UN MDG Update

Monday, 19 July, 2010

Mixed 2010 report card on anti-poverty goals highlights challenges ahead for September Summit

The economic crisis took a heavy toll on jobs and incomes around the world, but its impact does not threaten achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of cutting the rate of extreme poverty in half by 2015. The report highlights a number of successes, while also assessing the human impact of lack of adequate progress on many of the Goals.

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, launched 23 June by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, helps to set the stage for a September summit at the UN. It comes out only days before accountability for aid commitments

is discussed by the Group of 8 at their meeting hosted by Canada.

“This report shows that the Goals are achievable when nationally owned development strategies and policies are supported by international development partners,” says Secretary-General Ban in the report’s foreword. “At the same time, it is clear that improvements in the lives of the poor have been unacceptably slow, and some hard-won gains are being eroded by the climate, food and economic crises. Billions of people are looking to the international community to realize the great vision embodied in the Millennium Development Goals. Let us keep that promise.”

The UN report cites big gains in getting children into primary schools in many poor countries, especially in Africa; strong interventions in addressing AIDS, malaria and child health; and a good chance to reach the target for access to clean drinking water. But disadvantages that hurt the poorest, those living in remote areas or with a disability, or due to ethnicity or gender, have sapped progress on many other fronts.

Among the findings are that only half of the developing world’s population has access to improved sanitation, such as toilets or latrines; girls in the poorest quintile of households are 3.5 times more likely to be out of school than those from the richest households, and four times more likely than boys from this background; and less than half of the women in some developing regions benefit from maternal care by skilled health personnel when giving birth. The share of people in the developing world who subsist on less than $1.25 a day, in constant US dollars, dropped from 46 per cent in the baseline year of 1990 to 27 per cent in 2005 – led by progress in China and Southern and

South Eastern Asia – and is expected to tumble to 15 per cent by the target year of 2015.

But the MDG Report 2010 also indicates that progress against hunger has been impacted more severely by economic troubles. The ability of the poor to feed their families was hit consecutively by skyrocketing food prices in 2008 and falling incomes in 2009, and the number of malnourished, already growing since the beginning of the decade, may have grown at a faster pace after 2008.

CRISIS TESTS THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

The UN assessment of Goal 8 – for a global partnership for development – indicates resilience in international cooperation in the face of recent economic difficulties. Official development assistance (ODA) rose in both 2008 and 2009, to reach a total of nearly $120 billion per year; developing and poor countries continued to improve access to rich-country markets; and developing-nation debt burdens continued to ease, due to good debt management and ongoing debt relief for the poorest countries.

“Despite the setback to exports caused by the global economic crisis, the ratio of debt service to exports remained stable or again fell in most developing regions in 2008,” the report says. “Despite further losses of export earnings in 2009 and, for some countries, declining growth, debt burdens are likely to remain well below historical levels.”

But the jury is still out on the global partnership’s overall performance. The UN report cautions that the 2009 ODA increase sorts out as a mere 0.7 per cent over the 2008 total in real terms, and in current US dollars actually constitutes a two per cent decline. The report voices concern on projections for 2010 development assistance, which may possibly be jeopardized by fiscal difficulties in donor countries, and also notes a substantial gap in fulfillment of 2005 commitments to double aid to Africa. Moreover, hopes for completing the “development round” of world trade talks, under way since 2001, have been frustrated.

CLIMATE CHANGE CALLS INTO QUESTION ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Under Goal 7, covering the broad area of environmental sustainability, the UN reports that over the last decade the world lost 13 million hectares of forest each year – an alarming rate which is nevertheless a notch down from the annual average of 16 million hectares recorded during the previous decade.

Population increase and economic growth in the last two decades have produced a nearly 50 per cent increase in global CO2 emissions between 1991 and 2007, from 21.9 to 29.6 billion metric tons. Figures for 2008 are expected to show that the rate of increase has slowed, largely as a result of economic downturn. It is even possible that total emissions may have decreased in 2009. But the same estimates that produced these findings also suggest that unless decisive action is taken, emissions will again rise rapidly as the world economy reboots. The UN convenes the next round of international climate change negotiations late in 2010, in Cancun, Mexico.

WORLD LEADERS TO SET ACTION AGENDA TO 2015

First agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, the eight MDGs set worldwide objectives for reducing extreme poverty and hunger, improving health and education, empowering women and ensuring environmental sustainability by 2015. The UN is convening a special summit in New York, 20-22 September, to agree on a plan to accelerate global action on the Goals. More than 100 Heads of State and Government are expected, along with leaders from the private sector, foundations and civil society organizations.

The Millennium Development Goals Report, an annual assessment of regional progress towards the Goals, reflects the most comprehensive, up-to-date data compiled by over 25 UN and international agencies. Produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the report has been designated by the UN General Assembly as an official input to the MDG summit. A complete set of the data used to prepare the report is available at http://mdgs.un.org.

KOTO Anniversary

ABV client KOTO celebrates its 10th year
Thursday, 24 June, 2010

From making sandwiches to changing lives

First published in The Australian 23 June 2010. Words by Gary Evans.

JIMMY Pham ran a street-side sandwich shop in 1999 on one of the busiest streets in Hanoi. Every day he saw dozens of disadvantaged and poor street kids, recognised their plight and resolved to do something about it.

He made good sandwiches and decided that if he got to know some street kids, he could train them to do the same.

This was the start of KOTO - Know One Teach One - which began with a sandwich shop run by Pham and nine street kids and has become a popular Hanoi restaurant and an internationally accredited hospitality training program.

KOTO will soon celebrate its 10th anniversary, a tribute to Pham's enthusiasm and vision, and the result of help from ABV and training support from the Box Hill Institute Melbourne.

Since the project was launched, 430 students from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds have graduated. All are employed in the hospitality industry. Some are cooking in the finest Vietnamese restaurants, while others are well advanced in Le Cordon Bleu and Box Hill Institute higher level courses in Australia.

Yet others are working in large chain hotels and resorts overseas.

Sitting in the KOTO restaurant last month, Pham explains the difficulties that had to be overcome on the road to success.

The restaurant covers four floors in a picturesque street and has a coffee lounge, cafe, bar, catered area and a rooftop terrace overlooking a garden.

"I had no idea how to run a business, let alone a hospitality school, and needed help," he says.

"All I wanted to do was to give these street kids a chance in life by developing skills [that] would get them a job.

"I had heard about Australian Business Volunteers from a local Australian businessman, Mark Warmington, and asked ABV for their assistance.

"A series of volunteers with business, financial and catering backgrounds have continued to help guide KOTO.

"These began with Vance Gledhill from Sydney, who gave us a business plan; John Connolly from the ACT, who brought IT expertise; Margaret Beagley of Mile End, who set up our human resources operation; and David Calvey from Sydney, who introduced a series of short courses."

It has taken years but KOTO, Pham says, is now assured of a future.

The organisation has just opened a twin hospitality school in Ho Chi Minh City and has plans to expand into Cambodia.

Box Hill Institute became involved with KOTO soon after Pham began expanding his idea and the relationship is entering its 10th year.

Pham realised that for the courses to be of value, they had to be certified by a recognised tertiary institution.

Rhys Williams, from international business development at BHI, is responsible for managing the relationship with KOTO.

"BHI certifies a Certificate 11 level course in hospitality operations, covering kitchen operations and front-of-house at KOTO," Williams says.

"This is delivered by trained KOTO staff and forms part of the overall traineeship program. The BHI component provides the technical hospitality skills within the overall traineeship program, which delivers life skills and bilingual proficiency.

"Students get hands-on practical experience by working in KOTO's Hanoi restaurant. Any profit from the restaurant goes back into expanding the hospitality courses.

"We have about 50 trainees a year in Hanoi and KOTO Saigon has just opened with 20 trainees," Williams says.

The KOTO Saigon school is fitted out with several large stainless steel commercial kitchen ranges, a bar area and classrooms with laptop computers. ABV volunteer Joost Den Haan from Perth, who has had a lifetime of experience in the hospitality industry, is a trainer at KOTO Saigon.

"I am presently teaching responsible service of alcohol and how to operate an espresso machine, but the school offers much more than this," he says.

"Students are taught the whole range of hospitality operations, including food and beverage ordering, food preparation and service, public relations and business systems management."

A Vietnam government announcement on May 21 said that as of last year there were 2052 vocational training facilities and 55 vocational training colleges in the country.

The integrity and professionalism particularly of the vocational training colleges is a vital issue. This makes the involvement of BHI crucial.

Trainees graduate with an internationally recognised Australian qualification that assists them in employment and further study.

BHI trains, resources and supports KOTO trainers to deliver courses at the required standard to achieve certification. This support is given pro bono. The institute provides one or two fee-waiver scholarships each year to KOTO graduates to study hospitality at the advanced diploma level.

KOTO now has a staff of 30. On May 23, the latest class of 47 students, aged 16 to 22 and all fluent in English, graduated.

They had been plucked from uncertain circumstances: some came from from street gangs, others were petty thieves or child prostitutes. All were poor and unable to support themselves or, in many cases, ailing and destitute parents.

At the graduation, the Australian ambassador to Vietnam, Allaster Cox, spoke in fluent Vietnamese and presented the 2010 ambassador for KOTO award to a young graduate chef working in a Da Nang beach resort.

This brings with it the recognition of the young man's continued professionalism and his efforts in making a contribution to the community. The award includes a scholarship to Le Cordon Bleu schools in Australia.

Corporate Social Responsibility: International Corporate Volunteering Workshop

Learning from the practitioners
Thursday, 10 June, 2010

Learning from the practitioners

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement is drawing considerably more interest from the world’s leading corporations. Many of these corporations are showing that international corporate volunteering (ICV) is an effective way to move beyond the old philanthropic model, and achieve measurable business results whilst also benefiting the communities in which they work.

ABV was recently invited to join a workshop on a wide range of issues related to international corporate volunteering. This event was the first of its kind, and it presented an opportunity for companies to convene and share best practices, seek advice on problems they are facing, and meet their peers who are involved in the same types of ICV programs that they are managing. With growing interest in this area, the workshop saw almost seventy attendees from the private, non-government, and government sectors. The organisations they represented included:

Major lessons & takeaways

At the end of the workshop, the participants agreed that there were several major takeaways from the event:

i. The concept of sending skilled-based corporate employees to provide needed pro bono services to organisations in emerging markets is relatively new with only 12-15 companies that have these programs in place. However, there was general agreement that many more companies will jump on board and launch their own programs within the next year or two.

ii. The program benefits are wider and deeper than originally expected – Many of the companies that have programs are discovering that they are experiencing tangible benefits with economic value to both their respective companies as well as to the local recipients. The benefits that the implementing companies are receiving range from employee retention and increased leadership skills to identifying new business opportunities.

iii. There isn’t one model that all companies adopt – Virtually every company has taken the basic concepts and adapted them to meet their own culture and business/social objectives.

iv. There is high interest on the part of the US government, which may lead to new, innovative ideas for public-private partnerships – Several government agencies and departments are closely watching the development of ICV programs. The present administration has been very clear and vocal that it is willing to provide appropriate support to grow the footprint of US companies in emerging markets.

Program design: meeting corporate objectives and satisfying internal stakeholders

ICV programs are highly customised and represent a wide range of business objectives. Regardless of the specific design decisions, having a strong supporters/champions is paramount to successfully sell the program to key internal stakeholders and gain sufficient funding. The champions, who are almost always executive-level, can help guide and focus the program. IBM, for example, has the explicit support of its CEO. The same is true at GlaxoSmithKline. Of vital importance, however, is transparency in program development, regular communications and engagement with internal and external shareholders, and the ongoing collection and sharing of metrics, stories, and continuous feedback from both employee volunteers and local clients.

Program implementation: what to do and how to do it

It appears that this is a wide range of implementation models that the companies have adopted. Some of the more interesting program implementation features include:

• IBM – The volunteer teams are comprised of staff members from different countries where IBM has offices. One of their program goals is to foster teambuilding and leadership skills within a multi-cultural team.

• Accenture – The volunteers who commit to participate in the Accenture Development Partnerships program spend up to 9-12 months on a project. ADP volunteers also agree to lower (half salary) compensation from the company during the time they spend on their project.

• Pfizer – Volunteers can view the potential projects online and choose which one they would like to be considered for. This model has more of an “open market” feel than the others.

There was a general consensus that one of the most important factors for successful program implementation was the selection of the right projects. This entails careful consideration of many variables, including the scope, supervision, peer colleagues, available resources, organisation and cultural influences, and success metrics.

Read more about corporate volunteering with ABV.

Workshop paper courtesy of CDS | Washington.

PEDSS Appointment

ABV-SECC Project
Thursday, 18 March, 2010

The Provision of Experts for Development of the Securities Sector (PEDSS) project involves ABV volunteers providing advice to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia with respect to reviewing and drafting securities regulations. This work is in preparation for the launch of Cambodia’s first stock exchange later this year.

To ensure the success of this highly important work, ABV has appointed Mr. Bill Foster as Project Manager. Mr. Foster comes to ABV with in-depth experience working within foreign securities markets. Such experience includes being formerly engaged as the Chief Operations Officer of the Abu Dhabi Securities Market and Managing Director of the New Zealand Stock Exchange.

ABV feel privileged to be able to call upon Mr. Foster’s expertise, and have every confidence in his ability to ensure the project is completed successfully.

ABV is still seeking highly qualified candidates, with expertise in areas such as bonds, investment, fund, and clearing systems. If you are interested in volunteering on this project, please email us at recruitment@abv.org.au.

Building Leaders

Tuesday, 2 February, 2010

To help prepare promising leaders for the future, top companies are forcing their employees to take on new (global) risks. By Geoff Colvin, Fortune Magazine

For John Tolva, IBM's Chicago-based director of citizenship and technology, the value of his four-week assignment to Ghana last year really hit him during a game of Scrabble by candlelight.

He and teammates from India, Germany, Brazil, and other countries had agreed on an unorthodox rule: You could use any language you knew. "That's when I understood what a globally integrated enterprise looks like," he says.

He and the others were forced to ask "what connects us," since it obviously wasn't language or culture. The real connection, Tolva says, is "the values that IBM has instilled in us. It's a professional code that isn't written down -- but it's there."

The group of 10 was part of IBM's two-year-old Corporate Service Corps (CSC), which sends teams around the world to work with local organisations on local problems.

Tolva's group was helping create a program for promoting Ghanaian handicrafts globally. The job "stretched me in a way we all absolutely need," says Tolva, 37, who has since been promoted to his current executive-level job. "It gave us a shake in perspective." It also means that "there are now nine other people in the company I would trust with my life."

Developmental assignments like his are among the most important tools that great companies use to build leaders -- and that average companies rarely use at all.

The importance of such assignments and how they're being adapted to pay off in today's global economy are two of the strongest messages emerging from the research behind our new ranking of the world's Top Companies for Leaders.

Fortune has joined the human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates and the HR services firm RBL Group to identify companies around the world that are best at attracting, developing, and keeping business leaders.

Article publihed 20 November 2009. Full article can be found here.

Altruism Recognised

Gossip
Wednesday, 11 November, 2009

Mr. David Moore OAM and ABV CEO Mr. Michael Lynch proudly presented volunteers Suzanna Edwards & Peter Stanbury with the 2009 ABV Altruism Award. The Altruism Award recognises the efforts of the Volunteer who has best embodied the core value of altruism during the past 12 months. Suzanna & Peter successfully completed their assignment with The National Museum of Cambodia in museum operations and Khmer artefact conservation in Cambodia.

The museum was in desperate need of training in preserving, restoring and displaying valuable artefacts not destroyed during the Khmer Rouge years. The cultural relics and artefacts represented the Khmer culture and history, thus making this a very important restoration. For this reason, Suzanna and Peter passionately volunteered their time and expertise in assisting and advising the museum in restoring the artefacts for future generations. Tragically, Suzanna’s son passed away very unexpectedly while they were halfway through the assignment. Despite this tragic loss, Suzanna and Peter returned to Cambodia to complete the assignment a few months later. Suzanna and Peter’s commitment and determination to put others needs above their own is truly commendable. Upon completion, Suzanna and Peter continued to support the museum from Australia by assisting with funding grants and by making recommendations to continue support for the museum through ABV assignments. In 2009 the museum put in a request for Suzanna and Peter to return for further conservation training.

Suzanna and Peter are not only highly skilled and experienced conservators, but their attitude, cultural sensitivity and dedication to their work is highly admirable.

Read more about teir wonderful work in the upcoming issue of Perspectives.