lead to fresh solutions that will continue to help meet the needs of our neighbors around the world.

By applying the power of the human element to innovate and deliver proven technologies and sustainable business models to communities in need, Dow is strengthening opportunities for better public health, education, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and economic growth one drop at a time.

Scott Noesen is the sustainability director and chair of the Corporate Water Strategy Team at The Dow Chemical Company.

Hygiene in the Slums of Kenya

by Justine Frain, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. This article, an excerpt from the report, is one example of those factors.]   

They say that you can buy anything in Kibera — except life. The world’s largest slum is home to nearly 1 million people and covers 600 acres of government land. It has been squatted for 60 years by generations of families who live there illegally.

There are no official roads, sewerage, or other services, yet a fragile infrastructure sustains a thriving economy. Blackboards in front of ramshackle huts advertise live viewing of international football games for 5 Kenyan Shillings (about 8 cents), while 5 Shillings will buy a small bucket of coal to cook a meal. 

The stench of rotting food seeps in through the windows of the jeep. I watch tiny children totter around open ditches filled with waste and remnants of plastic bags. They wave and chant “How are you?” as the truck weaves through a maze of alleys and tin-roofed buildings.

The jeep stops in front of the AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) clinic — the only open space in Kibera, which also serves as the only football pitch.

The clinic is a separate story in itself. I am here to see the PHASE (Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education) programme in action in an urban setting — and Kibera is about as built up as it gets!