LESS LIP SERVICE FOR AFRICA IN NEED

We have all witnessed the buzz of media and celebrity-driven attention about the African continent in the context of lost hope, opportunity and social responsibility voyages. Vanity Fair’s July issue on Africa includes a plethora of celebrity cover photos (21) and profile interviews such as Brad Pitt with Desmond Tutu. Movies like The Last King of Scotland, Tsotsi and Hotel Rwanda demonstrate the harsh realities of African politics and suffering.

However, not enough is being done to address the issues facing Africans.

Some celebrity efforts are to be commended such as Oprah Winfrey opening a girl’s school in South Africa, and Madonna’s non-profit Raising Malawi.

While it is all well and good that celebrities have done a good job calling attention to Africa and creating individual social responsibility models, corporations should do the same.

I spent an impressionable childhood in Kenya. Aside from the beauty, people and wildlife, I witnessed the slums, poverty and under-nourished infants. Africa wasn’t on the map when I came to America 18 years ago. Top line Kenyan issues include a corrupt government and the demand for ivory diminishing what was once a healthy elephant population. Mr. Wainaina’s individual tale – ‘Generation Kenya’ http://www.vanityfair.com/ - illustrates Kenya’s rocky road.

Americans’ are increasingly traveling to Africa on safari, have life changing experiences and are in awe of it's beauty.

Today, many corporations are eyeing the continents resources - or - already have business interests – including operations, customers and employees. We need to better educate the public about the realities and opportunities of Africa. Also, enlist help to mitigate the extreme poverty, disease, threats to wildlife and tourism, and infant mortality.

Corporations, aside from donating funds, have the resources, on-site support, products and services to support programs on a fundamental level. These include providing shelter and care to orphans, saving newborn lives, education, drinking water, medical supplies, job creation and transportation.

It is timely for corporations to add Africa to the CSR agenda, engage stakeholders, and align with their cause-related marketing programs. Following are some top line realities about these issues and suggested organizations to support:

HIV/Aids, TB and Malaria: There are 25.8 million HIV/Aids sufferers in Africa and 8,000 people die every day - http://www.businessfightsaids.org/

Poverty: More than 70 percent of the continent’s poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and livelihood. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 218 million people live in extreme poverty -http://www.irr.org/

Education: Ten African countries report adult literacy rates of less than 30%. In America, the adult literacy rate is 99% - http://www.oprahsangelnetwork.org/

Infant Mortality: Twenty-two African countries have infant mortality rates higher than 100 per 1,000 live births - http://www.savethechildren.org/

Wildlife: In 2006, as a result of poaching and mass slaughter in the 1980s, there are only 30,000 elephants in Kenya, down from 70,000 in the 60s - http://www.savetheelephants.com/

Corporations need to realize the longer term benefits helping combat a continent in suffering, supporting timely causes in countries where they operate, as well as ultimately protecting their business interests.

SWEATING IT OUT ‘IN THE TRENCHES’ WITH BROADWAY THEATRE PROJECT

I'm preparing for my yearly pilgrimage to help out with BTP’s musical theatre arts education program in Florida on July 8. This year, more than 200 talented students from 28 states, as well as Canada, England and American Samoa will be attending an intensive curriculum to properly prepare them for a professional career in the performing arts. Special guests and workshops this year include:

"Moving Story" - by Christopher D’Amboise. A contemporary method of theatrical storytelling combining music, song, text and dance. Apprentices will work to develop a section from a new musical and perform an informal presentation.

"Alice"- by Frank Wildhorn. Frank has created a new show inspired by the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. Apprentices will work with Mr. Wildhorn and BTP founder Debra McWaters, on creating the main characters in innovative and modern ways. Brandi Burkhardt will play the title role in the workshop. Pieces created from the workshop will be presented in the final BTP performance at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on July 28.

Founded in 1991, Broadway Theatre Project is the world’s most prestigious musical theatre arts education program for high school and college students. Under the artistic direction of Debra McWaters, students attend an intensive three-week training program focused on the key disciplines of musical theatre arts including acting, dancing, and singing, as well as the critical life skills necessary to work in the professional world of entertainment. For more information – http://www.broadwaytheatreproject.com/.

THE GALICIA JEWISH MUSEUM: A CSR OPPORTUNITY IN A DYNAMIC INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT

Most tourists visiting Southern Poland frequently seek out the remnants of Jewish life at the former camps of Plaszow and Auschwitz. However, one of Krakow's best kept secrets is the Galicia Jewish Museum, founded by British photojournalist Chris Schwarz in 2004. Housed in an old furniture factory, the Museum celebrates the renaissance of Jewish culture in Galicia.

The Museum’s arrival is in step with Poland’s rapid ascent as a prime target of foreign investment in Europe. With a highly educated workforce, the nation’s business capacities have developed at a sure and steady pace since it was accepted into the EEC. Poland is the largest of the new EU member states, with important labor resources, significant scientific and industrial potential, and a 38-million consumer market. According to one recent study, the country will become the manufacturing hub of Eastern Europe in the next decade and is set to join the Euro in 2008.

This economic blossoming is providing impetus to numerous cultural endeavors in many Polish cities. Krakow is no exception and has an important commercial history sustained by eminent groups of Jewish entrepreneurs, bankers, industrialists, and merchants since the 12th century.

Their legacy is evident in the Galicia Jewish Museum whose mission is to commemorate Polish Jewry from a completely new perspective, other than the Holocaust. The Museum also provides a forum for multi-cultural dialogue and for the dissemination of exhibitions and publications to audiences, both Jewish and non-Jewish, around the world.
The Galicia Jewish Museum’s address is: 18, Dajwor Street, Krakow 31-052, POLAND.
Link: www.galiciajewishmuseum.org

Posted by Anna Ray-Jones, VP, Donley Communications Corp. Anna is also a published author and writes frequently on arts and culture.

HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Program Advancements – Company Awards Gala

On June 13, the Global Business Coalition (GBC) gave awards to eight companies. Abbott won the 'national action' award for it's partnership with the Government of Tanzania improving the country's health system to advance HIV testing and treatment. The company recently lowered the price on the key AIDS drug Kaletra by 55 percent in low- and mid- income countries.

The GBC also acknowledged several companies, including Dole for it's Stanfilco subsidiary work in the Philippines. The company trained a thousand people to implement the Tuberculosis Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (TB-DOTS), a program that calls for making complete and quality anti-TB drugs available (among other elements.)

For more information and to become involved – http://www.businessfightsaids.org/.

Conservancy Spotlight - Brooklyn Bridge Transformation

Visitors’ and jaded Manhattan residents are flocking to Brooklyn, drawn by the variety of neighborhoods, up-market stores, utilitarian streetscapes, renovated factories and buildings. Often considered the step child to Manhattan, Brooklyn is one of New York’s newer destination spots.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park area is about to undergo one of the most significant developments since Prospect Park was built 135 years ago, due to the Empire State Development Corporation's unanimous approval of the Park's General Project Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, paving the way for construction this year.

The 85-acre park, stretching 1.3 miles along the East River from north of the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue, will be transformed into a public space including lawns, recreation, beaches, coves, restored habitats, playgrounds and landscaped areas.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy annual benefit is on Thursday, June 7 - Sunset Splash. Information and tickets - http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/.

Protect thy Land, Protect thy Rights

In keeping with Aveda’s commitment to environmentally and socially responsible business practices, the company is pioneering the way - on what is often overlooked or taken for granted – protecting the land rights and natural resources of the local indigenous peoples. This is termed - Indigenous Entrepreneurship.

Indigenous representation at the UN event on May 23, ‘A Dialogue for the Future,’ included the environmental, economic and social interests of the Brazilian rainforest, the aboriginal peoples of Western Australia, family coffee growers in Mexico and the Maasai Shompole from Kenya.

David Hircock, advisor to Aveda’s President, is deeply ‘in the trenches’ with their indigenous partners, around the world, working on equitable trade and conservation, guiding the company’s use and integrity of ingredients. Through his work, he has facilitated preservation and access to natural resources of over one million hectares of land, among other things. Initiatives underway include:

• In Brazil, the Yawanawa tribe began efforts to protect 125,000 acres of rainforest land from loggers.
• In Australia, the aboriginal peoples have gained land rights and access to natural sandalwood resources enabling them to increase earnings seven-fold.

While progress is being made, there are still diverse issues facing these indigenous entrepreneurs as they tackle opportunities and challenges partnering with corporations, donors, lending institutions and business development agencies. These include access to markets, funding, education, business acumen, political, legal and social issues.

Concluding the panel discussion, President of Aveda, Dominique Conseil, provided the following comments:

• Doing good for community should be a key part of business purpose.
• Need for greater collaborative effort to help reduce poverty, eliminate infant mortality, have access to education, healthcare and food.
• Communities that bring people together will enable a healthier living environment and ultimately gain economic benefit.
• This is not, nor ever should be, a commodity-driven business and requires a selective strategy, supported by selective investment.
• Social disintegration doesn’t need big business approach and needs value-based partnerships.

Time for business leaders to embrace their indigenous wisdom. There is a lot more work to be done ‘in the trenches’ conducting their business operations in a socially and environmentally conscious manner.

And, as for those Maasai, allow me a childhood memory indulgence that is well deserving of a separate blog - to follow shortly.

UN Permanent Forum - Indigenous Entrepreneurship

Aveda and its Partners Discuss the Opportunities and Challenges - A DIALOGUE FOR THE FUTURE

The open forum held at the United Nations Headquarters, on May 23, spotlights the development of five indigenous business projects, focusing on land rights and natural resources in partnership with international businesses and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Speakers will present challenges and opportunities in these partnerships, and explore new paths to sustainable development that respect land rights and natural resources as the key to the survival of indigenous peoples. Panelists include: Dominique Conseil, president of Aveda, Veneranda Xochitl Juarez-Varela from Café La Selva, Mexico, Manuel Quezada IX from Community Tours Sian Ka’an, Mexico, Ole Petenya Y. Shani from the Shompole Community Trust in Kenya, Dr. Richard Walley of the Nyoongar people in Australia and Tashka Yawanawá, Chief of the Yawanawa tribe in Brazil. This event is an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of three communities recognized by the Equator Prize: Café La Selva, Community Tours Sian Ka'an from Mexico, and the Shompole Community Trust from Kenya.
Info - http://www.csrwire.com/News/8615.html.

Reputation Dynamics will report back on this event and learning's about sustainable development.