ABV Deputy CEO wins Endeavour Executive Award

Friday, 23 December, 2011

 ABV, Deputy CEO (Services) Beth Sywulsky, has been selected as one of only 122 special selected individuals to receive a 2012 Endeavour Executive Award. 

 The Endeavour Awards is the Australian Government's internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship program providing opportunities for citizens of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe and the Americas to undertake study, research and professional development in Australia and abroad.

 Ms Sywulsky’s Award proposal is to monitor and evaluate Indigenous and First Nations projects in Canada, managed by CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organisation) and learn from their best practice and transition this knowledge to ABV. CESO has a strong presence in working with Indigenous and First Nations peoples, and the experience will be invaluable for ABV, given our foray back into working with Australian Indigenous communities.  She will undertake the project between May and August.

“Personally, the Award gives me a lifetime opportunity to research a topic of personal interest in what I consider to be the one of the two best countries, the second being Australia, in which to live and work,” said Beth.

The Endeavour Awards are a part of the Australia Awards initiative which was announced by the Government in November 2009. The Australia Awards have been established to maximise the benefit to Australia of its extensive scholarship programs, and to support enduring ties between Australia and our neighbours.

 The Australia Awards brings together the international development awards administrated by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Endeavour Awards under a single recognisable brand.

 ABV is proud of Beth’s achievement and looks forward to supporting her and learning from her Award experience in 2012.

  Further information is available at www.AustraliaAwards.gov.au.

Phone Alert

Tuesday, 20 December, 2011

 Please note that the new main Canberra number is (02) 6151-9999. 

 We have been having problems with the call forward from the old number and if you have been calling this number it will just ring out.  We apologise for this and are in the process of having it rectified.

 The new office details are posted http://www.abv.org.au/contact_us/head_office/

 After hours: The recorded message on the office telephone answering machine provides emergency contact numbers.

ABV Partnership Team Visit Africa, UAE and Europe

Sunday, 18 December, 2011

ABV is building a solid reputation as a provider of excellent corporate social responsibility programs, training tomorrow’s leaders and creating win-win partnerships with organisations in developing and emerging countries as well as at home, working in indigenous communities. 

With high profile organisations such as IBM already on board (IBM’s Corporate Services Corps program facilitated in a range of countries by ABV has been named the No. 1 leadership program in US magazine Fortune, as well as being lauded by Harvard Business School research) and several other significant companies poised to commence, future is looking extremely bright for the ABV Partnership team.

In order to forge new partnerships with large multi-national organisations who will benefit from the leadership programs, ABV CEO, Michael Lynch and ABV General Manager Partnerships, Helen Bird, embarked on a whirlwind trip through Africa, United Arab Emirates, Germany and the UK in October and November. 

The aim of the trip was to introduce Michael Lynch, CEO to contacts and opportunities made on a previous trip by Helen and to continue discussions with these corporate organisations around their adoption of ABV leadership programs, ABV Training courses and ABV Expert Advisor opportunities.  They also introduced the concept of international corporate volunteering to new audiences.

 “The trip introduced us to many senior decision makers ranging from several Heads of Government Ministries and their teams in Botswana, top business leaders in Johannesburg, Maputo and London and to a memorable meeting with a member of the Royal family in Dubai .  The calibre of several meetings was such that the Australian Trade Commissioners in UAE and Germany attended to act as hosts and introduce ABV,” explained Michael Lynch.

Countries visited by Helen and Michael included Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban in South Africa, Botswana – Gaborone, Mozambique – Maputo; Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE;  Michael returned to CEO duties in Australia as Helen continued on to Frankfurt, Essen and Cologne in Germany and London.  In total six countries and  11 cities were visited and 44 meetings were held during this time.  

As an international Rotarian, Helen was invited to be a key speaker at both the Rotary Club of Frankfurt and Rotary Club of Westminister West (London).  A co-hosted event run by Austrade West Europe and Australian Business in Europe (ABIE) featured a roundtable in Frankfurt attended by a number of European business leaders and chaired by Helen.

“The work of ABV was well received at the various meetings we attended,” said Helen back on Australian soil.  “The flexibility of ABV to tailor programs for different types of industry groups  and senior leaders through to graduates was well noted and the role of ABV programs and personnel in supporting local communities in Southern Africa was welcomed by both government ministries and also mining companies, who have since requested proposals and next steps.   It reinforced that there were potentially some good opportunities for ABV in markets that we traditionally have not worked in before.”

A highlight of the trip was an invitation to attend a Business in the Community (BITC) seminar on Public Reporting Guidelines:  Employee Wellness and Engagement, which was attended by over 200 HR and CSR executives from major UK companies.  This is a hot topic,  as the outcomes of Engagement combined with Wellness enables sustainable employee performance and companies are realizing that this in turn offers better recruitment and retention, better brand image and higher productivity.  ABV Leadership Programs provide similar outcomes and it is useful that companies are now provided with a way of reporting outcomes.   

So where to from here you may ask?

 After their busy trip, there is still much work needed to set up potential partnerships.  Thank you emails and carefully costed proposals have been sent out and then there are regular follow-ups.   A business development professional, Helen is used to doing the ground work it takes to make partnerships a reality.  “Our experience tells us that we work on long sales cycles, so the work that is put in today could take some time to come to fruition.  The decision makers that we met need to take our proposals to their CEO’s or Boards, which usually takes much longer than we would hope.  Having been doing this work for a long time I also say it’s like playing the board game Monopoly – the roll of the dice can quickly change the outcome.  One moment you are progressing well and then you pull the ‘go to jail card’ and need to start all over again.  It’s all about developing and growing relationships, persistence and working with the decision makers, who are the best ally and champion for ABV. “

Stay tuned to hear more about ABV’s new partnerships and for more information on how ABV helps businesses to create tomorrow’s leaders and help emerging and developing communities here and abroad see http://www.abv.org.au/corporate/

Aid Review Highlights Importance of Volunteers and Business

Monday, 11 July, 2011

The Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness has shown the importance of volunteers in the development sector.  The report states: 'Australia should integrate business engagement activities into existing AusAID programs, with a focus on leveraging business engagement as a form of aid. For example, the volunteer program involves deploying professional business volunteers overseas. Such approaches could be significantly expanded as a targeted approach to engaging with business, leveraging the intellectual and administrative capacity of business in development activities' (page 228).

Section G (page 228) examines the whole area of aid and volunteers and sees this as the way forward as a cost effective way of working in developing countries and fragile states.

Recommendation 21 deals specifically with corporate social responsibility - 'The power of business should be harnessed and business innovation should be encouraged, including through an annual consultative forum'.

ABV is positioned to take advantage of these suggested initiatives.  Our name says it all - 'Australian Business Volunteers'.

The full report can be downloaded at:  http://www.aidreview.gov.au/report/index.html

Report on Africa from Federal Government recommends ABV

Thursday, 7 July, 2011

ABV is recommended as an important NGO within the Federal Government's 'Inquiry into Australia's Relationship with the Countries of Africa'.  Specifically, recommendation six says:  'AusAID should increase funding for the Australian Business Volunteers program so that it can expand coverage to African countries'.  ABV CEO, Michael Lynch, commented that this was a 'fortuitous event'.  'ABV has been investigating the possibility of work in Africa over the past few months and has sent the International Partnerships Manager, Helen Bird, to look for prospects', he said.  Mr Lynch went on to say that,  'the Consortium with Austraining International in the AVID program also allows us to explore assignments in Africa, so that continent is starting to appear more significantly on our radar.'

It is early days at the moment as the Report now has to go to Parliament for ratification, but ABV is already approaching some of the members of the panel to ensure they are aware of ABV's enthusiasm to work in Southern Africa. 

The report can be found through the following link: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jfadt/africa%2009/report.htm

ABV and IBM Partnership Grows

Thursday, 7 July, 2011

The partnership between IBM and ABV continues to expand with work in more geographic regions and different levels of involvement. 

IBM's Corporate Service Corp (CSC) is still sending groups of IBM staff to developing countries to enhance both the community's growth and IBM's reputation through meaningful development.  The Executive Service Corp takes senior managers and places them in larger cities where the IBM Smart Cities program is utilised to support infrastructure.  Now ABV will also have an input into the Smarter Cities initiative that places IBM volunteers in so called 'first world' countries to improve utilities and other government projects.  ABV will work with IBM in Townsville on this program. 

More information about the relationship is available on the IBM site: 
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/programdetails.html

AVID is Launched

Thursday, 16 June, 2011

The new Federal Government volunteer sending program – AVID – was launch by Foreign Minister Rudd at Parliament House.  AVID (Australian Volunteers for International Development) consists of three major partners, Australian Volunteers International (AVI), the Australian Red Cross and a consortium lead by Austraining International.  ABV is a member of the Consortium and as such maintains its thirty years of work through the AusAID contracts.

‘The Consortium will allow us to continue our ground breaking and professional work in skills exchange with developing countries’ said Michael Lynch, CEO of ABV.  ‘We have always worked closely with Austraining International and we are excited to look for further opportunities to grow ABV through the relationship,’ he said.

Minister Rudd highlighted ABV’s exemplary work in his speech and pointed out the importance of volunteers to Australia’s overall overseas aid package.

AVID will have an overall branding that makes the Australian volunteer more recognizable, rather than as a member of one of the partners.  The same level of assistance overseas will continue but the new program will allow Australians to volunteer for new countries in different regions.  The May Federal Budget has also continued to increase the funds for development with a small increase in the AVID allocation.

Healing Scars Within

Ba Futuru, Timor Leste
Tuesday, 12 April, 2011

Sierra James was a student at Columbia University in 2004 when she decided to look for conflict.

“I wanted something in the middle, not Afghanistan or Iraq. I didn’t want a crazy place but I did want to study how people recovered from conflict,” Sierra said.

Sierra chose Timor Leste and moved to Dili to begin a master’s degree. Initially planning to stay three months, she ended up staying for seven, went back to the US and returned to become one of the founders of a remarkable organisation.

Ba Futuru means “For the Future” in Tetun. From the backyard of a house Sierra shared with friends, Ba Futuru has grown into an organisation with 25 permanent employees and 30 part-time staff and volunteers from countries including Australia, the USA, England, Sweden, Nepal, Austria and Singapore.

“I was an artist and did some painting in our backyard. Two young boys turned up and asked if they could do some painting.”

Within a few weeks the numbers had grown to eventually contain teenagers and children from three to 17 years. Sierra realised she was contributing something to children and youth, many of who were at risk and suffering from the effects of the past conflict within the country.

Some of the school age children were suffering from what Sierra called “Cinderella syndrome.”

They had been sent to Dili to stay with their extended family and in many cases were forced to do all the household work and were exploited in other ways.

Though it had been founded in 2004 Ba Futuru struggled to raise funds.

The internal upraising in 2006 saw more than 150,000 people flee their homes to escape violence.

Camps were set up throughout Dili and in other cities to handle what were in reality refugees in their own country, but called by the United Nations and others organisation Internally Displaced Persons.

The shooting finally ceased to be replaced by youth gangs who roamed streets of Dili burning houses, looting and fighting with each other.

Suddenly everybody wanted to know ways of helping 150,000 people who clearly were victims of conflict.

Money started to flow to Ba Futuru and the organisation worked with others in the IDP camps and eventually throughout the country.

Ba Futuru began work building a culture of peace and non-violence by providing people with skills and knowledge necessary to create a positive future.

The rapid expansion of the organisation presented a need for increased financial control, general administration and systems improvement.

“We appealed to Australian Business Volunteers for help and ABV volunteers have played a major role in our successful development.

“Tony Carr from Victoria came in 2009 and guided us on basic financial management.

“Then last year we had Fran Healy from Tasmania who set up programs on development, governance and administration and Ron and Judy Taylor from Phegans Bay in NSW who further developed Tony’s initial finance work.

“These volunteers have also assisted in organisational governance, building capacity on grant writing and staff management.

“We are now at the stage where our financial control is at the highest level and annually audited which has helped us to get longer term grants to provide essential programs for vulnerable populations.”

Ba Futuru has now provided opportunities to 20,000 conflict affected young people to develop their skills through artistic workshops on conflict resolution, human rights and civic education.

The organisation has provided training in child protection, children’s rights and non violent discipline to more than 1,000 parents, teachers, orphanage staff and community leaders.

Other non government organisations and several departments from the Timor Leste Government itself also call upon Ba Futuru to conduct workshops for their staff.

The emphasis is now on training youth and community leaders throughout the country.

“Once you learn about conflict resolution you can work out how to do this in your personal and community life.

“Unless the cycle of violence can be changed it is going to be difficult to move on, “Sierra said. The attempted assassination of President Jose Ramos Horta in 2008 lead to martial law being enforced with curfews and restrictions.

“As a peace advocate it is hard for me to admit, but this period of martial law brought a sense of law and order to Dili,” Sierra said.

Ba Futuru is working to ensure that this sense continues throughout the country so that in time those suffering from trauma as a result of the many conflicts in the country can hopefully return to normal life.

Words by Gary Evans

Profile of a Good Corporate Citizen

IBM’s Andrew Hocking explains what the vendor giant does to improve the disadvantaged world
Tuesday, 14 December, 2010

ARN recently ran a series of features on corporate social responsibility (online version can be read here) in its print magazine. We spoke to a number of ‘good’ businesses in the process of putting those features together, and in the interest of giving more detail about the philanthropic work of these companies, and what drives them to do it. As an added online-only bonus, we are putting up a series of profile interviews with each of those companies. First up is IBM's local head of its corporate citizenship program, manager of corporate citizenship and affairs, Andrew Hocking.

IBM’s major citizenship program is in providing its staff to NGO work in developing countries. It’s a major investment that is a six month training, execution, and debriefing process for any staff member that participates, but as I found, the value it brings IBM is many times the raw investment.

So what is the goal in regards to IBM’s corporate citizenship program?

Andrew Hocking (AH): The whole goal of the program is mainly a development of future and emerging leaders program and it’s a very involved process. We take teams of anywhere from 10 to 14 from diverse geographies and they then go for a period of one month in what we would call an emerging market to work with a range of community partners around economic, social and environmental type projects.

And it’s about making an impact with those locals by receiving consulting expertise and services, but it’s also about our employees enriching their skill sets working in those unique geographies with diverse cultures and going to a country which is very different from your own.

And also, from IBM’s perspective it gives insight into those new markets, it gives us a footprint in those markets where we develop relationships with a whole range of different partners, and creates hopefully new relationships and potentially new business opportunities for the company in that new footprint.

How many Australian IBM staff have gone through the program?

AH: It’s probably around 40.

How does the selection process work, in regards to what projects IBM will involve itself with?

AH: We work with our NGO partners and we use our business insights to identify where there is a real community need and where there is a potential opportunity to enter into new markets. We also work with our Australian business volunteers to look for those partners that are reliable, respected and we know that we can identify meaningful projects and utilize our people to get the best outcomes.

What are some of the challenges that the staff can come across when they are working in these regions?

AH: All sorts of things. A person from Australia might be used to broadband internet, electricity 24/7 and an environment where the hotels are of good standard, but not perhaps like home.

There the electricity might go off for three hours during the day, internet access is minimal in spots, public transport can be a challenge, there are all of those kinds of issues that pop up and that is where we work very closely with our partners to obviously you know, circumvent and as part of the education process to get people going.

There’s also the cultural issues and just getting used to the new culture. For instance, There’s a lady who went to Nigeria and found there’s different classes of VIP’s, there’s very important people and then there’s VVIP; they are very, very important people, and there’s very, very, very important people. Now there’s a hierarchy which you need to understand to get things done.

When it comes to dealing with NGO’s, is it different with a typical engagement as I a commercial business partner?

AH: Yeah, and in dealing with the different types of sectors it might vary within themselves too. Government often varies from around a small or not-for-profit, to a Chamber of Commerce type organisation, so there are definitely a different way of approaching things. We’re not trying to sell them anything, we’re trying to work with them to accomplish something, so that’s always a different experience.

So what would you say would be the best way to go about effectively engaging with an NGO?

AH: Having the reputation that a company has in a country makes a huge difference. The not-for-profit knows that IBM has a long history of being a good corporate citizen, they’re not a short-term partner that we are a reliable organisation with integrity that really helps us build up the trust. And that’s why investing in corporate social responsibility is really important because it gives you the reputation, your brand and your record, which gives you the right and the privilege to have conversations with a range of not-for-profit partners.

Article writen by Mathew Sainsbury for ARN, 10 December 2010 12:34

Original article can be accessed at http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/370920/profile_good_corporate_citizen_pt_1_ibm/?rid=-100

AGM

Monday, 15 November, 2010

Monday 15 November – The ABV Annual General Meeting was held today in the Canberra office.

The meeting was attended by 12 individuals representing incoming and outgoing Non-Executive Directors, as well as Board secretary and CEO Michael Lynch.

Formalities included David Bailey retaining his position as Chair.

Long serving members Terry Hurlock and Sue Ward also stood down having completed their terms on the Board. Their contribution to ABV was acknowledged by all present.

In addition to the recent voting process, the Board has appointed three new members following a competitive selection process.

These places were filled using Constitution clause 36 where it says that a number of Directors can be selected from a pool of candidates or appointed by the outgoing Board as required

The purpose of doing so has been to strengthen the Board and fill perceived skill gaps.

With that said, ABV welcomes Jonathan Pinshaw, Sarah Christensen and Fiona Jolly to the Board.

Jonathan is currently serving as a Director of Burger Kings New Zealand and Chairman of Super A-Mart. He also brings 30 years executive leadership experience from the competitive retail sector.

Sarah is a lawyer with over 20 years experience in the areas of contract negotiation, finance and corporate governance. Currently working as the Director or Sarjan Consulting, Sarah has also held senior positions including Head of Legal and Compliance at MacarthurCook.

Fiona is also a qualified lawyer and the CEO of the Advertising Standards Bureau. Fiona brings significant regulatory experience in the innovative environments of advertising, broadcasting and telecommunications, food and superannuation.