Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

Report on CSR opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

Submitted to:M NAZMUL AHSAN KHAN

Faculty of BusinessAmerican International University – Bangladesh

Course: Strategic Management

American International University – Bangladesh

Date: 10 October, 2010

Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

At a glance of Banglalink: Banglalink is the second largest cellular service provider in Bangladesh. Banglalink currently has 14.22 million subscribers as of march 2010, representing a market share of 26%. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Telecom.

Banglalink’s objectives for CSR activities:

To develop a positive image among the people & government of Bangladesh- as a consistent contributor to-

Country’s development Social welfare

Major CSR platforms for Banglalink-

Long Term platforms Tourism Post Disaster Rehabilitation

Short term need based activities.

Tourism:

For the development of Bangladesh tourism, Banglalink is consistently contributing in the tourism sector. In broad heads, the activities include;

Becoming the official nominee supporter for Cox’s Bazar in New 7 wonders campaign and running a 5 month long well integrated ATL and BTL campaign, sponsoring the long waited Country Branding Launching Event, the 1st ever tourism photography competition and exhibition, Kuakata Sagar Utshab, Banglalink Dhaka Tourism Fair, Banglalink Round Table Conference of “immediate Need for the Development of Tourism, Banglalink Round Table Conference of “Immediate Steps to be taken for new 7 wonders Nature Campaign in Bangladesh”, International coastal cleanup day etc and Cox’s Bazar beach cleaning project.

Our recent crisis:

Bangladesh is divided administratively into 6 divisions, 64 districts and 460 upazilas. The cyclone Sidr has affected 30 of the districts, mainly in the southern part of the country, as well as offshore islands: nearly all districts have been affected by seasonal floods or cyclone or both.

Cyclone Sidr developed over the Bay of Bengal and made landfall on 15 November 2007 in the coastal areas of Bangladesh with winds of up to 250 Km/hr and associated tidal surges.More than seven million people had been affected, of which 3363 have died. These figures could still be conservative and may rise as more remote areas are reached. Disaster preparedness may have had an important mitigating effect as 3.2 million people were evacuated from the coastal areas. The cyclone has caused severe storm-damage to domestic dwellings (greater than one million have been partially or totally destroyed), roads, communication and other essential service infrastructure. Such damage will hinder and complicate assessment and response efforts.

Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

What happened after Cyclone SIDR:

Government has classified four districts as ‘worst’ affected – Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur and eight districts as ‘badly’ affected – Khulna, Madaripur, Sariatpur, Barisal, Bhola, Satkhira, Jhalakathi and Gopalganj of the total 30 affected districts. Total damage has been estimated to 1.6 billion US dollars.

The Government of Bangladesh has announced that relief priorities are providing adequate food, safe drinking-water and shelter to the affected people. Health issues are of major concern in districts affected by the cyclone. Major health problems in Bangladesh, which could worsen by this crisis, relate to communicable diseases, which still dominate, and malnutrition, especially in children.

Damage and losses were concentrated on the housing sector (BDT 55.7 billion, or 49% of the total), productive sectors (33.8 billion and on public sector infrastructure BDT 17.5 billion or 16%). Most affected sectors were housing, agriculture, transport, water control structures education and industry.

DISASTER Cyclone SIDRYear 2007

No. AffectedDistrict 30Upazila 200People 89,23,259

Crops damaged Fully(Acre) 7,43,322Crops damage Partially (Acre) 1,73,0317No. of House damage Fully 5,64,967No. of House Damage(Partially) 9,57,110No. of Dead People 3,363No. of Dead Livestock 1,77,8507No. of Damage Institution(Fully) 4,231No. of Damage Institution(Partially) 12,723Road Damage Fully (Km) 1,714Road Damage Partially (km) 6,361

We have to act now because:

The effects of the disaster were highly concentrated in the districts of Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Barguna and Bagerhat. Preliminary estimates indicate that overall economic growth in the country will be affected by less than 1 percent. Poverty, which is very high in the affected area – will be exacerbated due to the losses caused by the disaster. It is estimated that a total of 567,000 persons lost income and employment in the affected districts.

Reconstructing infrastructure and recovering the economy of the affected areas necessitates a multi pronged approach that restores assets and protects the most vulnerable members of the society for future calamities.

Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

Disaster Relief Activities:

Banglalink has been repeatedly contributing with relief materials and donations at the time of national crisis. In broad heads, the activities include:

Foundation stone laying Ceremony of “Din Bodoler Gram” at Bagerhat, where Banglalink is going to be building an ideal village for families devastated by Hurricane SIDR with the donation of BDT. 3.5crores (USD 0.5 million) of OTH Chairman Mr. Naguib Sawris.

Contribution to Prime Minister’s Flood Relief and Welfare Fund for Flood victim.

Recommendations on our crisis:

Problems faced:

The following problems were faced after cyclone Sidr passed through our country.

The total number of shelters was not enough to hold the evacuated population. More than 65 percent of all shelters had no provision for the special needs of women. Almost 100 percent had no facilities for people with disabilities. 75 percent of shelters surveyed had no provision for storage of water. 80 percent made no provision for the shelter of livestock 87 percent of all shelters surveyed had some structural vulnerability. Little or no effects were made to preserve drinking water Preparedness measures for protection and restoration of power and

telecommunication was inadequate.

The strategy for short term recovery is to take care of the immediate needs arising from the humanitarian phase, while building a foundation for medium to long term interventions. Immediate needs arising from humanitarian relief phase are:

Food security Cash Shelter Medical support

Once immediate needs are met, reconstruction of infrastructures i.e. housing, embankments, roads, and recovery of agriculture, industries and commerce needs to occur. The medium to long term recovery and reconstruction is based upon a comprehensive strategy to reconstruct better and recover the economy in a sustainable manner by applying a strategy of protection that reduces exposure to climate risks and adaptation that enhances coping ability.

Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected area

Actions to be taken:

Short Term:

Relief materials to the worst-hit regions of Hurricane Sidr. A convoy of 10 trucks containing essentials such as rice, lentils, chira and oral saline will be handed to the Voluntary Agencies at Barisal and Bagerhat for onward dispatch to the most remote and worst hit areas.

Banglalink’s SMS based donation campaign in order to provide a convenient and practical option for people from all walks of life to offer their contributions. Each SMS will send to a short-code 1010 will be charged Tk.l0 and all proceeds to be contributed to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

Banglalink desh music fest at Dhaka and Chittagong for SIDR victims. Contribution of Banglalink’s employees to Prime Minister’s Flood Relief and Welfare

Fund for Flood victim.

Actions will be taken immediately according the strategies to overcome the current situation. And still couple of actions is going on to overcome the situation.

Long Term:

“Notun Surjo Notun Hashi” - a new strategy to change the daily life of affected people in Bagerhat. Under this project we plan to set up different types of dairy farm, poultry farm & fishery.

Agriculture - supply of seeds and fertilizers to the farmers of the affected districts to overcome the agricultural losses.

Planning of “Din Bodoler Gram” at Bagerhat, where Banglalink is going to building an ideal village for families devastated by Hurricane SIDR with the donation of BDT. 3.5crores (USD 0.5 million) of Orascom Telecom.

“Notun Surjo Notun Hashi” – under this project, there will be dairy farm, poultry farm & fish hatchery which will be in the different affected areas. In the affected areas there is a huge employment crisis. In the first phase the plan is to employ 2000 people from different families. And a good salary will be disbursed. An active member from each family will be recruited for those farms. There will be a management system for each farm to operate those farms. The production of the farms like milk, egg, fish and others will be sold with a reasonable price to people of affected areas which can fill up the nutrition gap & food crisis. And surplus production will be sold to the other areas. By this revenue all the expenses will be met up.

Agriculture – seed and fertilizer will be supplied to increase the fertility of the affected land. It will be distributed to the affected areas and will be given various tips and suggestion to fertile the land. If the farmers can grow their crop then the light will come and they can smile again.

Fishery – All the unused ponds and cannels will be used.

These steps are to keep the country moving as before and to stand up against the natural disasters and to take precautionary steps to reduce the after effects of natural disasters in future.

Banglalink’s Public Relations & Communications dept. will be involved in the CSR activities for SIDR affected people.

Report on CSR Opportunity for Banglalink in the SIDR affected areaCSR STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING SIDR CRISIS

Initial needs and priorities Short-term Long-termNov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov <

Need For Relief Cost With association of Area                            

Food

Supply of Rice, Lentils, Chira,

Water BDT. 75,00,000/-Voluntary Agencies

Barisal and Bagerhat

    

Installation of Tubewell

Voluntary Agencies Bagerhat           

 

CashCash provided to severely affected

districts

Fund raised by Banglalink

employees+SMS campaign fund

PM’s Flood Relief, Welfare Fund for

Flood victim

Bagerhat, Barishal, Pirojpur,

Patuakhali, Jhalokathi    

 

ShelterMoving the cyclone victims to shelters

BDT. 50,00,000/- Voluntary Agencies

Bagerhat, Barishal, Pirojpur,

Patuakhali, Jhalokathi    

 

MedicinesOral Saline & other

medicinesBDT. 50,00,000/- Voluntary Agencies

Barisal and Bagerhat      

 

HousingDevelopment and

rehabilitationBDT. 3.5 Crores

(OTC Fund)+

BDT. 2 Crores(BL Fund)

Ministry of Land,Voluntary Agencies

Bagerhat                            

AgricultureProvide seeds,

fertilizersArea farmers,

Agriculture officer

Bagerhat, Barishal, Pirojpur,

Patuakhali, Jhalokathi

                       

“Notun Surjo Notun Hashi”

Dairy farm, Poultry farm, Fishery

Voluntary Agencies Bagerhat                            

Fund Raising Activities: >Organize Banglalink “desh Music Fest” at Dhaka & Chittagong to raise fund for the Sidr affected people.>SMS based donation campaign.>Fund raises by Banglalink employees for SIDR victims.Other Activities:>Special programs for farmers for overcoming current situation and recover crops.

Source of information:

Banglalink, 2007, “Annual Report-2007” Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, February-2008 “SUPERCYCLONE SIDR2007 -Impacts and Strategies for Interventions” Government of Bangladesh assisted by the World Bank, the United Nations and the International Development Community with financial support of the European Commission, February

2008,” Damage, Loss and Needs Assessment For Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction”. Websites/Online articles:

o www.news.bdinside.net/start.php?subaction=showfull&id=1199689492&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&&date=12-2005o www.nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/03/14/news0086.htmo www.unicef.org/emerg/bangladesh_41830.html