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September 28, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
Travelocity is looking at making Voluntourism mainstream as Part of ''Travel for Good'' Initiative. They are inviting consumers to join employee volunteers on National Public Lands Day September 30 as the First Step in its Far-Reaching Program.
They’ve recently launched their Go Zero program to help customers reverse climate change and enhance forests and wetlands through forestation programs. Now, under the Travel For Good initiative, Travelocity is kicking off a program called Change Ambassadors to help bring the idea of "voluntourism" to a broader, mainstream audience. In a 2006 Travel Forecast poll they conducted, 15 percent of respondents said they planned on taking a volunteer, education or religious trip this year.
It is not only them who are taking part on this endevor. Lonely Planet has their very own Sustainable Travel & Responsible Tourism (START), having together with Rough Guides through Climate Care, a carbon neutral initiative.
Another initiative was brought to me through the PSD Blog in regards to the Worldhotel-link.com, which connects travellers and accommodation providers via locally-owned and operated e-marketplaces.
According to The Transnational, Two-thirds of 90 British companies polled by the Institute of Travel Management have implemented corporate social responsibility programs.
Be it for CO2 emissions, responsible tourism, making it easy for volunteers to find opportunities to spend part of their next vacation volunteering, it seems that there is a big market which is about to reach its tipping point. Are you willing to be one of the early movers on this arena?
Know more of Voluntourism and other responsible travel initiatives.
Thanks to Gustavo Martinie and Antonio Lopez who shared this through the Tourism & Leisure Forum at Global Communities.
September 25, 2006
According to Nelson Mandela, the Clinton Global Initiative is addressing the greatest challenges the World faces. It is a call to action. What can I do as a global citizen? Your commitments can become a powerful tool in shaping a better world.
What has been intended to become an event which helps create a small piece of common ground, has actuallty been followed by +50,000 viewers from around the world. It has generated more than 218 commitments from twice that many people. The value of these commitments, not considering time and mind which are the most valuable and enriching, comes to more than 7.3 billion dollars.
You can summarize it with a word, Ubuntu, and with one of the most moving speeches given by Desmond Tutu."We won’t win a war against terror, so-called, as long as there are conditions in the world that make people desperate". (m. 44:40) and his remarkable closing speech (m. 1:02:00). Join the conversation.
Ubuntu
“A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
Desmond Tutu
The focus areas of the CGI which try to cover the most serious issues affecting the world today are:
• Energy and Climate Change
• Global Health
• Poverty Alleviation
• Mitigating Religious and Ethnic Conflict
Get an insider view of the event. Martin Varsavsky covered the event through his blog, sharing his personal view and perspective of the event.
“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela.
That’s what this CGI deal’s all about.
September 22, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
Don’t go to the gym, surf the web or leave office early today.
If you find a better way of INVESTING one hour of your time than by joining an enlightened conversation such as this, you must let me know. Join the conversation.
Effective action, lasting results. Improving the collective efforts of NGO’s and private citizens and addressing global challenges is the theme covered by:
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Former President, Federal Republic of Brazil
Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Chairman of the Board, Microsoft
Hernando de Soto, President, Institute for Liberty and Democracy
What can you learn from this, about what you might do in the NGO world, as citizens of the world? We live in an interdependent world that is unequal, unstable and unsustainable. We should try to create an integrated world of equal opportunities, shared responsibilities and common membership.
1. Look for countries that welcome NGO’s as partners and try to partner with them, that way, your work lasts.
2. Change the system.
3. Innovate.
• Learn about pressing sources of inequity in the world which, through coordinated philanthropy can be solved.
• Find those things were we can have a measurable impact, were we can make a difference and then focus there.
• Build systems and capacity.
They’re not naïve but they’re passionate.
September 21, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The 2006 Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting, wich is truly designed to inspire action, is taking place September 20-22. You can watch it ALL through LIVE Webcasts.
I have just seen the "Building a Sustainable Future" session, moderated by Peter C. Goldmark Jr.
Program Director, Environmental Defense with panelists such as:
John Chambers, President & Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Systems Inc.
Al Gore, Chairman, Generation Investment Management
Klaus Kleinfeld, President & Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank
Business accountability on sustainability issues, social enterprises as an engine of change, global warming and the impact we can all make in order to face the crisis were some of the subjects covered in the session. Al Gore makes reference to the global warming issue with brilliant symbolism, evoking the chinese symbol of crisis, which holds the meanin of both Danger and Opportunity. His closing speech was remarkable, I truly recommend it. Not only has he become, as we've stated before on this blog, a great and moving public speaker, but I'm still impressed by his "Impact and influence on the audience" capability, making you not only believe his message, but most importantly, making you commit to solving the crisis of our generation.
Just to understand his "moving" ability, Sir Richard Branson commited $3Billion to renewable energy initiatives. This implies the investment of 100% of profits from Virgin's transportation businesses over 10 years to combat global warming. This is an impressive announcement, not just monetarily, but actually comitting ALL your profits to this stake is something I still can not grasp.
If you have time, go into the live webcast of the remaining sessions and if not, I truly recommend leaving a couple of hours of your weekend to do so.
Some of the more than 100 commitments, amounting nearly $2.1 billion only on the first day are:
Abraham's Vision. Gadi Kenny commits to fund summer 2006 Vision Program, where Abraham's Vision educators took Jewish & Palestinian American students to the Balkans to engage in analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Learn more here.
Mobilize $500 Million To Benefit 50 Million People. To leverage Opportunity International's 35-year microfinance experience to mobilize $500Mby 2010 for financial services for 50 million poor, providing a better future for themselves and their communities. Learn more here.
Laboratory Services Strengthening. Working with the Ugandan government, FIND will create a model for reliable diagnosis of poverty-related diseases by identifying deficiencies in current services and addressing them through social franchising. Learn more here.
Watch all the Web Casts here.
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
Our friends from OneVoice have undertaken a very interesting approach since 2002 at engaging Palestinians and Israelis in greater civic involvement. The following has been posted on their blog:
“Take a look at these OV pictures from the Palestinian and Israeli streets. What is their meaning?
Amidst growing acrimony, polarization and violence in the Middle East, it may be difficult to visualize how we can actually channel the frustrated energies of millions of Israelis and Palestinians – those who desire a better life for their children – into a process that will actually lead to ending the conflict.
Violent extremists have been willing to sacrifice their lives – and the lives of others – to achieve absolutist visions that deny the humanity of the other side. They are a fringe minority, but they show a total commitment and hijack our governments and lives.
Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians – and their international supporters – overwhelmingly support a two-state solution, yet what has been missing is a willingness from us – the moderates on both sides – to do something about it.
So today we wish to announce the OneVoice Movement’s most ambitious undertaking to date: A campaign to encourage each and every one of us to answer the question: What Are You Willing to Do to End the Conflict and Achieve a Two State Solution?”
Read the whole post at OneVoiceMovement.org
Daniel Lubetzky, Founder and President of the OneVoice movement will be at Instituto de Empresa Nobember 17, together with many renowned social entrepreneurs at the “Find Your Impact Day”, organized by the Net Impact Chapter. For more information on this event click here.
September 20, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund which uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty, has just announced today a $1.6 million investment in Drishtee.Com, a rural Information and Communications Technology (ICT) platform operating more than 1000 kiosks in India that provide computer and English education, e-governance and digital photography services.
Drishtee will use the financing from Acumen Fund to scale from just over 700 kiosks in six states to over 30,000 kiosks in 23 states, primarily in rural villages, as well as add four new services for the poor.
More than any other factor, lack of quality healthcare has the distinction of making the maximum number of rural villagers slip below the poverty line. A recent Disha survey found that close to 12 percent of rural income is spent on healthcare and nearly 60 percent of this population takes loans at annual interest rates of 60-120 percent in order to pay for prolonged treatment or hospitalization. Acumen Fund’s investment is enabling Drishtee to develop health services including access to quality medicine and health information.
In addition to the commitment of financial resources, Acumen Fund is also advising Drishtee on managerial and operational issues. They will use financial, social, and operational metrics to measure the investment’s sustainability, potential for scale and social impact. The financial metrics that will determine the investment’s success include total increase in gross and net revenues and income increases for kiosk owners and their employees; operational metrics include the strength of the management team, increased penetration of kiosks into rural areas and the increased availability of services in rural areas; and social metrics being analyzed include increased focus on rural markets by the private sector and improved quality of health, income, and education levels as a result of services and information available through the kiosks.
This is what I call social entrepreneurship and synchronicity in action. Acumen Fund, which is one of the few NGO’s associated with google.org is having an impact which should be benchmarked and learned from. Congratulations and the best of lucks on this new endeavour.
September 19, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The World Development Report 2007 from the World Bank has just come out. This year’s main theme is youth, considered as people between the ages of 12 to 24. It goes into the challenges and opportunities for the development policies of supporting young people's transition to adulthood.
Developing countries which invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for their record numbers of young people could produce surging economic growth and sharply reduced poverty.
With 1.3 billion young people now living in the developing world-the largest-ever youth group in history-the report says there has never been a better time to invest in youth because they are healthier and better educated than previous generations, and they will join the workforce with fewer dependents because of changing demographics. However, failure to seize this opportunity to train them more effectively for the workplace, and to be active citizens, could lead to widespread disillusionment and social tensions.
Are education systems preparing young people to cope with the demands of changing economies? What kind of support do they get as they enter the labor market? Can they move freely to where the jobs are? What can be done to help them avoid serious consequences of risky behavior, such as death from HIV-AIDS and drug abuse? Can their creative energy be directed productively to support development thinking?
The theme for the 2008 WDR report is Agriculture for Development. Are there any links or perhaps synergies which can be generated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its latest $150 million investment to help spur the “Green Revolution” in Africa?
Read the World Development Report 2007
September 14, 2006
Dr. Javier Carrillo Hermosilla, Executive Director of the Centre for Eco-Intelligent Management at Instituto de Empresa Business School
Despite the enormous amount of research and complex debate about global warming, the science behind the problem is relatively simple and easy to understand. Anyone who has got into a car on a sunny day is familiar with the so-called “greenhouse effect”. The gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), act like a car´s windscreen, allowing the sunlight to enter but trapping the heat inside. This effect keeps the Earth warm enough and is an essential condition to life on our planet. However, human activity is creating too much of a good thing.
Over the last several years a growing consensus has arisen among scientists, governments, companies and, indeed, society as a whole, about the fact that industrial activity has contributed significantly to the problem of global warming. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including CO2, are released into the atmosphere principally as a consequence of the burning of fossil fuels. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, around 1750, the generation of energy from oil and coal has been a key input into economic activity and human progress. Since then, CO2 in the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million to nearly 380 ppm today –its highest level in at least 420,000 years.
Not surprisingly, the Earth’s temperature also rose during this period and this warming has accelerated in recent decades. Since 1976, global temperatures have risen by 1 degree Fahrenheit. Nine out of the last ten years have been the warmest since 1861, when global temperatures started to be recorded. If fossil fuels were to continue as the dominant energy source, and their carbon emissions were not contained, atmospheric CO2 would surpass 550 ppm by the middle of the century and would possibly reach 1,000 ppm by the end of the century. This would mean that average global temperatures could increase by 3 to 10 degrees F by 2100. Future generations could inherit the warmest Earth since the end of the dinosaur era, 65 million years ago.
Continue reading 'Business and Global Warming: A Two-Way Street'
September 13, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The Peacemaker season the BBC World is currently having from the 2nd September to 1st October is a must see. It deals with “conflict resolution, investigating the causes, ramifications and possible resolution of conflicts around the world”.
Two live debates with some of the most eminent Nobel Peace laureates will take place, including a “three-part series where victims and perpetrators of Northern Ireland's conflict come face to face with each other for the first time, plus a series six years in the making, focusing on the lives of five American teenagers growing up in a culture of violence, and the transformation they go through with the help of their Nobel laureate mentors”.
Conversations with such eminent world thinkers and doers of our time such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Oscar Arias, with whom I have had the opportunity to be with in two occasions while working with the State of the World Forum, as well as the Dalai Lama and Rigoberta Menchu, is an opportunity which will not only prove inspiring, but influential in the way we see the world.
Read more about BBC World's Peace Maker Series.
September 07, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The FTSE4Good Index Series, a benchmark and tradable index for socially
responsible investors, today confirms the results of their September review. 24 companies have been newly added, having met the index criteria that assess “companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices based on principles of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)”. 9 existing constituents will be removed from the index, not having reached the updated criteria of the index. Changes to the index will take place after the close of the markets on Friday 15th of September 2006.
Launched in 2001, the FTSE4Good Index Series appeal to a broad range of institutional and retail socially responsible investors who are looking to:
• Only invest in companies that demonstrate good standards in corporate responsibility
• Minimalize the social, ethical and environmental risks within their portfolios
• Capitalize on the benefits of good corporate responsibility (e.g. eco-efficiencies, improved brand image, etc.)
• Avoid investing in traditionally excluded SRI sectors such as tobacco, defence and nuclear power
• Actively encourage companies to be more responsible
The indices are used as a basis for regional and global index tracker funds, a range of structured products, and as a stock selection universe for actively managed funds.
Take a closer look at the FTSE4Good Index Series.
September 06, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
Tanzania and Ghana lead the way in African reforms this year, according to the latest "Doing Business Report" . Georgia, Romania and Mexico do so globally. South Africa, Mauritius and Namibia are on the top of the Sub-Saharan African list.
Most of these countries have simplified the days in order to start a business, while others have improved property rights and simplified business regulation. Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso were also active reformers.
Having a high ranking on “the ease of doing business index” means the regulatory environment is conducive to the operation of business. It is always good news to see a government improving business regulation, which at the end allows for wealth and development to take place.
The Doing Business Report is made by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank.
Take a closer look on the Sub-Saharan African list
Take a closer look on Doing Business Report
September 04, 2006
Oxfam has just brought out its latest report: “In the Public Interest: health, education, and water and sanitation for all”
The September 1st report looks at what has worked up to now when addressing these issues, what has not worked, how public society is picking up some of the pieces, but acknowledging the essential need of both governments of developing and developed countries to work together in order to increase their success.
“Change is possible, but it will take concerted action by developing country governments, supported, not undermined, by rich countries, and held to account by active citizens demanding their rights.”
As a conclusion to the report they write the following:
"Within a generation, for the first time in history, every child in the world could be in school.
Every woman could give birth with the best possible chance that neither she nor her baby
would die. Everyone could drink water without risking their lives. Millions of new health
workers and teachers could be saving lives and shaping minds.
We know how to get there: political leadership, government action, and public services,
supported by long-term flexible aid from rich countries and the cancellation of debt.
We know that the market alone cannot do this. Civil society can pick up some of the pieces,
but governments must act. There is no short cut, and no other way.
To achieve these goals, developing country governments must fulfil their responsibilities,
their citizens must pressure them to do so, and rich countries must support and not
undermine them."
‘Poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions
of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.
It is the protection of a fundamental human right; the right to dignity and a decent life.
While poverty persists, there is no freedom.’
Nelson Mandela's speech at launch of Make Poverty History campaign, Trafalgar Square, London, 3 February 2005
Take a closer look at the report.
About Oxfam.
