Amanda Bowman: Employee Engagement in Disaster Response – It Can be Done
I was last in New Orleans in 1998 – long before Katrina devastated the city and from a personal perspective, when my two teenage daughters were still toddlers. This time, I was in town earlier this month to participate in a meeting of the Global Corporate Volunteer Council. Nearly 20 managers responsible for their companies’ […]
Clare Melford: A focus on ‘responsible marketing’ with the Bailey Review
As a former MTV executive, I was very interested to read about the Bailey Review (‘Letting Children be Children’), published in the UK media last week. It recommends inter alia that music videos should have age ratings to protect children from sexual images and lyrics. Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of Mothers’ Union, has led a […]
Stephen Farrant and Shivvy Jervis: We Need a Green ‘Innovation Revolution’ for Business to be Truly Sustainable
It’s a straightforward premise really – in the longer run, all business has to be environmentally sustainable or the laws of science will take over. We believe there is a clear and compelling business case for energy-intensive businesses to put environmental responsibility and resource efficiency on their core agenda now. And with the operating environment […]
Désirée Abrahams: Human Rights Impact Assessments are Like a Promising School Band
Last week, I attended the 31st International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Conference, held in the stunning, colonial Méxican city of Puebla. I was honoured to be invited to this amazing conference; not only to listen and learn from those working at all levels in the impact assessment (IA) field but also because the session […]
Driving and Supporting Effective and Systemic Multi-Sector Collaboration
Nearly two decades ago, the UN’s Rio Declaration had the goal of “establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new levels of cooperation among States, key sectors of societies and people”. And then a decade ago, the major outcome of the Johannesburg follow-up Summit (Rio+10) was around the launching of 350 […]
Sharon D’Agostino: Looking Past the Data to See the Face of Motherhood
Often, people committed to global health are surrounded by statistics – and it can be easy for numbers to lose their meaning. Our work on maternal and child health issues has shown me staggering gaps in the quality of life for women and children around the world, but even I sometimes have trouble putting data […]
Salvaging the Big Society. A Ten-point Plan
I would like to warmly congratulate David Grayson and David Harrison on their analysis of the Big Society and their subsequent proposals to develop a more widespread understanding, acceptance and, where appropriate, implementation of this agenda. Whilst the Big Society is a political initiative, many of the underpinning policies and ideas envisage a better partnership […]
Joe Phelan and Olive Boles: 10 ways to engage the private sector in health
Investing in the health of women and children is not only the right thing to do, it also builds stable, peaceful and productive societies. It reduces poverty, stimulates economic growth, is cost-effective and crucially, helps women and children realise their fundamental human rights. In September last year, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched “Every Woman […]
Trevor Manuel
Trevor Manuel, Minister of Planning, South Africa from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo. Speaking at Financing Business Innovation for Africa’s Development: Challenges and Solutions 5 May, 2011, Cape Town Co-hosted by Business Action for Africa, Business Call to Action and partners. For more information visit: snipbfp.org/capetownevents
Thierry Tanoh, IFC and Ian Solomon, World Bank
Thierry Tanoh, IFC and Ian Solomon, World Bank from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo. Thierry Tanoh, Vice President for Sub Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe, International Finance Corporation Ian Solomon, US Executive Director, World Bank Speaking at Financing Business Innovation for Africa’s Development: Challenges and Solutions 5 May, 2011, Cape […]
Announcing Next Billion's New E-book: THE Big IDEA: Global Spread of Affordable Housing
About a year ago, NextBillion teamed up with one of our Content Partners, Ashoka, for a Twitter chat. Our mission: Unearth the overlapping challenges and the market solutions to affordable housing for the world’s low-income consumers and producers. We were soon buried in data. The discussion was lively, and as much as we tried to […]
Announcing Next Billion’s New E-book: THE Big IDEA: Global Spread of Affordable Housing
About a year ago, NextBillion teamed up with one of our Content Partners, Ashoka, for a Twitter chat. Our mission: Unearth the overlapping challenges and the market solutions to affordable housing for the world’s low-income consumers and producers. We were soon buried in data. The discussion was lively, and as much as we tried to […]
Joe Phelan: India’s difficulty with being good
For the past two weeks, I’ve been working with Apeejay Surrendra – a privately owned Indian conglomerate – to launch their new India Volunteer Awards. “The purpose is to encourage volunteering and volunteer engaging organisations – corporate and NGO – across India,” says Shalab Sahai, founder of iVolunteer, a partner in the awards. Multinational companies […]
Jessica Scholl: To Divest or Not to Divest? – Doing Business in High-Risk Zones
As events rapidly unfold in the Arab World, the plight of business has been woefully under-reported. Companies with operations or investments in the region are finding themselves embroiled in morally, and often times legally, ambiguous situations. Political uncertainty further complicates the scenario, often requiring different policies to address unique circumstances. From the relatively peaceful to […]
Clare Melford: Inspired Leadership – Towards a Sustainable World
The number of Americans who believe that the free market economy is the best economic system is in free fall, a recent poll from GlobeScan shows. Tracking opinions from 2002 and across 25 countries, the poll shows that many emerging economies now surpass the USA in feeling positive about the free market system! Americans rated […]
IBLF – Report launch: 'Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World'
IBLF – Report launch: ‘Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World’ from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo. Sir Stuart Rose, former CEO and Chairman of leading retailer Marks & Spencer is interviewed by Mark Foster, Chairman of IBLF at an event launching the new report ‘Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World’. The landmark report – jointly […]
IBLF – Report launch: ‘Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World’
IBLF – Report launch: ‘Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World’ from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo. Sir Stuart Rose, former CEO and Chairman of leading retailer Marks & Spencer is interviewed by Mark Foster, Chairman of IBLF at an event launching the new report ‘Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World’. The landmark report – jointly […]
Brook Horowitz: Corporate Culture that Has Less Vertical Power
The simultaneous visit to Moscow last month of two of the world’s most senior anti-corruption regulators highlights the attention governments are devoting to fighting corruption and the challenges they face in some of the biggest emerging markets. Lanny Breuer, head of the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal division, which manages the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and […]
Joe Phelan: Rolling up Sleeves for Development
In the world’s top corporate boardrooms, its lecture theatres and in the planning sessions of think tanks and development agencies such as my own, much is made of uncovering new business solutions for development challenges. Inclusive innovation is the current buzz. This is important work. Today, in rural Maharastra, India, I was reminded of another […]
Clare Melford: Japan Crisis: What is the Role of Business in disaster Response?
In one of the most dramatic pictures of earthquake and tsunami-hit Japan, a man is shown to pick his way through wreckage and over downed cables on his way to another shelter. He is not looking for his family, but for the 50 employees of the company he built and ran that was literally swept […]