Cargill was presented with the highest honor for its commitment and efforts to spur economic development within Indonesia’s Agriculture and Agro-Industry sector last night at the Indonesian CSR Awards 2011 ceremony held in Jakarta. Presented by the Indonesian Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Salim Segaf Al Jufri, the Platinum Indonesian CSR Award (ICA) was bestowed on PT Hindoli, Cargill’s palm oil plantation in South Sumatra. It recognizes PT Hindoli’s successful smallholder program that resulted in a vast improvement in the living standards of the farmers and the establishment of effective cooperatives for long-term economic viability.
The Platinum ICA comes barely three weeks after the South Sumatra government conferred Cargill with the Best Investor Award, recognizing the company’s achievements in four key areas – business growth; corporate social responsibility and community development efforts; environmental conservation and sustainability programs; and exemplary employee-employer initiatives.
“A successful partnership between a company and smallholders requires a vision for the future, commitment and a long-term view. We believe in dealing and interacting with smallholders with absolute integrity and respect as we build the business together – as partners,” said Anthony Yeow, President Director of PT Hindoli. “The Platinum Indonesian CSR award comes on the heels of our recent Best Investor Award from the South Sumatra government, underscoring our commitment to work closely with the community to help them take advantage of economic opportunities and achieve a better life for their families. We are very grateful to the Indonesian Government and the Sungai Lilin community for making the awards a reality.”
Through Hindoli’s smallholder program, the farmers in Sungai Lilin, South Sumatra went from subsistence farming to owning a viable and healthy agricultural business that could be passed on from generation to generation. PT Hindoli works directly with thousands of farmers to help them increase yields, improve incomes and raise their standards of living. The company’s investments enhance agricultural production, develop infrastructure and support education, healthcare and the community’s other economic and social needs.
The PT Hindoli smallholders were amongst the first in the world to be certified as sustainable under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Guidance for Scheme Smallholders in August 2010. Through a formal contract, PT Hindoli – also RSPO certified – shares premiums from certified sustainable palm oil produced by the smallholders. In June 2011, these smallholders received their first premiums from the sale of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil which they produced. Premiums received from the sustainable palm oil have helped improved the living conditions of smallholders and their families significantly.
The economic development resulting from the Hindoli smallholder program can be seen in the infrastructure improvements and growing prosperity of the Sungai Lilin subdistrict. PT Hindoli funds the building of schools and the expansion of classrooms and teaching facilities. In addition, the company employs teachers for kindergartens and primary schools, and sponsors Government and Teacher Association programs to help improve the competency of teachers and the quality of education in the communities where PT Hindoli operates.
PT Hindoli also builds medical clinics and other healthcare facilities while providing medical equipment to schools. The company provides free medical services and facilitates health awareness programs to the community and employees on subjects such as reproduction and family planning. This is done both independently and together with local governments.
The Indonesian CSR Awards, given out every three years, is organized by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Corporate Forum for Community Development (CFCD). The ICA recognizes outstanding achievements in eight fields of CSR, such as economic development, environment, corporate governance and human rights, among others.
Three categories of the awards – Platinum, Gold and Silver, in order of importance – were given out to companies from five industries: agriculture; mining and energy; banking and financial services; industrial and manufacturing; as well as infrastructure and construction.
Cargill was presented with the highest honor for its commitment and efforts to spur economic development within Indonesia’s Agriculture and Agro-Industry sector last night at the Indonesian CSR Awards 2011 ceremony held in Jakarta. Presented by the Indonesian Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Salim Segaf Al Jufri, the Platinum Indonesian CSR Award (ICA) was bestowed on PT Hindoli, Cargill’s palm oil plantation in South Sumatra. It recognizes PT Hindoli’s successful smallholder program that resulted in a vast improvement in the living standards of the farmers and the establishment of effective cooperatives for long-term economic viability. Read more
by Nicholas Bray, courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge
One social entrepreneur seeks to elevate those at the bottom of the pyramid in Bangladesh. But can she navigate the straits between government, the private sector and Mother Nature?
Runa Khan’sFriendship organisation works for the poorest of the poor in one of the poorest countries of the world. Many of the people of Bangladesh to whom Friendship provides healthcare, schooling and financial support live on unstable river islands at imminent risk of being swept away by floods.
That doesn’t seem like a sound basis on which to build a multi-faceted portfolio of activities, and indeed much of Friendship’s funding comes in the form of grants from charities, corporate donors and governments.
But Friendship is also firmly committed to building a network of commercially viable activities and enterprises as spin-offs from its pro bono endeavours.
“The social business for Friendship is not (about) making business for the organisation,” affirms Khan, the organisation’s founder and Executive Director. It’s about “providing care and building small entrepreneurs in the best way possible … to ensure that these people are giving a value-add to their community which the community did not have before.”
Working with the ultra-poor
With around 160 million inhabitants, Bangladesh is one of the most populous countries in the world, and one of those at greatest risk from the flooding effects of global warming. Friendship was launched in the late 1990s when Khan and her husband, Frenchman Yves Marre, converted a barge that he had transported to Bangladesh from France into a floating hospital.
Patients queue at the Emirates Friendship Hospital (Photo credit: Friendship)“It was the first mobile hospital in the country,” recalls Khan, who prior to founding Friendship was a consultant to leading telecom companies and owned boutique shops and tourism firms.Today, Friendship has a staff of several hundred working in a network of regional offices. It operates two hospitals providing healthcare to people in remote coastal and riverbank areas, with a third one on the way, plus 250 mobile clinics backed by a community medical program and telemedicine facilities.
“We start with intervention in health because when a person is suffering no other intervention is really possible,” Khan explains. “Our mandate is to reach the areas which are left unaddressed by others, be it the government or other institutions. After we have addressed health, we go into food relief, rehabilitation, housing, water, sanitation …”
Friendship also runs schools for children and adults, and it has a cultural project aimed at preserving Bangladesh’s traditional wooden boats and the skills that go into making them. All in all, the organisation assists some 50,000 people a month in its clinics and schools and several thousand more with its micro-finance loan packages.
The combination of healthcare, disaster relief, schooling and micro-finance lies at the heart of its social action. At the community level, medical assistants are trained to earn a living by providing primary healthcare products while farmers and fishermen are developing their activities through provided loan packages.
The target says Khan, is that “within five years these people should move away from us and be part of the mainstream, have an account in the bank and be able to take off by themselves.”
Keeping a balanced relationship
In pursuit of that objective, Friendship works closely with the Bangladesh government, in some areas even occupying a desk in government offices. But Khan emphasises the need to tread carefully, both with the government and with private enterprise.
“We are working in these areas because there is a need that the government is not able to fulfill,” she says. “But we have to keep a very balanced relationship and involve the government as much as possible in our work so that they don’t feel threatened or left out.”
Equally, she adds, Friendship has to be very careful about infringing on the private sector. “I cannot start a business with donor funding and take money from the people when another poor man has sold his house and taken out a bank loan and I am in competition with him,” she says.
Ultimately, says Khan, Friendship’s objective is to be able to withdraw from disaster areas leaving behind a sustainable local economy. “The impact for social business can only come when thousands of people are making money and are entrepreneurs.”
by Nicholas Bray, courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge
One social entrepreneur seeks to elevate those at the bottom of the pyramid in Bangladesh. But can she navigate the straits between government, the private sector and Mother Nature?
Runa Khan’sFriendship organisation works for the poorest of the poor in one of the poorest countries of the world. Many of the people of Bangladesh to whom Friendship provides healthcare, schooling and financial support live on unstable river islands at imminent risk of being swept away by floods. Read more
By teaching sustainable farming skills, creating micro enterprises and providing nutrition education, Kraft Foods is empowering women and thereby helping to eradicate child malnutrition in some of the neediest areas of Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Announced today at a World Economic Forum meeting in Jakarta, Kraft Foods’ USD3.8 million program in cooperation with Helen Keller International will help families in the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) region of Indonesia, where 58 percent of children under the age of five have stunted growth due to malnutrition, and in the Satkhira district of Bangladesh, where about half of the children under age the age of five are malnourished.
This program is the company’s first major investment as part of Project Laser Beam, a five-year, $50 million public-private partnership led by the U.N. World Food Programme that seeks to eradicate child malnutrition. Kraft Foods Foundation is a founding partner and one of the largest sponsors of Project Laser Beam, having committed $10 million to the partnership.
“We can end child malnutrition,” said Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO, Kraft Foods. “For our part, we’re employing innovative solutions and investments in sustainable farming, microenterprises and nutrition education to improve food security and provide economic opportunity for Indonesian and Bangladeshi families in need. By working together under Project Laser Beam, we help ensure that these efforts are sustainable and scalable.”
Specifically, Kraft Foods is funding 180 “centers of excellence” for farming in Indonesia and Bangladesh over the next four years. From these centers, thousands of women across NTT and Satkhira will learn sustainable farming practices and receive “start-your-own-farm” supplies (fertilizers, tools). The techniques to be taught will focus on low-cost, environmentally friendly approaches, such as the preparation and use of compost, non-chemical pest control, irrigation, crop rotation, mulching and live fencing.
The outcome of these “centers of excellence” will be the creation of thousands of homestead farms, which will enable local women to grow what they need to feed their families a nutritionally balanced diet. The program will also provide nutrition education and small business training to help these women sell their surplus crops to create greater economic opportunity for their families.
“We are delighted to partner with Kraft Foods to help reduce malnutrition in the people of rural Eastern Indonesia and Satkhira District in Bangladesh,” said Kathy Spahn, Helen Keller International’s President and CEO. “We have seen the profound impact Homestead Food Production has on the nutritional status of participants and are very excited to work with Kraft Foods to extend the reach of this successful program.”
Investing in sustainable agriculture has been a long-time priority for Kraft Foods. The company is collectively investing nearly USD100 million in a broad range of initiatives to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 1 million farmers in the developing world.
In addition, Kraft Foods and the Kraft Foods Foundation have donated more than USD1 billion in cash and food to hunger-relief organizations over the past 25 years, including a separate USD3 million, three-year program with Save the Children to fight malnutrition in the Philippines and Indonesia. Through support of other partners like Feeding America, INMED Partnerships for Children, Charities Aid Federation and CARE, the company and the Kraft Foods Foundation support community programs on almost every continent.
Founded in 1915, Helen Keller International's (HKI) mission is to save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. HKI combats the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition by establishing programs based on evidence and research in vision, health and nutrition. The organization is known for sustainability, reliability, efficiency, and the highest level of technical expertise in preventing blindness and reducing malnutrition.
By teaching sustainable farming skills, creating micro enterprises and providing nutrition education, Kraft Foods is empowering women and thereby helping to eradicate child malnutrition in some of the neediest areas of Indonesia and Bangladesh. Read more
MasterCard Worldwide recently announced the results of its latest Index of Women’s Advancement. Australia tops 14 markets in Asia/Pacific that are covered by the Index, with an overall score of 83.8, followed by the Philippines (Index score: 81.5), New Zealand (81.0) and Singapore (76.8), while India (59.6), Japan (60.1) and Korea (60.9) form the other end of the spectrum.
Eleven of the 14 markets have been seeing increases in their overall Index scores for the last three years at least, with India and Korea, despite their overall low scores relative to the other Asia/Pacific markets, showing growth since 2006. China and Vietnam, on the other hand, have seen small declines in overall scores since 2007, while Thailand’s score has been stable since 2008.
The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement is part of a sustained effort by MasterCard to measure the socioeconomic level of women in relation to men across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. This year, it has been refreshed and updated to be a more inclusive, robust indicator of women’s advancement across the region. The Index is comprised of five indicators: Business Ownership, Business & Government Leadership, Workforce Participation, Regular Employment Opportunities and Tertiary Education. Each indicator measures the ratio of women to every 100 men in each of the 141 Asia/Pacific markets covered by the research.
Scores are indexed to 100 to indicate how close or how far women in each market are to achieving socio-economic parity with men. A score under 100 indicates gender inequality in favor of males while a score above 100 indicates inequality in favor of females. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance.
Business ownership shows room for growth
Female business ownership in Asia still has a long way to go. Twelve of the 14 markets included in the research had fewer than 50 female business owners for every 100 male business owners.
Australia (63.3) and India (61.1) scored high in this category, while Japan (28.7), Hong Kong (30) and Taiwan (30.2) had less women for every 100 men owning businesses in their country.
Philippines most encouraging for women business/government leaders
Few markets were encouraging to women business and government leaders, with only six markets having at least 50 women business/government leaders for every 100 male business/government leaders.
Across the 14 Asia/Pacific markets, Philippines was the only market that had achieved gender parity in business or government leadership. New Zealand (76.6), Australia (74.1) and Singapore (67.0) also had a reasonably high proportion of women to men in business/government leadership positions, while Japan (14.6), Korea (18.9) and China (24.1) scored especially low in this category.
Healthy workforce participation and regular employment opportunities
Workforce participation rates for women were healthy across most markets, with nine markets averaging over 70 women for every 100 men in the workforce. India ranked poorly in this category, with only 40 women in the workforce for every 100 men, as did Malaysia (56.6), Indonesia (60.6) and Philippines (63.3).
Ten of the 14 markets included in the research offered equal opportunity in regular employment for men and women. The exceptions were India, where women have the lowest regular employment opportunities to men (63.4) of the Asia/Pacific markets, followed by Vietnam (71.9), China (82.7) and Indonesia (88.8).
Women well represented in tertiary institutions
Enrollment rates for women in tertiary institutions are on par with men across most Asia/Pacific markets, with the exception of Japan (89.6), Korea (72.2) and India (72.1).
In fact, in many markets, women are better represented in tertiary institutions than their male counterparts. This is the case in New Zealand (143.2), Malaysia (136.2), Australia (130.1), Thailand (125.8), Philippines (120.8), China (116.1), Vietnam (109.9), Taiwan (106.1), Hong Kong (105.1).
Georgette Tan, vice president, Communications, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, said:
The research paints a very interesting picture of the socio-economic status of women across Asia/Pacific. Overall, it is good to see that the scores have been rising for women in many more markets across the region, showing that they are receiving the opportunities to advance themselves.
While women in many markets have equal access to job opportunities and tertiary education, this is not the case when it comes to top positions in government or business, and few of them are business owners themselves. This indicates that culture still plays a massive role in offering women the environment and opportunities to break the glass ceiling and rise to leadership positions.
That being said, we have come a long way by giving women access to education and regular employment opportunities, which are essential building blocks to further empowerment, financial independence and leadership.
The full set of results on the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/MasterCardNews
MasterCard Worldwide recently announced the results of its latest Index of Women’s Advancement. Australia tops 14 markets in Asia/Pacific that are covered by the Index, with an overall score of 83.8, followed by the Philippines (Index score: 81.5), New Zealand (81.0) and Singapore (76.8), while India (59.6), Japan (60.1) and Korea (60.9) form the other end of the spectrum. Read more
Standard Chartered celebrated Christmas in Singapore ahead of time by spreading a little kindness and love to the less fortunate in Singapore and helping them keep the Christmas spirit alive.
[caption id="attachment_5033" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Steve Bertamini, Group Executive Director and CEO, Consumer Banking and Standard Chartered volunteers putting a fresh coat of paint for a flat"][/caption]
A total of 150 volunteers from the Bank, led by Steve Bertamini, Group Executive Director and CEO, Consumer Banking started the day at 9.00am. To make sure that the needy families get to celebrate Christmas and New Year with a fresh coat of paint for the house, the volunteers painted one-room rental flats in Clementi.
[caption id="attachment_5037" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Standard Chartered volunteers forming a human chain to pass household items for distribution"][/caption]
Over in Marsiling Road, 300 less privileged households also received basic household necessities all nicely packed and distributed door-to-door by the volunteers.
[caption id="attachment_5038" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Steve Bertamini, Group Executive Director and CEO, Consumer Banking and Standard Chartered volunteers carrying packets of household items for distribution to 300 needy families"][/caption]
Finally, the volunteers hosted a Christmas party for 300 children and residents at Marsiling. The Bank hopes to promote the spirit of giving and help the less fortunate to celebrate and enjoy this festive season.
[caption id="attachment_5039" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Standard Chartered volunteers hosting a Christmas party for the needy at Marsiling Road"][/caption]
Standard Chartered has a history of 150 years in Singapore, and is committed to building a sustainable business over the long term and is trusted worldwide for upholding high standards of corporate governance, social responsibility, environmental protection and employee diversity. The Bank’s heritage and values are expressed in its brand promise, ‘Here for good’.
Standard Chartered celebrated Christmas in Singapore ahead of time by spreading a little kindness and love to the less fortunate in Singapore and helping them keep the Christmas spirit alive. Read more
Healthpoint Services Global, Inc. announced at the 2010 m-Health Summit in Washington, DC an innovative learning partnership with the Procter & Gamble Company, aimed at advancing a scalable, self-sustaining model for delivery of water, healthcare, and other benefits to underserved rural communities in developing countries.
The effort targets the millions of people who currently lack reliable access to safe drinking water and legitimate healthcare services. The “healthpoint” model, created and piloted by Healthpoint Services, combines four essential services in each rural clinic:
Safe drinking water, produced on-site daily;
Access to qualified doctors via telemedicine, supported by two-way video and electronic medical records;
Advanced on-site diagnostic capability (over 80 tests), enabling evidence-based healthcare;
High-quality medicines via an on-site licensed pharmacy.
Each modern Healthpoint facility, owned and operated by Healthpoint Services, provides an oasis of high-quality, affordable services for rural communities. In addition, the company deploys village health workers equipped with mobile phones that go door-to-door, providing consumer education, patient follow-up, and last-mile service delivery to extend the reach of the Healthpoint village team. In this innovative learning partnership, P&G FutureWorks will work closely with Healthpoint Services, providing financial support, experienced people, and in-kind services. The objective of the collaboration will be to improve and strengthen the model to enable its growth and expansion into additional rural communities in India and other countries in need.
Healthpoint co-founder and CEO, Al Hammond, said:
It is leading-edge thinking for a company like P&G to ally with an early-stage venture like Healthpoint Services. We are excited to leverage the scale and capability of P&G to help reach underserved consumers, working towards delivery of a market-based model capable of transforming rural healthcare.
Nathan Estruth, vice-president, P&G FutureWorks, said:
P&G’s innovative learning partnership with Healthpoint Services is a great example of our Company commitment to touch and improve the lives of more consumers, in more parts of the world, more completely. P&G is excited to bring our people, expertise and global capability to not only further our own understanding of consumers, but also to help Healthpoint Services learn how to delight consumers while creating a robust business model that is both scalable and sustainable, leveraging our global reach and strong history in innovation.
Healthpoint Services Global, based in the USA, and its wholly-owned Indian operating subsidiary, Healthpoint Services India Pvt. Ltd., comprise a for-profit social enterprise. The company was co-founded by Dr. Al Hammond, Amit Jain, and Chris Dickey and incubated by Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs, which remains an active partner.
Healthpoint Services Global, Inc. announced at the 2010 m-Health Summit in Washington, DC an innovative learning partnership with the Procter & Gamble Company, aimed at advancing a scalable, self-sustaining model for delivery of water, healthcare, and other benefits to underserved rural communities in developing countries. Read more
Walmart unveiled its global sustainable agriculture goals recently, with which the company seeks to help buy more from small and mid-sized farmers around the world; reduce food waste and sustainably source key agricultural products.
According to Scott Price, CEO of Walmart Asia:
Corporate social responsibility must be an integral part of the business strategy to be successful and sustainable. By stepping up to the right social responsibilities, a company is honoring its commitment to its owners and shareholders. By focusing on social commitments related to the business, the company can have a greater impact economically, socially and environmentally and at the same time prosper.
Mr. Price made the comments during the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit held in Yokohama, Japan 11-14 Nov 2010. He said:
Walmart’s CSR activities have become so entwined in our business strategy that you rarely hear the term “CSR” at Walmart.
To highlight his point Price cited an example of how Walmart will help small farmers around the world by selling $ I billion in food sourced from one million small and medium farmers by end of 2015. Walmart, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, has a legacy of giving back to the communities in which it does business.
To be effective, Price said he believes social responsibility efforts must be focused, impact the most people, be long-term, address causes (not symptoms) and relate to the business. He said:
There’s an abundance of legitimate opportunity to give back, to do right, and you want to be able to help anyone and everyone who calls. But over the last several years, we've built a model for making a big difference on big issues.
At Walmart, we’ve narrowed our focus to a few global platforms: education, sustainability, economic development and empowerment, and health and nutrition. Around the world, we want our operations to align around our global business/CSR platforms, and they are.
Tackling big issues and establishing global platforms does not mean taking a “one size fits all” approach to CSR, Price explained. He commented:
There’s plenty of latitude to act locally within those global platforms. It's a matter of meeting the unique needs of your local country, business and communities.
Each country has its own culture, its own needs, its own challenges, and within each there are dramatic differences in how the social safety net is managed, Price said.
The challenge is to develop a global platform that is flexible enough to be relevant locally. Price cited Walmart’s recently announced sustainable agriculture program as an example of innovation, global focus and flexibility. It’s long-term and it ties directly into the business, he said. It also tackles a huge social issue. Price explained:
More than one billion people around the world rely on farming and hundreds of millions of them live on less than $2 a day. Globally, with a booming population, food production must increase roughly 70 percent to feed 9 billion people by 2050.
Through sustainable agriculture, Walmart, as the world’s largest grocer is uniquely positioned to make a big difference in food production -- for local communities, local economies and families everywhere. Price observed that this bid was was an opportunity to lead.
Walmart’s sustainable agriculture strategy is divided into three broad areas each containing specific supporting goals to help the company track and report its progress as part of our overall business goals:
In emerging markets, Walmart will help many small- and mid-sized farmers through training, by gaining access to markets and by increasing their income through sourcing.
Walmart has one of the world’s largest food supply chains, but almost nothing is known about the resources required to produce that food, Price said. In order to produce food with fewer resources and less waste, the global strategy will drive transparency into the supply chain
Farming practices are having unintended side effects, from deforestation of the world’s rainforests to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Walmart will focus on two of the major contributors: palm oil and beef production. Price said:
We’re truly excited about our sustainable agriculture platform. We believe we can make a huge difference, that we can feed more people, healthier food, that we can empower farmers, build local economies, protect the environment, while at the same time strengthen our business.
He concluded:
We want to be a part of the solution to a better, more sustainable future for our customers, our children, our stakeholders. We want to be part of the much needed social innovation. We believe that irrespective of East or West what is most important is that corporations working in close collaboration with governments attempt to make life better for the communities in which they operate. And we believe that this is fundamental to doing business. Given the challenging times we face it is not just common sense. It is also good business sense.
Walmart unveiled its global sustainable agriculture goals recently, with which the company seeks to help buy more from small and mid-sized farmers around the world; reduce food waste and sustainably source key agricultural products. Read more
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