transforming the social ecosystem climate change and the urban environment engaging youth for

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2010Issue Three

Transforming The social ecosysTem

climaTe change and The Urban environmenT

engaging yoUTh for Tomorrow

beyond corporaTe social responsibiliTy

iLEAP is a Professional Course for Non-profit Leaders and senior management to address issues of management, leadership and competency concerning the achievement of organisational goals and visions of their respective organisations. Tapping on its unique translational and experiential approach, it is designed for participants from various sectors.

SkILLS / ThEmESSocIAL

EnvIronmEnTSTEwArdShIP &

GovErnAncEmAnAGEmEnT

STrATEGIcLEAdErShIP

• TheNon-profit Environment

• BalancingOrganisational & Social Objectives

• EthicsandGovernance

• Financial Management• StrategicPlanning• NewSocialModels

EnGAGInGPEoPLE

• Leadership • Board Effectiveness

• Values-drivenNegotiation

• TalentManagement

EnSUrInGSUSTAInABILITY

• CrossSectorCollaboration

• Branding

• Fundraising • MeasuringSocialImpact

Ideal for: Executive Directors and Chief Executive Officers, senior staff and administrators of non-profits from social and health services, community development, education, art and the environment.

Course runs from 14 January-29 April 2011.

For more information and to register, please log on to www.lcsi.smu.edu.sg. VCF subsidy available for eligible participants.

14Modules,onceaweek,•spreadover14weeks

12 “on-site” case studies for •experiential learning

17 subject-matter facilitators•

35 thought and practice leaders•

20 over coursemates to foster •newcollaborations

CURRICULUM ARCHITECTURE

Contents

tHe neW BUsIness PARADIGM20 Socially Responsible Investment in Asia - Geoffrey Williams28 Discovering the Asian Form of Corporate Social Responsibility - Bindu Sharma36 Contextualising CSR: Multi-stakeholder Approaches to Development Initiatives in Southeast Asia - Christine Davis

& Stephanie Soderborg44 Business Solutions to Global Challenges - Richard Welford48 Corporate Social Innovation - Jared Tham

20 28 36

neW MICRoFInAnCe InItIAtIVes58 Indian Microfinance: Swimming Fully Clothed! - Eric Savage, Abhijit Ray & Abhishek Fogla64 Microfinance For Migrant Workers: Asia’s Next New Market Opportunity? - Patsian Low

RURAL AnD URBAn InnoVAtIon74 Water and Knowledge Management in Vietnam: Understanding the Mekong Basin - Thomas Menkhoff,

Solvay Gerke & Hans-Dieter Evers80 Social Innovation and The City: What is the Connection Between Social Innovation and Urban Innovation...

and Why Does it Matter? - Martin Stewart-Weeks84 “Eco-Cities” and “Sustainable Cities” - Whither? - Koh Kheng Lian, Asanga Gunawansa & Lovleen Bhullar

74 80 84

44

InteRVIeWs06 Storytellers as Philanthropic Champions - Claire Chiang10 Civil Society Sector & Political Change - Catherine Lim14 Of Modest Giving, Community Values & Social Change - Hsieh Fu Hua

2010Issue Three

YoUtH enGAGeMent In tHe soCIAL sPACe94 Rethinking Community-Service Education in Singapore Schools - Chua Cheng Chye98 Uncovering The Dirty Secrets of a Food Paradise - Young Journalists Go Undercover - Estelle Low & Miak Aw

soCIAL InnoVAtIon MosAIC104 Transitions Within The Ecosystem of Change - Willie Cheng114 Friendship’s 3-Tier Healthcare System: An Innovative Approach to Delivering Healthcare to Geographically and

Socially Remote Areas - Runa Khan120 Media and the Nonprofit World - A Case study on WWF-Malaysia’s Use of Media Tools to Champion Advocacy -

Anita Devasahayam

104 114 120

on tHe WILD sIDe154 Don’t Do Good! - Fredrik Härén

LIen CentRe FoR soCIAL InnoVAtIon UPDAte128 Highlights of the Start-Up Years

ThE LIEN i3 ChALLENGE WINNERS

132 APOPO - Building a Rats-Based Detection Technology with the Capacity to Detect Landmines136 GOONJ - Turning City Waste into Useful Materials138 Green Earth Concepts - Barrett Steam Pump140 Habitat for Humanity - Interlocking Bricks142 International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) - Criminal Defence Training146 Mira - Intermediary for Micro-Philanthropy148 Shilpa Sayura Foundation - The Shilpa Sayura e-School150 Ngee Ann Polytechnic Students - Intelligent Walking Aid

132 136 140 148

Dr Tan Chi Chiu

Dr Tan Chi Chiu is a gastroenterologist and board member of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, Sata CommHealth and National Youth Achievement Awards. He is an elected member of the Singapore Medical Council & chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee. He is active in global humanitarian work through leading disaster relief missions overseas. He is the chief editor of Social Space 2010.

eDItoRIAL

Social Space 2010 covers a number of themes. Firstly it celebrates a milestone for Lien Centre for Social Innovation, as 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Centre. Social Space itself has become one of our most important platforms for sharing

of ideas for innovation in civil society and from our feedback it has been very well received by our readers. We include a review of the achievements of the Centre over the past five years, highlighting the research conducted, our various platforms for exchange of ideas and our work in catalysing social innovation initiatives. Of the latter, one of our most dynamic programmes has been the Lien i3 Challenge, a global competition for the most innovative ideas that impact communities in Asia. The outcome of this programme is featured in this edition.

Secondly, climate change and the environment have been very much in the forefront of global concerns. Amelioration strategies for global warming are contentious, with every country looking first to their short term national interests before worrying about the fate of civilisation. It was no surprise, therefore, that the long-anticipated UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, which held out the best hope for global unity in addressing carbon emissions, degenerated into chaos and resulted only in a largely symbolic Copenhagen Accord that was long on rhetoric but short on tangible binding commitments from member countries. Perhaps the solution is more promising at a local level, bringing emphasis back to the cities, which owing to their density, offer the best and most efficient opportunity to have an impact on global warming gas

emissions and where it is thought possible to craft strategies for large scale mitigation. Reflective of this promise, a number of articles elaborate on urban innovation and eco-cities that may be the future of urban development.

Finally, we reflected on the concern of our keynote speaker Mr Ho Kwon Ping, at the launch of Social Space 2009, that corporations and the youth of society were abysmally represented on the floor of our ‘Think-Fest’ panel discussion and dialogue session. His learned view, which we agree with, is that corporations have the greatest economic muscle to make significant leaps in social transformation, if only they internalised the values of corporate social responsibility and expressed this innovatively through their businesses. At the same time, everything is almost too late, if the youth of the world are not guided to temper their mercantilist tendencies, imbibe community values and develop the attitude of placing societal good first. Hence, we have included articles that elaborate on how corporations can move beyond CSR to embrace their responsibilities to their communities, an article that speaks of the need to rethink community education in schools and a wonderful piece by a couple of young trainee journalists who demonstrate the best in idealistic insurgent activism for the good of society. If a new generation of global citizens can keep the unmet needs of the world closest to their hearts, there is considerable hope for mankind’s future.

eDItoRIALEdIToRIAL TEAm:

Chief EditorDr Tan Chi Chiu

deputy EditorVinita Ramani Mohan

membersWillie ChengRobert ChewJared ThamSharifah Maisharah

dISCLAImER:Social Space is a publication of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at SMU. The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the Lien Centre. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without the prior written permission of the Lien Centre. All Rights Reserved 2010.

LIEN CENTRE foR SoCIAL INNovATIoN9th Floor, Administration Building81 Victoria StreetSingapore 188065Tel: +65 6828 0821Fax: +65 6828 0711Email: [email protected]: www.lcsi.smu.edu.sg

dESIGN ANd PRoduCTIoN:Equity Communications Pte Ltd

ISSN: 1793-7809

InteRVIeWs

stoRYteLLeRs As PHILAntHRoPIC CHAMPIonsAn Interview with Claire Chiang

SS: To start with the basics, how do we encourage companies to value giving?

CC: Storytelling is very important. I think we lack the skills to script a holistic story about the compassionate dollar. For example, we are short of millions of dollars to eradicate the polio virus.1 The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave US$355 million in 2009 towards the cause. Rotary International pledged to raise US$200 million in matching funds within 3 years. They are at about US$100 million now. This programme is being managed by Rotary International, along with many partners including the World Health Organisation.

It’s a public health threat in that if it affects one child, it has the ability to affect many more. So right there, you have a good story, a good cause and good champions in Bill and Melinda Gates. Then you have the infrastructure, which is the Rotary International with about 33,000 members. In Singapore,

the rotary clubs organised an event to raise funds, which 300 Rotarians attended. At the same time, a private donor has agreed to match whatever we raised collectively with a 20% donation. So in any endeavour to encourage people to part with their dollar, you need these three elements – a compelling story, credible champions and infrastructural support.

SS: So do you believe that we have to move towards cause-driven philanthropy?

CC: Absolutely. So for example, it can be energy and the environment; or it can be poverty, or disabilities. That focus is critical.

SS: The Community foundation, which is run by the National volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NvPC), channels the donations of high net-worth individuals in Singapore to relevant causes donors wish to support. do you think this model works?

Interviews

Singapore’s charity sector is undergoing significant changes to enhance management quality, accountability and transparency. But despite these positive changes, Ms Claire Chiang, entrepreneur and philanthropist, argues that Singapore also needs to cultivate a more visionary and global approach to philanthropy. She shares with Social Space her thoughts on storytelling and the need for mentors to champion the most urgent causes of the day.

Claire Chiang

Ms Claire Chiang is Senior Vice President of Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd and Chairperson of Banyan Tree Global Foundation. Her role involves directing and guiding the continual process of Banyan Tree Holding’s overall commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. She also sits on the Global Governing Board of Caux Round Table (CRT), where she is Vice-Chair for Asia.

6 Lien Centre for Social Innovation

CC: There are philanthropists who really don’t care to be in control, to administer and manage the running of a foundation. These are people who should give their contributions to a central depository of this kind. They want to give it to a general vehicle because it’s audited and it is transparent. There are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have a team of 20 people, but they make good money, or they have a giving culture. If they decide to give it to a general vehicle, that is also good. On the other hand, some people have a more sophisticated understanding of meaningful philanthropy. So they want to align what they give with what they are actually doing and they want to carefully decide whether they can contribute in kind, in services, in an advisory capacity and so on. So I don’t think a centralised foundation or vehicle should be the only model out there. I think there’s space for every institution of giving. I call it the “giving culture” or giving institutions.

SS: do you think such giving is motivated by a truly philanthropic spirit, or is it good for an individual’s or company’s image?

CC: Singaporean companies are generous, including the small companies. They do not give donations merely as a public relations move. I personally donate my own money and our company is acknowledged. There are many people who also give anonymously. There are different kinds of giving behaviour. Some do not give money, but their time and resources. I do not second-guess people’s motivations. For me, every gesture and every dollar counts. It is always a step in the right direction to nurture the giving culture.

SS: The National Council of Social Service’s (NCSS) model is to cover a broad range of unmet social needs. do you think that model is out-dated?

CC: The NCSS is not a philanthropic body. It focuses on serving the professional needs of social services so that these organisations can offer enhanced services. It coordinates social services, but it does not coordinate philanthropy. It raises funds through the Community Chest and both are government-run. So a closer equivalent of a philanthropic body is the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

SS: do you think it is best for the NCSS and Community Chest to be run by government, rather than the civil or social sector?

CC: People donate to the Community Chest because it has a long history and therefore, a long-running tradition of garnering support through donations.

It is audited, it is safe and dependable. They also have very stringent criteria in terms of which organisations they help, how they provide assistance and the amount given. The causes are focused on the needy and vulnerable. Accountability is a big issue and their report book has to be reviewed because of a number of bad hats. As a result of the recent charity scandals in Singapore, people are more mindful now about whom they are giving their dollar to. Some review annual reports and note the members of the board of organisations before they give. So if it is run by civil bodies, the scrutiny would be even more heightened. I think there would be greater distrust.

SS: But aren’t the recent charity scandals an indication that people were too trusting of such bodies, due to government patronage?

CC: I agree. But I don’t think it will be any more efficient if it goes into hands of civil bodies. The element of building and maintaining trust may not necessarily be higher.

SS: In order for our civil sector to mature, should we not encourage less dependence on government regulation and assistance?

CC: I think there is already evidence of this. There are many family service centres and non-profit organisations that run effective programmes by raising their own funds, through their boards. They go through a hard time doing this. They get some funds from the Community Chest, but it is insufficient. They don’t have the requisite skills to do fund raising because this isn’t their core competence. Their job is to support and create programmes, and energy that is taken away from this compromises the services they provide. So what has to be clear is the nature of the work performed by civil bodies and how we can support that without having them dilute their energies too much by fund raising.

SS: Is it also fair to observe that charities are wary of going beyond the ambit that has been set because they fear they won’t get funding from this centralised source?

CC: Our civil sector is underdeveloped in this regard, yes. But I think we face a greater challenge in growing the sector and allowing it to mature. The potential for growth in Singapore is limited. If you leave it to self-initiating approaches, or you take a laissez-faire approach, without the NCSS and the Community Chest governing the sector, I think the competition might be daunting. Even if I agree in principle with a change in approach, I wonder who these paradigm-changers will be in reality.

Interviews

Lien Centre for Social Innovation 7

I don’t think we have enough people in Singapore to run such institutions at that level. The supply base for such advocates is too small. I also feel that the infrastructure legitimised by the law to start this is absent. We have a lot of international agencies, but they are focused on global issues.

SS: Is this a problem with the size of Singapore and its population?

CC: Yes. The same problem with lack of size and talent pool afflicts both the business and the civil sectors. Take small and medium enterprises for example (SMEs). They feel they have been ignored and they have been complaining about this for decades. But SMEs get a lot of government support. There are a lot of schemes to assist them. To what extent and for how long should we give that support, before we recognise that they are not competitive? Their problems are also with respect to the size of the market and human resources. So I think what applies in the private sector also applies for the non-profit sector.

SS: hasn’t the government characterised SmEs as the future drivers of growth?

CC: Yes, this is true. There are numerous contradictions in that regard. While we want to encourage SMEs, we must ask ourselves whether they are competitive and how long and to what extent we should use taxpayers’ money to support them. Some will die naturally and some should! The same applies for non-profits – some will and have died naturally as well.

SS: What are your observations on how the landscape of giving has changed?

CC: I think civic participation is a lot more creative now. Our government has a lot to achieve in its community building efforts, with the budget set for the purpose. It also has to deliver social expectations which taxpayers wish for. However, the government hesitates to provide everything for the community and in the hopes that Singaporeans will seek and formulate solutions collectively. I think it is the government’s firm belief that by participation and

engagement, Singaporeans will develop a sense of belonging as a nation.

SS: have you seen an expression of greater independence, despite the limits that have been set?

CC: I think the NCSS has evolved. The permission band is fairly wide now. It has opened up in the past decade. If the government doesn’t of itself support a programme, but the Board does, they can still get programme funding. I think what is lacking is board governance. I think there are too many people who sit on boards with no understanding of what the work involves. They don’t attend meetings because it’s a tremendous amount of work and it takes time. I think board members of organisations should go through a governance training programme so that they understand the scope of services that can be implemented: Whose responsibility it is to raise funds; what management is doing and so on. It is no different from running a company. In some instances, a non-profit veers off in a different direction and the Board is unable to rein them in, in which case it is an ineffective body. The culture of treating boards as entities that simply rubber-stamp decisions has to change.

SS: You mentioned champions for causes. do we lack local champions who will take up local and global causes?

CC: I don’t think we’re sophisticated enough to think in an organised manner regarding a global approach to philanthropy. People do it individually in their own small ways. They don’t want to be organised in larger ways.

SS: So what does it take to raise more champions?

CC: At least one hundred years of storytelling! I don’t think we have willing mentors who will give their time to this. Many are engaged in advisory roles, they provide patronage. But we lack cognitive engagement. We do not have activist mentors who work across sectors and agencies. I also think the element of trust is lacking. The general sophistication that is required to understand brokering work for society is absent. So my approach

The tradition of tripartism. People are cynical about it because they see it as co-optation by the government. But the government, non-profit and business sectors works as a tripartite model. I’d rather go in with that model and work at it than stand on the side-lines and do nothing. At this point, I work with NGOs, academics and government on the issue of work-life integration. I think a multi-stakeholder approach is the way forward.

Interviews


is to put aside what government can do, is willing to do and is already doing and take that as given. I feel that my role is to get people or groups to work together, identify different competencies, ‘connect the dots’, if you like, and do the work. I then ask the government if they are willing to get involved.

SS: What can organisations like the Lien Centre for Social Innovation (LCSI) do in this regard?

CC: Every idea you generate takes at least 3 years to come to fruition. So you have to be persistent. You cannot stop. Singapore also needs thought-leadership and facilitation-leadership. That is what LCSI is well-positioned to do. By this I mean the kind of facilitation at an overarching level where like-minded people meet, talk and share in order to avoid duplication of efforts. I also think we need to move away from the existing paradigm where people test the waters before they take up a cause. Too many people want to assess if the agenda has a pre-existing guarantee of support. We also need to learn to leverage and create multipliers. But we tend to be territorial, we create silos. We want to claim credit, we want to be the leader and we want control. People are not willing to do the back-stage, thinking work. We have so many leaders they end up killing each other, so to speak. We don’t have enough proficient followers and doers. I also think the Lien Centre should be a partnership broker.

SS: how do you leverage?

CC: You leverage by knowing who is doing what. A centre like yours can be that facilitating body without needing your name out there. You have to let other people claim the credit. There is not enough

awareness or knowledge out there of who is doing what and for what cause and what the outcomes are, because people do not read annual reports.

SS: What other methods do you think will facilitate this process?

CC: The tradition of tripartism. People are cynical about it because they see it as co-optation by the government. But the government, non-profit and business sectors works as a tripartite model. I’d rather go in with that model and work at it than stand on the side-lines and do nothing. At this point, I work with NGOs, academics and government on the issue of work-life integration. I think a multi-stakeholder approach is the way forward.

SS: finally, what do you foresee for the civil sector? What makes you optimistic?

Claire: The civil sector has become a lot more organised and professionalised. The media has also been covering its activities to create the awareness. I see various groups attempting to develop collaborative models with businesses, government agencies and other NGOS to achieve greater social impact. These are very good signs in that organisations with laudable goals feel they do not need to be alone in achieving community goals. They realise they can work in a more collective manner to achieve bigger goals by aligning their resources to the causes. I’ve also been observing that more Singaporeans are reaching out to regional and global agencies to lend their expertise and offer their resources. I think this is a cause for optimism because it means people are looking beyond their immediate prosperity to what they can give of their time and skills to social causes. I think this phenomenon, in time, will strengthen Singapore’s giving culture.

1 Wild Poliovirus Weekly Update. http://www.polioeradication.org/casecount.asp

Interviews


CIVIL soCIetY seCtoR & PoLItICAL CHAnGeAn Interview with Catherine Lim

SS: has Singapore become a more open society? CL: I think it’s incipient. Things are changing and moving in a positive direction. This has nothing to do with any noble change of mindset on the part of the government. It is the inevitable effect of opening up, which is what the government knows people want. I was surprised to hear the Prime Minister say in January (2010) that he would focus on economic restructuring, addressing demographic changes and “updating the political system.”1 The government is also changing its tack because it knows that the profile of voters has changed. There are many young netizens nowadays and the government knows it has to engage them and win them over. However, it seems to me they are good at giving a semblance of openness without relinquishing much real power. They are not even devious about it! I like them for their honesty and lack of pretense in this respect.

The reason is that our leaders are not comfortable with “mess.” In January (2010), George Yeo made a speech in which he remarked that we must be prepared to have a little bit of messiness.2 This was the first time I have heard a minister say it. But it will still be a controlled mess and for me, that is a mockery. My thesis is this: For the government’s own survival, they need to allow for some disruption, to a degree which they can handle.

As it stands, the environment in this country does not allow for an open discussion of serious matters, let alone disruption. For example, there are no political clubs. In the past we had the Socratic Circle and the Roundtable. Nothing of that kind exists, not even in the universities. There is no foment, no excitement amongst students. To me this apathy is a bad sign because social and political awareness usually begins in the tertiary educational institutions.

Interviews

Singapore is a society undergoing transitions. With a burgeoning migrant community, the advent of integrated resorts with casinos and an arguably increasingly effervescent non-profit, civil society sector, Singapore looks to be a society that is rapidly opening up. Yet, as writer and political commentator Catherine Lim controversially proposes, civil society and non-profit activists cannot create change without getting their voices heard and actively participating in the political process. She shares with Social Space, her thoughts on the indispensable ingredients for openness and political engagement in a society that wants to be truly global.

Catherine Lim

Catherine Lim is a Singaporean writer, poet and political commentator. To date, she has published nine collections of short stories, five novels, two collections of poetry and numerous political commentaries, published in Singapore’s English language daily, The Straits Times. Ms Lim was awarded the Southeast Asia Write Award in 1999 and an Honorary Doctorate in Literature by Murdoch University, Australia in 2000. In 2005 she was appointed an Ambassador for the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation in Copenhagen.


Instead, everything is now on the Internet, which I am wary of, because there is a lot of scurrilous rubbish online under the cover of anonymity.

SS: What are the ingredients needed for society to be more open?

CL: A change of mind-set on the part of the government. The media and the related institutions still take their cue from the government, which alsoneeds to change. As for the general community, there are too few voices to really make an impact.

SS: Since 2007, the Economic development Board has been on a strong drive to woo international non-governmental organisations (INGos) to Singapore. does this spell the flowering of the civil society sector?

CL: My concern is that the growth and development you describe is being seen by people as a general opening up. I take great pains to emphasise that this is not the case. The government might even be happy that this is happening because they can retort to naysayers that we are opening up. I feel things are probably worse than before, in that the government is more perturbed now. If such organisations had a mandate to implement change in Singapore, they would not have been allowed into the country in the first place. People have a calculus, an abacus to measure pros and cons. So such organisations see the pros in this country – the rule of law, favourable tax regime, efficiency, the idea that Singapore honours its word and does a great deal of humanitarian work across the world. This does not go unnoticed by organisations that choose to set up in Singapore.

SS: But if NGos can move fluidly from providing services to advocating for the needy, is this not a form of activism?

CL: First, while they are doing fantastic work, I don’t see the impact on the political arena. In order to be effectual, NGOs have to steer clear of politically sensitive areas. In that respect, I think they are still hampered by the out-of-bounds markers. Second, the government is genuinely concerned about doing things well. So if the non-profit and social service sectors you refer to are identifying lacunae and omissions in existing programmes, the government would appreciate being told that something is amiss. However, this is not political activism. I do believe that the government has great respect for civil organisations and activity. But it draws the line there and insists that such organisations must remain non-political.

SS: Is the civil necessarily political?

CL: The political element is important. You can have any amount of civic activities – for example, the arts, education, and humanitarian work. But as long as you draw a line, a society cannot flourish and create institutions dedicated to self-reform.

SS: What limitations do you see in the current model of governance?

CL: The checks and balances do not belong to the people. The people are told they must make money and be responsible citizens. Presumably, the latter means Singaporeans must “vote responsibly” once every 5 years. The government has also come out to say that if it is found to be corrupt or incompetent, it should be voted out, because it deserves it. At the same time, the current administration knows that the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) cannot exist in its current form indefinitely. The party is engaged in a process of self-renewal, but self-renewal to their image. This leads to the perpetuation of a trusting citizenry that has received no real political education. Trusting power is a terrible thing. You are better off distrusting power in the long-run.

SS: What is the missing piece in the relationship between the government and the people?

CL: The climate of fear is still too prevalent. Self-censorship is prompted by this and it serves the government’s purpose. People are afraid to vote for the opposition because they have sons or daughters with government jobs and they worry they will be jeopardised.

SS: doesn’t this fear presume that our vote is not secret and that our government is unforgiving of citizens who do not vote for them?

CL: Absolutely. I am sure the government is a little bit embarrassed by this perception at this juncture. I am used as an example of political openness because I say what I want to say and nothing happens to me. But the government speaks from the perspective of comparing Singapore to police states where if you say anything to challenge the ruling regime, you are thrown into jail. Singapore is a part of the free world and we should not be comparing ourselves to police states.

SS: What features of practicing democracies do you think Singapore ought to adopt more of its practices from?

Interviews


CL: Institutions of self-reform, as I call them. First, we need greater press freedom. Second, we should have the right to freedom of assembly and demonstration. We should even allow things like political cartooning.

SS: Why is the right to demonstrate important?

CL: It is people’s way of expressing sentiments and ideas in avenues that are not otherwise open to them. The government always retorts by stating that such voices should be expressed in Parliament and that such individuals should join politics. But democracy does not require one to join politics and speak in Parliament. People should be free to express their views. Of course, a line should be drawn when violence and vindictiveness come into play. Apart from greater freedom of speech regarding local politics and issues, I also think we need to cultivate an environment in which young Singaporeans are free to express their views on global developments, crises and politics. The existing approach to censorship is self-defeating. I think we are witnessing the psychological consequences of this kind of continual repression on the Internet. The pure vitriol and scathing hatred online is, I believe, the result of all that pent-up emotion. I don’t like this kind of writing because it is neither principled, nor informed.

SS: does our government and our society as a whole consciously tell its youth to give up all manner of ideals to focus solely on personal gain?

CL: Yes, I think that is what they are doing. There is plenty of lip-service to altruism. But primarily, we’re driven by self-interest with respect to protecting and perpetuating the well-being of our family. Parents I know will not speak out if it will compromise their children’s careers. Similarly, peers of mine have said they will migrate if their children migrate. For many of us, we care about what the government does on the basis of how it affects the family and particularly one’s children. The national impulse will never gain ascendancy over the maternal impulse.

SS: So do you believe that the lack of civil resilience is because everyone is dependent on the government?

CL: Yes. The only way things work with the government is if a particular attitude or action leads to greater economic stability, which in turn leads to greater political stability. Each rides on the other and the economic imperative is paramount. We see this with the arts as well. The government is not particularly fond of the arts, but they appreciate it if it is good for business, as it draws people to Singapore. They don’t seem to care

too much for literature because it is has no real value as a tourist attraction! Theatre and the performing arts are much more saleable. So this civil society movement we’re talking about, if the government believes that it will enable economic growth and promote political stability and social harmony, they will most definitely support it.

SS: What are your impressions upon reading the forum Page of the Straits Times? What does it tell you about the people of Singapore and the press?

CL: I can see that it is very controlled. My sense is that the letters have been filtered and carefully selected. If the public becomes sceptical, occasionally, they allow a hard-hitting letter in. Unfortunately, this is a newspaper that will never allow really critical letters that will create a ruckus to be published in the Forum page. The PAP and the media, in short, will never allow the publication of questions for which they are not prepared to give the answers. My sense is that the government controls the questions as well.

SS: Are the Speaker’s Corner and the loosening hold on civil society merely token gestures as well?

CL: Yes I do believe they are token gestures. The out-of-bounds markers are still firmly in place and there is no sign that the government is prepared to relinquish some of those markers. You still cannot say anything in a concrete way about government probity.3 But in a free society you should be able to say these things and be refuted by government in an open manner.

SS: Statistics show that about 1,000 Singaporeans give up their citizenship each year, and that up to 8,000 people a year are applying for foreign residency abroad.4 What are your thoughts regarding these developments?

CL: I think the government will have to act if large numbers emigrate. For their immediate purposes in terms of votes, they have to pay attention to what young Singaporeans think and feel. Singaporeans feel loyal to the good life that the PAP has given them. If the good life disappears or changes too dramatically, they too will leave. The current scenario, namely the migration you speak of, reveals a side of the Singapore psyche that is somewhat petty, namely, that we’ve cultivated resentment against people who leave and do not come back. There is a sense of small-mindedness and envy. I think this has to do with the materialism that is dominant in Singapore. If your singular point of reference is your house and your ability to upgrade, it fosters that kind of mean-spiritedness.

Interviews


SS: What is your observation of the values of Singapore society?

CL: The values are so top-down, I am unsure of how genuine they are.

SS: What are these values?

CL: Meritocracy, fairness, efficiency, competency, honesty, discipline and hard work; the Confucian virtues of loyalty and community. These have all been handed top-down. What is missing is authenticity. The government has never said “be yourself.” They have never encouraged Singaporeans to develop as individuals. If somehow, through that process, the individual clashes with community, these two forces have to negotiate on how to accommodate each other. But we have never heard this from the government and Singaporeans never question these assumptions or values. The government instead presents two scenarios: you can either have a free society with messiness and instability or you can have what we give. They treat it as though the options are mutually exclusive, which does not have to be the case.

SS: What, in your opinion, will be the consequence of this?

CL: The very scenario the government is concerned about, namely the splintering of our society, may ironically be instigated by the policy they have implemented. This is because the government has created a politically naive society that will support even a corrupt leader if he or she wears the mantle of the PAP. So what we will have is a vulnerable society pincered between two very large powers – namely China and India – and with Malaysia to the north. So in the event of a crisis, wealthier Singaporeans are likely to leave the country because they have second homes. They will make no fuss. If the situation improves, they will consider returning. But they will

play it safe. The ones who remain behind will be the disaffected and disenfranchised and that will be a terrible scenario for Singapore.

SS: do you think the Singapore government prefers a politically naive society to one that may splinter along ethnic and religious lines, for example, like what is occurring in malaysia?

CL: I am going to fault that kind of argument because this is the famous policy of pre-emption. The government looks five steps ahead and nips social and political processes in the bud. You are punishing potential. So in actual fact, it isn’t even real critics who are penalised, it is people showing potential to become critics. There will be mischief makers. But the government has sophisticated people in its Cabinet and an equally thorough surveillance mechanism. So the government can deal with the problem as and when it arises. You cannot kill off the bud due to the fear of some toxic, poisonous plant taking bloom.

SS: despite your criticisms and concerns, what are you optimistic about and what do you hope for, in terms of Singapore’s future?

CL: I am one of the greatest apologists, defenders and supporters of the existing government when it comes to the work that has been done here to assure the material well-being of Singaporeans. I can’t think of a more conscientious group of people who will work hard to ensure this. My only wish is that they balance all this tremendous achievement with the issues we’ve discussed, so that we have a less asymmetrical state of affairs. My other wish is that we make more room for dissidents, whom I think of as the mutant genes in a society. Many of them may not be likable people, but my plea is this - allow these people to have their voice and their space. I believe change is going to come from them.

Interviews

1 Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore. “Transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Speech at Singapore Perspectives 2010 at Raffles Convention Centre on January 25, 2010.” http://j.mp/97Cmsg.

Teo Xuanwei and Loh Dylan, “Ng: Competition is Good for Politics in Singapore.” TODAY newspaper, April 12, 2010.2 St. Joseph’s Institution. “Transcript of Speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo at the Inaugural Fullerton-SJI Leadership Lecture,

January 22, 2010”. http://tinyurl.com/sji-george-yeo-speech.3 Philip Bowring, “All in the Family.” International Herald Tribune, February 15, 2010. http://j.mp/ctQx7r.

Clark Hoyt, “Censored in Singapore.” The New York Times, April 3, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/opinion/04pubed.html.4 “About 1,000 Singaporeans give up their citizenship each year.” Channel News Asia, July 21, 2008.

Siew Kum Hong and Wong Kan Seng. “Number of Singaporeans Applying for Certificates of No Criminal Conviction.” Parliament Reports, August 25, 2008 and October 20, 2008.


oF MoDest GIVInG, CoMMUnItY VALUes & soCIAL CHAnGeAn Interview with Hsieh Fu Hua

SS: What prompted you to make the transition into philanthropic work by setting up Binjai Tree?

hfh: It wasn’t a change that happened overnight. It is something that grows in you and is a part of you. Binjai Tree is merely providing form and structure to something that I have already been doing or have wished to do. It is rather like being a sole proprietorship, running a small outfit that is not registered. You can do this, or you can choose to set something up formally that is registered. But prior to the registration and formation of an entity, you must already be doing the work. The passion to contribute must be there. Money is only a facet of the larger work. So when I created Binjai Tree, it was not about money. It was about putting in time and effort to realise these goals. Of course, having created it, one realises it absorbs a great deal of one’s energy. If you’re not ready for that kind

of commitment, to me, you are no different from a fund that writes cheques all year around. It has to be an expression of your desire to engage with this kind of work. I also pointedly call it a charity, not a foundation. To me, charity represents that personal commitment and undertaking. Foundations suggest something grander with larger sums of money involved.

SS: how do we encourage philanthropy among individuals, families and the larger corporate sector?

hfh: To all of these various actors, I would say there are two ways to look at how you can contribute. You can do it when you are ready, or you can contribute from where you are, rather than waiting until you are ready, because the ideal moment is one that can be put away for a long time.

Recognising the need for building capability and f i l ling in cr itical gaps in management training, expertise and research in Singapore’s social scene, businessman and contemporary art enthusiast Hsieh Fu Hua has established Binjai Tree to make his contribution in a more structured fashion. Yet he reminisces about the cultural tradition of communities providing solidarity and support to its members and tells Social Space why a more modest and quiet approach to the simple act of giving is a way to encourage more Singaporeans to cultivate a spirit of altruism.

Interviews

Hsieh Fu Hua

Mr Hsieh is Co-Founder & Advisor of PrimePartners group of companies and also heads Binjai Tree. He is Executive Director of Temasek Holdings, and a member of the National University of Singapore Board of Trustees and the National Arts Council.


SS: What does Binjai Tree represent and what does it focus on?

hfh: It reflects how I feel and how I see my work, so I try to look at both general and specific giving. In life, a lot of the giving people engage in is quite general. You are approached by an organisation with a cause and you are prompted to give. You also do it when your heart is touched. But once you apply your mind to more specific giving, you realise that you have to do more. That is where the corporate experience comes in. How do you scale up in your giving? That is one of the questions we are trying to address at this juncture.

SS: What do you hope to achieve through Binjai Tree that you could not do functioning as a “sole proprietorship”?

hfh: The ability to connect with people. An organisation enables you to create structures and engage in a disciplined way. As a sole proprietor you can choose to do or not to do business on any given day. But once you have set up an entity, you are forced to do things. There is a process to it. Of course I can leave it to be moribund, but what is the point in that? All the structures of governance come into play and you become far more accountable to everyone you have appointed as your colleagues. It significantly changes what you might have done as a sole proprietorship.

SS: What is your mid-term and long-term vision for Binjai Tree?

hfh: We have set some simple goals and we have three specific areas we are looking at. The first has already started, though it is in its early stages right now. Namely, we’ve given rise to another charity called Shared Services for Charities, which was set up together with SGX. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and a few other organisations are also involved.

The focus here is to help improve the standards of governance and capabilities in this sector. As we all know, charities are dominated by passionate people. But sometimes they are not disciplined in how they harness that effort, at least in terms of meeting the requirements of the law and of financial accountability. The goal is to raise the standards for non-profit organisations.

SS: What is the second area of focus for Binjai Tree?

hfh: The second area is mental health. In our country, we have filled and continue to fill stomachs, by and large. But the spirit may still be tormented!

SS: mental health is a broad area. Are you also focusing on stress and anxiety, apart from psychiatric illnesses?

hfh: Certainly. A lot of depression goes untreated. That is the next stage of development. Religion can handle that need, but for now we are looking at the secular solutions. This is much more difficult as it is a new area. I have been studying it and examining capabilities and have discovered that it is very fragmented.

SS: how are you tackling the absence of data on clinically relevant anxiety?

hfh: One way is to take a top-down academic approach, while the other is to take a ground-up approach. We have formed a working group and we are collaborating with the National Council of Social Service (NCSS). This comes back to my earlier point about structures and how you network with existing organisations. So we have networked with NCSS and the Singapore Anglican Church. The latter has a very strong focus on providing medical services with a core emphasis on mental health. They run clinics and they are highly professional. Having seen

We have set some simple goals and we have three specific areas we are looking at. The first has already started, though it is in its early stages right now. Namely, we’ve given rise to another charity called Shared Services for Charities, which was set up together with SGX. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and a few other organisations are also involved. The focus here is to help improve the standards of governance and capabilities in this sector. As we all know, charities are dominated by passionate people. But sometimes they are not disciplined in how they harness that effort, at least in terms of meeting the requirements of the law and of financial accountability. The goal is to raise the standards for non-profit organisations.

Interviews


that, I decided to network with them to try and see how the three of us can work with the rest of the sector and bring more shared capabilities to address this problem. There are a lot of small new bodies starting up, but they are each struggling with various issues. A lot of anxiety disorders are untreated and it is quite prevalent among the young. We can recognise mental health issues with the old, but it is harder to identify it in the young. This is a big area to tackle, so of course government has to be involved and indeed, they have expressed an interest in being involved. The Ministry of Health has a mental health plan, but they cannot do it alone, as they are only dealing with clinically and mentally ill people, whereas many people with mental health issues have not yet reached the clinical stage.

So within our own community, how can various entities come in to assist? Dealing with mental health requires a great deal of support. So I see Binjai Tree as taking initiative and using the corporate experience and discipline to try and bring capabilities and solutions for society.

SS: What is the third area of focus?

hfh: The third area is the development of the arts – an area that charities don’t traditionally focus on. I have a personal interest in contemporary arts in particular and I am currently involved in the National Art Gallery. I see this as an essential part of how we grow Singapore. Culture is an integral part of it. It is a reflection of our time as well, in that focusing on contemporary art would naturally involve focusing on younger people.

SS: So do you see your role as a catalyst and enabler, rather than a doer? If so, why?

hfh: Yes, that is how I see my role. I believe in harnessing organisations that are already in existence to provide them with greater clarity, more networks, capability – in essence, whatever it takes for them to grow well.

SS: how large is Binjai Tree?

hfh: I have 3 active volunteers who are also directors of Binjai Tree. One works with me in evaluating requests and assists me in the implementation of the projects in mental health and contemporary art. One leads Shared Services for Charities. One other manages the funds. We also draw on a small pool of other volunteers. So we all use our personal time, our personal networks and connections to do the work.

Of course, we’re only a year old and in time, we will grow. But I want to be careful in my choice of who joins Binjai Tree as I want people who can bring something of value to the organisation. For this kind of work, you need highly-skilled people with an interest and passion for the three areas I specified earlier. At the same time, as we nurture a project, we find people who can then confidently take over the reigns. So we are also playing a catalytic role in that respect.

SS: Were you motivated to undertake a catalytic role because our non-profit, non-governmental sector is too uncoordinated and fragmented?

hfh: I don’t think that was the motivation. I didn’t look at it from top-down and address gaps. My interest in social change and charity comes from my own background. My father very much encouraged volunteerism. He was very active in social work when I was young. So he was a role model. I also realised that you can do it by doing the work itself; or you can create a project and marshal people; or you can become a catalyst. There are many ways to approach giving. I was also moved by the tremendous amount of self-help in the community that I witnessed when I stayed in Hong Kong for four years.

SS: do you think hong Kong generally has a greater spirit of self-help?

A: I think so. I think greater research should be done to substantiate this observation. The NGO activity in Hong Kong is very strong. I was there during the Asian financial crisis. A lot of people were losing jobs. I discovered that Caritas Internationalis took on the rather daunting task of re-training thousands of people who had been retrenched, in order to prepare them for the changes and convulsions that Hong Kong was going through. I thought this was remarkable. Caritas is well-funded, no doubt. What facilitated this is that church land is deployable beyond religious purposes. It can also be used for commercial and educational purposes. So for example, a church might occupy the top floor of a commercial building and the entire building belongs to the church. That kind of financial capability enabled them to launch their efforts on a much larger scale.

Yet another observation I made from my conversations with Hong Kong government officials is that the British government in their time saw the need to foster NGO activity. They saw potential in encouraging the non-profit and private sectors to work together to provide solutions to the community.

Interviews


So the government would rather fund NGOs who do this kind of work, than undertaking it themselves. As a result, a lot of services in Hong Kong are provided by the NGOs, which are supported and funded by the government.

SS: don’t we have that in Singapore as well?

hfh: Yes we do, but I don’t think we have it on as large a scale as they do in Hong Kong. I think it has been a deliberate strategy there. So I am keen to see a proper study being conducted on this phenomenon, since what I know is based on anecdotal evidence.

SS: do you generally feel a greater sense of vibrancy there in terms of the non-profit sector?

hfh: Yes, I do, but it is anecdotal again. Caritas is just one example in Hong Kong, for which we have no real equivalent in Singapore, in terms of having the capability to undertake work of that scale.

SS: do you think it stems from a different concept of government?

hfh: I think it stems from different historical circumstances. Prior to 1997, Hong Kong had been under colonial rule. The Hong Kong community as a result were largely self-reliant and they had to take ownership of their own well-being. I think it’s possible in Singapore as well, but it doesn’t mean it has to happen without help from government. Much of this work is clearly geared to provide for society, and government has a role to play in providing for society. I also think it makes sense for the government to want the NGOs and the community to share ownership of this work because then you can draw on their ability to execute the task on the ground.

SS: What would it take in Singapore to build a greater sense of commitment and vibrancy, in the manner which you saw in hong Kong? What needs to change?

hfh: I think NCSS is already playing a role by providing funds for charitable organisations. It is a question of stepping up the scale. With greater scale you can do more and look for public-private

partnerships. The partnerships then lead to the sprouting of more such networks. That is the source of greater vibrancy.

SS: Is individual philanthropy an area that needs further development in Singapore?

hfh: I am inclined to use the word “giving” as philanthropy sounds like something only the wealthy can do! So, all of us as individuals can do more “giving”.

SS: how has the culture of giving changed in Singapore then, broadly speaking?

hfh: I think there was much more giving in the early days of development in this country. People had to give because if they didn’t assist each other, nobody else would. The government support structures were inadequate at that juncture. I was recently in Penang and was intrigued to see how they have kept the culture of kongsi alive. The clan houses are well-preserved and I went to see the Khoo Kongsi, which is the most outstanding clan house there with lots of kongsi property surrounding it. All this belonged to the Khoo clan. They are proud of all of the members of the clan who have graduated and succeeded in the world. All of this would not be possible were it not for the community support, and the manner in which funds of the clan are used to assist their members.

So community life mattered too in Singapore’s early history. If the eldest child was educated, he was expected to finance the education of the younger siblings. That sense of commitment to give to family and community was powerful because there was a very real need.

I think it is less obvious today in Singapore, in that the sense of community is disassociated. If you have money, it is spent on lifestyle and on personal consumption. We are a more prosperous society, but I wonder what has happened to that ethic of giving. The goals that occupy us now is personal success, whereas in the past the larger good of the community mattered. Your role in life had to do with how you connected with your immediate community. Whereas now, it is measured by what you achieve for yourself.

I am encouraged that more young Singaporeans seem to be seeking out new ways of making a living, rather than treading on well-worn career paths. They are keen to go where their hearts will take them.

Interviews


SS: The government set up the National volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NvPC) in 1999 in recognition of this sea-change in the culture of community giving in Singapore. do you see a turn-around since it was set up?

hfh: I think it is early days yet and we will have to wait a while before we truly know the impact. The United States is an excellent example of a prosperous and highly materialistic society that also has a strong culture of giving. Like many countries across the world, both the U.S. and Singapore have been built by migrants and are quite multicultural. The difference is in landmass and population. The U.S. is a huge country of over 300 million inhabitants. Singapore, on the other hand, is a tiny island with a population of 4.6 million. In essence, I feel that migrant communities in the U.S. have been able to continue living in strong, distinct communities, spread out all over the country in typical American small towns, where they have been able to maintain their values over time. The Quakers and the Amish communities are good examples

of that. To use a term more familiar to us here in Singapore, the United States is still largely a country of heartlanders. That isn’t possible in Singapore for several reasons. For one, we’re just too small. We can’t build distinct communities with limited physical space. In a way, this also hasn’t been allowed with good reason because we don’t want segregation, communal fissures and tensions to build in our society. But as a result we are becoming a global city in which close-knit communities with distinct values are dissipating rapidly.

SS: do you have any observations about young Singaporeans and their values?

hfh: I am encouraged that more young Singaporeans seem to be seeking out new ways of making a living, rather than treading on well-worn career paths. They are keen to go where their hearts will take them. They seem to be driven by a desire to make a change or a difference, rather than being driven principally by material need. To use a term from business school, I see greater self-actualisation.

The United States is an excellent example of a prosperous and highly materialistic society that also has a strong culture of giving. Like many countries across the world, both the U.S. and Singapore have been built by migrants and are quite multicultural. The difference is in landmass and population. The U.S. is a huge country of over 300 million inhabitants. Singapore, on the other hand, is a tiny island with a population of 4.6 million. In essence, I feel that migrant communities in the U.S. have been able to continue living in strong, distinct communities, spread out all over the country in typical American small towns, where they have been able to maintain their values over time.

Interviews


tHe neW BUsIness PARADIGM

New Business Paradigm

soCIALLY ResPonsIBLe InVestMent In AsIA Geoffrey Williams

Recent worries about product safety, transparent corporate governance and the social and environmental impact of corporate activity have been the drivers of “Socially Responsible Investment” (SRI) in Europe and North America. Geoffrey Williams delves into the rise of SRI in Asia, where opportunities for strong investment returns are wide and growing.

Geoffrey Williams

Geoffrey Williams is the Chief Executive Officer of OWW Consulting in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia as well as the Director of Academy of Responsible Management. He has held academic positions at London Business School, Pembroke College University of Oxford and elsewhere. His research output has had direct impact in the business world and has been widely covered in the media by The Financial Times, CNBC and The Wall Street Journal, among others.



INTEGRATIoN of ESG INTo ThE INvESTmENT ChoICEWhilst there are many forms of SRI, general investment styles have emerged over time and have become more sophisticated as our understanding of the link between ESG issues and financial returns has developed.

From an investment perspective SRI makes sense for a very straight-forward reason - good management of ESG issues leads to good financial performance and adds shareholder value. Two approaches sustain this hypothesis. One approach uses comparative valuation. A company like British Airways with ongoing strike action due to complex employee relations management, is seen as having greater investment risk than, for example, Singapore Airlines which has a record of well managed human resources. The second approach uses option values. Clean-technology companies with low-carbon products that consumers increasingly prefer are expected to have better future business opportunities than companies that pollute the environment and face carbon taxes or emissions penalties.

In addition to these two approaches, the discounted cash flow valuation method (DCFV) gauges the current value of future profits adjusted by risk. In simple words, the DCFV method states that good management of ESG leads to increased profits with reduced risk. The Body Shop, for example, sells products that are similar to those in most other cosmetics stores. However, people prefer to pay a higher price for Body Shop products based on its recognised environmentally and socially responsible supplier rules and its policy of prohibiting animal testing. This produces a price premium. On the cost-side, companies that manage their energy consumption efficiently are able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and at the same time cut their energy bills. These lower costs translate positively to the bottom-line. Added to this, companies with good corporate governance avoid the risks that hit Satyam and Enron. Companies that manage their

WhAT IS SRI?SRI funds try to deliver two forms of returns for investors. Firstly, financial returns based on standard financial analysis that match or exceed returns on conventional investments and secondly, social and environmental benefits that are added value from investment portfolios in addition to the returns to investors.

They are also expected to produce more stable returns by tracking sources of risk within portfolios, such as poor corporate governance or bad environmental management. By identifying non-financial sources of risk, SRI investors try to manage the risk profile of their investments and reduce or remove exposure to companies that face current or future problems on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. SRI is closely linked to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmentally Sustainable management. From an economic perspective it addresses externalities, which are the costs or benefits that arise from company activities that are not priced into the shares. SRI allows investors to make positive economic decisions by taking into account not only financial but also non-financial management of risk.

SRI covers all types of investments including direct share-ownership, unit trusts and mutual funds, hedge funds, venture capital, private equity investments, private and national institutional pension funds, corporate and country bonds, endowment funds for universities, charitable organisations and sovereign wealth funds. It also includes community investing and investments in social enterprises on a smaller scale.

Ethical investment which includes faith-based financial products such as Syariah compliant investments are also a key component of SRI, especially in Asia. Some investors also refer to RI or Responsible Investment. The difference here is that RI is more mainstream whereas SRI may have a more values and ethics based approach.

“Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI), also known as Socially Responsible Investment, is investment which allows investors to take into account wider concerns, such as social justice, economic development, peace or a healthy environment, as well as conventional financial considerations.”

Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA)


ESG performance of companies. They can positively influence performance by raising issues of concern with CEOs and investor relations managers and supporting responsible management practices or they can put pressure on companies through voting at Annual General Meetings [AGMs]. In extreme cases investors may even divest under-performing companies and encourage other investors to do the same.

In January 2010 for example, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) divested major petrochemical companies in Asia in response to their activities in the Sudan. TIAA-CREF is one of the largest financial services companies in the United States, with just under $400 billion in assets under management.

TIAA-CREF targeted five Asian companies, PetroChina, CNPC Hong Kong, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Sinopec, and PETRONAS, all claimed to have links with the government of Sudan. TIAA-CREF stated that it would divest those that refused to acknowledge the genocide in the Darfur region and engage in a productive dialogue to confront it. TIAA-CREF’s final decision to divest rested on a number of factors including the seriousness of concerns about Sudan among TIAA-CREF’s stakeholders, the success of the engagement with target companies and the calculation that divestment would not have a significant impact on the financial performance of TIAA-CREF’s portfolios.

After meeting with each of the companies through its shareholder engagement process TIAA-CREF concluded that there had been insufficient progress. On 31st December 2009 TIAA-CREF sold its holdings in PetroChina, CNPC Hong Kong, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Sinopec across all its funds and accounts.

environmental systems properly avoid the risk of fines for pollution and companies that look after their staff, their customers and the communities in which they work avoid strike action and consumer boycotts. They can also build good stakeholder relationships through CSR programmes which enhance their brand and reputation and translate into better business performance.

Put simply, higher prices and lower costs give better profits both now and in the future and well managed companies have lower risks so that profits are sustainable in the long-term. This all adds value for shareholders as well as creating benefits to society and the environment.

IN WITh ThE Good, ouT WITh ThE BAdThe most common forms of SRI use portfolio screening which is the inclusion or exclusion of shares in investment portfolios for ethical, social or environmental reasons. Investors can use screens to exclude unacceptable shares from their portfolio, such as tobacco, animal testing or involvement with human rights abuses. They can also be proactive and select companies with good social and environmental performance, such as low-carbon technologies which contribute to more sustainable economies. Many investors use ESG ratings from specialist research organisations to compare company performance across a range of issues such as corporate governance, environment and supply-chain issues. Shares are then selected on a “best in class” basis so that the overall portfolio contains the best performers relative to the available market.

ACTIvE mANAGEmENT ANd dIvESTmENTSRI fund managers have also become more active, especially for large institutional investors such as pension funds. Through shareholder engagement investors use their shareholdings to improve the


Sustainable and responsible investment is supported by the world’s major institutional investors. Estimates of the size of SRI funds vary but it is likely that at least US$5 trillion is managed using SRI criteria globally. A report in 2009 by the International Finance Corporation estimated that around US$300 billion was held in sustainable investment in emerging markets at the end of 2008 including around US$40.8 billion in Asia. In 2007 OWW Consulting estimated Asian SRI funds to be around US$33.2 billion, which represents a 23% increase over two years.



forms of business and requiring various types of business practices such as avoiding interest in financial transactions. Asia is a leading centre for Syariah-compliant finance, with Malaysia taking a large share of the global market estimated at above US$500 billion. The recent collaboration between the Bahrain Stock Exchange and Bursa Malaysia has the potential of strengthening this market by building new forms of financial products which are attractive to non-Muslims as well as Muslims.

hoW BIG IS SRI?Sustainable and responsible investment is supported by the world’s major institutional investors. Estimates of the size of SRI funds vary but it is likely that at least US$5 trillion is managed using SRI criteria globally.2 A report in 2009 by the International Finance Corporation estimated that around US$300 billion was held in sustainable investment in emerging markets at the end of 2008 including around US$40.8 billion in Asia. In 2007 OWW Consulting estimated Asian SRI funds to be around US$33.2 billion, which represents a 23% increase over two years.3

This is just the tip of the iceberg and outside of equity investment, other forms of SRI are large and growing. In March 2010 the international Climate Investment Fund (CIF), a collaboration of international development banks and the World Bank, endorsed clean-technology projects in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam worth US$13.6 billion in total.4 In the private sector, Fortis Investments has raised US$1.2 billion for its China Green Fund between December 2009 and February 2010. For governments too, investment in SRI is high on the agenda. Japan announced a US$5 billion loan fund in March 2009 for developing countries investing in solar power and other green technologies.5 Looking forward, a report in February 2010 by the Swiss international bank Vontobel , which launched i t s own successful Asia (excluding Japan) Responsibility Fund in 2008, estimated that SRI assets under management in Asia could rise to between US$1.5 to 4 trillion by 2015.6

In terms of SRI funds, Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA) estimated that there were around 248 SRI funds in Asia by 2008 and this number has been creeping up since with the launch of new Asia-based SRI funds both here and overseas.

In explaining the action, Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., TIAA-CREF’s Chief Executive Officer said, “Our decision to sell shares in these companies culminated a three-year effort to encourage them to end their ties to Sudan or attempt to end suffering there.” The benefits of positive engagement were also highlighted when he explained, “We have not divested from PETRONAS, which has acknowledged our concerns and engaged in dialogue about how it might address them.”1

oThER foRmS of SRIA common form of SRI in Asia is Community Investing which is a way of supporting a particular cause or activity through financing, investment or loans. Community investing like micro-credit, revolving loan schemes and the new on-line forums such as Kiva.com, allow easier access to this market for even the smallest retail investor. Some of the best known examples of community investing, such as Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, originated in Asia and are now replicated around the world.

Community investors often have a target financial return lower than the market rate. This allows them to achieve a specific “social return” from their investment. Unlike making a donation, cause-based investors or the social finance organisations investing on their behalf require, at a minimum, that the original value of the investment is returned by either repayment (for loans) or trading (for shares). Grameen Bank is a good example that illustrates the potential of community investment. The bank provides small loans, 90% of which are to women and 100% to people classified as very poor. The repayment rate is regularly around 98%.

An extension of this form of SRI allows direct investment in social enterprises. The Singapore based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), for example, aims to provide a regulated trading platform for securities issued by sustainable for-profit and not-for-profit social enterprises in Asia. Investment in social enterprises is expected to provide a liquid and transparent market where social enterprises can raise capital for expansion and enhance their social and environmental impact while investors can also achieve good financial, social and environmental returns.

Another form of SRI common in Asia is Islamic finance and Syariah-compliant financial schemes. These apply ethical screens excluding various


PRomoTING RESPoNSIBLE INvESTmENT IN ASIA ANd ARouNd ThE WoRLdThe United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) were developed by a group of leading international institutional investors to reflect the importance of ESG issues in current investment practices. The PRI has around 720 signatories with around US$18 trillion of assets under management.7

Signatories commit to six principles and aspire:1. to incorporate ESG issues into their investment

analysis and decision-making processes; 2. to be active owners and incorporate ESG issues

into ownership policies and practices; 3. to encourage appropriate disclosure on ESG issues

by the entities in which they invest;4. to promote acceptance and implementation of the

Principles within the investment industry; 5. to work together to enhance the effectiveness

of implementation of the Principles and; 6. to report on their activities and progress towards

implementing the Principles.

SuSTAINABLE ANd RESPoNSIBLE INvESTmENT fuNdS IN ASIA

Publicfunds

Private Equity

SRI Pension mandates

faith-based1 Country Total2

China 2 0 0 0 2Hong Kong 19 0 0 1 20Japan 59 1 0 0 60Korea 37 2 6 0 45Taiwan 3 0 0 0 3Singapore 3 1 0 10 14Malaysia 2 0 0 81 83Indonesia 0 1 0 1 2India 1 1 0 1 3Thailand 2 0 0 1 3Segment Total 128 6 6 95 235

No. of SRI Funds by Country: 235

Asia Hedge Funds: 8

Total Number of SRI Funds in Asia (including faith-based funds): 243

Total Number of SRI Funds in Asia (excluding faith-based funds): 148

1 Mostly Syariah Funds; 2 Includes Private Equity Funds; Source: ASrIA, 2008


Although the PRI is voluntary, becoming a signatory represents a clear public commitment and demonstrates support from top-level leadership to consider ESG issues. The principles are not prescriptive but provide a selection of possible ways for investors to incorporate ESG issues into mainstream investment decision-making and ownership practices. Different investors adopt different approaches but with a similar purpose: To take into account ESG issues and to use investment and ownership practices to address them positively.

The process was convened by the former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and coordinated by the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the Global Compact. Since its launch, the PRI Secretariat which administers the six principles and the signatory events has emerged as a powerful organisation in its own right and the PRI Secretariat, headed by Executive Director James Gifford, has become the leading global focal point for the sustainable and responsible investment community.



The PRI has a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific, which has the second largest regional membership after Europe. At the start of 2009, the PRI held a series of important events at the Stock Exchanges of Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand and with the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional. Other events were also held to bring together insights from major international SRI funds and local stakeholders and investors. Engagement in Asia continued during the year with events in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China. In India, where CSR and SRI are gaining

momentum, the PRI organised a major event with the National Stock Exchange for companies and investors in 2009. More outreach events are planned in 2010 in Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Korea. In China a joint PRI event is planned in September 2010 with UNCTAD and the UN Global Compact focussing on sustainable stock exchanges. The collective work of the PRI compliments that of local SRI advocacy groups such as ASrIA and KoSIF - the Korean Socially Responsible Investment Forum.

SIGNAToRIES To ThE uN PRINCIPLES foR RESPoNSIBLE INvESTmENT

Global Assetowners

Investmentmanagers

ServiceProviders

Total

Europe 109 171 53 333Asia-Pacific 46 90 30 166North America 28 78 29 135South America 18 18 9 45Africa 2 21 6 29International 1 1 5 7Middle East - 1 4 5Total 204 380 136 720

Asia Pacific Assetowners

Investmentmanagers

ServiceProviders

Total

Australia 31 51 16 98New Zealand 9 11 - 20Japan 3 10 1 14South Korea 1 7 6 14Hong Kong - 2 2 4Thailand 1 3 - 4Singapore - 1 2 3India - 1 1 2Malaysia - 1 1 2Vietnam - 1 1 2Indonesia 1 - - 1Oceania - 1 - 1Pakistan - 1 - 1Asia-Pacific 46 90 30 166

Asia 6 28 14 48


SRI PERfoRmANCE: ThE INdoNESIA SRI-KEhATI INdEx


One successful example of SRI can be seen in the SRI-Kehati Index on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) in Jakarta. The SRI-Kehati Index is a collaborative project between Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia (The Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation – Kehati) and IDX launched on 8th June 2009 by Professor Dr Emil Salim, former Minister for the Environment in Indonesia.

The Index Universe starts with all listed companies on IDX. Financial screens are applied to remove small companies with a market capitalisation below Rupiah 1 trillion (approximately US$100million) and companies with low share availability, that is with a free-float ratio below 10%. Companies must also have a positive Price/Earnings (PE) Ratio.

A set of ESG criteria agreed to by Kehati, IDX and their stakeholders is then applied. Exclusion screens are used for companies involved in pesticides or chloride-organic-chemistry, Genetically Modified Organisms, nuclear power, severe violations of labour and human rights, armament and weapons, tobacco, alcohol and pornography. A further screen is also applied to exclude companies of concern for other reasons, such as corporate governance issues that arise or remain unresolved during the selection period.

The remaining companies are then rated by a leading ESG research company, OWW Consulting, using international ESG criteria, customised for

Indonesian laws. These cover corporate governance, environment, human rights, labour practices, community investment and business behaviour related to suppliers and customers. This produces a SRI-Kehati Index candidate list for scrutiny by an independent committee which has sole responsibility of selecting twenty-five constituents which are “best-in-class” when compared to their peers.

The limit of twenty-five was chosen to make membership of the index competitive and it does not necessarily imply that only twenty-five companies are considered responsible. Membership of the SRI-Kehati Index has become a source of pride for companies who are now beginning to improve their sustainability performance in order to enter the index and maintain their position. This was an important motivating factor behind the project which was highlighted by Prof Dr Emil Salim in his launch speech.8

The financial performance of the SRI-Kehati Index has been impressive, even through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. From the baseline set in January 2007 to January 2010 it had grown 52.8% compared to 33.8% on the benchmark LQ45 Index.9 During the period of the financial crisis, stocks on the SRI-Kehati Index proved more resilient, falling 62.1% compared to 66.7% on the LQ45. Since the end of the crisis the SRI-Kehati Index grew 168.2% trough-to-peak compared to 146.9% growth seen in the conventional index.

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SRI-KEHATI LQ45

Pergerakan LQ45 Indeks dan SRI-KEHATI Index1 Januari 2007 - 29 Januari 2010


* I would like to thank Narina Mnatsakanian, Head of Global Networks, Recruitment and Emerging Markets Work Streams and Elliot Frankel, Communications Manager at the Principles for Responsible Investment for useful comments on the early drafts of this article. The editors of Social Space have also offered invaluable help in preparing the article.

1 TIAA-CREF, “TIAA-CREF Statement on Former Holdings in Companies with Ties to Sudan”, press release, New York, January 4, 2010, http://www.tiaa-cref.org/public/about/press/about_us/releases/pressrelease313.html.

2 The European Social Investment Forum (EuroSif ) estimated €2.7 trillion in European SRI Funds in 2008 (European SRI Study 2008 http://www.eurosif.org/publications/sri_studies) and the US Social Investing Forum (SIF) estimated US$2.7 trillion in the US in 2007. New surveys for both organisations are expected in 2010.

3 International Finance Corporation, “Gaining Ground: Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment processes in emerging markets,” Washington DC, March 2009; OWW Consulting SRI Newsletter, November 2007.

4 Climate Investment Fund, “Climate Investment Funds set to mobilize US$40 billion for country-led low carbon growth,” press release, 19 March 2010, http://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cif/pf_2010_pressrelease_03_19.

5 Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), “Establishing Leading Investment to Future Environment (LIFE) Initiative,” http://www.jbic.go.jp/en/about/news/2008/0323-01/index.html.

6 Falko Paetzold, “Sustainable Investing in Asia: Uncovering Opportunities and Risks,” Vontobel Asset Management, Zurich, Switzerland. http://www.vontobel.com/en/about_vontobel/sustainability/publications/.

7 Principles of Responsible Investment, http://www.unpri.org/.8 Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, “Indonesia Launches Responsible Investment Index,” press release by John

Aglionby, June 8 2009, http://www.asria.org/news/press/1244602812/print. 9 The LQ45 is an index of 45 companies with the highest level of liquidity that are the most tradable in terms of number of shares available in

the market, http://www.duniainvestasi.com/bei/prices/stock/LQ45.


The SRI-Kehati Index has hit a number of important milestones after only twelve months. First, the fact that it was launched successfully shows that SRI has an important role to play in emerging markets in Asia and is not just for rich, developed economies. Second, the out-performance of the SRI-Kehati Index relative to the conventional benchmark demonstrates that SRI can be a successful investment style in its own right. Third, two new SRI funds have been established by Mega Capital and Bahaya Fund Management using the SRI-Kehati Index, which allows institutional and retail investors easy access to sustainable investment products. Fourth, the SRI-Kehati Index being backed by on-line information sources and training programmes has helped companies improve their sustainability management as well as helping fund managers and shareholders understand ESG investment styles and how they work in practice. Finally, it offers a real example for other stock exchanges to follow and will hopefully show them the value of creating SRI-indices across the region.

ChALLENGES ANd oPPoRTuNITIESSome challenges exist which should be addressed urgently to take advantage of the growth potential for SRI in Asia. By far the most important is company disclosure on ESG issues. Financial markets need information and companies in Asia have a poor

record on writing clear CSR and sustainability reports that meet international standards. Local research companies such as OWW Consulting in Malaysia or Eco-Frontier in Korea offer large databases for this purpose. On environmental performance, the global Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which is managed by ASrIA in the region, aims to encourage greater transparency on emissions and environmental management. The Emerging Markets Disclosure Project has similar plans for wider ESG issues. So while efforts are being made to improve transparency, a great deal more needs to be done in order to ensure the potential benefits of applying SRI in Asia. A number of regional stock exchanges in Asia have also introduced SRI / ESG indices. For example, the National Stock Exchange in India and Shanghai Stock Exchange in China are following the example of Indonesia in using SRI Indices to help drive sustainable and responsible investment.

Nonetheless, the momentum generated by SRI funds in Europe and North America is now spilling over into Asian markets where opportunities and returns offer new options for fund growth. Overseas SRI fund managers are already developing new Asian strategies which will put SRI in Asia onto a new trajectory. At current growth rates SRI in Asia is estimated to match that in other markets within five years.


DIsCoVeRInG tHe AsIAn FoRM oF CoRPoRAte soCIAL ResPonsIBILItY Bindu Sharma


This article is part of an on-going research project that will look at the how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is being re-contextualised and re-defined in ten countries across Asia and how these perspectives contrast with the discourse of CSR in global (primarily Western) multinational corporations.

Bindu Sharma

Bindu Sharma is the Asia-Pacific Policy Director of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) based in Singapore. She is concurrently a Researcher at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, Singapore Management University working in the CSR space. This paper is part of a larger, ongoing research project the author is currently working on with Jared Tham, Lien Centre for Social Innovation’s Manager for Research and Programmes.


CSR’S RISE IN ASIAAsian corporate philanthropy has always existed in one form or another. The national institutional structures of philanthropy and community involvement in many of today’s leading economies in Asia are only just catching up with what has long existed in the West for well over a century. In most Asian countries philanthropy has, until recently, been a communitarian effort. Asian philanthropists have preferred to be personally involved in the grant-making process, in contrast to the more formalised approaches of the West. More recently, Asian countries such as India and Singapore have moved towards setting up philanthropic foundations, along the lines of Western corporate foundations as a way of implementing CSR.

NEW APPRoAChES To CSR IN ASIAIn the developing world, ‘classical philanthropy’ such as building schools, hospitals and cultural institutions, far from being an add-on, is driven by social necessity. In order to effectively operate amidst inadequate state welfare, healthcare, education and infrastructure, business has had to step in. In post-colonial and post-conflict countries business has had to contribute to nation-building, thereby innovatively redefining the parameters of what constitutes CSR.

This article will examine how business has responded to the call for nation-building and social change in three Asian countries, namely, India, Japan and the Philippines.

INdIAIn India, the primary historical driver of philanthropy has been a sense of ethics and a long history of cultural and religious giving. The expectation that business could contribute to society first arose with the participation of Indian industry in the fight for independence starting in the late 19th century. Around the same time, Gandhi developed the notion of ‘trusteeship’, whereby owners of capital would voluntarily manage their wealth in the public interest. More than a hundred years ago, Indian entrepreneur and industrialist J.N. Tata, founder of the Tata group, said “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is, in fact, the very purpose of its existence.”1 Over the first half the 20th century, Tata instituted path-breaking social welfare provisions

INTRoduCTIoNCSR has always existed in some shape or form throughout the history of private enterprise – it is about the obligations of business to society. The obligations may differ within different cultural contexts, from business to business, industry to industry, community to community and may change over time, as they clearly have in the last few decades.

Despite widespread discussion on CSR, there continues to be much disagreement around what constitutes CSR, and how to define it. To complicate matters, numerous debates rage within the CSR community. Should businesses focus on traditional philanthropy or embrace CSR? Should CSR be voluntary or mandated? Is CSR a cost or a benefit? Is CSR a mere risk management tool or an effective branding and marketing one? Whatever the definition, whatever view one takes on CSR, one thing is increasingly apparent – in order to remain current and engage with its new and varied stakeholders, business must grapple with CSR - doing nothing is not an option.

CSR’S RISE IN ThE WESTIn the West, as the negative externalities of the industrial revolution, (air quality, acid rain, ground water pollution to name a few) caught up with the developed nations, governments designed regulation and legislation to guide business behaviour as it pertained to public goods. In the last decade, the landscape of corporate scandals new and old (Enron, WorldCom, Nike, Shell, Siemens, Union Carbide), globalisation, the intense competition for limited global resources and more recently the financial crisis, have once again brought into prominence the subject of corporate responsibility.

Lately, the corporate sector has been pro-active in its response to call for corporate responsibility and accountability, mostly in an effort to head off further public legislation and regulation which could possibly contain its global economic reach.

Some proponents of CSR claim that CSR is not about corporate philanthropy. Instead, it is about a new management and strategic philosophy for companies large, medium and small – it is about how companies make their money and not how they spend it once they have made it.


“It is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin



In contrast to Western countries and Japan, approximately three quarters of the companies participating in the survey wanted the government to play a role in formulating a national CSR policy. Over half expected greater involvement on part of the government in implementing CSR, capacity building and in creating an enabling environment for such initiatives to take place. However, as it stands, the Indian government has had a limited role in promoting CSR.7

Not surprisingly the Tata group of companies, India’s largest industrial and technological conglomerate founded in 1858 came out as the leader in active CSR initiatives in a peer group review process built into the survey questionnaire. The Tata group has long been the benchmark for community engagement, philanthropy and social responsibility in India. J.R.D. Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group from 1936-1993 believed, “We generate wealth for the people. What comes from the people must, to the extent possible, therefore get back to the people.”8

PhILIPPINESHistorically, in the Philippines, corporate engagement with the community has largely taken the form of charitable philanthropy and one time donations. The early 1970s marked a slow slide to economic stagnation and together with the imposition of Martial Law steered community relations in a new direction. With a large majority of the population pushed into poverty, leaders of the largest corporations realised that their businesses could not survive or grow in the midst of civil strife. The Philippines Business for Social Progress (PBSP) emerged at that juncture as the first organised model of corporate involvement in social development in the Philippines. Today, with a membership of over 200 companies, it is the nation’s largest and only corporate-led social development foundation and perhaps the only one of its kind in Asia or even the world. More recently, PBSP has become an advocate for the practice of CSR and corporate citizenship promoting business sector commitment to social development.

The League of Corporate Foundations, Inc. (LCF) founded in 1996 is another example of corporate engagement in the community. Today, with a membership of 75 operating and grant-making corporate foundations, corporations and civil society organisations, it seeks to provide business solutions to social problems in the Philippines through CSR.

and labour standards for their employees and these have since been adopted as legislation. Today, large Indian business houses appreciate the wisdom of Mr Tata’s words, recognising that to become players of first world magnitude they must first address the developmental challenges at home.

The 1991 liberalisation of the Indian economy seems to be the watershed in the CSR journey of Indian companies. Up to 64% of them started CSR programmes between 1991 and 2005. While most of those companies stated that they had a clearly mandated CSR policy, they were reluctant to share information on budget allocation for such initiatives.2

Despite this reluctance, two recent surveys shed light on India Inc.’s CSR record. In June 2009 The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) conducted a survey called the Eco Pulse Study, CSR 2008-093 to track the CSR activities of the top 300 Indian companies by net sales. In aggregate the 300 companies identified 26 areas of focus for their CSR initiatives. The top four were, by priority, community welfare, education, environment and health in descending order. It is interesting to note that in keeping with the notion of nation-building rural development comes next on the list of CSR initiatives.

The survey tracked CSR activity by sector with the chemical sector taking first place followed by Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and consumer durables and the textile sector. Close to 57% of the CSR activity of companies is concentrated in three states – Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, with Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, taking the lion’s share at 36%.

In August 2008 the Times Foundation and TNS4 India survey shows “how companies have woken up to the value of virtue.”5 The survey, a national level study on CSR among 826 of India’s leading business firms, corporate houses and public sector organisations revealed that 90% of the companies were involved in CSR initiatives. The most popular areas of intervention were education and health followed by the environment.

Some of the motivating factors for companies to engage in CSR activities include branding, public goodwill and public perception. Up to 40% of the companies engage in CSR for tax exemption and yet others do it because they feel it is mandatory.



The surveys also highlight that larger corporations often choose to work with far-flung communities on issues that may have national, regional or global relevance. In contrast, the smaller enterprises tend to focus their energies closer to home. Both large and small companies indicate that cultivating a positive reputation and goodwill are driving forces motivating their initiatives in the community, with revenue and employee satisfaction coming in afterwards. At the national level market forces and persistent social problems have been the main drivers of CSR behaviour among companies in the Philippines.

It is interesting to note that the Filipino corporation, like its Indian counterpart, has designed its CSR agenda more by looking outward, rather than inward – in terms of how they do business; how their products are manufactured, sourced or delivered; and who is investing in and managing the company. CSR is still equated to community development and philanthropy, external to its business operations and linkages and far from becoming an integral part of business strategy. One can only conclude that there is a wide gap between awareness and intent and action.

JAPANJapan, the world’s second largest economy and the first Asian ‘OECD’ country, in many ways serves as a model for emerging Asian economies. In Japan CSR is both a new concept and an old one. The earliest thoughts on mercantilist responsibility can be found in a document known as the Shuchu Kiyaku which is rooted in ancient Confucian philosophy. The Shuchu Kiyaku was written by one of the wealthy merchant families in the Tokugawa period in the early 17th century, as a set of guiding principles on how to conduct proper foreign trade. In essence, Shuchu Kiyaku said that trade can be carried out not just for one’s own benefit but also for the benefit of others.14

Eichi Shibusawa, the ‘founder of Japanese Capitalism’ during the Meiji period of 1867-1911, as well as the founder of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1878, presented his ideas in a treatise called “Compatibility between the Analects of Confucius and the abacus”15 in which he reasoned that business activity (using the abacus) must be put into operation based upon high moral standards (observing the teachings of Confucius). These principles have successively found modern interpretations. During the pre-war period (1911-1945), Koyata Iwasaki, who led Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, presented the

The high level of coordination and cooperation within the business community in the Philippines is unique in Asia. Diverse forms of networks strengthen and facilitate the CSR efforts of the corporate sector. One such example is the National Multi-Sectoral Campaign to Reverse the Education Crisis called 57-75 Reverse the Education Crisis launched by the LCF in 2006. It is a private sector-led campaign to help address the most urgent problems of education in the Philippines.9

Newsbreak10, a Filipino online current affairs magazine, conducted two surveys with the support of the British Embassy, cataloguing CSR Practices of Top Corporations and the CSR Practices of Small and Medium Enterprises, in recent years that provide a glimpse of CSR practices in the corporate sector in the Philippines.11

The broad conclusion of the survey focusing on large corporations was that even in top corporations CSR is still experimental and is primarily externally focused on community development12, with employees coming a close second. The survey also found that the CEO of a company continues to be the driving force behind CSR programs. Other companies have embraced it as a business strategy - a trend that is growing in the country.

The results of Newsbreak’s second survey focusing on the SME sector indicate that SMEs are not familiar with the concept of CSR. However, when companies were asked to provide further details on their involvement and charitable giving, the survey results showed that SMEs are in fact actively engaged with the communities in which they operate. Like their larger counterparts, SMEs also focus on key areas such as livelihood training within the community for out-of-school youth, indigent families and meeting the needs of indigenous tribes. Just compensation, safe and healthy working conditions and elimination of child labour are the other issues embraced under the CSR umbrella.

Interestingly, the Fair Trade movement’s discourse on ethically produced goods has had a positive influence on the Filipino handicraft industry. The sector widely known for its low wages, unsafe working conditions and child labour practices, has improved its labour practices and workplace management at the behest of the global demand for ethically produced products. According to Vincent Euegnio, marketing officer of the Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade Inc., “The CSR of small enterprises is fair trade…”13


Proponents of CSR such as Kazutaka Kikawada, Chairman of Tokyo Electric Power, said “Rather than looking at society from the company’s perspective, companies must consider their role from society’s perspective.”20 Similarly, Sadatsune Iba, second generation chairman of the Sumitomo group, stated that “…Profits are a worthy aim, but the method used must also be worthy.”21

As early as 1956 the Keizai Doyukai adopted a resolution titled “Awareness and Practice of the Social Responsibilities of Businessmen”, that clearly states “Companies need to move out of the simplistic private domain and become a powerful part of social systems. Management is not simply entrusted by investors who provide capital, but by all of society.”22

Interestingly in the case of Japan, Masahiko Kawamura23 traces the evolution of CSR in the last 50 years showing how it parallels the history of corporate reform. Major corporate scandals and misbehaviour triggered waves of government regulation together with introspection and corrective action, symbolised by the adoption of corporate codes of conduct and ethics.

During Japan’s rapid growth era in the 1960s, companies single-mindedly pursued profit. As a result, industrial pollution and other related social problems emerged primarily in the heavy and chemical industries. A strong anti-business sentiment emerged and led to the enactment of the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control in 1967. Responding to corporate criticism at its peak in 1973, Nippon Keidanren (the Japanese Business Federation) proposed ideals for corporate behaviour. Companies responded by setting up new departments to deal with pollution and foundations were hastily formed to return some of the profits back to society.

The early 1970s post-oil shock inflation that prompted opportunistic price hikes and market manipulation together with poor product quality, all added to the anti-business sentiment that had first surfaced in the 1960’s. Following intensive debate on runaway inflation, corporate responsibility was cited as part of a Diet resolution attached to the Commercial Code revision of 1974, aimed at addressing corporate misbehaviour.

The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the CSR debate subside only to come back into the limelight in the mid-1980s with a spate of sokaiya racketeering (corporate black-mailers). At the same time rapid expansion by Japanese companies overseas highlighted the differences in the Japanese standard of living

Three Corporate Principles of Mitsubishi: “Shoki Hko” (Corporate Responsibility to Society), “Shoji Komei” (Integrity and Fairness), and “Ritsugyo Boeki” (International Understanding through Trade).16

More recently the ideals associated with Kyosei17 have found their way into the mainstream of CSR and ethics discussions worldwide. A traditional concept, with roots in ecology, the literal translation of the term means ‘working together’ (kyo) and life (sei). In other words, the concept articulated the Japanese understanding of cooperative living or symbiosis. Kyosei was first linked to business behaviour by the Kaitokudo Merchant Academy of Osaka, established in 1726, in its efforts to link business and Confucian thought. Today its adaptation and application has been a significant descriptor of corporate behaviour in Japan.

In the 20th century, Ryuzaburo Kaku, Chairman of Canon Inc., began applying the concept to the business environment. Kaku defined Kyosei as a ‘spirit of cooperation’ in which individuals and organisations live and work together for the common good, an ideal he introduced to Canon’s corporate structure in 1987. His goal was to foster the understanding that long-term business success can only be based on respect for the interconnectedness business has with people, the communities in which they l ive and the environment.

In 1994 at the Caux Round Table, a group of Japanese, U.S. and European business, education and community leaders developed a comprehensive set of principles for business behaviour with the concept of kyosei and human dignity at its core.

The rich cultural history of CSR has therefore influenced the strong commitments embedded in corporate mission statements. However, this history of aspirations is not the complete story of CSR in Japan.

PoSTWAR JAPAN & ThE dEvELoPmENT of CoRPoRATE EThICSIndustries in post World War II Japan were divided on how they defined CSR. The orthodox position asserted by Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric and Hosai Hyuga, the Chairman of Keizai Doyukai18, was that the chief responsibility of companies was to enhance shareholder value. Matsushita famously dismissed the pollution problems of the 1970s as being outside of the social responsibility of companies, though in later years he changed his stance and said, “…Companies that do as they please will not last long.”19



citizens. Since the establishment of the ISO 14001 environmental management system in 1996, Japanese businesses have led the world in numbers of certifications.24

Consequently, this interest in environmental sustainability has manifested itself in the ISO 2600025 process, which has seen Japan play an active role in shaping the agenda and giving full consideration to the positions of Japan and other Asian countries.

A decade into the 21st century, CSR in Japan has continued to develop at a steady pace. Japan established its first eco funds to allow for socially responsible investment. Western research agencies began scrutinising Japanese companies on the triple bottom line26 of profit, the boundaries on corporate governance and social contribution were pushed further. Since such screening influenced corporate valuation in capital markets, Japanese companies grudgingly complied. Meanwhile, the rise in corporate scandals both in Japan and the US led to the inclusion of compliance, accountability and disclosure standards into the general mandate of CSR.

Interestingly, the above examples show that the demands for CSR policy and its implementation have come from the corporate and industrial sectors of Japan. The government’s single attempt to legislate CSR through the Commercial Code Revision in 1974/5 was a contentious issue. Both Nippon Keidanren and the Kansai Economic Forum opposed the attempt in 1976 stating that “The problem is one of business ethics, and thus not suited to the character of corporate law.”27 In 2004 Keidanren re-stated its opposition to standardisation or legis lation for CSR. Instead, it proposed voluntary action by the corporate and industry sectors.

In 2003 Keizai Doyukai called on its membership28 to conduct voluntary self-evaluations using an evaluation standard proposed in its 15th Corporate White Paper, CSR in Japan – Current Status and Future Challenges.29 The Keizai Doyukai survey is inward looking, more focused on the internal operations and management of the company than CSR initiatives with external stakeholders, which are the focus of similar surveys conducted in India and the Philippines. Nonetheless, the survey provides interesting insight into how Japanese business approaches CSR.

Specifically, 32% of the companies surveyed reported establishing either a dedicated CSR department or CSR committees drawn from various departments,

(‘rabbit hutch’ dwellings, long working hours and the unequal treatment of men and women) and that in other OECD countries. This raised social issues directly related to companies and employees. In response, the idea of the “good corporate citizen” was introduced as companies actively contributed to the arts, academia, social welfare and international exchange. The Association for the Corporate Support of the Arts was formed in 1989 and the Keidanren 1% Club in 1990.

The 1991 crash of the Tokyo Stock Exchange brought to light numerous transgressions by Japanese companies and the distrust of Japanese companies reached its peak. This eventually resulted in the creation of a Charter for Good Corporate Behaviour in 1991 by the Nippon Keidanren which can be construed as the prototype for today’s CSR. The Charter, now referred to as a Charter of Corporate Behaviour, was revised several times in the 1990s to incorporate corporate ethics and compliance and was revised again in 2004 to incorporate CSR. ENvIRoNmENTAL SuSTAINABILITYThe 1990s, referred to as the lost decade in Japan, was also the decade when global warming, destruction of rainforests, the destruction of the ozone layer and desertification came under the global environmental spotlight. Countries and companies alike were forced to look beyond local environmental issues and consider the environmental footprint of operations, products and services on a global scale. Hiroshi Hirose, Executive Managing Director of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., and Chairman for Social Responsibility at the Management Bureau of Nippon Keidanren stated that Japanese companies have been balancing shareholder interests with those of other stakeholders long before other countries began doing so. In his view, Japan turned its lack of natural resources to its advantage, and developed cutting edge technology for energy and resource conservation as well as environmental protection.

Two important developments in the 1990s that further influenced the Japanese industry were the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 and the adoption of the ISO-14000 standard for environmental management systems in 1996. This was soon followed by the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was held in Kyoto in December 1997. The city of Kyoto thereafter became famous for the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted during this session. Since then, a deep-rooted environmental awareness has been established in government, businesses and Japanese



are content to focus on CSR with external stakeholders, often times ignoring their own employees and internal operations.

Yet, there is a glimmer of hope as we look towards the future. At a recent seminar on CSR hosted by the Institute of South East Asian Studies and the European Union Delegation to Singapore it was highlighted that in the future, CSR will no longer be defined by current parochial business practices but by the ethos of responsible social enterprises still to come. Today’s emergent socially responsible enterprise will be tomorrow’s leading corporation. With the emergence of enterprises such as the Impact Investment Exchange Asia, it is only a matter of time before the next generation of companies become inherently responsible and sustainable. And the current corporation will need to have a clear, credible and successful CSR strategy for the fact is that in the future access to capital will hinge on a company’s ESG – environmental, social and governance issues.

Clearly in the realm of corporate responsibility, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Abraham Lincoln.

whereas nearly 80% reported establishing a code of conduct and creating an office of compliance. An equal number of companies reported preparing environment reports. However a far lower number of 23% (but 51% of large corporations) prepared ‘sustainability reports.’ The survey found that the Japanese business had far to go when it came to applying CSR standards. Only 13% of responding companies claimed to consider labour standards and environmental responsibility with respect to their global supply chains, few companies went beyond ‘green’ purchasing and procurement for their own operations. Japanese business also came up short in ensuring workforce diversity (both at the managerial and employee levels), employee training and work life balance.

CoNCLuSIoNProponents of CSR advocate that it must be an intrinsic part of the corporate psyche embedded into every stage and level of company strategy and operations. However, the reality does not match the aspiration. In the developed world, legal compliance and triple bottom-line are the primary goals. In the developing world where businesses have no choice but to contribute to nation-building to make profits, they


1 Ethical Corporation, “CSR in India - Seeing is believing”, EC Newsdesk, August 15, 2006. http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4437.

2 Professor Leo Burke, “Introduction to the ASSOCHAM Eco Pulse Study,” Corporate Social Responsibility: Global Opportunities and Social Trends, Notre Dame University, USA.

3 ASSOCHAM Eco Pulse Study, CSR 2008-2009. http://www.assocham.org/arb/aep/AEP-CSR-report-June2009.pdf.4 TNS Group (formerly Taylor Nelson Sofres), now resides under WPP’s Kantar Group division. Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of

WPP plc. The Kantar Group is the world’s leading information, insight and consultancy business. WPP (Wire & Plastics Products) is a world leader in advertising and marketing services.

5 “Everybody’s business,” The Times of India, August 17, 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Delhi/EVERYBODYS_BUSINESS/articleshow/3375706.cms; Times Foundation, “TNS India survey – Corporate Social Responsibility Practices in India”. http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com/articlelist/articleshow/4592300.cms.

Proponents of CSR advocate that it must be an intrinsic part of the corporate psyche embedded into every stage and level of company strategy and operations. However, the reality does not match the aspiration. In the developed world, legal compliance and triple bottom-line are the primary goals.


6 Of the 82 companies surveyed there were 11 Public Sector undertakings, 39 private Indian corporations and 32 multinationals.7 In December 2009, the Indian Prime Minister released a set of voluntary guidelines on Corporate Governance and Corporate Social

Responsibility formulated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Corporate Social Responsibility Guidelines 2009 - India Corporate Week, December 17-21, 2009. http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/latestnews/CSR_Voluntary_Guidelines_24dec2009.pdf.

8 Tata Steel, “Putting Principles into Practice,” CSR Presentation Tata Steel, Slide 21. http://www.tatagrowthshop.com/sustainability/csr_prsentation.ppt.

9 The initiative focuses on reducing dropout rates, improving reading proficiencies, increasing achievement rates among public school children, teacher training and development, technical vocational education and infrastructure and physical facilities. The Philippines is probably the only country in Asia where the corporate sector has taken on the challenges and is working together to make a significant impact in the education system country-wide.

10 NEWSBREAK is an online news and current affairs magazine in the Philippines.11 NEWSBREAK CSR Surveys: (1) Lala Rimando, “Getting out of Public Relations and Philanthropy,” Newsbreak, December 10, 2007.

http://www.newsbreak.com.ph/csr/survey_bigcorps_analysis1.html (2) Purple S. Romero, “Yes, SMEs do CSR,” Newsbreak, January 16, 2008. http://www.newsbreak.com.ph/csr/survey_smes_analysis1.html.

12 An overwhelming 90% of companies surveyed focus their CSR efforts on the community wherein they operate.13 APFTI is a non-profit organisation that trains and educates micro, cottage, small and medium enterprises in balancing profitability with

social responsibility.14 Calvin M. Boardman & Hideaki Kiyoshi Kato, “The Confucian Roots of Business Kyosei,” Journal of Business Ethics, 48: 317-333.

http://www.sel.eesc.usp.br/informatica/graduacao/material/etica/private/the_confucian_roots_of_business_kyosei.pdf.15 Toshiyuki Aoki, “Corporate Philanthropy and CSR – Based on a comparative study on Japanese and American Corporate Philanthropy,”

Japan International Institute for Volunteering Research. http://www.jivri.org/Corporate%20Philanthropy%20and%20CSR.pdf16 Nobuyuki Demise, CSR in Japan: A Historical Perspective, 6-7. http://www.csr-weltweit.de/uploads/tx_jpdownloads/CSR_Japan_historical_

pap00478.pdf.17 See note 9 above.18 Japan Association of Corporate Executives.19 Masahiko Kawamura, “The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in Japan (Part 1) – Parallels with the History of Corporate Reform,

3. http://www.nli-research.co.jp/english/socioeconomics/2004/li040524.pdf20 Ibid.21 Ibid.22 Ibid, 4.23 See note 20 above.24 International Organization for Standardization, www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref864.25 ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, has decided to launch the development of an International Standard providing

guidelines for social responsibility (SR).The guidance standard will be published in 2010 as ISO 26000 and be voluntary to use. It will not include requirements and will thus not be a certification standard.

26 Triple bottom line - the phrase was coined by John Elkington in 1994 - expanding the traditional reporting framework to take into account environmental and social performance of a company, in addition to financial performance.

27 Masahiko Kawamura, “The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in Japan (Part 1)—Parallels with the History of Corporate Reform,” 8. http://www.nli-research.co.jp/english/socioeconomics/2004/li040524.pdf.

28 26% of its 877 members responded and provided data.29 Keizai Doyukai, “CSR in Japan survey 2003 – Current Status & Future Challenges,” January 2004.

http://www.doyukai.or.jp/en/policyproposals/articles/pdf/040116.pdf.



ContextUALIsInG CsR: Multi-stakeholder Approaches to Development Initiatives in Southeast AsiaChristine Davis & Stephanie Soderborg


As the focus on CSR expands throughout Asia, discussion prevails about the form it needs to take to be germane to the needs of each respective country. The authors discuss Kenan Institute Asia’s efforts in developing a responsible management education (or CSR curriculum and training) for future managers and business leaders in Vietnam.

About the Authors

Christine Davis is a Senior Associate with Kenan Institute Asia and a director of Davis Pacific Group Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based regional consultancy specialising in process management, organisational improvement, and private sector partnerships for social responsibility.

Stephanie Soderborg joined Kenan Institute Asia as Assistant Consultant after working in law. She studied at the London School of Economics and graduated with distinction from Yale University with a degree in political science.


Know the social and political history of the •community;Be willing and able to think critically, deliberate, •and discuss mutually beneficial solutions with other members of society;Create public good through collaborative •work between private, public, and non-profit spheres andBe a civic-minded and socially responsible citizen •who chooses to make a difference in the lives of others.

These responsibilities indicate the significance of being culturally and socially sensitive to the environment in which an organisation operates. In order to contribute meaningfully to a community, a company must have a thorough and intimate comprehension of the community. Combining this understanding with meaningful, substantial, and socially responsible involvement in a community through a well thought-out mission is what makes a business a true active citizen.

Many companies understand and embrace the concept of corporate citizenship. They formulate a plan for CSR, which, over and over again, entails some form of corporate philanthropy. Businesses may choose a cause important to the community and donate money, time and resources to this cause. However, these practices don’t create sustainable solutions to a society’s problems, nor do they ensure businesses are truly combating the negative effects on the environment in which they operate.

muLTI-STAKEhoLdER APPRoAChSuccessful CSR is sustainable CSR. In order for CSR to be sustainable, it must incorporate a multi-stakeholder approach. This requires not only fully-invested partners, but engaged, invested stakeholders who work together to achieve a common goal. Companies do not simply give back to the community through corporate philanthropy; instead, they involve and work with its members to implement projects to bring about socially responsible change. Engaging in a multi-stakeholder approach is no easy feat – companies are faced with the challenge of identifying and understanding who their stakeholders

As the focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) expands throughout Asia and becomes increasingly embraced as a priority by governments, business and communities alike, discussion prevails about the form it is taking – or needs to take – to be germane to the needs of each country. Those priorities vary, and many are observing how national and cultural values are shaping how business takes action. Rapid economic, cultural and environmental changes within Southeast Asia are creating new opportunities, risks, and challenges. The essence of CSR is working closely with key stakeholders, including employees, governments, communities, suppliers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and academia. Therefore, engagement of the stakeholders often leads to multi-sector initiatives that develop relationships between the firms and the other stakeholders and that provide economic, social and environmental benefits. These multi-stakeholder partnerships can leverage the resources of each partner to increase impact. Philanthropy is not sufficient. Solving problems alone is not sufficient. CSR which changes the community for the better in the long-term requires transformation in the way CSR is approached and this needs to begin not only with business people and government officials, but earlier in the learning process - with an approach to education that enables students to integrate CSR into their professional lives.

ACTIvE CITIzENShIP ANd CSRThe concept of active citizenship, where the ability to exercise rights in a community exists hand in hand with certain responsibilities to the community, f o rms the fundamenta l b a s i s f o r CSR. Companies not only operate within and profit from a functioning society; they are expected to contribute to and improve the environment in which they work. This symbiotic relationship, where communities and citizens provide for each other, creates functioning and operational societies desired and needed by public, private and non-profit spheres alike. Businesses must become true community citizens in order to ensure that such a relationship continues and societies continue to prosper. To do so, companies must accept certain responsibilities:


Successful CSR is sustainable CSR. In order for CSR to be sustainable, it must incorporate a multi-stakeholder approach. This requires not only fully-invested partners, but engaged, invested stakeholders who work together to achieve a common goal.


this means staying involved in its implementation, and caring about its completion and the benefits resulting from it.

From years of experience in implementing development partnership programmes and following a multi-stakeholder approach, the Kenan Institute Asia (K.I.Asia) has identified six essential characteristics ensuring invested, engaged partners and stakeholders, resulting in programme success. The six critical success factors are:

demand driven: No matter how noble a CSR project’s cause may seem, without addressing the specific concerns of project stakeholders – community members, local governments, non-governmental agencies and institutions, such as universities, as well as local and corporate project partners - CSR has very little chance for success. A demand-driven project directly addresses these local stakeholders’ interests and needs, in turn creating local ownership of a project.

mutually beneficial: Not only must a project fit the demands and interests of the partners and stakeholders, it also must benefit both. Without invested self interest, organisations and stakeholders ultimately have little commitment to maintaining a partnership and project, leading to a lack of long-term sustainability.

flexible: A flexible scope means that partnerships and projects can address a wide variety of public policy issues - from educational to social and environmental - which are common to developing and emerging market countries. However, flexibility does not mean oversimplifying the CSR concept, or taking such a broad view that the scope becomes fuzzy or ill-defined. Initiatives should be focused, but also allow room for adaptation to unusual circumstances and contextual requirements.

Peer to peer interaction: Consistent and clear peer-to-peer interaction and communication between partners and with stakeholders is critical to programme success. Beginning in the development stage, project partners must work together to set the terms for project collaboration and create a viable project in line

are, beyond just the company shareholders and creating trusting, lasting relationships with them. They must adjust and adapt to global versus regional and local needs, as well as to different communities and cultures. The Center for Creative Leadership in North Carolina, U.S.A., examined the role of the multi-stakeholder approach, stating:

A stark and complex shift has occurred in how organisations must understand themselves in relation to a wide variety of both local and global stakeholders. The quality of relationships that a company has with its employees and other key stakeholders—such as customers, investors, suppliers, public and governmental officials, activists, and communities—is crucial to its success, as is its ability to respond to competitive conditions and CSR.1

A multi-stakeholder approach requires clear definitions. The type of engagement must be defined, key stakeholders identified, expectations and priorities of all discussed and understood (with an acceptance that everyone will have an agenda of some kind). There also needs to be a commitment to continually build trust and nurture a mutually respectful working partnership and clear identification of what makes the partnership a “win-win” venture. A respectful and strategic multi-stakeholder approach to CSR is critical to creating thoughtful, innovative, and scalable solutions – the types of contributions which truly fulfil a company’s responsibilities as an active citizen.

SuCCESSfuL, SuSTAINABLE SoLuTIoNSAs mentioned above, successful CSR requires the investment and engagement of both partners, those directly involved in funding and implementing the project, and stakeholders, those directly or indirectly affected by or having a stake in the project. For corporations, this means moving beyond simply creating a CSR department and an appropriate section in the annual report. It means ensuring that all levels of the organisation, from the CEO through management all the way to the individual employees, are invested in, understand, and care about CSR, and make it a critical component of the organisation’s mission statement. For stakeholders,


A multi-stakeholder approach requires clear definitions. The type of engagement must be defined, key stakeholders identified, expectations and priorities of all discussed and understood. There also needs to be a commitment to continually build trust and nurture a mutually respectful working partnership and clear identification of what makes the partnership a “win-win” venture.


Cost effectiveness / cost-sharing: Successful CSR programmes require partners to perceive that they are receiving tangible benefits either during or at the completion of a project. They also require partners to have a vested interest in the partnership and project if they want to gain something of value out of the programme’s completion. A cost effective programme sees tangible benefits relative to the money and time invested. Cost-sharing, both financial and in-kind, ensures partner investment in the project. By contributing money, supplies, and personnel, partners have an increased level of involvement and interest in the project. As programmes are measured through a basket of both quantitative and qualitative metrics, all partners must be able to see they have received value for their investment.

Finally, projects must be implemented well despite problems associated with bureaucracy. Government systems, organisational structures, red tape, and administrative procedures are a fact of life best anticipated and planned for. The continuum below shows what the requirements of the various partners might be, and how they can be monitored and measured.

with all partners’ abilities and goals. Expectations must be shared and understood. An implementing agency or project facilitator can ensure that all parties have a thorough understanding of necessary information, such as the issues at hand and their possible solutions. But the ultimate decision on project design and partner responsibilities must lie with the partners themselves. Consistent communication must continue throughout the project implementation phase to ensure all partners are on the same page in terms of where the project stands, what activities have been conducted, and what has worked successfully or not.

Contextually appropriate solutions: A successful CSR programme requires collaboration between partners whose missions align and a program which supports these missions while working within a company’s capabilities. However, the partners must also ensure that the programme meets the concerns of the local stakeholders and is ultimately viable in the implementation stage. Partnering with local governments and organisations and working closely with stakeholders provides valuable insights into the conditions, culture and lifestyles which can affect both programme design and implementation.


mutualobjectives

Lives changed, Lives impacted

Clearmanagement

processes

Communication, Reporting,

Reviews

Key PerformanceIndicators

(KPIs)

FinancialOperational

In-process & results monitoring

meet needs

Clear intentionsbased on

beneficiariesnot partner agendas,

Goals achieved

Evaluation

Non-partisanassessment,Systematic appraisal

Recognition

Appropriate appreciation,

Stories shared,Best practices

documented for replication

How

Wha

t


CASE STudIES of ThE SuCCESSfuL muLTI-STAKEhoLdER APPRoACh To CSRK.I.Asia has successfully implemented numerous CSR projects, consistently following a multi-stakeholder approach. While all projects include the critical success factors and rules outlined above, two current projects clearly exemplify their effective use and sustainable results.

mICRoSofT BETTER As a consequence of the 2009 global financial crisis, an estimated 70,000 workers were laid off from the garment, jewelry, electronics, food, small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and service industries in Thailand. This problem was intensified by the relocation of manufacturing bases from Thailand to emerging countries in the region owing to cheaper labour costs, as well as the low level of education of the Thai workforce. In order to address this problem, the Thailand Department of Skill Development (DSD) under the Ministry of Labour partnered with Microsoft (Thailand) Ltd. and K.I.Asia to implement a multi-stakeholder project which tackled unemployment in a manner which suited stakeholder needs as well as partners’ missions and capabilities.

Through stakeholder engagement, the partners learned that many of those who lost their jobs lacked basic information and communication technology (ICT) skills and had little opportunity for further training. This placed them in a disadvantaged position for finding new or better employment. Almost all small and potential entrepreneurs in Thailand also lacked the necessary ICT training for managing and building their business, making it difficult to sustain business operations. As a result, the partners implemented the “Building Employability Through Technology and Entrepreneurship Resources” (BETTER) project, which provided ICT training and ICT for entrepreneurship training through the DSD for unemployed and at-risk workers, as well as SME operators.3 The specific objectives of the project were to make training recipients more employable through increased ICT skills; to better prepare potential and existing entrepreneurs for engaging in entrepreneurial activities and to develop the capacity of the DSD to create and market their training courses to better serve industry demand. Ultimately, the goal was to successfully take over and expand the project at the end of a three-year trial period.

RoLE of EduCATIoNOne of the key methods for engaging stakeholders is implementing a ‘training-of-trainer’ (TOT) process, where programme stakeholders build their training capacities and in turn, go out and deliver training in the community. Not only does this build trust (stakeholders become project implementers, whom other community members already know and trust), but it leads to long-term project sustainability. This type of training ingrains critical programme knowledge into some members of the community, who can then train others. This exponential growth of trainers creates greater change for good. The ability of CSR to build upon itself is critical to its success. According to Dr. Wayne Visser, a leading expert of CSR, scalability is crucial to sustainability and success:

“The CSR literature is liberally sprinkled with charming case studies of truly responsible and sustainable projects. The problem is that so few of them ever go to scale. We need more examples like Wal-Mart’s ‘choice editing’ by converting to organic cotton, Tata creating the affordable eco-efficient Nano car or Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen banking model.” 2

By integrating education into CSR, such as through TOT, where the project doesn’t simply implement, but teaches how to implement, programmes can begin to achieve the necessary scalability of which Dr. Visser speaks.

It is important to recognise that the role of education as a tool in CSR is not limited to the capacity building of TOT. It also includes utilising the education system. Just as education is implemented as part of CSR, CSR is integrated into tertiary business education, with corporate social responsibility, ethics, and governance as part of both an undergraduate and graduate curriculum. This education is strategic – it falls in line with the mission and priorities of students seeking to be successful in business. It builds on the values of the country. It extends to government, state-owned enterprises, universities, as well as the private sector. It taps teaching and organisational expertise of faculty and practitioners. As a key for sustainability, any such curriculum to develop responsible managers of the future must be supported by a teacher training programme to develop the capacity of individuals who will teach it.



partnership with four Vietnamese universities and other stakeholders. New curriculum will provide for both undergraduate and graduate levels, accompanied by a teacher training programme and supporting case studies. This project builds on the premise that responsible business conduct is strengthened and propelled by being informed and educated on the impact and influence business behaviour and leadership can have on society – indeed, what it means to be a socially responsible corporate citizen. The university partners who were selected represent future business leaders in urban and rural settings, in the north and south, across SME, multinational corporations (MNCs) and state-owned enterprises, and future government leaders as well. Funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) as the national implementing partner, the new curriculum is slated to be piloted in the autumn of 2010.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has taken several steps towards further improving tertiary education in the country. In 2007, MOET implemented the policy ‘training based on the demand of the society’4, where vocational training focuses on business needs rather than available resources. At this time, there is no formal tertiary level CSR curriculum offered in Vietnamese universities. An assessment conducted to determine the current availability of responsible management curriculum revealed a great deal of enthusiasm and desire for CSR education. Some related courses are available: environmental management, ethics and labour standards. The Vietnamese government’s recognition that incorporating CSR into business practices in order to create sustainable development while continuing the economic growth rate achieved over the last decade is helping to support a heightened focus on new types of courses and new methods of teaching and learning. Nonetheless, there is a great need for a more strategic and holistic approach, particularly for curriculum and materials

Several factors contributed to the continuing success of the Microsoft BETTER project. It specifically addressed the needs and demands of those in occupations with a high risk of job loss. It also fit with the partners’ visions and capabilities. Microsoft synchronised the company’s vision of enabling underserved communities to realise their potential through the power of technology, in this case, ICT training, with the DSD’s mission to raise Thailand’s workforce standards and competitiveness through skills development, as well as K.I.Asia’s role as a leading provider of services for sustainable development. Along with this congruency of missions, strategies and values, the project also maintained clear and constant communication with the stakeholders and project partners.

With the inclusion of K.I.Asia’s critical success factors from the start of the project, partners and stakeholders have been engaged and involved throughout the implementation of BETTER. However, this is only one piece of the key to its sustainability, and therefore success. BETTER also incorporates the crucial element of education into its design through TOT, ingraining programme lessons into community DSD trainers, who can continue to pass these lessons on to Thai communities and create new leaders long after the project partnerships have ended. Within three years, the project proposes to establish twenty DSD training centres in 20 provinces, training over 40,000 DSD trainers, who will reach over 107,000 individuals. By training the DSD trainers themselves, the centres will be able to continue to train thousands of individuals for years to come.

EmBEddING CSR IN vIETNAm ThRouGh RESEARCh, TRAINING ANd CuRRICuLum dEvELoPmENTUsing a multi-stakeholder and participatory approach, K.I.Asia is developing a ‘responsible management’ education (or CSR) curriculum and training for future managers and business leaders in Vietnam in


Using a multi-stakeholder and participatory approach, K.I.Asia is developing a ‘responsible management’ education (or CSR) curriculum and training for future managers and business leaders in Vietnam in partnership with four Vietnamese universities and other stakeholders. New curriculum will provide for both undergraduate and graduate levels, accompanied by a teacher training programme and supporting case studies.


forward to managers and leaders who understand the importance of financial, social, and environmental stewardship. Vietnam itself profits by moving closer to a fuller understanding and commitment to integrated and institutionalised social responsibility, as articulated by the Global Compact: ‘Common goals, such as building markets, combating corruption, safeguarding the environment and ensuring social inclusion,…[advance] sustainability solutions in partnership with a range of stakeholders…[which in turn] can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere.’5 Future managers and government leaders need to be able to ‘scan the horizon’ and “think laterally about how…relationships will contribute long-term to [the] bottom line in a constantly changing world.” (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development).6 Supporting the development of innovative, responsible management education and training for future Vietnamese managers and business leaders in turn supports and encourages a strong, vibrant, and responsible public and private sector.

CoNCLuSIoNIn the academic literature, CSR is the study of the relationship between business and the society in which it is situated. Closely connected to this is a problem-solving strategic methodology that seeks to identify, anticipate, and diffuse these tensions, producing sustainable businesses in a sustainable society. But in much of the academic literature on CSR this relationship is not seen just as a strategic challenge, but as a source of potential innovation (for instance in green energy initiatives or hybrid cars) and growth. Projects such as Microsoft BETTER not only train disadvantaged communities in ICT, but introduce the company’s technology and the knowledge of how to use it to an entirely new consumer base. Likewise, Vietnam has recognised that if it does not embrace a strategic approach to the tensions between business and society, it risks not only being blind-sided by them, but may also miss out on an important

which draw from international standards and expertise, but are tailored to the Vietnamese context.

This responsible education project responds to the needs of the Vietnamese environment by:

Learning from international best practices •and considering international standards,while localising to fit the Vietnamese environment;Working with the university partners to •‘co-produce’ not only the curriculum, TOT and case studies, but to design a plan which assures success and sustainability and can be rolled out insync with school semester schedules andUnderstanding the background, interests, and level •of knowledge of students in order to best target the curriculum.

Working together with educators, government ministries, and diverse stakeholders from the private sector, NGOs and the United Nations who have sponsored, partnered and championed capacity building initiatives of many kinds for CSR, it was well recognised that the process requires time (for stakeholder consultation), intention (to ensure all stakeholders are included), and organisation. A co-production process allows constant dialogue and fine-tuning of curriculum content and TOT methodology. Vietnamese experts provide input so that the curriculum, case studies and research reflect the Vietnamese environment. Leading international experts bring in knowledge of the latest trends and theories on CSR. The first student survey of its kind has been conducted to better understand the perceptions and perspectives Vietnamese students have of CSR. Formal feedback is sought among Vietnamese faculty and students throughout the programme.

All stakeholders benefit through this participatory process. The universities receive the first holistic tertiary-level CSR curriculum for Vietnam and are instrumental in its design and implementation. The business community and government may look

All stakeholders benefit through this participatory process. The universities receive the first holistic tertiary-level CSR curriculum for Vietnam and are instrumental in its design and implementation. The business community and government may look forward to managers and leaders who understand the importance of financial, social, and environmental stewardship.



1 A. Amato, A. Henderson and S. Florence, Corporate Social Responsibility and Leadership: A Guide to Leadership Tasks and Functions (The Center for Creative Leadership, 2009).

2 Wayne Visser, “The Fall and Rise of CSR: 3 Curses of CSR 1.0 and 5 Principles of CSR 2.0,” CSR International Blog, posted April 1, 2010, http://www.csrinternational.blogspot.com.

3 The programme is ongoing.4 Prof. Dr. Pham Vu Tham, Keynote speech, Building Partnerships Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan 14, 2010.5 For more information on the United Nations Global Compact, http://www.unglobalcompact.org/aboutthegc/index.html.6 CIPD, The HR and Development Website, http://www.cipd.co.uk/default.cipd.7 Suzanne Benn and Robin Kramar, “Educating for Sustainability and CSR: What is the role of business schools?” Journal of Management &

Organization, http://e-contentmanagement.com.

Kramar, authors for the Journal of Management and Organisation, propose that, “If education is to bring about deep seated change for CSR and sustainability it must be underpinned by education for sustainability principles such as values clarification, critical reflection, participation and systemic thinking, involving continuous learning and co-learning by ‘student’ and ‘lecturer’.”7 It is becoming clearer and clearer that this educational foundation in sustainable CSR is vital for successful implementation of the multi-stakeholder approach, and this multi-stakeholder, partnership-oriented approach is the basis for true socially responsible transformation.

source of innovation. These tensions and the innovation that is made possible in seeking out a strategic resolution are understood to be central to a good business education and to successful business practices - a lesson which must be expanded beyond the Vietnamese tertiary education system to CSR education in general.

The need to integrate an educational component into successful CSR programmes, to develop skills and knowledge concerning the impact of organisational decision-making on the wider society and the natural environment, as well as on its financial outcomes, is now widely recognised. Suzanne Benn and Robin



BUsIness soLUtIons to GLoBAL CHALLenGesRichard Welford

strategic community development strategies is now sweeping the corporate social responsibility arena. Creating opportunities for new businesses, providing a business environment where enterprises can flourish and building the capacity for entrepreneurialism are all part of a new emphasis on getting the poor to engage with business and trade rather than relying on hand-outs.

Some of the greatest success stories have involved the business sector participating in micro-finance initiatives and small business development. Targeting enthusiastic entrepreneurial women who are able to generate incomes to support their families has been

There can be little doubt that over the last two decades the biggest alleviator of poverty in the world has been the private sector. In China alone, 400 million people have been removed from poverty largely because of the massive inward investment of the private sector, creating jobs, wealth and adding significantly to household incomes. People have increased their incomes not through traditional forms of aid, but through trade, new market opportunities, enterprise development and entrepreneurialism.

There is now a call for the private sector to do even more. A recognition of the need to move away from philanthropic contributions (akin to aid) and towards


Richard Welford

Richard Welford is one of the founders and the chairman of CSR Asia based in Hong Kong. He is also a professor at the University of Hong Kong and a director of ERP Environment, a UK-based publisher.

Despite the prevalence of CSR initiatives in companies, there is a need to leverage on current practices to make them more effective and meaningful. Richard Welford looks at the advantages to such an approach.


means that we do not have the right to act in a way which undermines the ability of future generations to continue to develop. Yet, in the past one hundred years we have managed to use up half of the world’s oil reserves, a valuable resource that took millions of years to create. Other resources have also been used up in an equally astonishing way. Future generations will look back on our behaviour with disbelief.

But future generations are not the only focus of the concept of sustainable development. The definition above is actually only part of the full definition, which goes on to say that sustainable development “… contains within it two key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organisation on the environment’s ability to meet present and the future needs.”3

The very fact that we are now experiencing climate change is evidence of the fact that we have already exceeded the limitations of the planet to absorb carbon dioxide. This point is worth dwelling on. Every economy in the world measures its economic performance on the basis of growth (increasing output) alone. We never subtract the costs of that growth in terms of labour impacts, human rights abuses, environmental damage, resource depletion and lost biodiversity. Just about every textbook on business and management also assumes a model of business which is aimed at increasing turnover and generating growth for the company. Yet in a world of finite resources it is now quickly becoming clear that we simply cannot afford traditional forms of resource intensive growth. There are those who increasingly point towards opportunities associated with green growth but they too miss the point that what matters is not growth, it is development. Development is about improving the quality of life of all human beings (now and in the future) in a way which protects our fragile environment.

The question is how can the private sector be part of a new development agenda that protects the environment, puts an emphasis on the needs of the

a particular success story. Loan repayment rates amongst women are high and putting money directly into the hands of the people who make household purchasing decisions has seen reductions in both poverty and ill health.

New initiatives around the so-called ‘bottom of the pyramid’, where businesses engage with the huge market of millions of people living on less than US$2 a day, also offer to bring new market opportunities to reduce poverty. Bottom of the pyramid initiatives got off to a shaky start with early movers being criticised for selling products that no one really needed in small quantities that actually increased environmental damage. But, more recent market opportunities, offering products at low prices, do seem to be becoming more successful. Danone’s low priced vitamin and mineral enriched yoghurt is a great example of a product aimed at the poor, which helps to enrich dietary intake.

But what of the other challenges facing us in the world today? Can we see a role for the private sector in dealing with those as well? Moving beyond just poverty and dealing with the other Millennium Development Goals (including improving maternal and child health, achieving universal primary education, combating disease and protecting the environment) present a set of real challenges, but which present opportunities for businesses to address. The consequences of climate change are becoming more worrying, with drought, floods, loss of biodiversity and destruction of human habitats. Unless we bring a greater sense of urgency to addressing these problems now, future generations may face an irreversibly damaged world which will be much harder for them to live in. The challenge is to move towards that elusive concept of sustainable development, legitimised by the Brundtland Report1 in 1987 but never really fully embedded in the psyches of either politicians or businesses. Indeed, in every year since 1987, the world has become less sustainable and development has consistently been confused with growth.

The oft-cited definition of sustainable development is: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”2 That essentially


The consequences of climate change are becoming more worrying, with drought, floods, loss of biodiversity and destruction of human habitats. Unless we bring a greater sense of urgency to addressing these problems now, future generations may face an irreversibly damaged world which will be much harder for them to live in.



While it isn’t the sole responsibility of businesses to tackle all of the challenges that lie ahead, a focus on just one or two issues, using the skills that businesses have and aligning global initiatives with brands, is likely to provide win-win outcomes for societies and the businesses themselves. Leadership initiatives from Coca-Cola on water, Cathay Pacific on climate change, Unilever on poverty alleviation, Danone on producing affordable nutritious food and Citi on financial education for the poor are all good examples of engagement through different aspects of development. Business-to-business partnerships can also be remarkably successful in this regard. The support from Nike, Microsoft and Manpower given to the ‘Nine Million Campaign’ in its attempt to help child refugees is a great example of this.4

But there remain two key challenges in getting the private sector to engage more with global issues. Firstly, this aspect of corporate social responsibility is certainly not on the agenda of all large multinational corporations. A strategy that combines advocacy (to apply pressure and raise awareness) with recognition for business leaders (by purchasing their products) can be effective in ensuring that large players take greater responsibility in forwarding the development agenda. Secondly, corporate social responsibility and engagement with the development agenda remains dominated by large companies and we need to explore how we can get smaller enterprises involved in these new and exciting developments.

The business case for engaging with development issues involves brand, reputation, trust and a positive corporate image. Involving large brand name companies with recognisable products and big reputations is therefore relatively easy. Getting smaller enterprises involved is tougher, yet the very fact that there are so many of them means that there are huge opportunities to get them involved with local initiatives, which can collectively create an even bigger impact than the activities of the multinational brands.

To date, many corporate social responsibility initiatives have been quite top-down, in that they are driven by a big corporate agenda and too often have public relations opportunities in mind. Whilst this might provide for a business case for brand name companies, it is not appealing for smaller enterprises.

There is a need for urgent discussions and research into how it might be possible to create a more bottom-up approach and grassroots initiatives that can get smaller companies to be involved with challenges at a more local level. Such an approach needs to be fully participatory and should also be led

poor and reverses environmental damage? How can we take people out of poverty, while at the same time reducing the resource intensity of our operations? How can we improve health, reduce disease and provide access to essential services for the majority of the world’s population? How can we begin to restore our natural environment through grassroots pro-poor community initiatives?

What is clear is that we cannot simply leave such challenges to governments, development agencies and inter-governmental organisations. They have, to date, not managed to create the significant change required to move us towards sustainable development and there is currently little evidence that they will be able to do so in the future. But the private sector must also share its responsibility for the economic growth that has, in the past, damaged the environment and sometimes stifled development, rather than contributed to it. Nevertheless, it is becoming abundantly clear that it is the private sector that has the financial muscle, the international reach and the leadership skills to begin to tackle our remaining global challenges.

The last of the Millennium Development Goals points to the need for new global partnerships for development. It is now clear that those global partnerships must include the only true global players in the world – multinational enterprises. Moreover, many of these large private sector global players have already demonstrated a willingness to engage with global challenges through their corporate social responsibility programmes. Of course there is still more to do and not all multinational enterprises have grasped the role that they can play when they work in partnership with government and NGOs. Much of the private sector also requires incentives to engage in the global challenges that lie ahead. The best incentive is for consumers to reward those companies who demonstrate global leadership through a preference to purchase their products.

But while partnerships can provide many of the solutions to global challenges, they require leaders. In my experience, when it comes to partnerships between businesses, governments and civil society actors, the best leaders are nearly always from the businesses. Governments, institutionalised development agencies and other quasi-government bodies often forget the end game as they move slowly and cautiously, navigating through bureaucratic structures and regulations. Civil society organisations have important skills sets but often lack resources and have under-developed managerial skills. So, I would argue that not only should businesses be involved in initiatives to tackle global challenges, they should be encouraged to take on leadership positions as well.



In each of these four areas there is a role for larger companies, business associations, chambers of commerce and industry or spatially specific stakeholders (including local government) to be involved.

The emphasis of this new approach to tackling the world’s global challenges will have to be on shared responsibility and joint accountability. The responsibility for sustainable development must be shared between businesses in all sectors and of all sizes. They will, in turn, have to demonstrate that they are being accountable to a broad range of stakeholders to ensure that they can benefit from a new and educated consumer base.

At the same time we do not have to ‘reinvent the wheel’. Two decades ago I was involved with business-led initiatives centred on energy efficiency and waste management. These were initiatives that were often based on the creation of ‘business clubs’ where companies could share best practices, learn from one another and, in many cases, save money as well. This model might work in tackling other challenges. However, such bottom-up approaches are not going to emerge unless businesses (particularly smaller ones) are incentivised to participate. A consumer premium may not emerge and may not be enough. Therefore, we also need to examine the other types of incentives that are likely to be needed, including tax breaks, subsidies, schemes for public recognition of companies, market linked labelling of products and services, public funding for innovation activities and preferential access to public procurement opportunities.

We are now entering a new era where the role of business in dealing with global challenges has been recognised and where we have plenty of good examples of businesses engaging in positive contributions to create a more sustainable development. The challenge is to take this to its next logical step. The inclusion of more businesses (including smaller businesses) in those efforts is important. But we have to assure such businesses that they stand to benefit from using their time and resources in a positive way. We all have a role in this through our spending power.

by the private sector. We need to see new partnerships within the private sector and new ways of involving more businesses in the process. Those partnerships need to be of four kinds:

1. Sector specific partnerships that stress the need for initiatives in areas that industries have special impact upon. Examples include human rights initiatives in the mining sector, labour practices along supply chains, climate change adaptation in water intensive sectors and biodiversity initiatives in agribusiness. Such efforts can involve both large and small players.

2. Spatial approaches that lead to partnerships among companies in specific geographical areas with an emphasis on cross-sectorial initiatives that include the small business sector are also vital. Initiatives at the city or county level have the ability to inspire localised plans and encourage more cooperation amongst businesses that share a particular vicinity. There is a clear opportunity for businesses to work in partnership with local authorities and other local stakeholders at this level.

3. Businesses-led community approaches and partnerships that match business capabilities to the needs of local communities can be hugely beneficial for tackling localised challenges. For example, since we already know that it is the poor who will be impacted first and worst by climate change, there is a need to marry private sector community investment initiatives with pro-poor climate change adaptation.

4. Bioregional approaches that concentrate on particular environmental changes are also important initiatives for dealing with climate change, localised pollution and the longer term protection of biodiversity. For example, coastal projects associated with marine habitat conservation, forest restoration and protection of endangered species can be led by the private sector. For example, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has a number of marine conservations projects and an orang-utan sanctuary at its Rasa Ria resort. Honda has a programme to protect the endangered Sumatran Rhinoceros.

1 Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987.2 Ibid.3 Ibid.4 Ninemillion.org Campaign, http://www.ninemillion.org; “UN launches $220 million campaign to educate 9 million vulnerable children,”

UN News Centre, September 27, 2007, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24020&Cr=educate&Cr1



CoRPoRAte soCIAL InnoVAtIonJared Tham

CSR has long been perceived as an afterthought in the corporate world. However, perceptions are shifting, and CSR is becoming part of the innovation paradigm of a corporation, creating what is arguably a turning point in the history of the CSR movement.

Jared Tham

Jared Tham works at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation. A connector for the social sector, he enjoys working across various issues and fostering collaborations among different organisations.



in green consumerism, as well as the phenomenon of niche markets such as Fair Trade2 beginning to enter the mainstream. Second, governments increasingly wield a compelling combination of persuasion and legislation to coax companies into behaving responsibly. Examples of international strategies that have been employed include the United Nations-sanctioned Clean Development Mechanism, which allows net global greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by financing emissions reduction projects in developing countries3, as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an inter-government treaty to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.4

These developments are especially significant in the case of multi-national companies (MNCs), who are leveraging their extensive financial resources, management expertise and global supply chains to find innovative solutions to deep-rooted social and environmental issues.

ThE BuSINESS CASE foR CoRPoRATE SoCIAL INNovATIoNThe benefits of twinning innovation with corporate responsibility are potentially game-changing, as the diagram below shows:

WATERShEd IN CoRPoRATE RESPoNSIBILITYWhile there are still companies that continue to question the business case for CSR, other companies which are more forward looking have already seen how an emphasis on creating social value can translate into good business. From this vantage point, such companies are exploring how CSR initiatives can just as likely originate from the logistics or engineering divisions as from the corporate communications or public affairs department.

As a result, innovation in business and corporate social responsibility – previously treated as separate and distinct initiatives – is being implemented in an integrated manner. Simply put, innovation, long recognised as a tool for creating new markets and products, is now being applied to the arena of corporate responsibility, creating what experts call “blue oceans”1 in the process, which are uncontested market spaces that create new markets and render rivals obsolete. We are witnessing the beginning of a sea change in attitudes towards CSR.

These changes in the corporate sector have been occurring due to the confluence of two factors. First, consumers are more educated, discerning and demanding, as evidenced by the overall rise

The potential for creating new markets is sufficient motivation. Yet a commitment towards corporate social innovation accrues other side benefits as well, such as positioning the company for a younger, more socially conscious workforce, as well as bypassing the oft-repeated criticism that CSR is merely a public relations exercise.

Social/ environmental Return on Investment

Business Returns

Socialentrepreneurship

Corporate SocialInnovation

SocialEnterprises

Corporate SocialResponsibility



While social enterprises have been torchbearers for social innovation, MNCs who enter into this space can potentially scale both the business returns and social/environmental returns on investment (SROI) in a way that many small and medium-sized social enterprises are simply not yet resourced or designed to do, although their potential to be as dynamic as corporations exists and some have made the leap. For example, A Better Place is a game-changing social enterprise, with a vision to become a global provider of electric vehicle networks and services. However, while their initial impact in the clean-tech industry was promising, it was also limited. Now, having signed an agreement with an HSBC-led investor consortium for new equity financing of US$350 million, they are getting the financing to scale their operations at a truly global level.5

On the other hand, large corporations can of themselves initiate new enterprises that address social concerns. The new General Electric under CEO Jeffrey Immelt6 has an Ecomagination initiative, which is poised to create massive revenues from environmental markets. In a report in The Economist, the company stated that it “vows to double its revenues from 17 clean-technology businesses,” taking “such products from $10 billion in sales in 2004 to $20 billion by 2010, with more ambitious targets thereafter.”7

The potential for creating new markets is sufficient motivation. Yet a commitment towards corporate social innovation accrues other side benefits as well, such as positioning the company for a younger, more socially conscious workforce, as well as bypassing the oft-repeated criticism that CSR is merely a public relations exercise.

In fact, when a corporation signals its undivided commitment towards an ideal – an example being Interface, whose CEO Ray Anderson has pledged to bring his company towards zero environmental footprint8 - the public perception of the company shifts from one that is “not doing any evil” (mere reputation management) to “doing well and doing good” (a market leader, both financially and socially).

ChARTING A NEW CouRSEBut how can large MNCs be motivated to engage in corporate social innovation? Often, the answer lies in visionary individuals within a company who can foresee trends that assure the corporation’s survival. This could start as the initiative of a social intrapreneur9, as exemplified by Citigroup’s Global Director of Microfinance Bob Annibale, who pioneered their microfinance programme10 from within. There could be an enlightened CEO, such as Virgin’s Richard Branson, who has pledged all the profits from his air and rail ventures over the next decade to investments in clean technologies such as bio-fuels.11



Here then, are five examples of companies that are at the vanguard of corporate social innovation:

1. for-profit philanthropy with Google.org

In 2004, when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote to prospective shareholders about their vision for the company, they outlined a commitment to contribute significant resources, including 1% of Google’s equity and profits in some form, as well as employee time, to address some of the world’s most urgent problems.12 That commitment eventually culminated in the creation of Google.org.

As part of the gigantic Google machine, it is not a corporate foundation to which profits are simply channelled, but a proper “department” within

Google that is able to leverage on the talents of fellow Googlers.13 By foregoing charity tax status, it is able to utilise a mixture of grants and equity in order to carry out its mission.14

Among some of Google.org’s more ambitious projects is RE<C, which is about making renewable energy (RE) cheaper than coal-fired power (C) which today is the predominant source of electricity worldwide and a significant contributor to global warming.15



2. Streamlining disaster logistics with dhL

Despite decades of experience, disaster relief efforts continue to be burdened by logistic problems because most of the aid that is air-flown gets held up at bottlenecks at airports. DHL, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, took the initiative to build a global network of Disaster Response Teams, whose mission is to reduce congestion at airports receiving unsolicited humanitarian relief goods in the aftermath of major natural disasters.

The initiative has since evolved into GARD (Get Airports Ready for Disaster), and is a crucial programme in streamlining disaster logistics worldwide. Two pilot projects have already been successfully completed at the Indonesian airports of Makassar and Palu in August 2009.

Using the train-the-trainer approach, the small GARD team trains airport employees and also produces a detailed report called the Airport Surge Capacity Assessment to understand the surge capacity of an airport and makes recommendations on how to handle relief operations when disasters occur.16



3. making recycling fun with volkswagen

While there is no shortage of information in the public domain on how to recycle, little thought has been given to how creativity might play a role in encouraging recycling practices. In response to the dearth of innovative approaches, Volkswagen and advertising agency DDB Stockholm set up a website called The Fun Theory. In essence, everyday acts in public spaces that are wasteful or performed unconsciously are transformed into creative, tactile experiences – a strategy that has helped to change behaviour.17

In snappy 2-minute video clips, The Fun Theory shows, for example, how turning a simple staircase at a local train station into a giant piano with

music-making steps can motivate people to use the stairs instead of the escalator. Another clip shows how turning a garbage bin for recycling glass bottles into an arcade game can dramatically increase the rate of recycling.

Capitalising on the chain reaction effect of videos on YouTube and blogs, the innovators behind this project set up a competition to encourage similar creative practices. Apart from the project’s effects on overall behaviour in public spaces, the campaign had the added effect of bringing greater positive attention to the Volksvagen brand name.



4. Social business in Grameen danone

Grameen and Group Danone went into a 50-50 joint venture to create a yogurt fortified with micro-nutrients to decrease malnutrition for the children of Bangladesh. The yogurt is produced with solar and bio-gas energy and is served in environmentally friendly packaging.18 Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen, called this joint venture a “social business”- a pioneering model for a more humane form of capitalism.

Like a conventional business, Grameen Danone must recover its full costs from operations. Yet, like a non-profit, it is driven by a cause rather than by profit. If all goes well, investors will receive only a token 1 percent annual dividend, with all other profits being ploughed back into the business. The venture’s primary aim is to create social benefits for those whose lives the company touches.19

Grameen Danone

Grameen and Group Danone went into a joint venture to create a yoghurt fortified with micro-nutrients to decrease malnutrition for the children of Bangladesh. The yoghurt is produced with solar and bio-gas energy and is served in environmentally-friendly packaging. The first plant started production in late 2006. The 10-year plan is to establish 50+ plants, create several hundred distribution jobs and self-degradable packaging.



5. demystifying supply chains with Patagonia

Patagonia’s The Footprint Chronicles20 is an interactive micro-site that allows visitors to track the impact of specific Patagonia products from design to delivery. Traditionally, information about supply chain management has been a jealously-guarded industry secret and many companies continue to maintain a veil of secrecy about their operations.

Patagonia’s move is ground-breaking for many reasons. First, the site shows visitors the entire supply chain of a product, from the dietary conditions of goats on a Mongolian farm to the point at which their products are on store shelves. Patagonia also publishes data on the Carbon Footprint of each of its products and provides information on where the products fall short of being ethically or environmentally friendly.

ThE fuTuRE of CoRPoRATE SoCIAL INNovATIoNWhile current t rends show many MNCs gradually shifting into the social innovation space, their sheer size and structure pose immense challenges in changing their current course. While it is possible for a cruise liner to eventually make a 180˚ turn, a decision must first be taken to do so. Similarly, a change in corporate mindset will need to happen first. Even so, a turnaround may be (initially) financially prohibitive and much determination is required to stay the course. As always, leadership is key.

1 W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant (Harvard Business School Press, 2005). “Blue oceans” are uncontested market spaces which create new markets and render rivals obsolete.

2 Anna Hutchens, Changing Big Business. The Globalisation of the Fair Trade Movement (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2009). 3 UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism, http://cdm.unfccc.int/about/index.html4 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.shtml.



5 Better Place, “Better Place secures $350 million series B round led by HSBC Group,” press release, January 25, 2010. http://preview.tinyurl.com/betterplacesecures350.

6 Pamela Hartigan & John Elkington, The Power of Unreasonable People, (Harvard Business Press, 2008), 188-189.7 “The Greening of General Electric,” Economist, December 10, 2005.8 Interface, Achieving Mission Zero. http://www.interfaceglobal.com/Company/Mission-Vision.aspx.9 The Social Intrapreneur: A Field Guide for Corporate Changemakers, (SustainAbility, 2008).10 Citi Microfinance, http://www.citi.com/citi/microfinance.11 Copenhagen Climate Council, http://www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com/about-us/councillors/sir-richard-branson.html.12 Letter from the Founders, “An Owner’s Manual” for Google’s Shareholders. http://investor.google.com/ipo_letter.html.13 Definition of “Googler”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googler.14 Dana Brakman Reiser, For-Profit Philanthropy, Brooklyn Law School. http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.

cgi?article=1013&context=dana_brakman_reiser.15 Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, Google.org. http://www.google.org/rec.html.16 “DHL and UNDP start pilot programme for a more effective disaster relief, press release, August 13, 2009.

http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/dhl-and-undp-start-pilot-initiative-more-effective-disaster-relief.17 The Fun Theory, http://www.thefuntheory.com.18 Yunus Centre, http://www.muhammadyunus.org/Social-Business/grameen-danone/.19 Majorie Kelly, “Not Just For Profit,” strategy + business, Issue 54, Spring 2009, 4. 20 The Footprint Chronicles, http://www.patagonia.com/web/eu/footprint/index.jsp.


neW MICRoFInAnCe

InItIAtIVes

New Microfinance Initiatives

InDIAn MICRoFInAnCe: Swimming Fully Clothed!Eric Savage, Abhijit Ray & Abhishek Fogla

Along with the growth of social enterprises, India has seen its microfinance industry flourish. No longer merely dependent on donor and aid money, poor borrowers have begun demonstrating their creditworthiness, attracting commercial funders encouraged by this sea-change. The authors explore the world of Indian microfinance and the benefits of swimming fully clothed.

About the Authors

Eric Savage is the President and founding team member of Unitus Capital. Previously, he directed Citigroup’s Asia Power Investment banking group and helped secure and execute multiple landmark equity, debt and M&A transactions totalling many billions of dollars.

Abhijit Ray is the Director and founding member of Unitus Capital. At Unitus, he has worked with MFIs on debt and equity arranging transactions, along with providing financial advisory services. Prior to joining Unitus, Abhijit Ray brought 13 years of diverse experience encompassing development finance, commercial banking and microfinance.

Abhishek Fogla is Associate Vice President at Unitus Capital. He has previously worked at Micro-Credit Ratings International Limited (M-CRIL), where he completed 32 MFI credit ratings in nine countries across Asia, Africa and Europe.



Warren Buffett famously said, “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” 1

The recent global economic crisis left many industries exposed to the falling tide. However, the Indian microfinance industry has proven to be buoyant and has emerged thriving, or “fully clothed”. This is quite appropriate in a country where people are often fully clothed even when they swim in the waters of Varanasi’s ghats and elsewhere.

Until five years ago, the Indian microfinance industry was primarily sustained by donations/aid as commercial funders had little confidence in the repayment capacity of poor borrowers. Since then, this industry has proven itself to be highly profitable and these poor borrowers, who are largely unaffected by global macroeconomic shocks, have now withstood the test of time, their creditworthiness demonstrated by their continuous strong repayments.

RECESSIoN PRoof GRoWThThe Indian microfinance sector has experienced massive growth, with both the number and size of microfinance institutions (MFIs) having exponentially multiplied in the last few years. Despite the economic crisis, the portfolio and client outreach of MFIs grew by 97% and 60% respectively in 2009, implying a gross portfolio of more than Rs. 11,700 crore (US$2.57 billion2) and a clientele of 17.9 million active borrowers as on 31st March 2009.3 This translates into an average loan outstanding of Rs. 6,500 (US$143) and the numbers in aggregate reflect the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. However, to mix metaphors, this is just the tip of the iceberg as well– MFIs have reached only 3.5% of the poor in India4, signifying that there is an immense untapped terrain, yet to be explored. Growth has largely been skewed towards Southern India and microfinance is not as well-developed in other areas of the country. We describe below what has driven this strong, recession proof-growth, as well as some of the sector’s challenges.

GovERNmENTAL SuPPoRTThe phenomenal success of microfinance has been strongly facilitated by the Indian Government, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),

which furthered financial inclusion and nurtured MFIs over the years. The foremost initiative is the guideline on priority sector lending for all banks, which has incentivised debt funding to MFIs, even during the recent crisis. These guidelines mandate that a Domestic Scheduled Commercial Bank (DSCB) must have 40% of its Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC)5 financing in certain sectors and for purposes which the Government classifies as national priorities, which includes supporting MFIs. In case these targets are not met, DSCBs must invest the shortfall with the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), which currently locks in the funds for seven years. The rate of interest paid is inversely proportional to the shortfall and currently varies between 3% and 6%, or below the inflation rate.

Additionally, the dedicated and sustained efforts of state-owned developmental financial institutions like Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) have been indispensable in fostering Indian microfinance. Normally, these institutions are among the first debt funders to MFIs and agricultural financing institutions. SIDBI has been one of the biggest lenders to MFIs and has also infused substantial amounts of equity in many of them, thus reinforcing the Government’s commitment to microfinance.

In the near future, the proposed creation of a national unique identification number system will make it feasible to track credit histories, exposures and developmental indicators of individual borrowers. The current Indian government has roped in Mr. Nandan Nilekani, who was most recently the CEO of Infosys Technologies, the Indian software giant, to spearhead the programme, which will truly be a nation-building initiative.

The Government can continue to play a positive role in these developments by enacting legislation that allows the larger MFIs – which are Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) and have robust systems and processes – to mobilise savings deposits.

The phenomenal success of microfinance has been strongly facilitated by the Indian Government, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which furthered financial inclusion and nurtured MFIs over the years. The foremost initiative is the guideline on priority sector lending for all banks, which has incentivised debt funding to MFIs, even during the recent crisis.


STRoNG REPAYmENTSThe consistently robust repayment performance of the underlying clientele is the most impressive aspect of Indian MFIs. Overall default rates are much lower than most banks – often lower than 1%. The reasons are manifold:

1. Non-payment would mean cutting off the poor borrower’s cheapest source of funding. It is extremely difficult for the poor to get loans from banks or other traditional financiers. The obstacles are many and include the lack of documents like tax returns and account books of businesses, corruption and kickbacks demanded by bank officers and very lengthy waiting periods between loan application and approval, if at all. Informal sources, such as loan sharks, charge cut-throat interest rates, often several hundred per cent more than the rate at which they can procure funds from MFIs and often require them to pledge land ownership documents , household jewels or other valuable assets.

2. India is still a highly community-centric society, which makes social collateral (peer pressure) very effective. The concept of honour and respect within society is deeply rooted in the Indian psyche and willful default may invite condescending glances, humiliation and even ostracism. This is especially true in rural areas, the very communities best served by MFIs.

3. The demand for micro-borrowers’ goods and services is typically stable, often comes from others in the same economic stratum and is largely unaffected by global economic conditions. Microfinance helps stimulate the economy at the grassroots level.

4. For most micro-borrowers, the return on investment is much higher than the cost of debt. Since the initial capital which a micro-entrepreneur starts with is so low, to say that the internal rate of return (at which they are able to deploy funds) is staggering would be an understatement. A fruit vendor in a city who starts out with an inventory of Rs. 2,000 (US$44) and is successful in selling off his entire stock at Rs. 2,200 or US$48.5 (net of expenses and wastage) earns 10% return per day. While this isn’t a lot on which to live, the annualised non-compounded return works out to an impressive 3,000%.

There has been some degree of concern about lending by multiple MFIs to the same borrower, especially in urban areas. The lack of a national platform to share credit data on borrowers belonging to the bottom of the pyramid has thus been a challenge that the sector has been grappling with. The Credit Information Bureau India Limited (CIBIL), an effort spearheaded by the Government of India and the RBI, with a database of over 155 million records and a membership base of over 200 financial institutions, has just entered into an agreement with 31 leading MFIs to set up a credit information bureau for micro-borrowers.

INCREASING fuNdING oPTIoNSMost Indian MFIs have not yet been permitted to mobilise deposits. This has left MFIs with little choice but to largely mobilise term loans from banks and on-lend the funds to the micro-borrowers. In practice, this means that MFIs borrow in bulk from the banks – usually in tens or hundreds of millions of rupees – and these loan facilities usually have repayment tenures varying between two and five years. The MFIs then cut up this funding into small amounts



and give them as loans to hundreds of thousands of micro-borrowers over a one-year duration. The average loan size varies from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 8,000. For their part, micro-borrowers repay the loan in weekly installments. The MFIs in turn usually repay the loans to the banks in quarterly installments or in some cases, monthly installments.

Of late, there have been instances of certain larger MFIs issuing listed debt instruments like commercial paper and non-convertible debentures. A 2009 media report6 stated that MFIs were looking to raise Rs. 1,000 crore or US$220 million this financial year through the issue of such instruments. Such securities (a) augment the investor universe by overcoming regulatory constraints and liquidity concerns; (2) reduce the cost of funding as a direct consequence of this increased universe and (c) enhance the probability of funders taking exposure for longer tenures, which will help fund micro-housing and other products having longer terms. Securitisations are on the increase, banks are enhancing exposure to MFIs and the emergence of guarantee funds is facilitating debt funding to the smaller players.

oPPoRTuNITIES BEYoNd CREdITAn MFI is an incredibly powerful channel to reach rural masses and, as such, is a cardinal distribution channel to market products. SKS Microfinance, India’s largest MFI, has teamed up with handset providers to supply its borrower base with 50,000 low-cost mobile phones per month. Bajaj Allianz infused a strategic investment of Rs. 50 crore (US$11 million) into SKS as it agreed to provide the outreach needed to mass-distribute microinsurance-cum-savings policies. Through education, healthcare, energy-efficient devices and other products, there is enormous potential for tapping into the newly aggrandised disposable incomes of rural India, as well as create income sources for the poor. These opportunities will significantly contribute to increasing the fee-based incomes of MFIs, which will be independent of their loan portfolios.

INCREASING EffICIENCYMicrofinance is a manpower-intensive business, which makes the cost of providing services at the doorsteps of customers quite high. Historical trends

show that the operating expense ratios7 of most MFIs have been consistently diminishing, primarily because of the advent of information technology and the increase in staff productivity. Teledensity8 in India has been growing at breakneck speed, touching 37% (430 million subscribers) as of 31st March, 2009. Mobile banking is expected to be the next revolution in Indian financial inclusion, especially considering the incredible success that countries like Kenya have had.

ChALLENGESThe biggest challenges of the sector are (a) lack of professional managerial expertise – this is rapidly changing as a battery of professionals has entered the microfinance sector; (b) political interference – isolated cases of interference by local administrative bodies exist; (c) general concerns that the poor by definition must have a hard time making repayments – as discussed above, this has not proven to be the case and (d) relatively poor infrastructure, higher illiteracy rates, gender inequality and lack of economic opportunity in the north and the east of the country (vis-à-vis Southern India), where financial inclusion is most needed.

Though the Indian government has steadily nurtured the growth of the sector over the years, the national objective of total financial inclusion might be better achieved if the following points are emphasised:

StrategyaCorporate Structure: The 20 biggest MFIs

contribute more than 85% of the sector’s outreach and almost all of these are non-deposit taking NBFCs. Most NBFCs are not permitted to mobilise deposits and converting to a bank has its own challenges. These include the vast amount of initial capital needed and permission required of the regulator to open every new branch. At the same time, mobilisation of deposits is the most effective way to lower cost of funds. A separate structure could be identified to address these issues and the Indian Government has been debating setting up a structure called the “Micro Finance Organisation” with the ability to mobilise deposits. However, the ambit of this term might exclude existing NBFCs, which contribute the


An MFI is an incredibly powerful channel to reach rural masses and, as such, is a cardinal distribution channel to market products. SKS Microfinance, India’s largest MFI, has teamed up with handset providers to supply its borrower base with 50,000 low-cost mobile phones per month. Bajaj Allianz infused a strategic investment of Rs. 50 crore (US$11 million) into SKS as it agreed to provide the outreach needed to mass-distribute microinsurance-cum-savings policies.


lion’s share of present outreach as well as a share of projected growth. Permission given to MFIs for raising deposits should be very tightly regulated and should be only given to those with very good quality operations, lest an MFI default on public money.

amicroinsurance: Microinsurance is an area where there is huge opportunity for business growth as well as mitigating the risk of unforeseen liabilities of the economically disadvantaged. Insurance – be it life, health, cattle, crop, weather or for other assets – is the need of the hour, and it is imperative to establish a concerted strategy to: (a) incentivise existing insurers to extend microinsurance policies; (b) incentivise new insurance players to focus entirely on microinsurance and (c) actively leverage the distribution network offered by Indian MFIs.

amutual fund Investments: The ability of the poor to invest in micro/mini mutual funds or traditional investment vehicles is severely constrained because contributions in cash are not permitted. Permitting cash collections might have immense positive ramifications to the overall economy, which would include (a) substantial build-up of savings at the lowest echelons of society; (b) decreased interest on loans given heightened liquidity in the system;

(c) enhanced ability by the poor to purchase more expensive items of household consumption and for mini-businesses to invest in equipment or assets which they could ill-afford hitherto and (d) a general reduction in illiteracy, disease and crime because of better living conditions.

amobile Banking: Given the rapid growth in the number of Indian mobile phone users and demonstrated success of mobile banking products like M-PESA in Kenya, it is critical that India develops a national roadmap for mobile banking and branchless banking. Important concerns which need to be addressed are (a) security of financial transactions; (b) poor quality of network connectivity and coverage in rural areas; (c) unavailability of local languages on mobile phones and (d) the need for a voice-based solution (vis-à-vis those which require written input).

GovernanceaBoard/Independent directors: Better corporate

governance is needed for MFIs, especially the smaller ones. The level of participation by independent directors should be increased.

aRegulatory Audits: The frequency and intensity of regulatory audits should be increased. Repeated unearthing of serious malpractices should invite strict chastising, including revoking the license of the MFI in question.

OperationsaTraining Centres for human Capital

development: Perhaps one of the most severe impediments of MFI growth (especially in underdeveloped areas) is the availability of trained local staff. Training centres meant for developing such talent would serve the dual purposes of, (a) promoting the growth of the sector and (b) providing a stable livelihood to tens of thousands of rural families.

aSophisticated Loan Appraisal Capability: Indian microfinance is overwhelmingly focused on group lending which requires less sophistication vis-à-vis higher ticket loans given to individuals. As such, it is imperative to build loan appraisal expertise for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) including cash flow analysis, business risk gauging,


Microfinance is a manpower-intensive business, which makes the cost of providing services at the doorsteps of customers quite high. Historical trends show that the operating expense ratios of most MFIs have been consistently diminishing, primarily because of the advent of information technology and the increase in staff productivity.



1 Berkshire-Hathaway Inc. Warren E. Buffett, Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders, Annual Report, February 28, 2002. http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2001ar/2001letter.html.

2 US$1 = INR 45.5 (as at March 26, 2010).3 Sa-Dhan, The Association of Community Development Development Finance Institutions. Bharat Microfinance Report - Quick Data 2009.4 Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc. (MIX) and IntellecapAsia. Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report 2008.5 Net Bank Credit plus a special class of bond investments.6 Namrata Acharya. “Microfinance institutions plan to raise Rs 1k cr through debt.” Business Standard, July 14, 2009.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=363806.7 Operating expense ratio of an MFI is the total annual operating cost to its average portfolio outstanding over the year.8 Teledensity is the number of telephones to people.

evaluating sufficiency of pledged collateral and ascertaining areas of loan utilisation. While much of microcredit extended by MFIs presently funds animal husbandry, trading and petty services, individual lending might catalyse the growth of small scale manufacturing, which will provide significant employment opportunities.

adata Collection: Standardised data collection formats can help build up business intelligence on a nationwide scale over time, and will also facilitate the tasks of credit bureaus.

Social Performance Measurementameasuring Impact: Indian microfinance

institutions should individually and collectively put more effort into measuring the social impact of their work in order to justify the industry, combat negative press stories and protect against unfavorable regulation. Anyone working on the ground for an MFI knows that their work can often be life-changing for their clients. This needs to be more rigorously documented.

Fundingadebt Capital: Presently, the majority of Indian

microfinance funding is term loans from banks. Lending to MFIs for on-lending up to Rs. 50,000 (US$1,100) per borrower is classified as a priority sector advance and this continues to be one of the chief motivating factors for banks to lend. However, these targets are annual and thus the industry experiences a heavy flow

of funds towards the end of the financial year. This results in skewed growth patterns of MFIs, such that they are often starved of funds in the first half of the financial year. Changing the pattern from annual to quarterly funding would go a long way towards smoothening out the growth of this critical sector.

aAffordable housing finance: Longer term funding at sustainable costs should be actively made available to MFIs in order to significantly expand affordable housing space and provide a much-needed impetus to core infrastructural development in the country. The government could potentially consider establishing a fund or extending the scope of Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to partially or fully guarantee such longer term loans to MFIs or set up a specialised apex funder (possibly under the auspices of the National Housing Bank) to route all such loans to MFIs financing of affordable housing.

CoNCLuSIoNMicrofinance is al l around us – from the massive shantytowns of Mumbai and the rural hamlets in the distant north-east of India to the housekeeper in a typical Indian kitchen. The Indian microfinance sector is a fantastic double, and often triple, bottom line investment (profit as well as social and environmental impact). However, as can be seen, there are still many challenges to be overcome.


MICRoFInAnCe FoR MIGRAnt WoRkeRs: Asia’s Next New Market Opportunity?Patsian Low

to be much higher due to under-measurement of underground and informal remittance mechanisms.1 This powerful flow of money has sparked the interest of many in the industry to explore how else migrant worker earnings can be served by inclusive financial services.

fINANCIAL SERvICES foR mIGRANT LABouR TodAYMigrant workers represent a diversified range of skills and professions. Skilled migrant workers


Employment in developed countries is often the main source of income for many people at the bottom of the pyramid in developing countries and has led to the growth of an industry based on remittances. Patsian Low studies the ramifications this has for developing microfinance in host countries and the potential for cross-border collaboration in Singapore and Asia.

INTRoduCTIoN: AN ovERLooKEd mARKET PRESENCEIn a globalised economy, migration for the purposes of employment is a common phenomenon. People move to countries where economic potential inspires hopes of higher wages. Monies earned by migrant workers are then sent to home countries, creating a significant industry in the processing and handling of remittances. The World Bank recently estimated that although reported migrant remittances amount to US$305 billion in 2008, the true levels are likely

Patsian Low

Patsian Low is a microfinance and social finance consultant and an Assistant Director at the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre in Singapore. She has mentored social enterprises in Singapore and overseas and also sits on the executive committees of the Microfinance Society (Singapore) as well as Social Venture Partners (Singapore).



cross borders with the support of multi-national employers, including the full range of formal financial intermediaries and services at their disposal, not just remittances, but also the necessary financial tools for utilisation of remittances (at home or overseas) for economic independence and empowerment.

However, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reported in 2000 that migration flows are still dominated by those moving to fill low-skilled jobs. In Asia the ILO estimates that a total of 2 million workers leave their countries to work under short-term contracts.2 Among the low-skilled labour segment, remittance amounts may be individually small but with significant scale. Yet there appears to be scant support for inclusion in the financial system, apart from money transfer operators that provide remittance services. Although prominently available to the high-wage segments of migrant workers, the links between remittance services and other financial services have not been well-established for low-skilled migrant workers.3

ThE LoW-WAGE mIGRANT WoRKER fINANCIAL PRofILELow-wage migrant labourers are typically from lower-income segments in their home countries and work to channel their earnings to support their families’ needs. Although mostly men in years past, the ILO reports that women are now an increasing proportion of workers in Asia (ranging from 61% to 78%), with Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand as main source countries, and Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East as the dominant destinations. These migrants’ families back home are typically low-income, relying on remitted funds primarily for basic subsistence needs and education, and secondarily for improving housing and lifestyle. Only a small percentage is allocated to savings or investing in income or employment generating activities, like starting a business or buying tools or land.4

WhAT moRE ThAN JuST REmITTANCES?Given the magnitude of remittances in some of these countries, governments and policy makers have a vested interest in encouraging the utilisation of remitted funds towards income and employment generating activities, including investments in local micro-entrepreneurs and small entrepreneurs. Concurrently there is a push to improve the inadequate savings and asset-building options

available to low-wage migrant workers and their recipient families back home. A Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC)-Monash Asia Institute-University of Tasmania 2007 joint report recommends access improvements between transfer points and savings facilities, the lack of which discourages savings such that remittances have to be received entirely in cash. Migrant families typically face a lack of savings facilities and remittance-linked credit, which had been hypothesised as a possible impediment to leveraging remittances more optimally for development benefit.5 An ILO report cites that “only a small percentage” of global remittances are used for savings and “productive investments” (e.g. income- and employment-generating activities), estimated at less than 10%.6 The World Bank Research Policy Paper points out that whether remittances are primarily used to meet basic subsistence needs, improve standards of living or for community development, lack of financial intermediation for remittances can inhibit the potential positive impact it can have on migrant families.7

WhAT IS mISSING IN hoST CouNTRIESThe remittance process itself is largely monopolised by specialist money transfer operators like Western Union, or mainstream banks who have either obtained licences or partnered with money transfer operators to process foreign exchange transactions. Low-wage migrant workers, who are typically cost-conscious, gravitate to low-cost money transfer operators or unofficial channels (e.g. the hundi or hawala network in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh8, friend and family hand-carrying funds across borders, etc.). Other forms of financial services are rarely present in host-countries for these workers, not even in the form of a savings mechanism. Some migrant workers may well experience higher levels of security and convenience in income utilisation if broader financial services were made available in host countries.

Of particular interest is the availability of pre-departure financing facilities, since bank loans are typically not available for this purpose in home countries. Households that do not have the savings to pay for migration have had to resort to high-cost informal moneylenders and migration agents. Many migrants therefore see a large (sometimes total) cut in the disposable income available to be remitted back home during the initial period of their work tenure.9


World Bank Policy Research Papers opine that the variety of remittances utilisation outlets in migrant households clearly underscore that their macroeconomic contributions are important and growing, with clear opportunities for financial intermediation to improve these contributions.10

The FDC-Monash study points out poor migrant households have “particular difficulties” in transforming remittance income into sustained improvements in well-being. Country studies showed that more needed to be done by existing financial services to reduce transfer costs, encourage savings and attract remittance monies for investment.11 Figure 1 demonstrates that apart from processing of remittances, there are other services which clearly provide open opportunities for financial inclusion. This is where microfinance institutions (MFIs) appear to be ideally suited to step in.

mICRo fINANCE INSTITuTIoNS: SuPPoRTING SAvINGS ANd ASSET GRoWThConsidering the socio-economic profile of low-wage migrant workers and their families, microfinance institutions are well-placed to meet their needs. Financial transactions are small in size, and migrant

families are typically in locations not well-served by mainstream banks. MFIs can therefore support both the sending and utilisation of remittances by providing money transfer services, savings and cash management products, remittance-linked lending and other forms of non-financial support for migrants and their families. The ILO’s Social Finance Unit particularly emphasised savings, credit and investment facilities that suit the risk profiles of migrant workers as important services MFIs could provide. MFIs can assist migrant families to save, manage their income streams, accumulate assets and cultivate sound financial habits so that their creditworthiness can be improved. MFIs can also become another distribution channel for money transfer operators who are looking to penetrate more remote areas. These MFIs offer money transfer operators a strong presence in rural areas that commercial banks do not have.12

A SouRCE foR WAGE-SECuREd CREdITNot all low-wage migrant workers are transient in nature, nor their families destitute in their home countries. In Singapore, for example, there are migrant household workers who have been working for over 20 years and support families at home who


ThE ovERALL fINANCIAL PICTuRE

figure 1: Illustration of Cash Flows for Migrant Worker Remittances and Uses

Savings

Little to None

Little to None

migrantWorker

Informal Channels

Money Transfer Operators

Host Country Banks

Home Country Banks

(branches)

Rem

itta

nces

Rem

itta

nces

Rem

itta

nces

Savings

families

Daily Consumption

Home Improvement

Medical Needs

Education

Social Obligations

DebtRepayment


are considered low- to middle-income. This is a segment that may well be neglected by both the informal channels at home that cater to the destitute poor and the mainstream banks that serve high-end customers. MFIs can address this gap by providing lending products that suit remittance customers with little additional risk. The FDC tripartite report suggests including stable remittances as part of creditworthiness evaluation for loan eligibility, using remittance savings to secure credit lines, or issue loans where repayments are deducted from remittances.13 Migrant workers with long-term stable employment may well pose better credit risks than their families who receive (and spend) the remittances.

ImPLICATIoNS foR ASIASingapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are popular destinations for migrant workers, where at least 25% of the workforce labour (including household help) consists of such labour. Some of the labour-exporting countries in this region also have a strong MFI

presence, notably in India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.14

Further, studies of remittance utilisation in Asia show a pattern consistent with what has been observed in the World Bank Policy Research Papers. An estimated 50-60% of remittances in Asia are spent on daily consumption, with less than 10% in “investments”. The remaining is typically spent on a variety of household and social needs.15 Using Bangladesh as an example, a representative study (Figure 2) shows families receiving remittances indeed spend less than 10% on savings or investments, the rest on a variety of needs, including consumption, home improvement, migration costs, social and ceremonial needs.16 This spending pattern and the lack of savings, as is the case in Latin America, can be better managed with the availability of remittance-linked products from MFIs that can help migrant families meet both household spending and income-generating/asset-building needs.


figure 2: Spending Allocation of Received Remittances

Source: ILO Social FInance Programme, Survey of 100 Families in Bangladesh that received remittances, Working paper 38: Migrant Worker Remittances and Microfinance in Bangladesh, Siddiqui and Abrar, 2003.

Food/Clothing 20%

Home Construction/Repair 15%

Land Purchase 12%Repayment of migration loan 14%

Relatives and Community Needs 2%

Social ceremonies 9%

Sending Family Abroad 7%

Investment 5%

Land Mortgage 4%

Medical 3%

Savings/Insurance 3%

Education 3%

Others 2%


This region has a unique confluence of strong financial sector expertise in developed countries given the high levels of financial intercourse with U.S., Europe and Japan, a long history of migrant labour and remittances, and a strong MFI presence in labour-exporting countries. Together, they provide an interesting opportunity to explore the ways and means through which MFIs and mainstream financial institutions can work together for inclusive financial services for migrant labourers and their families.

Although Asian MFI penetration into this market space is still nascent, the progress made by some trailblazers (typically from the labour-exporting countries) to provide inclusive financial services to migrants and their families have been significant.

BANGLAdESh: PRovIdING SERvICES IN hoST CouNTRIESAgrani Bank from Bangladesh, a labour-exporting country, has tied up with 17 exchange houses worldwide where Bangladeshi labourers have migrated to, through which remittances can arrive directly into accounts at Agrani Bank back home. Islami Bank has taken a different approach by establishing grassroots outreach efforts where pockets of migrant workers have congregated. It provides banking services in destination countries including savings, micro-pension and credit facilities for the wages earned by labourers. Together with financial education presentations and non-typical banking hours to suit labourers’ workdays, Islami Bank’s network may not be as wide as large financial institutions, but it may have deeper outreach.17

Grameen Bank and BRAC18, two pioneering MFIs in Bangladesh, have not yet made strides into the remittance industry. Although they have acknowledged that MFIs do have the rural outreach capacity and product diversification to encourage the savings, credit and investment needs of the families of migrant workers, the technical capacity required to enter the remittance market is still a challenge. Grameen posited a model whereby it either receives foreign exchange permission from regulators, or it ties up with a local mainstream bank with an established remittance channel or network.19 BRAC too foresees that it can utilise its programmes to increase grassroots level savings among families of migrant workers - a service it feels is lacking today.

PhILIPPINES: ExPANdING SERvICES AT homE Philippines is arguably the second highest labour-exporting country in the world, where its MFIs and NGOs have progressed further in filling in the service gaps for migrant workers and their families. A local NGO, Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation, Inc. (“Unlad”), mobilises remittances from migrant workers for productive use and community development. It provides savings accounts, investment channels to existing businesses and special microenterprise start-up funds. In addition, Unlad provides training, social and logistical support to educate and organise migrant workers. Through these measures, it hopes to achieve its objectives of creating new jobs through sustainable businesses, spurred by the mobilisation of remittances. Certain localities have also established Migrant Savings and Investment Funds where savings are pooled by migrants to be invested for community development back home. The New Rural Bank of San Leonardo has also implemented programmes to channel remittances to community development, which involve stakeholders like enterprising migrant workers, their families, local governments and MFIs. Other products for migrant workers include savings, education and pension plans, and small enterprise investment funds.

INdoNESIA: REmITTANCE-SECuREd LoANSIndonesia is another large labour-exporting country in Asia, in which Bank Rakyat Indonesia (“BRI”) is a dominant MFI. BRI’s extensive network in the rural areas allows deep outreach to migrant workers’ families and potential new migrant workers. Not only does it capture remittances from migrant workers in the form of savings accounts, BRI also provides loans to migrant workers’ families where payments are deducted from remittances. Potential



new migrant workers can access pre-departure loans for their migration costs, secured by local solidarity groups.20

mfIs fACE ChALLENGES IN mIGRANT WoRKER mARKET PENETRATIoNDespite these developments, experience from MFIs in other parts of the world have shown that challenges remain in converting migrant workers to remittance clients of MFIs, and then into savings clients.

MFIs have difficulty providing an alternative remittance method from money transfer operators due to technology and cost constraints.21 To overcome this problem, most are leveraging opportunities to partner pre-existing money transfer operators or licensed banks. Secondly, to effectively utilise remittance savings, technology-leveraged banking like card-based transactions or mobile banking require infrastructure that may be beyond the resources of most MFIs. Thirdly, robust management information systems and internal controls are required to service the entire process from remitting monies to saving and utilising funds productively. MFIs do not yet have the scale, or the resources to establish these controls.22

Regulation continues to be a challenge that could take years to overcome. In some countries, MFIs are not licensed to deal with foreign exchange transactions. In others, there are cost subsidies for mainstream financial institutions or strict currency controls which make it costly for MFIs to enter the remittance market. For certain countries, where MFIs are not yet permitted to mobilise deposits to increase credit facilities, MFIs may be constrained in providing the needed services without incurring significantly higher costs of operations which may impact both sustainability and client fees.23

SINGAPoRE’S mIGRANT WoRKER mARKET oPPoRTuNITYSingapore’s migrant labour has become a focus of attention given the increasing role they have been playing in our workforce, especially over the past 30 years. At 29% of Singapore’s total labour force (2000), this is the highest proportion of foreign workers

in Asia.24 Singapore also clearly distinguishes foreign low-skilled labour from skilled professionals in terms of work conditions, permitted lengths of stay, eligibility for permanent residency and repatriation conditions.25 By 2006, there were about 580,000 lower-skilled foreign workers in Singapore, and 90,000 skilled foreign talent.26 They are expected to be a continued market presence and have proven to be a strong enough remittance market to attract Western Union to establish one of their largest networks in Singapore.

The government has acknowledged that continued reliance on migrant low-skilled labour may be unavoidable. Acting Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong noted in 2009 that, “Even in a slowdown, our economy still needs foreign workers. Many of them take on jobs that Singaporeans may not want to do or are unable to fill, like in [the] construction and marine [industries].”27 Household work is the other major category of lower-skilled foreign workers. Live-in domestic workers – mainly women from the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka – currently number about 160,000, translating into about one domestic worker for every seven households.28

The opportunity to explore microfinance in Singapore lies in these lower-skilled foreign workers, who work in Singapore from anywhere between a few months to twenty years. Foreign banks with Singapore branches cater to skilled foreign labour with much higher wages. Yet a typical construction worker or a domestic worker does not make enough on a monthly basis to meet the minimum required balance to maintain a bank account without hefty transaction fees. As an example, the Singaporean Post-Office Savings Bank (POSB) has a scheme called Moneysense, which requires a minimum balance of $500 in the user’s account. While this is the lowest requirement stipulated by any bank in Singapore, for most low-wage workers, accruing savings that meet even this minimum balance is rarely possible. Most lower-skilled foreign workers save their money in the form of remittances back home, by purchasing high-value assets (e.g. jewellery),


A preliminary focus group study among Filipino domestic workers showed that there is a wide variety of such workers in Singapore, with distinctively different financial habits and therefore different levels of credit risk. Many migrant workers have been in Singapore for several years, with steady employment that pays regular wages. Once a migrant worker has “settled” into Singapore and has a credible work-history, his/her income and expense patterns become more stabilised


New Microfinance InitiativesNew Microfinance Initiatives

or through cash saved on-hand. Access to credit through formal channels is non-existent. Most either borrow through informal community networks (friends or groups in their home village or town), or from illegal moneylenders.

SINGAPoRE’S mIGRANT WoRKERS CAN BE Good CuSTomERSA preliminary focus group study among Filipino domestic workers showed that there is a wide variety of such workers in Singapore, with distinctively different financial habits and therefore different levels of credit risk.29 Many migrant workers have been in Singapore for several years, with steady employment that pays regular wages. Once a migrant worker has “settled” into Singapore and has a credible work-history, his/her income and expense patterns become more stabilised (i.e. no further deduction of agent fees from wages; home remittances are habitual; cost of living in Singapore is better managed). This allows the migrant worker to build a savings habit which becomes a basis for asset-building and be a better credit risk based on a steady income and constant remittances back home.

Furthermore, many are supported by advocacy groups that offer educational opportunities to migrant workers in Singapore (e.g. aidha’s financial education classes30; skills upgrading classes offered in the Indonesian School supported by the Embassy of Indonesia31). These developments indicate that there is a segment of the migrant labour population in Singapore that is well-positioned to be reliable customers for financial institutions.

PoSSIBLE SAvINGS ANd ASSET-BuILdING SERvICESMicrofinance services for low-wage migrant workers can help narrow the services gap they currently experience. Provision of savings and asset-building

services can be a strong step towards bringing financial independence and empowerment to migrant workers, allowing more options than just remitting monies back home. Partnerships between Singaporean financial institutions and those in labour-exporting countries can provide more efficient linkages between wages earned in Singapore and their economic uses back home. Examples include local currency credit secured by wages in Singapore and savings or educational funds in Singapore or at home.

mICRoLoANS ThAT LEAd To EmPoWERmENTMany migrant workers in Singapore look at their time here as a chance for creating a better life for them and their families back home. Interestingly, focus group feedback shows that those who stay for longer periods in Singapore also see an opportunity for self-improvement so they can become more successful individuals when they return home.32 For those whose employment gives them the time to do so, they rarely have the financial means to improve their skills during their time in the country. Official statistics on the percentage of migrant domestic workers that have prolonged employment in Singapore or have expressed interest in skills training are not published, yet the increasing number skills-training facilities (including aidha, Indonesian Embassy courses, the Foreign Domestic Workers Association for Skills Training, etc.) that target foreign workers demonstrate a response to such perceived demand. There are also cases where workers have difficulty accessing medical services despite the requirement for employer health insurance. Migrant workers who seek to purchase self-improvement tools and services (e.g. textbooks, learning aids, computers, educational courses) or seek additional medical treatment can utilise microloans which are repaid by their steady wages, so as to prevent unnecessary stress on cash flows or premature reductions in savings.


New Microfinance InitiativesNew Microfinance Initiatives

BENEfITS of A fINANCIALLY-INCLudEd mIGRANT WoRKER PoPuLATIoNA migrant worker population that is well-supported in financial services can benefit Singapore in many ways. Greater financial stability makes it less likely for migrant works to seek unpermitted or out-of-scope extra work in an effort to supplement their income, which lowers incidences of migrant workers breaking work permit rules. Demographically, financial services that lead to asset-building and self-improvement improves the quality and calibre of our workforce. Financially, migrant workers can contribute to greater economic stability in Singapore by participating in our economy in a more productive and less transient manner than is currently the case. However, a key complicating factor is the challenge involved in balancing credit risk management and financial sustainability. There is a segment of the migrant worker population with urgent financial needs precipitated by employer abuse, workplace injuries and other unforeseen problems such as impending repatriation. But these individuals are not likely

to be good lending cases. Instead, such workers require grants or other forms of financial assistance. A microfinance solution for Singapore will need to balance these factors and more in order to address the significant presence of migrant workers in the country.

CoNCLuSIoNAs national borders become more porous and transportation less costly, the desire to make a living in a higher-wage country will continue to inspire labour mobility. It is time to recognise the size and significance of this sometimes transient, but never temporary market opportunity in Asia. Although estimates indicate that the remittance market stands at approximately US$305 billion, this is only the tip of the iceberg.33 Market players that effectively tap on the potential financial needs of this sector can play a big part in poverty alleviation and economic empowerment in labour-exporting countries, and place Singapore in the centre of innovations that combine commercial solutions with social impact.

1 International Labour Office, Geneva. Workshop Report: “Making the best of Globalisation: Migrant Worker Remittances and Micro-Finance” November 20-21, 2000. http://preview.tinyurl.com/migrant-worker-remittances.

2 International Labour Office, Geneva. International Labour Conference, 92nd Session, 2004, Report VI: “Towards a fair deal for migrant workers in the global economy.” http://preview.tinyurl.com/towards-a-fair-deal.

3 Prabhu Ghate, “Serving Migrants Sustainably: A Case Study of Remittance Services Provided by a Microfinance Institution in India.” Finance for the Poor, March 2006, Volume 7, Number 1. (ADB 2006) http://www.adb.org/Documents/Periodicals/Microfinance/finance-200601.pdf.

4 Shivani Puri and Tineke Ritzema, “Migrant Worker Remittances, Micro-finance and the Informal Economy: Prospects and Issues.” Working paper No 21, ILO Social Finance Unit, 1999. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/ent/papers/wpap21.htm.

5 Reena Aggarwal (McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University), Asli Demirgüç-Kunt (The World Bank), Maria Soledad Martinez Peria (The World Bank), “Do Workers’ Remittances Promote Financial Development?” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3957, July 2006.

6 See note 4 above.7 See note 5 above.8 Patrick M. Jost and Harjit Singh Sandhu, “The Hawala Alternative Remittance System and its Role in Money Laundering.” Interpol General

Secretariat, Lyon, January 2006. http://www.interpol.int/public/financialcrime/moneylaundering/hawala/default.asp.9 See note 4 above.10 See note 5 above.11 Judith Shaw et al., “Leveraging Remittances with Microfinance: Synthesis Report and Country Studies.” Monash Asia Institute; Institute for

Regional Development, University of Tasmania; and Foundation for Development Cooperation, December 2007.12 Eduardo Bazoberry, “Presentation of Issues Paper.” General Director of PRODEM Bolivia, ILO Conference 2000.13 See note 11 above.14 See note 4 above.



15 See note 4 above.16 Tasneem Siddiqui, Chowdhury R. Abrar, “Migrant Worker Remittances and Microfinance in Bangladesh.” ILO Employment Sector, Refugee

and Migratory Movements Research Unit, Social Finance Programme Working Paper No. 38 (ILO Sept 2003).17 See note 16 above.18 Formerly known as “Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee”, the organisation has been re-branded to BRAC to reflect its scope of work

expanding beyond Bangladesh and working with urban as well as rural communities. 19 See note 11 above.20 See note 11 above.21 Manuel Orozco and Eve Hamilton, “Remittances and MFI intermediation: issues and lessons.” Financial Sector Development Conference

2005: New Partnerships for Innovation in Microfinance, June 23, 2005, Frankfurt. (Inter-American Dialogue and Chemonics International, July 2005).

22 Scott S. Robinson, “Remittances, Microfinance and Community Informatics—Development and Governance Issues.” Remittances, Microfinance and Technology Conference: Leveraging Development Impact for Pacific States, FDC – Brisbane, Australia, June 10, 2004.

23 See note 22 above.24 Brenda S.A. Yeoh, “Singapore: Hungry for Foreign Workers at All Skill Levels.” Migration Information Source, January 2007.

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=57025 Ibid.26 Ibid.27 “Recession-hit Singapore still needs foreign workers.” Channel News Asia, January 20, 2009.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/403690/1/.html. 28 See note 24 above.29 Results (both direct and indirect feedback) from ongoing focus group studies conducted by author with Filipino domestic workers who are

members of various advocacy groups (including HOME, aidha, TWC2). 30 aidha. A not-for-profit organisation dedicated to enriching lives through financial education. It serves women migrant workers by providing

confidence-building, money management, and entrepreneurship training. http://www.aidha.org.31 Zul Othman, “Some 125 Indonesian maids pursue degree programmes initiated by Indonesian Embassy.” 938Live, Nov 11, 2009.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/indonesian-maids-pursue-degree.32 See note 29 above.33 See note 1 above.


RURAL AnD URBAn

InnoVAtIon

Rural and Urban Innovation

WAteR AnD knoWLeDGe MAnAGeMent In VIetnAM: Understanding the Mekong BasinThomas Menkhoff, Solvay Gerke & Hans-Dieter Evers

About the Authors

Thomas Menkhoff is Practice Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University.

Solvay Gerke is Professor of Development Planning and Director of the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, Germany. She is the WISDOM project leader at ZEF.

Hans-Dieter Evers is Professor Emeritus for Development Planning & Policy and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, Germany.

The Mekong river basin is one of the world’s longest rivers affecting the livelihoods of the many communities living along its banks. Combining integrated watershed management and knowledge management theories, the authors describe how the WISDOM project, a joint programme between Vietnam and Germany, is seeking to devise sustainable solutions to life in the Mekong Delta.

A Passenger ferry on the Mekong, near the city of Can Tho, South Vietnam - Photo taken by Solvay Gerke



BACKGRouNd ANd ChALLENGEIntegrated watershed management plays an important part in the sustainable use, preservation and analyses of water resources. The term watershed refers to the geographic boundaries of a particular waterbody, its ecosystem and the land that drains to it.1 Each person is inevitably part of a watershed community, and individual behaviour has a tremendous influence on its balance and sustainability depending on how each person treats watershed resources such as water, air, soil, ground water, plants or animals. If we pollute our own small watershed, we also negatively affect the larger watersheds downstream which are sometimes referred to as river basins.2

A fascinating example of such a river basin is the Mekong, one of world’s longest rivers with an estimated length of 4,350 km.The Mekong drains an area of 795,000 km2 and discharges 475.17 cubic kilometres of water annually. The river originates on the Tibetan Plateau and runs through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. On March 9, 2010, the Straits Times reported that the “mighty Mekong is drying up.”3 One of the root causes, according to residents in Thai fishing communities along the river, is the construction of dams upstream, causing crops to wither, drinking water levels in wells to fall, and fish stocks to decline. Other challenges at the Mekong’s upper reaches include extreme seasonal variations of flow, changing climatic conditions and rapid population increase. All this leads to severe changes in the lower Mekong Delta further south in Vietnam resulting in extreme floods, lack of drinking water, acidification and destruction of habitats.

ToWARdS EffECTIvE INTEGRATEd WATERShEd mANAGEmENTAccording to development experts, these problems call for effective integrated watershed management which refers to the process of creating and implementing plans, programmes, and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions that affect plant, animal, and human communities within a watershed

boundary.4 Watershed features which agencies seek to manage include water supply, water quality, drainage, stormwater5 runoff, water rights, and the overall planning and utilisation of watersheds. Landowners, land use agencies, stormwater management experts, environmental specialists, water use purveyors and communities all play an integral part in the management of a watershed. For this purpose, hydrologic, hydraulic, ecologic, and sociological factors must be studied and turned into relevant data points. Inter-agency cooperation among national institutes and authorities at all levels (international, national, regional and local) is also required.

ThE WISdom PRoJECTAgainst this background, the WISDOM project, a joint programme between Vietnam and Germany, has been conceptualised to design and implement an actionable knowledge system for the Mekong Delta. The project draws from various disciplines such as hydrology, sociology, information technology and earth observation so as to create an optimised, integrated resource management system.6 The project planners hope that the integration of various types of data will enable the system’s end-users to perform action-oriented analyses on very specific questions aimed at providing them with valuable decision-making tools in supporting regional planning activities. Possible applications include: (a) monitoring of floods and droughts; (b) evaluation of flood and drought risk, damage potential and actual damage; (c) analyses of water quality, pollution and sediment load; (d) improvement of flood prediction via remotely sensed precipitation information; (e) detailed adaptation of surface and sub-surface discharge models; (f ) information of land cover and land use changes; (g) observation of settlement development, surface sealing and population growth.

ThE WISdom PRoJECT’S mANdATE - EduCATIoN ANd CAPACITY BuILdINGThe project’s key components are education and capacity building. It brings together eight partner organisations from Vietnam and 10 from Germany.

A fascinating example of such a river basin is the Mekong, one of world’s longest rivers with an estimated length of 4,350km.The Mekong drains an area of 795,000 km2 and discharges 475.17 cubic kilometres of water annually. The river originates on the Tibetan Plateau and runs through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. On March 9, 2010, the Straits Times reported that the “mighty Mekong is drying up.” One of the root causes, according to residents in Thai fishing communities along the river, is the construction of dams upstream, causing crops to wither, drinking water levels in wells to fall, and fish stocks to decline.


Key actors include the Vietnamese Academy of Science & Technology (Division of Remote Sensing & Geographic Information System) and the German Remote Sensing Data Centre of the German Aerospace Centre (DFD-DLR). Dozens of German and Vietnamese scientists are part of the WISDOM project team together with several PhD. students from Vietnam and selected European countries. The latter are coordinated by the United Nations University - Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn in close collaboration with the Bonn Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Development Research BIGS-DR at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at Bonn University. Knowledge Management is an important part of the capability development efforts.7 In November 2009, the authors of this article conducted a training workshop on Knowledge Management at the Mekong Delta Development Research Institute (MDI) at Can Tho University (Vietnam) to enable the participants to understand the power of strategic Knowledge Management and to appreciate what it takes in terms of leadership, organisational culture, human resource deployment, technology and knowledge process management to create actionable knowledge assets in organisational contexts such as the WISDOM project.

KNoWLEdGE mANAGEmENT Knowledge Management refers to the totality of organisational strategies aimed at creating a smart organisation, which is able to leverage upon its various knowledge assets, to learn from past experiences, whether successful or unsuccessful, and to create new value through knowledge. At the people level, Knowledge Management puts emphasis on the

education, learning abilities and competencies of organisational members. At the organisational level, Knowledge Management is concerned about the creation, utilisation and development of the collective intelligence of an organisation. Technologically, effective Knowledge Management requires the efficient organisation of a suitable communication and information infrastructure (e.g. intranet) based on relevant taxonomies and knowledge repositories.

KNoWLEdGE mANAGEmENT ChALLENGES IN ThE mEKoNG dELTAIn the context of the WISDOM project, the Knowledge Management challenge is to craft and design an information system, which allows absorption of various types of relevant data such as remote sensing data, Geographic Information System data, socio-economic data, digital maps or interpolated point measurements and to organise them in such a way that end-users can query the data depending on the issue they wish to tackle. Key elements include a data entry portal, a database for organised data storage, a visualisation tool to display the data and a query mask so that end-users can conduct meaningful analyses with respect to issue-related questions such as: “Which agricultural land areas are most vulnerable to increased flooding?” or “Which socio-economic strata of the population is most affected by river pollution and saline intrusion?”

A key component of the ongoing project work is awareness and capacity building amongst diverse target groups such as government officials and river communities with regard to the tangible benefits of strategic information and knowledge management in the Mekong delta. As policy-makers,

Communities living and travelling on the Mekong, Can Tho, South Vietnam - Photo taken by Solvay Gerke



Government officials represent a strategic group in the project landscape who play a key role as knowledge leaders in the ongoing transformation and sustainable development of Vietnam.8 The resulting information and knowledge management system has to be user-friendly and navigable. This assures sound decision-making and execution with regard to smart watershed-related interventions. Terms such as knowledge management or remote sensing are not always understood by those who can greatly benefit from it. One way of obtaining buy-in amongst potentia l benefic iar ies i s to demonstrate how a thoughtful and simple knowledge management approach can help to support decision-making and to tackle calamities such as floods.

ToWARdS CLImATE ChANGE RESILIENCEWhile local communities at district and village level often have considerable local knowledge and traditional technologies to implement cost effective and sustainable flood control solutions, they sometimes find it difficult to prepare for flood-induced losses by extending their agricultural production into the dry season through to irrigated crops.9 Here, thematic knowledge-based communities of practice (COPs) comprising members of local river communities can help to leverage on indigenous know-how and innovations.10 While remote sensing makes it possible to collect all kinds of scientifically interesting data and to perform sophisticated queries, effective knowledge management implies that the resulting information is actionable and in line with strategic imperatives. In the case of the mighty Mekong, one of the key challenges is arguably that the river’s local woes are trans-boundary and global in nature.

In this respect, the project is ongoing and aimed at achieving a variety of outcomes in areas such as hydrologic modelling, pesticides, endocrine disruptors, knowledge management, socio-economic and vulnerability assessment. Some of its programmes include the following:

PESTICIdE moNIToRINGAs part of the pesticide monitoring campaign, systematic surface water samples were taken at selected study sites from field discharges and irrigation canals which helped to detect 13 of 15 target compounds (buprofezin, butachlor, cypermethrin, difenoconazole, endosulfan sulphate, fenobucarb, fipronil hexaconazole, isoprothiolane, profenofos, pretilachlor, propanil and propiconazole). Fenobucarb, for example, is an insecticide. It is insoluble in water and highly toxic for humans. Once it is detected in rural areas where surface water is often used for drinking, measures can be taken to improve water quality. As such this project component helps to assess the potentially adverse effects of pesticides on humans and aquatic life by comparing measured concentrations with water-quality benchmarks, such as those published by the World Health Organization.

While local communities at district and village level often have considerable local knowledge and traditional technologies to implement cost effective and sustainable flood control solutions, they sometimes find it difficult to prepare for flood-induced losses by extending their agricultural production into the dry season through to irrigated crops. Here, thematic knowledge-based communities of practice (COPs) comprising members of local river communities can help to leverage on indigenous know-how and innovations.

Communities living and travelling on the Mekong, Can Tho, South Vietnam - Photo taken by Solvay Gerke



moNIToRING of WATER CoNSTITuENTS WITh REmoTE SENSING dATAAs part of the efforts to monitor water constituents in selected sites around Can Tho, particular types of satellite data are used to map and assess the “turbidity” of water. The term turbidity refers to how clear the water is. Murky water usually implies the existence of particule matter or suspended solids such as clay, silt, and sand from soils, phytoplankton (suspended algae), decaying vegetation, industrial waste and sewage. The extent of turbidity can be mapped with the help of a Modular Inversion and Processing System (MIP). Colours are used to indicate the scaling of turbidity (e.g. light blue colour for low; pink for high). Measuring and mapping turbidity is an effective way of managing water quality. Respective maps generated with the help of remote

sensing data provide officials with important information about the severity of water turbidity issues and enable them to locate the problem so that preventive action can be taken.

vuLNERABILITY ASSESSmENT RESEARChA Knowledge Management-related objective of the project is to provide data and information about major local vulnerabilities to water-related hazards and climate change. Through the combination of different research methods such as household interviews and wealth rankings, it was found that low-income families who live directly along the river are exposed to various water-related hazards in form of floods, water-level rise and river bank erosion. River bank erosion forces families to rebuild, shift or elevate their homes regularly.

As part of the efforts to monitor water constituents in selected sites around Can Tho, particular types of satellite data are used to map and assess the “turbidity” of water. The term turbidity refers to how clear the water is. Murky water usually implies the existence of particule matter or suspended solids such as clay, silt, and sand from soils, phytoplankton (suspended algae), decaying vegetation, industrial waste and sewage. The extent of turbidity can be mapped with the help of a Modular Inversion and Processing System (MIP).

Communities living in the cities like Can Tho, by the Mekong, are affected by flood and water pollution because of ongoing industrialisation and water quality problems - Photo taken by Solvay Gerke



1 Wallkill River Watershed Management Group. What is a watershed? http://www.wallkillriver.org/what_is_watershed.htm.2 S. Brüschweiler, “Integrated Water Resources Management – A Way to Sustainability.” Info Resource Focus, 1/2003.3 Nirmal Ghosh, “Mighty Mekong is Drying Up.” Straits Times, March 9, 2010.4 Møller Hansen, J. and Do Hong P. “Integrated Water Resources Management in Vietnam: Present Status and Future Challenges.”

In Integrated Water Resources Management in South and South-East Asia, Biswas, A.K., Varis, O. and Tortajada, C. (eds). Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005.

5 Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormwater.6 Wisdom Project. http://www.wisdom.caf.dlr.de/intro_en.html.7 T. Menkhoff, H.-D Evers and Y.W. Chay. “Governing and Managing Knowledge in Asia.” (2nd ed.).

World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 2010.8 H.-D Evers and S. Benedikter, “Strategic Group Formation in the Mekong Delta - The Development of a Modern Hydraulic Society.

Working Paper.” http://preview.tinyurl.com/evers-benedikter (accessed August 2009). 9 J.-C Castella, et al., “Connecting Marginal Rice Farmers to Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems in Vietnam Uplands.”

Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension 12 (2006): 109-125. 10 A. Fforde, “Vietnam´s Informal Farmers´ Groups: Narratives and Policy Implications.” Südostasien Aktuell 1, 2008, 3-36.

further ReadingMenkhoff, T., Y.W. Chay, H.-D. Evers, and B. Loh. 2007. “Leadership in Knowledge Sharing: Creating Value through Collaboration”, in: Journal of Asian Business 23, 265-282

Tiep, N. X. 2008. Hydraulic Works in Vietnam. In: Tiep, N. X. (ed.) Participatory Irrigation Management and Emerging Issues. Agricultural Publishing House, Hanoi.

World Bank (WB) 2006. Vietnam Environment Monitor 2006. Water Quality in Vietnam with a Focus on the Cau, Nhue-Day and Dong-Nai River Basins. World Bank (WB), Manila.

World Bank (WB) 2008. Vietnam Development Report 2009. World Bank (WB), Hanoi.

This puts a strain on their limited household income. The vulnerability assessment research findings are expected to be instrumental in further increasing the level of sophistication and implementation of planning and flood control institutions aimed at arriving at an integrated approach towards risk and climate change management.

CoNCLuSIoNThe essential goal of the WISDOM project is to ensure that the Mekong Delta becomes an internationally renowned flagship of innovation and achievement in intelligent, integrated watershed

management and climate change resilience. Towards this goal, the project’s team members hope that the integration of such data will enable the end-user of the system to perform analyses on very specific questions and thus supply the end-user with a tool supporting regional planning activities. In this regard, the integration of natural and social sciences is of utmost importance for the development of the Water Information System, since it has to show both changes to the natural environment, as well as the socio-economic processes that affect the people living in the Mekong Delta.



soCIAL InnoVAtIon & tHe CItY: What is the connection between Social Innovation & Urban Innovation…and Why Does it Matter?Martin Stewart-Weeks

How we build and live in cities will come to shape the discourse on sustainability and ecologically-sound thinking for the future. Martin Stewart-Weeks examines why urban innovation holds the key to this debate.

Martin Stewart-Weeks

Martin Stewart-Weeks is Chair of the Australian Social Innovation Exchange and Director of the Public Sector (Asia-Pacific), Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems. He has over twenty years’ experience in organisational management and consulting in the corporate and public sectors and with a wide range of nonprofit organisations.



Urban innovation is a rapidly rising priority for countries everywhere, with nearly 60 per cent of the world’s population living in urbanised areas. Cities will undoubtedly come to play a central role in achieving sustainability, economic resilience and social cohesion. A critical, but often over-looked dimension in the way we design and manage our cities is the way they work, or often fail to work, as successful social entities. There are gradual improvements in approaches to urban design and economic issues, planning hard infrastructure and confronting the urgent environmental challenges in the city. However, we are less adept at dealing with some of the social dimensions of urban practice, or, better still, pre-empting and reversing its detrimental impact on people and urban communities.

At the same time, social innovation, as a distinct practice and set of tools to tackle complex, often intractable social problems in new and unexpected ways, is beginning to make a mark in how we design and inhabit cities.

Connecting social innovation to the larger endeavour of creating sustainable cities brings with it two challenges. One is to think of ways to design and run cities so that social innovation can emerge and thrive. What are the conditions under which a more deliberate and explicit approach to social innovation can flourish within cities or, just as importantly, what are the obstacles that cities can sometimes throw in the way of a thriving social innovation community?

The second challenge is to infect the practice of urban design and management with an ethic and practice of social innovation so that, right from the start, the social dimension of cities takes its rightful place at the heart of the urban innovation and sustainability agenda.

Meeting that challenge can be articulated in simple terms, but it will be harder to accomplish in practice. We need to connect a growing global community of social innovation thinkers and practitioners to clarify the link between social and urban innovation, to discover and, where necessary, to invent new tools and methods that can put that thinking to work and to empower people in cities around the world so that they will experiment, take action and share their innovations with people globally. The growing interest in urban agriculture is one area in which cities can encourage people and businesses to think differently about how to use existing or new spaces – community gardens for food growing, the top of their buildings as green spaces, empty lots that are currently run down or derelict – to improve the quality of life in city neighbourhoods.

This effort will engage people from across the spectrum – government, business, academia, entrepreneurs and informal networks of innovators and activists – as well as the more formal non-government sector of community organisations and associations.

Social and urban innovation strategies are possibly more closely connected than one might initially realise. Something about what each is trying to create should and can play a part in what the other can achieve. But the question remains whether there is something distinctive about the methods, instincts and practices of social innovation that could become a useful part of the toolkit of those charged with designing and managing more sustainable, connected and livable cities. For example, could the idea of a social innovation ‘camp’ be used to bring together designers, citizens, property developers and policy makers to brainstorm some practical new ways to make a neighbourhood safer or more friendly? By the same token, are there things that city designers and managers could do that would make it easier

We need to connect a growing global community of social innovation thinkers and practitioners to clarify the link between social and urban innovation, to discover and, where necessary, to invent new tools and methods that can put that thinking to work and to empower people in cities around the world so that they will experiment, take action and share their innovations with people from across the world.



(or harder) for a culture and practice of social innovation to thrive in a city as well? An example might be to change building regulations to create more flexible spaces in certain buildings that can allow different types of community groups and associations to meet and work – perhaps an art group for older people or a space for small community groups to hold their meetings.

Another example is schools and learning spaces in the community. Some educators are already running schools, or learning spaces in shopping centres or empty council buildings. That means making sure planning regulations are in place to allow those kinds of flexible uses. City planners need to explore those options and ensure the flexibility is built in to the basic planning regime.

That challenge is beginning to attract a growing community of innovators and entrepreneurs already working on projects which focus on different aspects of living in cities – jobs and skills; mobility; new patterns and models of working; transport; improving conditions and opportunities for low-income individuals and families; diversity and livability; arts; recreation; culture and so on.

Urban planners - together with designers, architects and engineers and others involved in the business of making cities - are also going to be part of the endeavour. Designers who bring a fresh instinct to the task of re-thinking products, services, spaces and processes from the perspective of users and citizens will also be influential, as will investors (public, private and civil society) who have money and others assets that will be needed to support and extend innovation.

The Young Foundation in the UK is pushing forward on exactly this challenge with its Urban Ideas Bakery. The Bakery is “a set of methods designed to help cities mobilise their creativity to better solve – together – the major challenges they face, from the recession to crime, high carbon emissions to poor education.”1

The goal is to “cultivate a shared understanding about the contribution creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation can make in securing the long-term economic, cultural and social prosperity of cities across Europe.”2

We will also need to engage policy makers and analysts who can infuse the ‘sustainable city’ agenda with new thinking and practice that directly impacts their policy

That challenge is beginning to attract a growing community of innovators and entrepreneurs already working on projects which focus on different aspects of living in cities – jobs and skills; mobility; new patterns and models of working; transport; improving conditions and opportunities for low-income individuals and families; diversity and livability; arts; recreation; culture and so on.



1 The Urban Ideas Bakery. http://youngfoundation.org/our-qork/research/themes/advancing-innovation/cities-and-social-innovation/the-urban-ideas-bakery.

2 Ibid.

goals – lower greenhouse gases, decongesting clogged city roads and streets, creating attractive and livable ‘people centred’ urban spaces and places, bringing in new investment and creating more jobs and forming new regional governance institutions and processes.A final, but equally critical player in this arena is the very communities living in the cities. Citizens are increasingly willing and able to translate their day-to-day experience into ideas, preferences and insights that can become powerful resources for innovation.

The goal is to shift the thinking and practice of urban management and innovation so that, gradually, our cities begin to look and feel different because they are influenced by, and seek to nurture, the practice and culture of social innovation.

The goal is to shift the thinking and practice of urban management and innovation so that, gradually, our cities begin to look and feel different because they are influenced by, and seek to nurture, the practice and culture of social innovation.

It’s a worthy goal and it’s an increasingly urgent one as cities take the lead in the global search for a more sustainable and economical ly stable future.



“eCo-CItIes” AnD “sUstAInABLe CItIes”– Whither?Koh Kheng Lian, Asanga Gunawansa & Lovleen Bhullar

The concept of sustainable cities was first discussed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2003, with the idea of eco-cities entering the picture in 2007. Are the two mutually exclusive, or do they overlap? The authors consider the implications of cities as engines of growth and examine case studies that reveal what lies ahead for sustainable cities and eco-cities.

About the Authors

Koh Kheng Lian is a member of the Faculty of Law, and a founding member and the Director of the Asia – Pacific Centre for Environmental Law, NUS, which is in partnership with the World Conservation Union-Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-CEL), and in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Dr. Asanga Gunawansa, Assistant Professor, Department of Building, School of Design and Environment,National University of Singapore (NUS) holds a Ph.D. in Law from NUS and a LL.M in International Economic Law from the University of Warwick. He is also an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Lovleen Bhullar, Adjunct Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law, NUS holds a degree in law from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, a L.L.M in Environmental Law from the University of London, and a MSc in Environmental Policy & Regulation from the London School of Economics & Political Science.



INTRoduCTIoNThe recognition of the potentially adverse environmental impacts of urban development has led to the inclusion of cities in the environmental sustainability discourse. Cities are the engines of growth, but rapid industrialisation has been accompanied by increased use of natural resources, growing energy consumption and fossil fuel dependence, which have contributed to carbon lock-in and rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as increased waste generation. These developments exacerbate the adverse impacts of climate change, which may expose the residents of cities to several problems, including air and water pollution, flooding and increased spread of diseases. Also, in 2008, for the first time in history, more than 50% of the world’s population was concentrated in cities. This is attributable to several factors, including large-scale migration from rural areas for better employment opportunities and improved quality of life. But if this trend continues, the urban share of the world’s population is expected to increase to 70% by 2050. The biggest growth will take place in Africa and Asia, where urban populations are expected to double between 2000 and 2030.2

Most of the population growth will occur in developing countries where a majority of the world’s megacities and coastal cities that are most vulnerable to climate change are concentrated. These cities are also inhabited by the world’s most vulnerable and poor populations with the least capacity to cope with climate change.3 In order to confront unprecedented urban expansion, rising energy prices and the adverse impacts of climate change, cities worldwide are adopting the principle of ‘think globally, act locally’. The need for a paradigm shift has provided the window of opportunity to introduce an overwhelming range of ‘solutions’ under different labels, such as ‘eco-cities’, ‘sustainable cities’ and so on, but there are no clear, universally acceptable definitions of these terms. This paper will explore these concepts with some examples. ECo-CITIES: SETTING ThE STAGEThe term ‘eco-city’ was coined by Richard Register to describe a city where human beings can exist in harmony with nature therefore greatly reducing

our ecological footprint.4 But the concept of eco-cities is not new. In 1970, the Cosanti Foundation in the United States began building Arcosanti, an experimental town in Phoenix, Arizona. It was conceptualised by Paolo Soleri, and was intended to be the first example of an arcology, or architectural eco-city.5 However, being a first generation eco-city, which was launched when the dangers of global warming and environmental degradation were not recognised, the project lacked the necessary public support, financial and other resources for timely completion.

The non-profit organisation, Urban Ecology, defines an ‘eco-city’ as “a human settlement that enables its residents to live a good quality of life while using minimal natural resources.”6 Other definitions include:

An ecologically healthy city• 7

‘The most durable kind of settlement that humans •are capable of building and a city that provides an acceptable standard of living without depleting the ecosystems or biogeochemical cycles on which it depends’8

Ecological requirements combined with socio-•economic conditions9

Although there is no universally acceptable definition of an ‘eco-city’, there is some consensus on the basic features of an eco-city amongst the available definitions. From an environmental sustainability perspective, an eco-city should be in balance with nature, dedicated to minimising the required inputs of energy, water and food, its waste output of heat, gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that cause atmospheric pollution and water pollution. However, in order to ensure sustainable development, which requires a balance between environmental, social and economic sustainability, the environmental features referred to above should be acceptable to the people and should be in harmony with their economic development aspirations. The World Bank defines eco-cities as “cities that create economic opportunities for their citizens in an inclusive, sustainable, and resource-efficient way, while also protecting and nurturing the local ecology and global public goods, such as the environment, for future generations.”10

“The future will be predominantly urban, and the most immediate environmental concerns of most people will be urban ones.” 1



There are several reasons for the emergence of ‘eco-cities’. They represent local governments’ response to the need for sustainable development. Such initiatives can distinguish areas and add to a region’s attractiveness for foreign investment inflow. They can also place the local governments in a good position to receive preferential financial treatments (such as tax breaks etc.) from the national government.11 Eco-cities may also serve as pilot projects or technological niches where new ideas to tackle urgent environmental issues are developed and tested. Their success may create a demonstration effect and these technologies can be replicated on a larger scale.

EmERGENCE of ECo-CITIES IN ASIAThe Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an inter-governmental organisation, which is responsible for the active promotion of an ASEAN Community.12 ASEAN inter alia provides the framework for regional cooperation on sustainable development and climate change.13

The ASEAN Vision 2020 calls for “[a] clean •and green ASEAN with fully established mechanisms for sustainable development to ensure the protection of the region’s environment, the sustainability of its natural resources, and the high quality of life of its peoples.”14 The Blueprint for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural •Community, which forms a part of the Roadmap for the ASEAN Community (2009-2015) expresses ASEAN’s commitment to work towards achieving sustainable development as well as promoting a clean and green environment.15

The ASEAN Declaration on Environmental •Sustainability includes commitments in the areas of environmental protection and management and conservation of natural resources, as well as responding to climate change.16 The Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, •Energy and the Environment reaffirms “the need to take an effective approach to the interrelated challenges of climate change, energy security and other environmental and health issues, in the context of sustainable development.”17 ASEAN Member States are encouraged to promote •synergies between initiatives, such as ‘Low Carbon

Society’, ‘Compact Cities’, ‘Eco-Cities’, and ‘Environmentally Sustainable Transport’.18 The Network of East Asian Think-tanks (NEAT) •Working Group Meeting on the Environment views eco-cities as an important model of sustainable development and as low carbon cities that utilise fewer resources and reduce waste output (paragraphs 3 & 9).19

Thus, there is emerging consensus in the region regarding the potential of eco-cities as an innovative and practical strategy for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

ThE TIANJIN ECo-CITY: A SINo-SINGAPoRE CoLLABoRATIoNSingapore has emerged as a leader in the field of environmental innovation, including the development of green technologies and a public housing system that promotes social harmony and addresses some of the concerns associated with urban sprawl, and more recently, green buildings with a focus on energy efficiency, together with a supportive legal and policy framework.20 In the year 2007, the growing salience of the climate change issue, concerns about China’s increasing GHG emissions and energy efficiency requirements and Singapore’s development experience, led Premier Wen Jiabao to accept the proposal of Mr Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister of Singapore, for a government-driven public-private collaboration to develop an eco-city in Tianjin, China on 30 square kilometres of what was previously a salt farm. The governments signed the Framework Agreement on 18th November 2007 for the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, which will accommodate a population of 350,000 people by 2020.21

The proposed Tianjin Eco-city is described as a “thriving city, which is socially harmonious, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient – a model for sustainable development.”22 It is inspired by the ideal of ameliorating the potentially adverse impact of climate change. Thus, its main features include energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable energy, green buildings, green transportation, ecologically friendly water management and waste management.23 At the same

The proposed Tianjin Eco-city is described as a “thriving city, which is socially harmonious, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient – a model for sustainable development.”22 It is inspired by the ideal of ameliorating the potentially adverse impact of climate change.



time, the city must be economically vibrant with its population living in social harmony. This is a more flexible and eclectic three-in-one approach, which combines ‘eco-cities’ or ‘ecological/green cities’ with ideas of ‘compact cities’ (which addresses the problems of urban sprawl by promoting amenities such as schools, shopping centres and recreation facilities all within a given area to minimise transportation) and ‘sustainable cities’. This collaboration was followed by the groundbreaking ceremony for the Singapore-Nanjing Eco High-Tech Island in Jiangxinzhou in May 2009.24

China also recognises the need to build institutional capacity to support eco-city projects.25 The other eco-cities that are ‘under construction’ in Ch ina inc lude the Cao fe id i an Eco-c i t y (Tangshan – with Sweden), and Wanzhuang (Hebei province) and Changxingdian (Beijing) with Arup, a global engineering company, and Guiyang (Guizhou province). Singapore is also developing its ‘My Punggol 21’ initiative as a model for future HDB waterfront towns.26 Other eco-city projects in Asia include the Songdo International Business District (South Korea), the Ecocity 2050 Vision (Taipei), and the project to develop eco-cities in Trirupati, Vrindavan, Kottayam, Ujjain, Puri, and Tanjavur (India). Outside Asia, Abu Dhabi is developing Masdar city as a showcase for zero-carbon, zero-waste and car-free technologies. In the United Kingdom, the EcoCities initiative seeks to provide a blueprint for the first climate change adap ta t ion s t r a t egy fo r Grea t e r Manchester.27

LESSoNS foR ThE fuTuRE dEvELoPmENT of ECo-CITIESIt would be premature to speculate on the success or failure of ‘eco-cities’, as most projects are still at the planning stage or ‘under construction’. The development of the necessary infrastructure and

expertise, policy support and affordable technology will also take time. However, this section considers some eco-city projects in China in order to identify lessons for the future.

In 2003, China’s first “ecologically sustainable” •model village was completed in Huangbaiyu in the Liaoning province in north-eastern China. However, there was no consultation with local communities, the agreed materials were not used in the construction, the houses were not affordable, and the utility costs were very high. As a result, the occupancy rate was low.28 In 2005, the Shanghai Industrial Investment •Corporation and Arup (a British engineering consultancy firm) agreed to develop the Dongtan Eco-City for a population of 500,000 people on a 8,600-hectare site on Chongming Island near Shanghai.29 During the construction phase, wetlands were destroyed and the island was depopulated. However, the project has been stalled due to several reasons, including the conviction and imprisonment, on corruption charges, of the local politicians who supported the project, as well as miscommunication between the project partners regarding their respective financial responsibilites.30

These two projects highlight the gap between the conceptualisation stage and the actual completion and management of an eco-city. They also illustrate the importance of local involvement. The completion of the Dongtan project also suffered due to lack of political support.

On the other hand, small, locally based and low-profile projects, involving the local community and businesses, have been moving forward. The population of three million people in Rizhao, located in Shangdong province in north-east China, has adopted solar power, promoted by a local



entrepreneur, for housing and public services. While the clean-up of the environment emerged as a secondary benefit, it has attracted investment, employment and tour i sm and fac i l i ta ted the establishment of several sports universities in the area.31

The environmental sustainability of eco-cities is also questionable. Undoubtedly, eco-cities employ several ecological ideas and clean technologies to test their potential to reduce the ecological footprint of eco-cities. But less attention is paid to the environmental impact of eco-cities during the planning and construction stage. At times, eco-cities are built on previously contaminated land, irrigable land or ecologically fragile/protected areas, as was the case in the failed Dongtan project. Their potential to contribute to sustainability is restricted by the continued presence of unsustainable cities and development projects around them. Critics have therefore labelled eco-cities as ‘greenwash’.

Eco-cities are also confronted with the issue of equity. These are small-sized cities with limited populations while developing countries are characterised by large cities inhabited by millions of poor people. The high cost of the required state-of-the-art technology and the business logic guiding developers may also lead to affordability issues and render eco-cities inaccessible to the wider population. However, proponents of eco-cities argue that this is linked to the general misunderstanding of the purpose of eco-cities, which offer great showcase potential for low-carbon or non-carbon technologies. Nevertheless, projects like the Tianjin eco-city, which draws on Singapore’s successful public housing scheme and provides that 20% of accommodation will be public/affordable housing, may address some of the equity concerns associated with eco-cities.32

Governments in developing countries are also faced with trade-offs between different objectives, such as poverty alleviation, economic growth and environmental protection, which does not bode well for the future of eco-cities. Institutional and regulatory limitations, such as lack of good governance, effective policy support in the form of financial subsidies or tax preferences, competition for limited (financial and technical) resources and paucity of effective supervision, implementation and enforcement mechanisms, also act as barriers. At the local level, detailed local planning and performance indicators are absent.

In the short term, eco-city projects should be small in size, meet local economic and social priorities, and involve the local community, private sector and the government. The adoption of an integrated approach – within the eco-city as well as with its surrounding environment – is also necessary. In the long term, life cycle analysis – from planning and construction to the operation of eco-cities – is essential to determine their sustainability. This will also require appropriate regulatory frameworks. The potential of eco-cities to address climate change challenges will also depend on the degree to which stakeholders buy into the eco-cities’ potential to contribute towards a greener future. This will require capacity building for the various stakeholders (including governments,

The environmental sustainability of eco-cities is also questionable. Undoubtedly, eco-cities employ several ecological ideas and clean technologies to test their potential to reduce the ecological footprint of eco-cities. But less attention is paid to the environmental impact of eco-cities during the planning and construction stage. At times, eco-cities are built on previously contaminated land, irrigable land or ecologically fragile/protected areas, as was the case in the failed Dongtan project.



the private sector, and the members of the public) in order to generate greater awareness regarding the rationale and long-term benefits of eco-cities. Sharing of information, experience, expertise and technology related to eco-cities is also required to develop individual and institutional capabilities.

The bottom-line is that eco-cities represent an adaptive and flexible approach to showcase new technologies and new ways of urban living in an era of scientific uncertainty. It is a means-to-an-end rather than an end-in-itself. Further, while developing eco-cities is challenging, given the financial and technological resources required for their development, the development and maintenance of eco-cities will require a reconceptualisation of current legal and policy frameworks to cater to new ways of living in eco-cities. This includes provisions relating to the implementation of energy efficiency, sustainable building construction and management, and recycling practices, among others.

SuSTAINABLE CITIES The term ‘sustainable development’ is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.33 The three pillars of sustainable development - economic, environmental and social – are integral to the development agenda worldwide. The idea of ‘sustainable cities’ is closely aligned with this understanding.

Two definitions of ‘sustainable city’ are:‘A sustainable city enables all its citizens to meet •their own needs and to enhance their well-being, without degrading the natural world or the lives of other people, now or in the future’34

Sustainable cities are environmentally safe, socially •inclusive and economically productive35

One of the earlier references to the term ‘sustainable city’ is included in Agenda 21, one of the chief outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992, which inter alia proposed integrated urban management to ensure that environmental, social, and economic factors are considered together in a framework for the sustainable city (chapter 7). The Sustainable Cities Programme was established by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), the agency responsible for the promotion of sustainable urban planning.36 ‘Sustainable cities’ also form the basis of UNESCAP’s Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment.37

ASEAN built upon these programmes and endorsed the Regional Environmentally Sustainable Cities

Programme (‘RESCP’).38 Recognising the difficulties associated with achieving agreement on common targets, given the differences between Member States, the RESCP adopted a common vision - Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Land - and the participating cities were required to establish appropriate targets and goals.39 The ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (‘AWGESC’)40 has been responsible for the development of:

1. Framework on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) in ASEAN: to map out the vision, principles and scope under the RESCP and identify the goals, objectives, strategies and activities/programmes. 41

2. ASEAN Initiative on ESC: to broaden the RESCP and to encompass strategies, policies and philosophies of environmental sustainability.42 This includes the development of the ASEAN Implementation Plan for ESC for each of the participating cities,43 and the establishment of the ASEAN Network on ESC to share and exchange experiences and best practices in environmental management and protection, and to articulate capacity development needs.44

3. Key indicators for Clean Air, Clean Water and Clean Land.

4. ASEAN ESC Award: to recognise exemplary national efforts in Member States and to promote further efforts towards environmental sustainability in ASEAN cities.45 Some Member States, such as Malaysia, have also launched their own sustainable city awards.

The Singapore Resolution on Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change refers to the promotion of sustainable environmental practices and use of indicators under the Initiative to achieve clean air, land and water, and the continuance of the ASEAN ESC Award.46 The ASCC Blueprint also calls for expanding the existing work under the Initiative; sharing experiences, expertise and technology in areas such as urban planning and developing internationally comparable measures for environmental sustainability for major cities in ASEAN by 2015.47

The EAS Environment Ministers also recognise “environmentally sustainable cities” as “an immediate priority area” to address the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation and the related issues of climate change, energy and environment.48 Similarly, one of the strategic objectives of the ASCC Blueprint is to



ensure the environmental sustainability of ASEAN cities/urban areas, while meeting the social and economic needs of the people.49 Clearly, ‘sustainable cities’ are gaining political legitimacy and support in the ASEAN context. Additional fillip has been provided by the proposed “Cool Asean, Green Capitals” initiative to encourage efforts by the ASEAN capital cities and other major cities to mitigate climate change.50 The initiative is expected to be launched early this year. Outside the ASEAN framework, the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network supports the development of sustainable cities.51 The concept of sustainable cities illustrates the importance of simple, environment-friendly measures and good governance in modifying existing cities or creating environmentally sustainable cities. Such ‘retrofitting’ of cities to become sustainable can also provide a platform to mainstream green ideas and technologies that are developed in ‘eco-cities’. However, as this process is concerned with the gradual and less immediately dramatic implementation and injection of ‘sustainable’ ideas into existing cities, rather than building new cities, sustainable cities attract less attention than eco-cities. The latter are scrutinised and studied more closely for the lessons they can provide in the long-term. In that respect, eco-cities are more evolutionary. In practice, the umbrella term ‘sustainable cities’ is often used to refer to piecemeal, narrow sector-specific approaches due to the uncertainty surrounding the extent and impact of climate change and the ability

of technology to address climate change challenges. Undoubtedly, these small changes play a part in the process but in order to be truly sustainable, cities must adopt a comprehensive and more inclusive approach that caters to the needs of the urban poor. The absence of a universally acceptable definition allows cities to define sustainable urban planning in accordance with their different sizes, needs, capacities and financial resources.

CoNCLuSIoNThe terms ‘eco-cities’ and ‘sustainable cities’ have entered the policymakers’ lexicon at different points in recent times but now they are both firmly embedded in the urban environmental sustainability agenda, more recently in the context of climate change. There is no single accepted definition of ‘eco-cities’. The broad definition of ‘sustainable cities’ is based on the principle of ‘sustainable development’ although clarity and consistency remain elusive. This ambiguity allows different cities with diverse characteristics to develop strategies that are better suited to local conditions. Therefore, the absence of a strict definition has proven useful.

In practice, the term ‘eco-cities’ is often used to describe new cities rather than modification of existing cities (as in the case of ‘sustainable cities’). Such a concept provides rapidly urbanising developing countries with the opportunity for technological leapfrogging, as they are still in the early stages of development. However, this would require significant capacity building. Further, like other proposals to

The broad definition of ‘sustainable cities’ is based on the principle of ‘sustainable development’ although clarity and consistency remain elusive. This ambiguity allows different cities with diverse characteristics to develop strategies that are better suited to local conditions. Therefore, the absence of a strict definition has proven useful.



1 World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).2 United Nations Population Fund (2007). State of the World Population 2007 – Unleashing the Potential of Future Growth.

http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/introduction.html.3 UN-HABITAT (2009) Planning Sustainable Cities – Global Report on Human Settlements 2009, xxii.

http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/GRHS2009/GRHS.2009.pdf. 4 R. Register, Eco-city Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future (Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Books, 1987).5 Arcosanti (2005), Arcosanti Project History, http://www.arcosanti.org/project/background/history/main.html.6 Ecocity Builders (2010), International Ecocity Standards, http://ecocitybuilders.org/IESproject.html. 7 “Shenzhen Declaration on Eco-city Development 2002”, http://preview.tinyurl.com/shenzhenecocitydevt.

World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, September 2002. The Declaration was delivered but it has not been adopted or approved in any international document.

8 Rodney R. White, Building the Ecological City 11 (Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Ltd., 2002).9 R. Wittig, Principles for Guiding Eco-City Development 29 in M.M. Carreiro et al. (eds.) Ecology, Planning, and Management of Urban

Forests: International Perspectives (New York: Springer, 2007). 10 World Bank (2009) Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities Program, http://preview.tinyurl.com/ecocitiesfullreport.11 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Eco-Innovation Policies in the People’s Republic of China 26. (Paris: OECD

Environment Directorate, 2009.) http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/47/44293445.pdf.12 See Koh Kheng-Lian (ed.) ASEAN Environmental Law, Policy and Governance: Selected Documents, Vol I (Singapore: World Scientific, 2009). 13 B. Yuen & L. Kong., Climate Change and Urban Planning in Southeast Asia, 2(3) S.A.P.I.E.N.S. 1, 5 (2009).14 ASEAN Vision 2020, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 15, 1997. http://www.aseansec.org/1814.htm. 15 Blueprint for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (2009-2015), Cha-am, Thailand, March 1, 2009. http://www.aseansec.org/22336.pdf.16 Declaration on Environmental Sustainability, Singapore, November 20,1997. http://www.aseansec.org/21060.htm.17 Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment, Singapore, November 21, 2007.

http://www.aseansec.org/21116.htm.18 Ministerial Statement of the Inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS) Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, 9 October 2008.

http://www.aseansec.org/23292.htm. See also, supra note xv.19 Report of the Working Group Meeting on the Environment. “Towards a Livable and Sustainable Urban Environment: Eco-cities in East

Asia”. Singapore, April 20, 2009, http://www.ceac.jp/e/pdf/neat_07wg02.pdf.20 Low Sui Pheng et al., “Institutional compliance and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Project”, 27 (9/10) Facilities 368 (2009).21 T. Quek, “Singapore-Tianjin eco-city project – How Tianjin won tough fight to be an eco-city”, Social Studies Singapore, November 27, 2007.

http://www.socialstudiesmontfort.blogspot.com/2007/11/sg-tianjin-ecocity-project.html.

address the threat of climate change, ‘eco-cities’ and ‘sustainable cities’ reaffirm the growing trend of focusing on supply-side factors and the exclusion of demand-side considerations, including consumption patterns. Population control in developing countries, especially in Asia, can also play an important role. Efforts to maintain productivity and the efficient functioning of rural systems can also ebb the tide of rural migration to urban areas.

Finally, the greatest challenge when developing eco-cities and sustainable cities will be public acceptance, as the two concepts mandate radical changes

in their established views, lifestyles and patterns. Two factors will be integral to assure their popularity and subsequent implementation. First, the advantages of creating eco-cities and making existing cities sustainable will need to be communicated in a clear and convincing manner. Second, and perhaps more critically, policy makers will need to work on encouraging public acceptance and ownership of these ideas.



22 Ministry of National Development, “Press Release - Agreements to Develop Eco-city in China Signed”, Singapore, November 18, 2007. http://www.mnd.gov.sg/Newsroom/newsreleases/2007/news181107.htm.

23 Government of Singapore (2009). “Features - Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City”. http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/Features.htm. 24 G. Chong, “DPM Wong officiates at S’pore-Nanjing eco project groundbreaking”, Channel NewsAsia (Singapore), May 25 2009.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/431604/1/.html. 25 The State Environmental Planning Agency has issued the Guidelines for the Building of Eco-Communities (1996-2050). The Ministry of

Environmental Protection issued “Guidelines on building ecological province, ecological city and ecological county”, which were revised in 2007. The Urban and Rural Planning Law 2008 provides the strategic opportunity to promote and implement the planning for eco-cities in China. See Food and Agricultural Organisation (2008) Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China. http://faolex.fao.org/docs/texts/chn83266.doc and Yip, Stanley (2009) “Towards a New Paradigm in Development Control – Low Carbon City Zoning Codes for Beijing”, 45th ISOCARP Congress, Porto, Portugal, October 18-22, 2009. http://isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/1403.pdf.

26 Housing Development Board (2007). http://heartland.hdb.gov.sg/resources/hwsep07.pdf. 27 Bruntwood (2009) EcoCities, “The Bruntwood Initiative for Sustainable Cities at the University of Manchester”.

http://www.ecocitiesproject.org.uk/ecocities/page.aspx. 28 S. May, “A Sino-U.S. Sustainability Sham”, Far Eastern Economic Review 57, 2007.29 M. Hald, ‘Sustainable Urban Development and the Chinese Eco-City: Concepts, Strategies, Policies and Assessments’, 47 (Lysaker, Norway:

Fridtjof Nansen Institute, 2009). http://www.fni.no/doc&pdf/FNI-R0509.pdf.30 Malcolm Moore, ‘China’s pioneering eco-city of Dongtan stalls’. Daily Telegraph (London). October 18, 2008.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/3223969/Chinas-pioneering-eco-city-of-Dongtan-stalls.html. 31 Kwan See and L. Calvin, “Rizhao: China’s Green Beacon for Sustainable Chinese Cities” 14:215 in Woodrow W. Clark (ed.) Sustainable

Communities (New York: Springer, 2009).32 J. Cheam, ‘HDB-style living in Tianjin eco-city – The $5.8b project is the biggest Singapore-China venture in 15 years’, Straits Times

(Singapore), April 17, 2008.33 See note 1 above.34 H. Girardet, Cities People Planet: Liveable Cities for a Sustainable World 6 (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2004).35 UN-HABITAT (2009), Planning Sustainable Cities – Global Report on Human Settlements 2009, 113.36 UN-HABITAT (1996) Sustainable Cities Programme. http://preview.tinyurl.com/sustcitiesprogram.37 Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment, http://kitakyushu.iges.or.jp. The network comprises 62 cities from 18 countries in the

Asia-Pacific region, including Siem Reap (Cambodia); Balik Papan, Bekasi, Gianyar, Jakarta, Medan, Semarang, Sidoarjo and Surabaya (Indonesia); Sibu (Malaysia); Yangon (Myanmar); Bago, Cebu, Puerto Princesa and San Fernando (Philippines); Bangkok, Korat and Nonthaburi (Thailand); and Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam).

38 Regional Environmentally Sustainable Cities Programme 2003, http://www.aseansec.org/background.htm. The participating cities include Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei); Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (Cambodia); Balikpapan, Medan and Sidoarjo (Indonesia); Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Xayabouri (Lao PDR); Kuantan and Putrajaya (Malaysia); Mandalay and Yangon (Myanmar); Cagayon de Oro, Quezon City and Iloilo City (Philippines); Singapore; Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi and Phuket (Thailand); and Da Nang, Ha Noi and Ha Long (Vietnam).

39 UNESCAP, ‘Summary of Discussions’, Expert Group Meeting on Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific, 11-13 June 2007, Bangkok, Thailand. http://preview.tinyurl.com/unescapegm.

40 ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities in ASEAN. http://www.aseansec.org/awgesc.htm.41 Framework for Environmentally Sustainable Cities in ASEAN, prepared at the ‘Workshop on Environmentally Sustainable Cities in ASEAN’.

Singapore, December 2-4, 2003. http://www.aseansec.org/framework.htm. The Framework was adopted by the Yangon Resolution on Sustainable Development. Myanmar, December 18, 2003. http://www.aseansec.org/15522.htm.

42 ASEAN Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Cities, http://www.aseansec.org/aiesc.htm.43 ASEAN Implementation Plan, http://www.aseansec.org/implementca.htm. 44 ASEAN Network Activities, http://www.aseansec.org/network_activities.htm. 45 The ESC Award was endorsed in the Cebu Resolution on Sustainable Development 2006. http://www.aseansec.org/18915.htm.46 “Singapore Resolution on Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change”, Singapore, October 29, 2009.

http://www.aseansec.org/documents/Singapore-AMME-Resolution.pdf. 47 See note 15 above.48 See note 28 above. 49 See note 15 above.50 ‘Joint Media Statement’, Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment, Hua Hin, Thailand, September 7, 2009.

http://www.aseansec.org/JMS-Special-AMEM-2009.pdf. 51 Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (CCCRN), http://preview.tinyurl.com/asiancitiescccrn. The Network was launched by the

Rockefeller Foundation in April 2008 and includes Chiang Rai and Hat Yai (Thailand); Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Can Tho (Vietnam); and Bandar Lampung and Semerang (Indonesia).



YoUtH enGAGeMent In

tHe soCIAL sPACe

Youth Engagement in the Social Space

RetHInkInGCoMMUnItY-seRVICe eDUCAtIon In sInGAPoRe sCHooLs Chua Cheng Chye

Chua Cheng Chye

Cheng Chye is currently Head of Creativity, Action and Service at the Singapore School of the Arts and has been providing training in Service-Learning for MOE Teachers and NIE staff for the past five years. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Language.

From Community Involvement Programmes to Service-Learning, Singapore has continued to grapple with how to encourage the spirit of service among students. Author Chua Cheng Chye, an educator, writes about what is still lacking in the overall picture and why ecological thinking can provide a rounded, holistic approach to service and community-building.



When the idea of the Community Involvement Programme (CIP) was first introduced in Singapore in the late 1990s, students were required to “serve” the community for a stipulated number of hours a year.1 This resulted in too many episodic compulsory programmes that were not adequately grounded in best practices of community engagement and community learning.

Service-Learning was subsequently introduced around 2000 to 2001 to improve upon CIP, with an emphasis on preparation, meeting real needs and reflection.2 This improved the situation and in recent years, there has been an increase in meaningful community service programmes both locally and overseas. These programmes are varied in form, approach and learning. Understandably, much of the learning foci are influenced by what is articulated to be important, which include, among other areas: Leadership, personal and interpersonal awareness, project management, resilience, cross cultural learning and cultivating an appreciation for the good governance and relatively stable life one can have in Singapore.

While these objectives are important, I take it as self-evident that the overarching aim of community service (or community education) programmes is to help students acquire relevant community-centric dispositions and skills. It is interesting that when we talk about 21st century skills, we tend to focus on information technology and the new economy. We need to also ask what skills and dispositions our young people need so that they can be in a better position to manage and solve the social and environmental challenges that lie ahead.

An ecological way of knowing provides fertile ground for pedagogical and curricular innovations that can help develop relevant community-centric skills and dispositions, and also synergise community, outdoor and environmental education. I would like to highlight two ecological perspectives that inform my approach to crafting a holistic community education programme.

ECoLoGICAL ThINKINGFalzon expressed the need for mental models to make sense of experience:

“Encountering the world...necessarily involves a process of ordering the world in terms of our categories, organising it and classifying it, actively bringing it under control in some way. We always bring some framework to bear on the world in our dealings with it. Without this organisational activity, we would be unable to make any sense of the world at all.” 3

Even though reflection is now quite commonplace, it is useful to think about what mental models we use to guide our reflections. The ability and inclination to make sense of community in a way that is grounded in ethics and sustainability is by no means a given. Ecological thinking can provide a conceptual framework for us to make sense of our experiences in a sustainable and ethical way. Fritjof Capra (2005), a theoretical physicist who founded the Center for Ecological Literacy, takes it further by explaining that the community is a non-linear living system that resists scientific quantification. Understanding and living in this organic and complex system requires a shift from traditional Western linear thinking to one that is rooted in relationships, connectedness and context. If we do not introduce alternative ways of knowing, students and teachers will, in all likelihood, make sense of their experiences using the same thought processes that are responsible for creating and perpetuating many of the contemporary social and environmental problems we face today.

Ecological thinking, for the purpose of this article, is defined as thought processes that frame new knowledge and experience within a larger, contextually-appropriate social web. It is also a belief system that preserves the rights of existing members of the social web to exist and grow. There is an explicitly moral tone to the latter half of the definition. As an educator, I subscribe to an ethics of care rather than “survival of the fittest” that underpins natural ecological systems, and indeed, some aspects of social life in Singapore.

Ecological thinking, for the purpose of this article, is defined as thought processes that frame new knowledge and experience within a larger, contextually-appropriate social web. It is also a belief system that preserves the rights of existing members of the social web to exist and grow.


hoW do WE Go ABouT INTRoduCING ECoLoGICAL ThINKING To STudENTS?

Understand and enjoy the connected world early in lifeIn their early years, children’s minds are open and receptive to a broad understanding of ideologies and value systems. It’s an apt period in a child’s life to introduce them to the ecological world of nature and community.

Stories that communicate these experiences are an ideal medium through which to engender a sense of social and ecological responsibility among the young. Stories also inculcate ideas about reciprocity, the importance of personal journeys and relationships of discovery that all play a role in building community.

While objective, scientific charts that outline facts about food webs and ecological systems are critical to building general knowledge, the broader role of science in knowing (and feeling) the world around us needs to be clarified and perhaps even re-examined. Enlightened but scientifically-unaware societies have long since realised the importance of maintaining ecologically-sound relationships with their environments. Many use myths, legends and rituals to inculcate both the practices and beliefs that ground their people in respect and humility so critical in maintaining a balanced relationship. The discipline of science has a tendency to dismiss these age-old practices as backward and primitive. At the same time, its practitioners are unable to fill the void that has been created over time, in the search for an objective, quantifiable rendering of the world. This void was once filled with the wisdom of ecologically-sound thinking and moral conscience. It is useful therefore, for community service programmes in primary schools to incorporate stories and habits of practice that are grounded in sustainable relationships, care and respect for the natural, physical and social world.

Organic tacit growth over immediate measured impact Our current perception of youth engagement and service is overly influenced by business and scientific paradigms: The greater the apparent impact over the shortest period of time, the better and only that which can be measured is valid. This is tenuous. Among other things, values learning, relationships and social cohesion cannot be quantified meaningfully. Large scale, ad hoc projects run the risk of being disruptive. We end up implementing projects for the community in an unsustainable way, rather than with

the community in a manner that will ensure there is continuity long after youth volunteers have returned home. Ecological thinking requires us to trust the process and to take a long term orientation. It requires a commitment to invest in organic growth and the realisation that community ecologies are complex and take time to grow. Teachers and trainers in this context need to instill a sense of humility in young people so that they are not driven by the desire for immediate results. Community engagement also necessarily requires immersion, in that it takes time to understand the behavioural patterns and complex relationships that form a community. In this regard, the discipline of ethnography, with its emphasis on understanding the sum total of a community’s life – from belief systems, to ritual practices and ‘webs of significance’ - is an apt approach to community engagement.4

Journey through the ripple effect A discourse dominated by ideas of self-gratification features significantly in the lives of youth, both in Singapore, and around the world. In individualistic and consumerist societies that value independence over inter-dependence, the tendency is to give the greatest credence to one’s immediate well-being. To counter this isolationist tendency, it is necessary to build a way of thinking that considers consequences over time, in the context of places and people. The “reflection phase” that was referred to earlier in this article involves, in part, forming the habit of critically analysing the impact of one’s actions beyond their immediate significance. The more we practice weighing short term returns against long-term consequences, the more long term orientation and community responsibility become part of our consciousness. Many indigenous communities in North America have been known to consider the impact of their actions up to seven generations after them.5

Value the contribution of all Singapore is a society that thrives on excellence. A premium is p laced on high achievers . While striving for excellence is necessary, we seem to have instilled this value in a manner that discounts those who are economically less successful. This results in a society that is implicitly and quietly class-conscious. Singaporean youth can and ought to be encouraged to respect people, regardless of the kind of jobs they do. Some of the best schools in the country have a greater responsibility to ensure that their students understand the valuable role every member of society plays in the larger social fabric. The giant trees in rainforests capture our attention and are prized for their timber, but we fail to take notice of the



micro-organisms that quietly break down complex biological materials into nutrients so that the cycle of life can continue. In an interdependent ecological system, every member of the web is important and valued.

Community resource is a privilege not a right In mature communities, resources continue to exist because prior systems and people existed to create them. The utilisation of community resources, therefore, must be accompanied by practices that support the preservation of the systems, patterns of behaviour and conditions that gave rise to these resources. In environmentally-attuned societies, the practice of ritual offerings in gratitude for game or a bountiful harvest is a statement of gratitude grounded in the understanding that resources are not limitless and prudence must be exercised.

RELATIoNShIP BuILdING Despite the ideas discussed above, these cognitive journeys through one’s ecosystem provide no assurance that one will strive to protect the integrity of that system. Similarly, these values hold little meaning if there is no relationship between oneself and the community. What is needed is a personal connection to other members of the ecological system, and a personal belief that the system is worth preserving. An individual is more likely to commit

to community, if he/she has begun cultivating deeper relationships with other members of that community.

Thankfully, humans are social beings and relationships form organically and spontaneously. As educators, we need to provide the time and space for our students to build meaningful relationships with the people they are serving, the landscape in which they are working and the broader society. The overall effect is that the knowledge and values gained are intertwined with the cognitive and social learning processes. When this happens, certain attitudinal and behavioural transformations will be palpable. Motivations become intrinsic, ownership grows and along with it, activism.

As we’re all well-aware, human civilisation has been growing in a manner that is now considered to be unsustainable. Societies across time have shaped what they consider to be the “common good.” Given the extent of environmental degradation that is apparent today and the increasingly divisive effects of capitalism, I believe that ecologically-sound values will feature strongly in the evolution of the prevailing “common good” and that ecological thinking will grow in relevance. All that remains is for this shift in thinking to be articulated and shared by educators and young people alike.

1 Ministry of Education, “Community Development Programmes and Service Learning.” http://www.ne.edu.sg/cip.htm.2 Ibid.3 P. Jarvis, “Learning to be a person in society” in Contemporary Theories of Learning (Routledge 2009), 26. 4 Clifford Geertz, “Description: Toward and Interpretive Theory of Culture” in The Interpretation of Culture (NY: Basic Books, 1973),

Chapter 1.5 The theory is often advocated and discussed by the Iroquois people. Speech by Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper, Chief Oren Lyons to delegates at

the United Nations Organization Opening of “The Year of the Indigenous Peoples” (1993), United Nations General Assembly Auditorium, United Nations Plaza, New York City, December 10, 1992. http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/OLatUNin92.html. See the following on how this thinking has entered academic and research work on environmental issues: http://www.cbp.ucar.edu/conferences/seven_generations/speakers.php and http://www.cbp.ucar.edu/documents/Winds_of_Change_ClimateChange.pdf.

further ReadingCapra, F. (2005), Speaking Nature’s Language in Ecological Literacy – Educating our Children for a Sustainable World.

Jarvis, P. (2009), Learning to be a person in society in Contemporary Theories of Learning. Routledge.

Ecological Thinking – a new approach to educational change. Shoshana University Press of America, 2002.



UnCoVeRInG tHe DIRtY seCRets oF A FooD PARADIse Young Journalists Go UndercoverEstelle Low & Miak Aw

Singapore is universally known as a food paradise, but far less is known about the enormous amount of waste generated daily by individuals, supermarkets, food outlets and hotels. 20-something investigative journalists Miak Aw and Estelle Low go undercover to shed light on how much we waste as a nation and why this needs to change.

About the Authors

(L-R) Estelle Low and Miak Aw are graduates of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Food Waste Republic was the culmination of their final-year project, which they undertook with fellow NTU student of journalism, Chen Wei Li. The writers have set up a website called Food Waste Republic to serve as an online resource to educate Singaporeans about wastage in the country and how to do more to prevent it.



INTRoduCTIoNIn the boisterous conviviality of a wedding banquet dinner, two waitresses exchanged surreptitious looks each time they had to clear a table of leftovers. While other waiters at the same event scrambled to knock off promptly at 11.30pm, the two headed to the kitchen to chat with the kitchen staff to find out more about how much food would go to waste that evening. After having put in some arduous hours of waitressing work and a bit of snooping, the girls shut their palm-sized notebooks, in which they had scribbled their observations for the night, as well as the mobile numbers of kitchen staff and fellow waiters. It had been a revealing night of investigative, undercover reporting.

Singapore has a reputation for being a gastronomic utopia, with an endless array of dishes available for sampling by the keen connoisseur or the merely curious. But the idea that we waste food just as much as we indulge in and relish it is a little less known.

dEvELoPING ThE IdEA – INvESTIGATING food WASTAGE IN SINGAPoREAs lifestyle and photo editors of The Nanyang Chronicle – a student-run campus newspaper published by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at the Nanyang Technological University – we had been mulling over what our final-year project would focus on. As food lovers, we wanted to develop a story that would touch on what every Singaporean loves: Eating. But the decision to focus on food waste developed by chance. Inspiration struck us during one brainstorming session at a fast food outlet when we saw leftovers being discarded after customers had left. That was when we began questioning ourselves about food wastage in Singapore.

It took us a while to realise that we would learn more by applying for jobs as waitresses. Our initial approach was quite different, and in retrospect, somewhat naive. In January 2010, we sent emails to over 100 food and beverage companies, requesting for interviews to find out more about food wastage, as well as to learn more about the food and beverage industry in general. Our questions were wide-ranging and non-specific and we only brought up the issue of wastage peripherally. It had taken us five to six months of leg-work to finalise our news-lines, so we approached the field with enthusiasm and optimism.

Unfortunately, fewer than 10 replied, of which more than half were rejection emails, citing reasons of confidentiality and lack of time for not being able to help. Cold calling did not work either. Corporate

communication representatives were more interested in sharing their latest press releases than trying to persuade their bosses to reveal sensitive and perhaps, contentious food wastage data. Replies were curt and defensive, often punctuated with words like “confidentiality” and “against our policy.” Eyebrows were further raised when we introduced ourselves as student journalists.

REvISING ThE STRATEGY – INvESTIGATIvE JouRNALISmA straightforward approach that touched on a topic like food wastage led to dead ends. With our credibility in question, overcoming limited information access proved to be our toughest obstacle. We revised our strategy and tried speaking to ground-level staff in supermarkets and food establishments. As the ones assigned with the duty of disposing of discarded or leftover food, these people were ostensibly best placed to provide us greater insights on food wastage. From there, we tried to speak to the rank-and-file workers as well, by masking our assignment as a business project (to find out more about inventory management) and an art project (to take photos of food wastage).

This was a turning point in the development of our project. As students interested in both investigative journalism and matters pertaining to the public interest, we had to devise methods that would allow us to glean more data on food wastage. Before quoting our sources, however, we called them to let them know who we were and informed them about our journalism project. We were motivated by a number of important questions: Do Singaporeans know how much food is wasted on a daily basis across the island? Are there Singaporeans struggling without enough to eat? What are the environmental costs of food wastage and are there alternatives to merely disposing of discarded food?


From left, Ms Miak Aw, Ms Estelle Low and Mr Chen Wei Li, the three NTU journalism students who collected food waste from over 150 households to determine the degree of food waste generated by families in Singapore.


GoING ‘uNdERCovER’ – BANquET WAITRESSING & RESEARChIt was at this juncture that we signed up to work as banquet waitresses. It turned out to be a more productive route to learning more about food wastage in Singapore. We had never worked in the food and beverage industry so it was an eye-opener. By the time an 8-course dinner had reached its 6th dish, the guests were too satiated. Most of the food remained uneaten, or unfinished. Based on our observations and information shared by staff working in this industry, up to 30 per cent of the food served ended up in the garbage bin. But what was truly startling to us was the fact that this type of regular food wastage appears to be accepted as a norm. For years, the practice of serving food in abundance to guests during Chinese wedding banquets has gone unquestioned, despite the fact that much of the food goes to waste at the end of the night.

It has been reported that approximately 606 million kilos of food waste was generated in Singapore in 2009.1 Numbers aside, it was difficult to make the topic of food wastage relevant to the average Singaporean, especially when food is easily available in the country.

To ferret out more facts on food wastage in Singapore, we spoke to over 200 people, most of whom were staff and personnel working in supermarkets and food retail outlets. During term break, our families suggested that we collect food waste from houses, since we had limited data on food wastage in Singapore. We established a target: We decided to collect food waste from 50 Housing Development Board apartments (HDBs), 50 condominium apartments and 50 private estate homes. We chose to conduct this exercise in Sembawang (northern Singapore) and Serangoon (north-eastern Singapore), areas we were familiar with as we all lived in neighbourhoods in these two locales. We even spied on bakeries in Sembawang that dumped unsold bread and shot video footage, unbeknownst to the bakery owners.

INITIAL fINdINGSThese unconventional, and some might say, not entirely above-board methods, were nonetheless both fruitful and revealing. For one, our initial research revealed that communities in developed countries like Singapore tend to favour perfect-looking fruits and vegetables – a tendency that is perpetuated by the manner in which large supermarkets display and encourage consumers to only buy seemingly ‘perfect’ produce. This leads to daily food wastage. Our interviews and observations indicate that at Pasir Panjang Fruits and Vegetables Wholesale Centre, imported fruits and vegetables undergo rounds of cosmetic grocery filtering. Perfect-looking ones make it to display shelves in supermarkets while those with slight blemishes wind up in the bin. Up to 300,000 kilos of food waste is churned out in the wholesale centre every day. This does not include the slightly defective fruits and vegetables discarded by supermarkets and individual shoppers.2

The food retailers we spoke to claimed to have zero food wastage as wastage eats into profits. However, we found out that food retailers, usually the larger ones, end up wasting food unwittingly. Rank-and-file workers are told to display enough food to fill up the shelves. We learnt about what some marketing experts refer to as the ‘full-shelf theory’. According to this theory, full shelves in supermarkets excite shoppers and encourage them to buy more produce. Following this theory, food retailers stock their display shelves with an abundance of perfect-looking produce to entice shoppers.

Reducing food wastage becomes the least of their concerns. At a bakery we tracked, the shelves were stocked full with freshly baked bread an hour before closing time. In an effort to determine just how much of this bread would go to waste, we told the retailers that we had lost something and sought permission to search the bags in the bin centre. At the bin centre, we estimated that the bakery had thrown away 200 pieces of bread that night.


It was at this juncture that we signed up to work as banquet waitresses. It turned out to be a more productive route to learning more about food wastage in Singapore. We had never worked in the food and beverage industry so it was an eye-opener. By the time an 8-course dinner had reached its 6th dish, the guests were too satiated. Most of the food remained uneaten, or unfinished. Based on our observations and information shared by staff working in this industry, up to 30 per cent of the food served ended up in the garbage bin.


ThE fuTuRE foR food WASTE SINGAPoRE Singapore’s English language dailies, such as The Straits Times and TODAY, have in the past featured stories on food waste recycling as a possible solution to the problem of food wastage. The idea is not an uncommon one: To turn food waste into useful energy, such as compost or bio-gas, is regularly practiced in other developed countries and many Singaporeans are slowly, but surely, catching on to the idea.3 Besides that, a non-profit organisation Food From The Heart collects and distributes unsold, edible bread to the needy and its beneficiaries daily.

But a broad policy change towards food recycling is still untenable. IUT Global, an environmental waste technology and management company with its headquarters in Singapore, launched an initiative in 2007 in collaboration with an Austrian partner, to revolutionise food waste recycling in Singapore.4 However, the treatment plant reports that it is working at half capacity because universities, hotels and shopping malls still largely fail to separate their waste at the source to send it for recycling and treatment.5 At the same time, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) has reported that if Singapore continues to generate waste for incineration at the current rate, it will simply become unsustainable in the long-run.6 Legislating food waste recycling seems to be a possible solution to the problem. However, our research with the NEA has revealed that based on their observations

and experiences, the agency does not feel its citizens are ready for such a change, given that the recycling of basic materials such as paper and plastics is still not a widespread practice in the island-nation. Singaporeans are still not accustomed to throwing recyclables into the right bin. Based on our interviews and observations, convenience overrides environmental-consciousness in this country.7 Most of us would rather dump our trash into the nearest bin than to voluntarily seek out recycling bins.

In sum, food waste is more than just the simple act of throwing away edible food. Our research and field work showed us that the problem prevails because modern society does not understand the source of the food that they find on the shelves of supermarkets. In essence, we learned that society has scant appreciation for how and where their food is grown (or raised) and what the actual food production process involves in terms of labour, effort and the impact on the environment.

As a result, food waste becomes a matter of economic expediency for the food and beverage industry and is of no consequence to a citizenry that has no concrete understanding of deprivation and hunger.

CoNCLuSIoNDespite our difficulties in researching this project, our brief stint as investigative journalists has revealed to us one humbling fact: food wastage is a problem that runs deep in our society.


To find out how food gets wasted in the food production line, Mr Chen Wei Li, Ms Miak Aw and Ms Estelle Low (from left) masked their project as a business module and gained access to a food factory where they covertly took snapshots of food wastage.



1 Ong Dai Lin, “Letting it all go to waste,” TODAY, April 16, 2010. http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100416-0000074/Letting-it-all-go-to-waste.

2 Interview with a waste management company that wishes to remain anonymous.3 IUT Global Pte Ltd, http://www.iutglobal.com. City Farmer News, “Composting in the Tropics – Singapore Style, http://www.cityfarmer.

info/2008/12/09/composting-in-the-tropics-singapore-style. Composting in Singapore Blog, http://compostinginsingapore.wordpress.com and ZeroWaste SG Blog, http://www.zerowastesg.com/2009/02/04/start-composting-at-home.

4 Tan Lay Leng, “Food Fuels Energy Plant” in Innovation – The Magazine of Research and Technology. Volume 9, No. 1. http://www.innovationmagazine.com/innovation/volumes/v7n3/coverstory4.shtml.

5 Victoria Vaughan, “Food Recycling Plant Going To Waste”, The Straits Times, May 7, 2010. http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2010/05/going-green-in-singapore-hits-and.html.

6 National Environment Agency, Environmental Protection Division Annual Report 2004, “From 1970 to 2000, the amount of waste disposed of increased six times. At that rate, we would need to build a new incineration plant every 5 – 7 years and a new landfill the size of Semakau Landfill (current offshore landfill) every 25 – 30 years. This is not sustainable.” http://www.nea.gov.sg/cms/pcd/EPDAnnualReport2004.pdf

For 2009 statistics, see: 7 Yeo Sam Jo, “What Rubbish”, in The Straits Times, June 14, 2009. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/

STIStory_390356.html8 Food Waste Republic, www.foodwasterepublic.com.

For more, please visit: www.foodwasterepublic.com

Embarking on this investigative project was a challenge. We were frequently insulted by our sources and we were almost caught on several occasions when we covertly filmed food retailers regularly dumping edible food at the end of the business day. Despite these obstacles, our team has produced an in-depth report (a total of 8 feature stories and 3 photo stories) on food wastage in Singapore.8 The stories can be read and downloaded from foodwasterepublic.com, a website we have subsequently set up to raise awareness about food waste in Singapore.

Looking forward, our website aims to be a resource platform on the topic of food wastage in Singapore. Besides giving our readers a better understanding of the food wastage problem in Singapore, we hope our stories will encourage individuals to spearhead an anti-food wastage movement, or at any rate, think twice before they throw out leftovers at the end of a meal. While we began as unassuming student journalists, we have come to the tail-end of our final year project a lot wiser and a lot more passionate about social issues in Singapore.

From left, Ms Miak Aw, Ms Estelle Low and Mr Chen Wei Li snooped around a bin centre in Suntec City as one of the ways to understand the causes of food wastage in the tight-lipped food industry.


soCIAL InnoVAtIon

MosAIC

tRAnsItIons WItHIn tHe eCosYsteM oF CHAnGeWillie Cheng

The ecosystem paradigm provides a framework to understand and influence the forces of change facing the nonprofit sector. In this extract from the forthcoming book, “The World That Changes The World: How philanthropy, entrepreneurship and innovation are transforming the social ecosystem,” Willie Cheng describes the social ecosystem framework, its change enablers and macro-trends.

Social Innovation Mosaic

Willie Cheng

Willie Cheng is the author of Doing Good Well: What does (and does not) make sense in the nonprofit world. He was formerly the country managing partner of Accenture Singapore and is currently a director with several commercial and nonprofit organisations. He is chairman of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation.

We live in an age of transition.

The big transition, which has been playing out for decades, has been the move to a global knowledge economy. Momentous events have rippled alongside this shift: the fall of communism, the rise of capitalism and the growth of civil society. In turn, smaller transitions such as changes in a currency’s value and society’s values may be felt more immediately in our daily lives. Yet, in many ways, all these smaller waves of change are really part of the larger ones.

To place these transitions in context, it is useful to have a framework to anchor ourselves, to be able to understand the forces of change and to determine how we can respond to them.

One such useful framework is derived from biology. Framed by the study of living organisms, the term “ecosystem” describes a self-sustaining community of inter-dependent organisms interacting with one another in their local environment. The beauty of the ecosystem paradigm is the way it applies systems thinking to a complex environment.


For our purposes, an ecosystem is defined as a system whose members benefit from one another’s participation via symbiotic relationships. And just as systems can comprise sub-systems, an ecosystem can comprise sub-ecosystems which interact with, and benefit, each other. Thus, the ecosystem of a country is composed of three interdependent sub-ecosystems: the enterprise ecosystem (the private sector), the state ecosystem (the public sector) and the social ecosystem (the people sector).

In a sense, the social ecosystem has a unique role relative to the other two: Its function is to fill the gaps and pick up the pieces left behind through the

misdeeds or negligence of the state and enterprise ecosystems. It is indeed, the ecosystem of change - change to a better society and change for a better world.

ThE SoCIAL ECoSYSTEmBy applying an ecosystem approach to the social sector, we obtain a holistic and integrated perspective of how the different players can and should interact with one another to create a more effective sector and a better world.

Below is a picture of what the social ecosystem and its players might look like:


At the core of the social ecosystem are the social purpose entities that seek to positively impact their beneficiaries and the capacity builders that facilitate the missions of these social purpose entities.

Social purpose entities describe the organisations and individuals who seek to change society for the better. The organisations go by labels such as nonprofit organisation (NPO), nongovernmental organisation (NGO) and civil society organisation (CSO) which are used quite interchangeably.1 CSOs that qualify for tax-benefit status are called charities.2 Social enterprises are a new form of hybrid social-business organisations.3 Individuals working in the sector include the social workers, activists and a new breed

of heroes called social entrepreneurs. In essence, social entrepreneurs effect systemic, large scale social change through innovative approaches. Capacity builders, as the name suggests, are the intermediaries that help build the capacity of the social sector. Intermediaries are needed in any marketplace although their form differs in each market. For the social sector, there are the watchers who provide analysis and monitoring of the performance of the CSOs; the promoters who seek to grow and develop CSOs and the sector; the service providers4 who provide the myriad services that CSOs need to function; and the grantmakers who aggregate donations and make grants to the CSOs.

REGuLAToR

Capacity Builders

Watchers•Promoters•Service Providers•Grantmakers•

Beneficiaries

People•Animals•Arts & Heritage•Sports•Environment•

Social Purpose Entities

NPOs including •CharitiesSocial Enterprises•Social Entrepreneurs•

CommuNITY

ThE SoCIAL ECoSYSTEm

At the core of the social ecosystem are the social purpose entities that seek to positively impact their beneficiaries and the capacity builders that facilitate the missions of these social purpose entities.

Go

vER

Nm

ENT

mEd

IA


Around the core players are the community (individuals and corporations who volunteer their time and expertise and donate money), the media and the government who collectively provide the resources, support and scrutiny to ensure that the core players function as intended. The government plays multiple roles in the ecosystem: as regulator, funder, promoter and player.

ChANGE IN ThE ECoSYSTEmThe diagram of the social ecosystem shows neat and well-circumscribed compartments housing the different players of the ecosystem. A more representative depiction would have been an animated video that shows the dynamism of interactions as players push and influence each other within each component and across components of the ecosystem. Indeed, the shape and the nature of the ecosystem continue to morph even as we discuss it.

That “change is the only constant” is a truism of our age. But what is also increasingly recognised in today’s world is that the speed of change is accelerating. So it has been with the transitions which the social ecosystem and its players are experiencing.

Several key factors have enabled and driven these changes in the social sector in the last two decades:- Culture- Leadership- Technology- Social Finance

The prevailing culture of the social ecosystem is based on the notion of “doing good.” With the focus on helping others and improving society, good feelings often result for all the participants in this common mission. Flowing from this feel-good notion of doing good are practices and values that have come to be associated with the relative shortcomings of the social sector, when compared to the other two sectors. These include, for example, a penchant for hand-outs, a lack of accountability and a lack of pace and drive.

The importance of culture from a change perspective is its impact on the nuances of the participants’ behaviour. In most human endeavours and organisations, culture

often accounts for a strong resistance to change. Such resistance may perhaps be less so for CSOs because the social sector is about change and is less bogged down by monolithic organisations and rigid practices. In recent years, noticeable changes have seeped into some of the social sector’s cultural traits: There has been a push for less donor dependence, greater accountability and higher performance on the part of social organisations.

Strong leaders can drive the cultural and other changes needed. In his studies on enduring “great” organisations, Jim Collins concludes that the best possible impact on organisations and society is achieved by having enough “of the right people on the bus, especially the right bus drivers.”5

The last few years has seen a debate on whether there are enough bus drivers, or what is known as the “leadership deficit” of the social sector. A 2006 report by the Bridgespan Group identified the need for some 640,000 new senior managers for the US nonprofit sector, an increase of 2.4 times the current pool, within a decade.6 This led Collins to conclude that the number one constraint to the effective growth of the nonprofit sector will be the ability to attract, retain and develop enough of the right leaders.7

Solutions to the leadership deficit have been proposed and worked on. These include increasing capacity and capability through new sourcing models (e.g. idealistic youths and sector-shifters), understanding and catering to generational shifts and providing educational and developmental support to nonprofit leaders.8 What is significant is that the forces of globalisation, innovation and technology are allowing for much greater leverage than before for social change. And many leaders are emerging from within, as well as from the fringe of the social sector to respond to these leveraged opportunities to create transformational social change.

Today, technology i s probably the most powerful driver of change, especially disruptive transformational change; but while the social world has benefited from the use of technology, it has generally lagged behind in its adoption compared to the other sectors.


The prevailing culture of the social ecosystem is based on the notion of “doing good.” With the focus on helping others and improving society, good feelings often result for all the participants in this common mission. Flowing from this feel-good notion of doing good are practices and values that have come to be associated with the relative shortcomings of the social sector, when compared to the other two sectors.



Four clusters of technology have the greatest potential to transform the social world in the future: environmental technologies, in particular, clean energy (solar power, wind power and hydro power) and clean water; health and medical technologies which have significantly improved mortality rates and the quality of human living; robotics which help the disabled and aged to function at an optimal level of physical, mental and social well being; and “infocomm” technologies – the combination of computing, information technology and communication technologies – which have enabled the information age and an interconnected globalised world.

Unfortunately, technology also has its ugly side, and can create social injustices even as it fixes them. At the end of the day, technology is but a tool that must be properly harnessed for the social good. To maximise its value, the application of technology must be integrated with considerations of organisational strategy, the operational process and people management.

Finance remains a critical resource for CSOs even if they generally make do with as little as they can. Traditionally, their financing needs have been provided through a mix of “free” money by way of donations, grants and sponsorship, revenue from the provision of products and commercial loans where possible and appropriate. In recent years, new creative ways and vehicles have emerged to fund and even to seek the financial sustainability of CSOs and their ventures.

Many of these new financial options – such as programme related investments, social bonds and quasi-equity – are a combination of grants, debt and equity instruments, adapted from the financial industry but offered at near or below market rates.

To assure financial sustainability and in some cases, to provide employment to their beneficiaries, CSOs have also set up businesses. These social enterprises will have more financial options for their capital and operating needs as they generate revenue and thus allow capital to be returned to lenders and investors.

On the horizon are several financial innovations that will further transform the social finance field and the social sector. There are several initiatives around the world to set up social stock exchanges – pioneered in Brazil – and which can lead to secondary social markets.9 Technology-enabled platforms for aggregated giving such as KIVA10 and the aggregation

of long term, growth capital by the likes of the Edna McConnel Clark Foundation will increase the level of philanthropic resources.11 Socially responsible investing and impact investment products have transitioned from being of interest to only a select few, into the mainstream. Investors and investees are coming under pressure to account for their work and new performance metrics are being developed to ensure this.

As the forces of culture, leadership, technology and finance impact the different players of the social ecosystem, the players impact each other as well. Collectively, this has amounted to a much larger transition: the transformation of the social ecosystem. Lester Salamon calls it a “veritable global associational revolution,”12 John Elkington talks of an emerging “new economic order,”13 and Bill Drayton sees the citizen sector as “the most vital, fast-growing sector because it’s become entrepreneurial and competitive.”14

Taken together, these shifts suggest three macro-trends for the social ecosystem as a whole:- The rise of global civil society and its attendant

issues - The acceleration of social change through

innovation- The fusion of ideas, models and practices of the

social and private sectors.

GLoBAL CIvIL SoCIETYCivil society is on the rise globally. There is widespread agreement on this point even though there is not a great deal of clarity about how big civil society has become.

The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project which looks at the scale of nonprofit activity across the world, shows an aggregated US$1.9 trillion in annual operating expenditure, 48.4 million full time equivalent jobs and about 4.6 percent of the economically active population for the nonprofit sectors in 40 countries.15 In relative terms, the study indicated that if the nonprofit sector were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world. It also found that the average annual growth of the nonprofit sector was nearly double the growth of the total economies of five major countries.

Estimates of the total number of CSOs worldwide range from 3 million to 10 million.16 Most operate within national borders. However, increasing numbers are operating across borders. The likes of Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam and World Wildlife Fund have made their mark and are growing in strength


and influence globally.17 The Union of International Associations (UIA) has more than 21,400 active international CSOs in its register, up from 15,100 a decade earlier.18

CSOs worldwide are networking and working on common agendas. The UIA reported over 11,000 international meetings held in over 250 countries in 2008.19 One of the most prominent meetings is the World Social Forum, a rival convention to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.20 The World Social Forum takes on different formats each year. At its height, it drew more than 150,000 participants from 135 countries involved in 2,500 activities. Other global forums are also being established for specific segments of the nonprofit world such as for social entrepreneurship (World Skoll Forum), social investments (Social Capital Markets) and volunteers (International Association for Volunteer Effort World Volunteer Conference).21

As global civil society grows in number and strength, it is flexing its muscles. In 1998, global civil society actors working in unison successfully killed the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), a draft agreement being negotiated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.22 The MAI ostensibly sought to ensure a more systematic and uniform approach between states on international investments. However, CSOs argued that MAI would threaten human rights, labour and environmental standards and the least developed countries of the world. As a result of intense lobbying, several countries withdrew from the negotiations. The international campaign was celebrated as the f irst-ever successful mass-activism campaign to utilise the internet to gather information and communicate among activists.

Transnationals have often been the targets of international CSO activity. Campaigning against Nike sweatshops, Pepsico’s venture in military-controlled Myanmar and Nestle’s marketing of breast milk substitutes are examples of civil society players

taking on powerful corporate conglomerates and forcing changes to their business decisions which the CSOs consider detrimental to society at large.23 There are also CSOs such as CorpWatch that investigate and expose corporate violations of human rights, environmental damage, fraud and corruption around the world.24

Notwithstanding its growing base and power to improve the world, global civil society is not without its own set of problems. It has always faced, and will continue to face, the challenges of limited resources and working against the status quo and vested interests. It often finds itself having to depend on governments and enterprises for funding and support even as it seeks to change them.

What’s more, some of the issues that global civil society are facing - the rich/poor divide, motivation and accountability - are, ironically, the same issues it champions against the state and enterprises in society at large.

The much talked about rich/poor divide also besets the CSO world. Internat ional CSOs are overwhelmingly concentrated in the developed world, exercising their power on local CSOs and the developing world. Indeed, international CSOs from the developed world have been variously accused of compensating themselves well with aid funds, poaching talent from the developing countries and serving the “imperialistic agendas” of the developed world.25

The motivation for civil society should be generosity and altruism. Charity scandals and cases of CSO misconduct have led to the questioning of their values and agendas. Added to this, we have businesses and governments that seek to impose their values and approaches on the CSOs.26

While civil society has been vociferous in its push for accountability by governments and companies, it has, in turn, been accused of not practising what it preaches. The generally smaller size and


Transnationals have often been the targets of international CSO activity. Campaigning against Nike sweatshops, Pepsico’s venture in military-controlled Myanmar and Nestle’s marketing of breast milk substitutes are examples of civil society players taking on power ful corporate conglomerates and forcing changes to their business decisions which the CSOs consider detrimental to society at large. There are also CSOs such as CorpWatch that investigate and expose corporate violations of human rights, environmental damage, fraud and corruption around the world.


voluntary nature of CSOs and their work often means less structure, organisation and discipline compared to governments and companies. Questions have arisen over the effectiveness, transparency and value of their work.27 In recent years, voices of concern on CSO accountability have become louder. In 2004, for example, NGOWatch was established to highlight “issues of transparency and accountability in the operations of CSOs and international organisations.”28 In a sense, NGOWatch mocks the “watch-style” NGOs that merely monitor the actions of corporations and governments.29

SoCIAL INNovATIoNInnovation can accelerate change. It has been the driving force behind much of the changes we see in today’s world. Its power to scale change is such that many businesses and governments have pursued innovation as a primary means of attaining their next level of economic growth.

The social sector has also generated and implemented many world changing “new ideas that meet unmet social needs.”30 These include distance learning, fair trade, citizen ecological movements, microfinance and human rights advocacy.31

More significantly, social innovation has become a mini-industry of sorts within the social sector. Organisations such as the Young Foundation32 and the Lien Centre for Social Innovation are dedicated to fostering the cause of social innovation. The industry is nascent but vibrant with players coming together in networks. The Social Innovation Exchange fosters mutual learning alongside joint initiatives such as a Global Academy for Social Innovation.33 As the industry develops, we are also seeing the creation of dedicated social innovation incubators which provide funding, mentoring and hands-on implementation

support for new ideas. Also emerging are “social Silicon Valleys” where related institutions involved in social innovation are co-located.34

The interest created by the social innovation industry has led governments and grantmakers to provide large scale funding and to create initiatives and programmes that contribute to the industry and foster social innovations. Innovation tends to occur at the intersection of disciplines and sectors. The participation of the private and public sectors in social innovation will see the development of more as well as better ideas for social change. Systemic change – the ultimate goal of social innovation – is usually also dependent on collaboration and changes in all sectors of the economy.

Thus, inasmuch as social innovation is about accelerating social change, these developments in the social innovation industry and increasing cross sector collaborations are leading to the acceleration of social innovation. In other words, what we are seeing is the acceleration of the accelerator of social change.

fuSIoNThe three interdependent sectors of the economy – the public, the private and the people – have traditionally coexisted but functioned quite separately, each with its own purpose, basis and culture. Of late, the three sectors have become increasingly fused, particularly between the social and private sectors.

This fusion takes place at several levels. At a basic level, it takes the form of the copying and adaptation of ideas, models and practices, primarily from the corporate world to the nonprofit world. Since the dawn of foundations and professional



grantmaking, CSOs have been increasingly become more attuned to the need for transparency, accountability and measurable outcomes.

In recent years, successful businessmen-turned-philanthropists such as Bill Gates, Jeff Skolls and Mario Morino have pushed the envelope on the use of business and market approaches in the social world.35 The term “philanthrocapitalism” first coined by author Matthew Bishop to describe this phenomenon, loosely covers a gamut of models and approaches including social enterprises and venture philanthropy.36 Venture philanthropy seeks to apply venture capital tools and approaches to CSOs. The new forms of social finance covered earlier in this article are also being pushed by these neo-philanthropists.

Perhaps a more subtle aspect of this sector fusion is the cross-pollination of thinking that is seeping into and slowly altering the cultures of the social and market economies. Certainly, it is accepted that the social economy is not always efficient and that the adoption of business principles will lead to increased accountability and reduce waste. It is also recognised that a modicum of enlightened self-interest can create the incentive structures needed to increase the sector’s performance.

For the market economy, the campaigning by social activists for compassion for the poor, the disadvantaged and the environment, has found increasing resonance. A new and growing demographic of the consumer market has been identified as LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) customers. Even as businesses debate the basis and merits of corporate social responsibility (CSR), its rate of acceptance and uptake is growing. The financial crisis of late 2008 has increased the willingness of corporate leaders to do well by doing good. Hopefully, the reflections and reforms following the crisis will help corporate leaders understand that their long term interests lie in a balanced, enlightened approach towards all stakeholders. In turn, capitalism is reshaped, and for the better.

A report by Volans37 concludes that the paradigm shift towards a more equitable and sustainable future is already underway in the larger world. It highlights that a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors is accelerating the changes for delivering scalable sustainable solutions to the world. The report identifies 50 pioneers of this “Phoenix Economy,” a mix that includes not only outstanding social purpose organisations, but also mainstream commercial companies and even government bodies. More significantly, the report collates a set of concerted actions that governments, business leaders and educators can take to rapidly achieve this “new economic order.”

The highest level of fusion can be achieved by the integration of the social and market economies. A key focus of the social economy has been the poor and needy at the “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP).38 This group represents, in global terms, about 2.7 billion people who survive on less than US$2 per day.39 Yet, this socio-economic group has largely been ignored by big businesses because it is perceived to not be able to afford even the basic necessities and has to depend on handouts from governments and donors. However, microfinance, pioneered by Grameen Bank in the late 70s, has shown that adapting the right business model for BOP customers can, in fact, make serving the poor a viable business.40 Today, microfinance is a vibrant industry that economically empowers many in the developing world who would otherwise have been excluded from mainstream financial services. The model is now even being adapted for developed countries.41

In the past few years, a growing group of academics, market practitioners and social entrepreneurs has actively pursued “inclusive capitalism” whereby organisations sell goods and services to low-income people while embracing poverty alleviation strategies to improve their nutrition, health care, education, employment or environment.42 Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank, for example, has created a joint-


The highest level of fusion can be achieved by the integration of the social and market economies. A key focus of the social economy has been the poor and needy at the “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP).This group represents, in global terms, nearly three billion people who survive on less than US$ 2 per day. Yet, this socio-economic group has largely been ignored by big businesses because it is perceived to not be able to afford even the basic necessities and has to depend on handouts from governments and donors.


1 There are some nuanced differences in the labels. The term “NGO” emphasises that the organisation is non-governmental. Some NPOs can be governmental in that the government is funding them primarily and/or all or some of their office bearers are appointed by the government. The label “CSO” also suggests that the organisation is non-governmental. Also, most NGOs and CSOs are nonprofit but some can be for-profit, for example, if they were social enterprises; whereas NPOs, as the name suggests, are clearly non-profit in nature.

2 In the US, charities are simply called nonprofits or, using the terminology of the US Internal Revenue Service code, Section 501 (c) (3) organisations.

3 Social enterprises are hybrid organisations that seek to make profits while delivering their social missions. They may be constituted as NPOs/CSOs/NGOs or as commercial entities. Some jurisdictions have created a legal form for such organisations: the Community Interest Company (CIC) in the UK and the Low-profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) in the US.


venture social enterprise with the multibillion-dollar commercial yoghurt maker, Groupe Danone.43 The mission of Grameen Danone Foods is to bring affordable nutrition to malnourished children in Bangladesh using fortified yoghurt.

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, the world’s largest global community of social entrepreneurs, is taking a proactive and scaled approach to similar social-business opportunities. Its Hybrid Value Chain model leverages the Ashoka network to bring together players from both sectors to collaborate in creating new products as well as new industries that can serve low-income populations at an unprecedented scale.44 For example, Ashoka brokered a commercial partnership between Amanco, a leading multinational water system company and two of its Ashoka Fellows who work with small farmers in Mexico. The 35 million smallholder farmers in Mexico earn less than US$2 per day, but they can double or triple their income with irrigation technology. Before Ashoka came onto the scene, only twelve percent of agricultural land was irrigated. Amanco reengineered its products and business model to produce affordable irrigation technology to create a new and profitable market for itself. The CSOs involved were the key market enablers who promoted and mobilised the

farmers. They earned a commission on sales that covered their operational expenses while helping to advance the CSOs’ social programmes.45

foRWARd ThE ECoSYSTEm of ChANGEIn summary, the social ecosystem framework can be a useful tool to shape the changes in the social sector. Only by first understanding the players, the change enablers and the trends in the social ecosystem, and then influencing the role, motivations and behaviour of the different players, can policy makers, sector leaders and indeed all of us, seek to move this ecosystem forward. As noted earlier, the social ecosystem is uniquely positioned as the catalyst of change for the state and enterprise ecosystems. Its role is to change the wider world for the well being of all living on this planet. Yet, even as players in the social ecosystem seek to change the larger world, they must realise that they need to cope with the change drivers and trends occurring in their own sector. In other words, the ecosystem of change has to change itself for the better – at the same time as it goes about its mission of changing the rest of the world.


4 Service providers can be regular commercial or nonprofit organisations providing the services. Some of the services like office support and accommodation are generic to organisations from any sector. Other services such as consulting and fundraising support are specific to the sector or have to be tailored to it.

5 Jim Collins is the bestselling co-author of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Harper Business, 2004) and author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t (HarperCollins, 2001). He has written an accompanying monograph to the latter, Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer.

6 Tom Tierney, “The Leadership Deficit,” Stanford Social Innovation Review (Summer 2006).7 Jim Collins, “The Who Thing,” The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit: Commentaries (The Bridgespan Group, March 2006).8 Frances Kunreuther & Patrick Corvington, “Next Shift: Beyond the Nonprofit Leadership Crisis” (Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation,

2007). Also several of the commentaries in “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit: Commentaries” (The Bridgespan Group, March 2006) highlight various solutions.

9 Other social stock exchanges either already exist or are being planned in South Africa, Portugal, Canada, London and Kenya. See Brazil’s Social and Environmental Stock Exchange (BVS&A), http://www.bovespasocial.org.br/institucional/home.aspx; South Africa’s Social Investment Exchange (SASIX), http://www.sasix.co.za; Portuguese Social Stock Exchange, www.gulbenkian.pt/section154artId2022langId2.html ; Canada – Green Stock Exchange, http://www.greensx.com; London Social Stock Exchange, http://www.rockpa.org/Page.aspx?pid=455 and the Kenya Social Investment Exchange http://www.ksix.or.ke.

10 Kiva facilitates micro-lending by individuals to small businesses via the internet. http://www.kiva.org.11 Other groups raising growth capital include New Profit, Sea Change, the Nonprofit Finance Fund and Growth Philanthropy Network.

Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, Capital Aggregation Project, http://www.emcf.org/how/growthcapitalpilot/index.htm. 12 Lester M. Salamon, S. Wojciech Sokolowski and Associates, Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector, Volume Two

(Kumarian Press, in association with the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, 2004). 13 John Elkington, Alejandro Litovsky & Charmian Love, The Phoenix Economy: 50 Pioneers in the Business of Social Innovation

(Volans Ventures, London, 2009).14 “Interview between Bill Drayton and Michael Febek,” on the occasion of the Essl Social Prize award ceremony at the Weiner Hofburg, May

4, 2010, http://www.esslsozialpreis.at/uploads/media/Interview_Drayton-Fembek_engl.pdf.15 The data cited in this paragraph is taken from the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, a study of nonprofit activity across

some 46 countries of the world. The data provided is the latest update available from website and presentations by the institute. The figures cited in this paragraph are as of 2008. Note that the data does not always refer to the 46 countries due to limitation of the data in some countries. The aggregate data to depict the scale of activity is for 40 countries and the comparison of average annual growth rates is for 5 countries (US, Japan, Canada, Belgium, Czech Republic). See http://www.ccss.jhu.edu/index.php?section=content&view=9&sub=3. For the book, see Lester M. Salamon, S. Wojciech Sokolowski and Associates, Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector, Volume Two (Kumarian Press, in association with the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, 2004).

16 The President of the Center for Alternative Development Nicanor Perlas estimates that there are over 3 million NGOs in “Civil Society - The third global power,” Info3, 2001. There are 8 million .org registrations in the Public Interest Registry, not taking into account the number of .net and .edu which could be CSOs; we should also bear in mind that there will be .org registrations which are not purely CSOs, http://www.pir.org/news/pr/2010/25years. Author Dr. Timothy Schwartz mentions 10 million CSOs in his blog, “How to save the NGO sector from itself,” http://open.salon.com/blog/timotuck/2010/03/10/part_i_how_to_save_the_ngo_sector_from_itself#_edn15.

17 Médecins Sans Frontières, www.msf.org; Oxfam, www.oxfam.org; World Wildlife Fund, http://www.wwf.org. 18 Union of International Associations, http://www.uia.be. Data is based on the year 2007/2008 and is available at http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/

global/yearbook07-8.htm. 19 Union of International Associations, “UIA International Meeting Statistics for the year 2008,” press release by Joel Fischer, June 2009, http://

www.uia.be/sites/uia.be/files/documents/statistics/press/press09.pdf. 20 World Social Forum, http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br. 21 World Skoll Forum, http://www.skollforum.com; Social Capital Markets or SOCAP, http://www.socialcapitalmarkets.net; IAVE World

Volunteer Conference, http://www.iave.org. 22 Nicanor Perlas, “Civil Society - The third global power,” Info3, 2001; Stephen Kobrin, “The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations,” Foreign

Policy, Fall 1998. 23 Nike sweatshop: http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/Nike.htm, http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/

nike/; Pepsi venture in Myanmar, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Boycotts/Hx_PepsiBurmaBoy.html; Nestlé baby milk boycott, www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html.

24 CorpWatch, http://www.corpwatch.org. 25 References on rich/poor divide (some authors allude to the north/south divide) and NGO imperialism: Alejandro Bendaria, NGOs and

Social Movements: A North/South Divide? (Civil Society and Social Movements Programme Paper Number 22) (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, June 2006); James Petras, “NGOs: In the service of imperialism,” Journal of Contemporary Asia, Volume 29, Issue 4, 1999, http://www.neue-einheit.com/english/ngos.htm; Joseph Mudingu, “How Genuine are NGOs?” New Times, August 7, 2006, http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/176/31491.html.

26 See discussion in the section “Fusion” below regarding philanthrocapitalism and the impact of business values on and applying business approaches to the CSO world. The readings on NGO imperialism discussed how western governments use NGOs to effect their agendas in the developing world.

27 References on accountability: Jem Bendell, Debating NGO Accountability (UN Non-Governmental Liaison, August 2006); “Civil Society Accountability: ‘Who guards the guardians?’, ” a speech by Kumi Naidoo, CEO of Civicus at the UN on April, 3, 2003, http://www.gdrc.org/ngo/accountability/ngo-accountability.pdf; Jon Entine, “Why ‘progressives’ oppose NGO transparency,” Ethical Corporation Magazine; August 2003.

28 NGOWatch was launched by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, two influential and well-funded think tanks serving the US administration, http://www.ngowatch.org. Jim Lobe, “Bringing the war home: right wing think tank turns wrath on NGOs,” Foreign Policy in Focus, 13 June 2003, for background on formation of NGOWatch.

29 Examples of such watch groups are http://www.ombwatch.org, http://www.judicialwatch.org, http://www.corpwatch.org, http://www.transnationale.org.

30 “New ideas that meet unmet social needs” is the Young Foundation’s broad definition of social innovation. See Geoff Mulgan with Simon Tucker, Rushanara Ali and Ben Sanders, Social Innovation: What it is, why it matters and how it can be accelerated (Oxford Said Business School, 2007).




31 The world changing social innovations identified here and several more are listed in Geoff Mulgan with Simon Tucker, Rushanara Ali and Ben Sanders, Social Innovation: What it is, why it matters and how it can be accelerated (Oxford Said Business School, 2007).

32 The Young Foundation, http://www.youngfoundation.org. 33 SIX, http://socialinnovationexchange.org.34 Incubators include Social Fusion, http://socialfusion.org; CAN Mezzanine, http://www.can-online.org.uk/; The Hub, http://www.the-hub.

net and Launchpad, http://launchpad.youngfoundation.org. The first social Silicon Valley is the Social Innovation Park in Bilbao, Spain. Allison Benjamin, “Small is Powerful,” The Guardian, January 7, 2009; Gorka Espiau, The New Social Silicon Valley (DenokInn, 2010), http://www.euclidnetwork.eu/data/files/resources/the_social_innovation_park.pdf.

35 Bill Gates: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, http://www.gatesfoundation.org, Carol Loomis, “The global force called the Gates Foundation,” Fortune, 25 June 2006; “Crafting partnerships for vaccinations and healthcare – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” Global Giving Matters, December 2003-January 2004 feature, http://www.synergos.org/globalgiving matters/features/0401gates.htm; Jeff Skolls: Skoll Foundation at http://www.skollfoundation.org, Tom Watson, “Skoll at Oxford: A Changing Time for Philanthropy,” onPhilanthropy, April 2, 2007 at http://www.onphilanthropy.com; Mario Morino: Venture Philanthropy Partners at http://www.vppartners.org, “Venture Philanthropy: Leveraging compassion with capacity,” an address by Mario Morino for the Northern Virginia Technology Council, March 2001, http://www.efooting.org/NewSite/documents/MorinoInstitute03.08.01.pdf.

36 Matthew Bishop & Michael Green, Philanthrocapitalism (Bloomsbury Press, 2008), http://www.philanthrocapitalism.net. A summary of what is covered under the umbrella of philanthrocapitalism can be found in Willie Cheng, “The market and the social economy: can the twain meet?” Social Space 2009.

37 John Elkington, Alejandro Litovsky & Charmian Love, The Phoenix Economy: 50 Pioneers in the Business of Social Innovation (Volans Ventures, London, 2009).

38 The term and concept of BOP has been popularised by authors such as CK Prahalad, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (Wharton School Publishing, 2005) and Stuart L. Hart, Capitalism at the Crossroads: The unlimited business opportunities in solving the world’s most difficult problems (Wharton School Publishing, 2005).

39 Global Issues, “Poverty Facts and Stats.” http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats. 40 The model of microcredit pioneered by Muhammad Yunos, founder of Grammen Bank and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize is as

follows: a group of five villagers is loaned a very small sum of money and the whole group is denied credit if one person defaults. http://preview.tinyurl.com/aboutgrameenbank.

41 Microfinance references: Microfinance Gateway, http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m.; Julian Evans, “Microfinance’s midlife crisis,” Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2010; Nimal Fernando, Microfinance Industry: Some changes and continuities (Asian Development Bank, May 2007), Industry Insight: MicroFinance (Cygnus, September 2008).

42 While the term, “inclusive capitalism” has been used earlier, it was popularised in recent times by CK Prahalad and Allen Hammond, the Vice President of Special Projects and Innovation at the World Resources Institute, an environmental think-tank. See Allen Hammond & C.K. Prahalad, “Selling to the Poor,” Foreign Policy, May 1, 2004.

43 Reaz Ahmad, “Grameen teams up with Groupe Danone to set up food plant,” The Daily Star, Vol 5. Num 636, March 13, 2006; “Grameen Danone Foods Launched,” Grameen Dialogue, April 2006, http://www.grameen-info.org/dialogue/dialogue63/regularfl2.html.

44 Ashoka, http://www.ashoka.org/hvc.45 Valeria Budinich, et al, Hybrid Value Chains: Social innovations and development of the small farmer irrigation market in Mexico

(Ashoka, 2009).



FRIenDsHIP’s 3-tIeR HeALtHCARe sYsteM:An Innovative Approach to Delivering Healthcare to Geographically and Socially Remote AreasRuna Khan

Runa Khan

Runa Khan is the Executive Director of Friendship, a value-based organisation, which identifies and reaches the poorest of the poor and the most marginalised communities in Bangladesh. She is an Ashoka Fellow and a 2006 Rolex Awards Associate Laureate, which she received for her work towards preserving the cultural heritage of Bangladeshi boat-building.

The hardest communities to reach and treat often live in the most remote, harsh landscapes. On the nomadic islands of the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh, poor migratory communities are so cut off from urban centres that medical treatment is virtually unheard of. Runa Khan, Executive Director of Bangladeshi NGO Friendship, shares the difficult and inspired journey to build a mobile healthcare system using hospital ships, mobile clinics and community medics.

The chars and riverbank areas along the major rivers of Bangladesh are highly prone to erosion and flooding and are thus isolated from the mainland in terms of physical distance and infrastructure. Bangladesh is the “Land of a Thousand Rivers” and the largest deltaic plain on the planet. The River Brahmuptra is considered the most volatile river in the world - ten times more so than the Mississippi. The unstable landmass is broken and reconstructed continuously

The basin of the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh has some of the most unpredictable land movements in the world, enhanced by climatic undependability. It is a land of ‘living geography’ hosting 6 million of the world’s bottom billion who are living below any documented poverty line. No dependable health care delivery mechanism has ever been implemented in this region owing to the lack of any viable and dependable delivery service.



services at the field level. The programme uses innovative approaches in the design of boats and ships, as well as a delivery model that is sustainable. The latter is being achieved by ensuring that people can have access to government services; by training local community members and by creating stronger links between donors, recipients and service providers.

ThE fLoATING hoSPITALS In 1994, a French adventurer Yves Marre sailed a river barge from France to Bangladesh to be used for humanitarian work. Building on Marre’s vision and initiative, the organisation envisaged a mobile hospital that would provide highly subsidised healthcare to the marginalised poor living in the chars.

Emirates Friendship Hospital

by this river, where people’s homes, livelihoods, and lives may be washed away within hours. These chars are often on tributaries which may be more than 20 km wide, with currents of over 7 knots, within which are huge whirlpools. Communities live in clusters of more than 1500 people per sq km and are too poor to acquire boats, which are necessary to cross rivers that suddenly flood. Inundated in summer, families often resort to living on rooftops for weeks. In winter the sand and silt deposition decreases access of any sort as people often need to walk over 4 kilometres of sand to reach habitation.

The fragile physical environment and the risks it poses limit the kind of income opportunities and acquisition of assets available to the communities residing there. The remoteness, absence of mainland institutions and the debilitating effects of natural disasters collectively contribute to making char dwellers one of the most vulnerable communities in the world.

Non-government organisations (NGOs) and the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) are unable to provide the healthcare needed in these areas despite high mortality and morbidity rates, compared to the national average. Health problems range from maternal and child mortality, outbreaks of diseases, untreated cases of common ailments, high rates of rare diseases such as the Berger Syndrome1, eye, orthopaedic problems and cases needing reconstructive interventions. Add to these the continuous influx of new infectious agents due to in-migration and the health problems look simply insurmountable. Yet some of the diseases and conditions that are often left unaddressed can be controlled by the most basic of interventions.

AN INNovATIvE hEALThCARE modEL BASEd oN A moBILE 3 TIER SYSTEmThe Friendship 3-tier Healthcare Programme aims, for the first time in Bangladesh, to provide dependable quality healthcare at the door-steps of 6 million ultra poor migratory people. The programme’s goal is to ease suffering through a comprehensive system that incorporates the unpredictable geography of the chars and delivers services through hospital ships, mobile clinics, community medics, and river ambulances. In the near future, the plan will include telemedicine

Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital

In 1994, a French adventurer Yves Marre sailed a river barge from France to Bangladesh to be used for humanitarian work. Building on Marre’s vision and initiative, the organisation envisaged a mobile hospital that would provide highly subsidised healthcare to the marginalised poor living in the chars.


With this premise in mind, we began the work of approaching donors and multinationals to fund this innovative initiative. At that juncture, the idea of a mobile hospital rendering health care in such remote areas was so new that the project was rejected by everyone the organisation approached. Finally, a corporate organisation, Unilever, agreed to sponsor the project. Friendship was founded in 1998 to open the first mobile floating hospital in Bangladesh.

In 2001, Friendship introduced Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital (LFH), the country’s first floating hospital designed to provide quality and affordable healthcare to char dwellers. This French river barge was equipped to function as a mobile primary health clinic, with 2 doctor’s rooms, one minor operating theatre, a small ward and living quarters for a 22 member team of medical and technical staff. Besides primary health care, which focused on assisting mothers with children, immunisation, treatment for common diseases and limited curative care we also provided access to pathological services, x-rays, dental and eye care.

The greatest challenge that Friendship faced in implementing these initial projects was, quite simply, the lack of any existing models to learn from. No hospital ships had successfully operated at such low cost in such remote areas anywhere in the world. As Executive Director, I did not have any experience in the medical or non-profit sectors. So, in essence, Friendship was born out of a realisation that medical care in this region was in dire straits. We responded to that need, despite our lack of experience to tackle the challenges that lay ahead.

The ship functioned as a medical hospital and hotel combined into one facility. Though we began the work knowing that these communities lived in some of the most remote parts of Bangladesh, there were other challenges involved. For one, most of the people we encountered had not seen, let alone consulted with, a doctor their whole lives. Introducing medical assistance also required a process of winning trust and acceptance into the community. Security measures also had to be put in place as we were told that visiting doctors were fearful to provide treatment in the community. Most carried guns with them when they visited patients. We hired professional staff with experience in running NGO

hospitals. But much of what they knew had to be shelved, so that a new system of medical care could be created to specifically respond to the needs of these river-dwelling communities.

Friendship began with a target of helping 600 to 1,000 patients a month. Right from the start, we began tackling difficult questions. How does one deal with communities that think a foreign hospital ship has come to cut off their eyes and lungs for sale? How does one respond when a mother of a child who has cerebral palsy asks, “If nothing can be done, can I kill the child?” Simple, everyday rituals are complicated affairs in the chars. To buy a box of matches, one has to commute 3 hours by foot and boat to the nearest provision shop. Under these circumstances, it wasn’t even viable to propose long-term contracts for staff. But without that consistency and continuity, the communities were unlikely to trust the organisation and our work. Navigating through this difficult terrain, we also re-defined the idea of “sustainability”. For our work, the term articulated the ability to provide continuous, quality care to a community over time, so that they would come to trust and depend on the healthcare service we wanted to provide. At the same time, for our project to become sustainable, we had to ensure that security measures were implemented and came from within the community. We also had to ensure our staff would be able to work under these circumstances over a long-term period.

The idea of providing subsidised healthcare also did not work in practice in a community where the average daily income of the sole breadwinner in a family of eight, amounted to US$1.25. Family members did not have any savings for medical services. On our part, we quickly realised that providing subsidised healthcare would neither work, nor aid our own goal to become a sustainable organisation. There was no point in rendering advice when people needed intervention. So we changed our strategy and decided that we would not charge anything for services which are also provided by the government and should be accessible to all as citizens of the country. We decided to keep a very nominal registration fee between US$0.05 to US$0.20 so that the community felt respected. When AFP (Agence France Presse) asked a patient who had travelled 4 hours by river why they came to


The greatest challenge that Friendship faced in implementing these initial projects was, quite simply, the lack of any existing models to learn from. No hospital ships had successfully operated at such low cost in such remote areas anywhere in the world.


the ship and not to another hospital 4 hours away, the person said “It is like an angel to us.”2 This truly reflected the goal of the project: to ease suffering and cure people.

Knowing that a little extra intervention could dramatically change the lives of many of the beneficiaries we were working for, we decided to introduce secondary healthcare services. The ship had not been equipped to provide anything other than primary healthcare. Therefore changes had to be made to the work models and structure. We added another operating theatre, constructed a separate houseboat for visitors and arranged for prefabricated patient wards which could be constructed on the banks of the river where the ship stopped. We also invited and at times, requested that doctors from both Bangladesh and abroad come to give some of their time to communities who would otherwise never have access to quality care. Today, each year, over 80 local and foreign medical specialists provide secondary health care to the people of the chars.

In 2008, Friendship introduced its second floating hospital, the Emirates Friendship Hospital (EFH) to meet the growing need of medical services in the chars. This is the first trimarine ship in Bangladesh, equipped with two operating theatres, a unit specialising in women and child care and general outdoor consultation rooms.3 The floating hospital also has dentistry, ophthalmic and pathology rooms. It has provisions for 26 staff and 6 volunteer doctors to be on board at any given time. Currently, Friendship serves 7,500 patients each month through

these two floating hospitals. To date, we have served 421,404 people directly through our various floating hospitals.4

ThE SATELLITE CLINIC PRoGRAmmEIn 2002, a little child died in an island opposite the moored LFH hospital. The child died of diarrhoea and the mother did not have US$0.10 to take a boat to bring the child across the river to the hospital. The pathos of the situation convinced Friendship that prevention must be integrated into the health care system beyond access to basic check-ups and medicines. Thus mobile medical teams were sent out to visit the surrounding islands twice a month, to teach basic health and deliver primary medical services.

This was the inception of Friendship’s Satellite Clinic Programme. A satellite clinic consists of a paramedic, a health assistant and a helper who may either be a part of the team or a Friendship-trained community member. With community participation and input, pre-planned locations are identified for camps to be set up on the chars bimonthly or weekly. For 20 days a month, medical teams set out early in the morning on boats from the nearby villages and towns like Gaibandha, Chilmari and Kurigram in the north and Shoronkola, Kuakata and Taltoli in the south. The clinics address rural social education; primary health care; maternal and child care; expanded programme on immunisation (EPI)5; diet and nutrition; family planning and provide subsidised or free medication and identify needs for secondary care interventions.


A snapshot of Friendship’s regular Satellite Clinics, a mechanism which delivers healthcare to the char population on a weekly basis. Satellite Clinic activities consists of paramedics providing general treatment, family planning, referral services and interactive health education sessions. Photo taken by: Friendship


Today there are 229 satellite clinics in operation throughout the chars, bringing primary health care to the doorstep of beneficiaries. In all the satellite clinics combined, the number of patients served to date is 1,001,323. Every month Friendship’s satellite clinics serves an average of 14,770 people.6 Although the floating hospital made healthcare both accessible and affordable, Friendship realised this service alone was not enough to deliver adequate health services. The char populace lacked the motivation to seek out healthcare unless they were gravely ill and accepted poor health as a part of life. For the char dwellers, common bouts of diarrhoea and respiratory infections, malnourished children, anaemic mothers and unsafe deliveries were not reasons to seek out medical help. Friendship’s Satellite Clinic Programme was also initiated to educate the communities so that they would begin to see healthcare as a fundamental human right. But the approach also allowed our staff to build rapport with the people – particularly women and children who were less mobile. It also enabled our staff to share knowledge on health and well-being.

fRIENdShIP’S CommuNITY mEdICS (fCm) PRoGRAmmEBy 2005, the Satellite Clinic Programme was serving 32 islands. But on days when there were no mobile teams on the ground, daily emergencies went untreated and people could not buy basic medicines such as Disprin or Burnol.7 Friendship continued to believe that donor dependence to provide primary healthcare was not a feasible long-term solution to these problems. Having created a demand for health services, Friendship decided to provide basic training to identified community members who could provide continuous services to the islands, thereby earning an income from within the island. Through them the community could access basic medicines, identify emergencies and secondary

healthcare needs. This led to the inception of the Friendship Community Medics (FCM) Programme.

As static clinics and continuous deliverance of care was not possible on the chars, this revolutionary tier in the healthcare delivery system promised the care the char populace required. FCMs are usually trained women from the community who have been selected with the sole purpose of creating a self-sustaining, primary healthcare service provision mechanism in the char areas. We focused on training women so that they could address maternal and child health, nutrition and family planning issues in the char.

The FCM programme started in 2005 with funds from the LFH (Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital). Today, as the programme grows, other donors have come forward to fund the project. A total of 224 FCMs are currently operating or being recruited in 104 chars.8

FCMs are believed to be an effective and efficient means of improving community health because they serve a vital link between communities and other parts of the healthcare system. Accordingly, they are trained as an asset to the community, equipped to deal with primary health care (PHC) issues, record keeping (eligibility for family planning, pregnancies etc.), and referral services. Each FCM undergoes an intensive residential training programme on PHC, diseases, maternal and child care, Acute Respiratory Infections, diet and nutrition, safe delivery, first aid, family planning and the use of basic medicines. The FCMs are also trained in emergency management so that they can also work in disaster-prone areas and in the aftermath of calamities. Friendship has identified and partnered with various institutions to undertake this training. Through Gonoshashthya Kendra (GK) we train them in basic health, technical assistance


The Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital docked by a char. Wherever Friendship’s hospital ships go, they attract a large number of local people, which include both patients and curious onlookers. Photo taken by: Paolo Pelligrin



1 The symptoms of this disease are weakness and paraesthesia of the lower limbs. O. Berger, “Über eine eigenthümliche Form von Paraesthesie,” Breslauer aerztliche Zeitschrift (1879) 1:60-61.

2 “Hospital on the water offers hope to Bangladesh’s poorest,” Sunday Observer, Agence-France Presse, April 18, 2004. http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2004/04/18/wor01.html

3 Ships are equipped with varying number of hulls. A trimarine ship has three hulls.4 See Friendship website for more up-to-date information on its current programmes http://friendship-bd.org/5 EPI generally tackles immunization for 3-5 month old children, from various diseases including polio and diphtheria.6 See note 4 above.7 Disprin, commonly used for headaches, migraines, inflammation and the common flu, http://www.disprin.com. Burnol, Indian antiseptic

cream, commonly used in the treatment of burns, cuts, wounds and abrasions, http://www.abbott.com.pk/Burnol.htm.8 See note 4 above.9 Chars Livelihood Programme, http://www.clp-bangladesh.org. EngenderHealth, http://www.engenderhealth.org/index-main.php.10 “Behavior change communication (BCC) is the strategic use of communication to promote positive health outcomes,

based on proven theories and models of behavior change”. Centre for Global Health Communication and Marketing, http://www.globalhealthcommunication.org/strategies/behavior_change_communication

which includes, but is not limited to, organising and facilitating training, workshops and orientation of Training of Trainers (TOT), FCMs and paramedics. Some of this is also provided by the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) and EngenderHealth.9 They are then trained trainers of Friendship. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) assists in providing training and logistical assistance. We collaborate with GoB through satellite clinics for family planning, especially for long acting and permanent methods. Friendship also has programs to teach beneficiaries how to access governmental services in the region. A total of 16 FCMs have been given Training for Trainers (TOT) by Help Doctors and HumaniTerra International, France.

Satellite clinics and FCMs are primarily responsible for the prevention and cure of Limited Curative Care (LCC) providing health service activities such as creating health awareness, facilitating prevention of diseases, Mother and Child services (M&C), and nutrition interventions, among others. They also identify referral cases and secondary care patients. FCM provide house-to-house services as well as community meetings for behavioural change communication (BCC).10 They are stocked with basic medicine for minor ailments, delivery kits, nutrition and family planning packs and are required to refer to satellite clinics for other health issues. FCMs register all newly married couples and motivate them and other non-users to use family planning (FP) while monitoring users of FP. FCMs are responsible for bringing pregnant women to satellite clinics for Antenatal Care (ANC), Prenatal Care (PNC) and new born care, eligible couples for family planning, and children for immunisation

(done in collaboration with GoB). They are also required to inform community members of, and be present at, the weekly satellite clinics to assist the paramedics.

The efficacy of the 3-tier healthcare model developed by Friendship cannot be understated. Friendship’s programmes of economic development and sustainability, education including primary and functional literacy for adults, and disaster prevention schemes are all inter-connected and work to ensure sustainable development.

ThE WAY foRWARdTo turn the 3 tier mechanism into a 4 tier comprehensive system, Friendship is working to provide Telemedicine to remote communities.

Today, Friendship directly serves more than 22,000 patients each month through its hospitals and outreach programmes, focusing on the most remote and underserved areas of the country. By the end of 2009, Friendship had also served over 6,000,000 people through its education, relief and rehabilitation, income generation and cultural preservation projects.

The Friendship Healthcare Programme has a holistic approach to health service and is based on three objectives: To enable people to access health care services when donors are no longer there; to ease suffering; and to empower communities so that development, innovation and hope for the future are as readily available to the communities of the chars as they are to urban-dwelling citizens across the developing world.



MeDIA AnD tHe nonPRoFIt WoRLDA Case-Study on WWF-Malaysia’s Use of Media Tools to Champion AdvocacyAnita Devasahayam

Anita Devasahayam

Anita Devasahayam is a former journalist turned media trainer with an interest in social media communications. Together with her partner at Trinetizen Media, she conducted a two-day workshop on effective media relations for WWF Malaysia’s field and communication officers in August 2009.

As issues and campaigns for various causes in the non-profit space have begun to proliferate across Asia, the struggle to remain relevant and gain critical attention is growing. Author Anita Devasahayam discusses how the Malaysian chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature tackled the challenge by devising new media strategies and advocacy campaigns to remain relevant in an increasingly connected and cause-conscious world.

Source: WWF-Malaysia



INTRoduCTIoNIn an increasingly media-saturated world, non-profits operating on tight resources struggle with the same challenges as their for-profit counterparts – namely, the struggle to gain attention for the work they do. As a result, many nonprofits rely on creative partnerships to gain mileage and support for their initiatives. Examples include partnerships between multinational companies such as HSBC and its eco-partnership program, Maxis Communications with its Cyberkids community camp or Royal Dutch Shell and its climate change agenda.

In communicating information, the media has shaped opinions, transformed societies and driven democracies by its ability to reach the general public. As Kitzinger pointed out “the relationship between people and the media is more subtle than often assumed.”1 The Internet has allowed for the public to participate, collaborate and interact with newsmakers and news providers in a way that was not viable with more traditional forms of media. Characterised by Aeron Davis as “outsider” and “resource-poor” groups, nonprofits face additional challenges in an unfavourable communications environment.2 Not only do the resource-poor rarely receive media coverage, the issues typically championed by nonprofits may not be seen as significant by the general public. Nonprofits also have to contend with the issue of credibility. On one hand, they do not have the resources to tap on large communication networks. On the other, advocacy efforts may require its proponents to challenge information available in mainstream media and to question positions being propagated by government. This may result in the dissemination of messages that are seen to have lesser credibility by the public, which affects the kind and amount of support received.3

However, there are nonprofits that have been successful in their communications and media strategies. Dimitrov posits that these nonprofits were able to successfully build “media capital” - a concept coined by Aeron Davis to refer to “an organisation’s reputation, legitimacy and authority which are linked to its credibility, reliability and productivity as a news source.”4 Other scholars have subsequently renamed this “Comunication Capital”5 to reflect an approach that encompasses not only traditional media but also in-house and direct publicity. These experts point out that only strategic,

long-term communication may accumulate such symbolic capital which then secures easy access to the media and favourable publicity.

Nonprofits, like for-profit commercial entities, are able to utilise any media channel that best suits their publicity needs. Although recent attention has been paid to online and social media, traditional media is still a relevant player. As an example of astute utilisation of the full range of media options, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Minnesota, whose objective is to increase awareness of health matters and become a catalyst for change, implemented a media strategy to reframe the “health story.” The videos made by the Foundation to support this were distributed in DVDs, selected community screenings, TV channels, social media tools like Youtube, their websites, and websites of affiliates and supporters.

This article looks at the case-study of World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia, which like other nonprofits and advocacy groups must contend with issues of relevance, credibility and strategic use of media to deliver its conservation message.

WWf-mALAYSIA: BACKGRouNd One of the most established nonprofits in Malaysia is the World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia. Founded in 1961 in Morges, Switzerland, WWF today has operations in over 100 countries. This international conservation organisation also has over five million supporters worldwide who contribute in cash, in kind or with time towards its activities. According to WWF’s website, its core mission is “to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

conserving the world’s biological diversity; 1. ensuring that the use of renewable natural 2. resources is sustainable and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful 3. consumption.”6

Established on 13 January 1972, WWF-Malaysia (WWF-M) grew from a two-man operation to over a 100-strong organisation stretching from Kelantan to Sabah. As the organisation grew, the scope of its work was broadened beyond its initial focus on

Nonprofits, like for-profit commercial entities, are able to utilise any media channel that best suits their publicity needs. Although recent attention has been paid to online and social media, traditional media is still a relevant player.



scientific research on wildlife to include management of protected areas, environmental education, public awareness, advocacy campaigns and policy work. The Malaysia chapter currently runs over 70 projects ranging from saving endangered tiger and turtle species, to protecting the highland forests, rivers and seas. The projects are funded through a combination of grants, donations, sponsorships and fund-raisers.7 STRoNG PARTNERShIPS ANd ImPACTfuL PRoJECTS Its illustrious history in Malaysia and the success of its work worldwide ensured that WWF-M continued to receive support from both the larger public and multinational corporations to fund its activities. WWF-M also has some long-term patrons, including the Duke of Edinburgh HRH Prince Phillip and Perak state monarch HRH Sultan Azlan Shah who are reliable supporters of its initiatives. Some significant projects that brought in key corporate sponsors in Malaysia included the reforestation initiative in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah with Boh Plantations Sdn Bhd; saving the Sumatran rhinoceros with Honda Malaysian Sdn Bhd; improving quality of life of interior communities with HSBC Bank (M) Bhd and a sustainable development programme with womenfolk of Setiu with Nestle Malaysia.

Although WWF-M had the support of big brand names, there were concerns that the projects did not receive sufficient media coverage and were not reaching the desired audience – namely, the larger public interested in the environment and ecology.

According to its 2009 annual report, corporate sponsors contributed over RM1.91 million in 2009 compared to RM2.15 million in 2008 in financial support to WWF-M, a drop of almost 11 per cent from 2008 to 2009. Conversely, donations from individuals over the same time period rose by 16 percent. Donations from individuals accounted for 38 per cent of the organisation’s total revenue. Recognising that a shift had occurred in its source of funding and support and more was needed to engage individual donors from among the Malaysian public, WWF-M was prompted to review their media strategies to meet this objective. mEdIA ANd WWf-mALAYSIA: mATChING AGENdAS? Mainstream media has played a significant role in spreading news pertaining to WWF-M’s activities, achievements and calls for support. However, twice as many articles were written in the media from

2000-2004, as compared to 2005-2009, though there was an overall increase in the number of conservation issues in the latter period. One contributing factor to this change is the general increase in access to the Internet across Malaysia over the last decade. New platforms such as text messages, podcasts and online news clips have emerged to complement traditional print and broadcast media. Readers are more discerning and have greater choice in terms of how they access news and information. WWF-M recognised that it would have to work with these newer media channels, while at the same time coming up with innovative strategies to engage traditional media platforms, to ensure their message reaches the larger public. To determine what was lacking in the organisation’s existing methods to engage with mainstream media, WWF-M conducted a survey targeting senior journalists and editors at local newspapers and broadcast stations.8 The survey results were eye opening and gave WWF-M an impetus to change the way they pushed their agenda via the media.

The survey identified three key areas that WWF-M needed to address in order to advocate their message of conservation, strengthen their relationship with their current stakeholders and cultivate the larger public in this media saturated environment. The three key areas are: (a) simplify the message; (b) cultivate media relationships; (c) ensure that their voice is heard despite the unfavourable media environment.

1. Simplify the message: Give me Something fresh & Easy to understandSurvey participants stated that stories tackling dwindling numbers of leatherback turtles or threatened forest fauna due to intense logging were “typical and usual”, “old” or “recycled.”9

In other words, what was perceived as urgent or significant news by WWF-M was not viewed as news by the media. WWF-M’s press releases also tended to be technically complex, with little or no effort to craft the issues in a manner that would be understood by lay persons. Furthermore, the alarmist tone that often characterised the press releases issued by the organisation did little to increase its credibility, even among reporters who were conversant with conservation issues. Some reporters characterised WWF-M press releases as hyperbolic and occasionally inaccurate.10



2. Cultivate media Relationships: Give me Someone to Talk To Secondly, the media stated that it had trouble keeping up with changes in the WWF-M’s communications team. After over a decade of dealing with a key contact person, the media had to establish contacts with new members in the WWF-M team. Meanwhile, the communications team of the WWF-M also failed to engage with the media on the presumption that the strength of their brand was sufficient to draw attention to the various causes. Mainstream media members generally felt the onus lay with WWF-M to keep editors and journalists apprised of internal changes and new developments.

3. Ensuring Their voice is heard: Speaking up over the NoiseWWF-M was also affected by the economic downtu rn in the 2008 -2009 pe r i od . Appeals for donations in the public domain became particularly challenging as a result. WWF-M’s appeals for coverage in broadcast media also revealed that the industry has shifted its emphasis to focus more on poverty, disabilities and unmet social needs. With limited air-time available, conservation and environmental issues were given less coverage through such media platforms. WWF-M needed to work harder to make their issues relevant, timely, and just as important (if not more) than other matters the media was covering.

fig 1: A comparison between original press release and actual published article.

Excerpt from original press release:

Pollution in the Mekong River has pushed the local population of Irrawaddy dolphins to the brink of extinction, a new report by WWF has revealed.

The Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) population inhabits a 190km stretch of the mekong River between Cambodia and Lao PdR. Since 2003, the population has suffered 88 deaths of which over 60 percent were calves under two weeks old. The latest population is estimated between 64 and 76 members.

“Necropsy analysis identified a bacterial disease as the cause of the calf deaths. This disease would not be fatal unless the dolphin’s immune systems were suppressed, as they were in these cases, by environmental contaminants,” said Dr Verné Dove, report author and veterinarian with WWF Cambodia.

Researchers found toxic levels of pesticides such as DDT and environmental contaminants such as PCBs during analysis of the dead dolphin calves. These pollutants may also pose a health risk to human populations living along the Mekong that consume the same fish and water as the dolphins.

(Source: WWF press release titled Mekong dolphins on the brink of extinction issued on 18 June 2009)

Excerpt of published article: PHNOM PENH (Reuters Life!) - Toxic waste in the Mekong River is a factor pushing an endangered dolphin species to extinction, the WWF warned on Thursday, estimating there were less than 80 left in a stretch of water between Cambodia and Laos.

(Source: Published article titled Polluted water endangers Mekong dolphins: WWF, Thursday 18 June , 2009 2 :22pm IST, Thomson Reuters, 2009).

Emphasis Added



STEPPING uP To ThE mEdIA ChALLENGE In response to these challenges, WWF-M’s communications team launched an integrated media and marketing campaign that involved media engagement together with marketing and promotional activities. The first example was Earth Hour 2009, another was the “Egg=Life” turtle conservation campaign. Each respective campaign was publicised both in the media and bolstered through integrated promotional tactics. Prior to this, the communications team did not supplement publicity with supporting activities nor did they adopt tactical approaches such as Facebook to reach a larger audience. In these two campaigns, WWF-M made use of social media to promote both campaigns in the virtual world, and set up booths and road-shows in various city malls throughout Malaysia to obtain pledge signatures. These activities generated awareness among larger public venues and more people pledged their support to these campaigns. WWF-M was able to secure 75,000 signatures for Earth Hour 2009, and 100,000 signatures for “Egg=Life.” The results clearly show that running promotional activities such as signature campaigns at city malls as well as Facebook parallel to media publicity reached an audience that was fragmented across the real and virtual worlds. The Communications Team also acknowledged that donations from individuals had increased with the integrated publicity and

promotion compared to years when there were no supporting activities to complement the media publicity.

WWF-M’s TX2 tiger conservation campaign that kicked off in February 2010 was another opportunity to pilot some of their new approaches. The launch, aiming to halt the dwindling tiger population (currently at 3,200 worldwide) over a 12-year period, was kicked off with pre-event publicity in print, broadcast and online media that highlighted, games, family entertainment, spreading the message and a great day filled with fun and education. Its coincidence with the Lunar New Year of the Tiger also elevated the meaning of tiger conservation, which WWF-M further expounded by providing tiger-themed activities like “tiger-face” painting, educational boards about tigers worldwide, and tiger-themed freebies as souvenirs. This proactive form of outreach across multiple media channels, received a very positive response. In addition to over 100 volunteers stepping up to help, crowds travelled over 100km from the city centre to the event location and provided further publicity opportunities for this campaign. Between pre-event publicity and post-event media follow-up, the “Tx2” campaign amounted to RM1.2 million in advertising (dollar) value.11 Malaysian public relations practitioners would quantify that sum by at least three times to value at RM3.6 million.12

fig 2: WWf press release titled 1000 faces for 1000 tigers issued on 20th february 2010.13



1 Jenny Kitzinger, “The Role of Media in Public Engagement,” Engaging Science: Thoughts, Deeds, Analysis, Action, (2006): 44 – 48 http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/stellent/groups/corporatesite/@msh_publishing_group/documents/web_document/wtx032695.pdf.

2 Aeron Davis, “Public Relations Democracy: Public Relations, Politics and the Mass Media in Britain,” (Manchester University Press, 2002) http://preview.tinyurl.com/publicrelationsdemocracy and Roumen Dimitrov, “Acting Strategically: Skilled Communication by Australian Refugee Advocacy Groups”, Global Media Journal (Australian Edition), Issue 2, 2008. http://preview.tinyurl.com/actingstrategically.

3 Roumen Dimitrov, “Acting Strategically: Skilled Communication by Australian Refugee Advocacy Groups”, Global Media Journal (Australian Edition), Issue 2, 2008. http://preview.tinyurl.com/actingstrategically.

uPdATE ANd uPGRAdE mEdIA CoNTENT The communications team has also changed the way stories are pitched. They identified newsworthy angles, removed technical jargon and humanised stories for each target media. Simple news basics such as ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ (or what is known in journalism as 5Ws and 1H) became part of WWF-M’s thought process in developing relevant pitches and press releases for the media. The team was also aware that the agenda for environment and ecology is wide, so they focused on current and pertinent issues that can be more visible compared to other items clamouring for media attention, yet at the same time can be piggybacked on a global conservation agenda.

Looking to a New Audience Conservation issues were previously thought to be the domain of well educated and affluent Malaysians (i.e. English media readership) and the communications team, traditionally operating in an English-speaking environment, sought the English media to champion their agenda. Furthermore, advertisers operated under the presumption that the spending power was with the English reading population, evidenced by almost 50 per cent of the total advertising expenditure targeted at the English media. However, the Audit Bureau of Circulation and Nielsen Media Research found for the period July 2008 to June 2009, the combined average daily circulation of Chinese and Malay newspapers was at 70 per cent of the Malaysian readership, as compared to 30 per cent for English newspapers, even though the non-English media received less advertising dollars. This prompted WWF-M to step up their engagement of the non-English media, consistent with its principle that conservation concerned everyone and they were missing a large constituent in Malaysia by ignoring the non-English media. The team set up face-to-face meetings with the editors of these publications to find out what would appeal to their readers and how WWF-M could serve that need. The strategy has led to greater coverage of conservation issues in the Chinese and Malay media.

Using Social MediaThe WWF-M only began tapping on social media networks from April 2009, a late start in its recognition of the value of social media to reach out to the young to support their conservation cause. Its appeal quickly grew as they found it easier to recruit volunteers for its youth outreach efforts via social networks. Currently, WWF-M’s Facebook page has 14,000 fans and an online appeal for its Tx2 Tiger campaign provided better results compared to traditional appeals used in the past to recruit volunteers.14 This propelled WWF-M to embrace social media and update the content on its website with more youth-focused content. The WWF-M website now incorporates Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to reach out to a broader and more Internet-literate audience in Malaysia.

CoNCLuSIoN WWF-M’s conservation advocacy agenda needed to connect with the larger public domain. To reach out to individuals beyond their traditional patrons and corporate sponsors, they needed to use all media channels available – mobile, print, online or broadcast – to achieve this objective. Not only do all channels need to be utilised, WWF-M had to refine its approach to cultivate media relationships and upgrade media content, such that its conservation message will have relevance and credibility with the public. It has demonstrated that advocacy through engagement, not scare tactics, is more likely to resonate with the public. Although WWF-M’s new strategies are in their early stages of implementation, it has gained success by combining traditional media relations practices, with social media platforms. This has served to demonstrate that the public can be, and is, receptive to environmental advocacy, if such work is carried out in an engaging manner. The key to long-term engagement success is for conservation advocates to constantly re-evaluate and reposition their media outreach strategies, particularly at a time when funding is scarce and multiple causes compete for an audience’s attention – leading to stronger impact in the long-term.

further Reading Audit Bureau of Circulation Malaysia, 2009, http://www.abcm.org.my/



4 see note 2 above. 5 see note 2 above.6 WWF-Malaysia and its environmental conservation work, http://wwf.org.my/about_wwf/.7 WWF-Malaysia Annual Review 2009,

http://www.wwf.org.my/media_and_information/publications_main/?9880/WWF-Annual-Review-2009. 8 The author conducted a media audit among editors and senior journalists from leading publications such as Star Publications (M) Bhd,

The New Straits Times Press Group, Utusan Group and Media Chinese International Group between June and July 2009 to ascertain perception of WWF-M among the media.

9 Comments are direct quotes resulting from media audit.10 WWF, “Mekong Dolphins on the Brink of Extinction,” media release, 18 June 2009. Subsequent published article: Polluted water endangers

Mekong dolphins: WWF. Thomson Reuters, Jun 18, 2009.11 Advertising value is a “measure of economic value of space and time covered by print or broadcast media, had these media contents been

purchased at advertising rates.” Chang Peng Kee and Musa Abu Hassan, “The advertising-value equivalent (AVE) method in quantifying economic values of public relations activities: Experience of a public listed company in Malaysia”, Kajian Malaysia, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 & 2, 2006.

12 Chang Peng Kee and Musa Abu Hassan, “The advertising-value equivalent (AVE) method in quantifying economic values of public relations activities: Experience of a public listed company in Malaysia”, Kajian Malaysia, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 & 2, 2006 http://www.usm.my/km/24-06/KM%20ART%203.pdf.

13 WWF-Malaysia, 1000 faces for 1000 tigers, http://wwf.org.my/media_and_information/newsroom_main/press_releases/?10400/1000-faces-for-1000-tigers.

14 Two-thirds of the 100 face painters and volunteers signed up through social networks such as Facebook, instant messenger, mailing lists and email. WWF began recruiting volunteers a month before the event.


LIen CentRe FoR soCIAL InnoVAtIon

UPDAte

Lien Centre For Social Innovation Update

LIen CentRe FoR soCIAL InnoVAtIon: Highlights of the Start-Up Years

This year, the Lien Centre for Social Innovation celebrates its fifth anniversary as an institution that’s dedicated to being a thought leader and catalyst for positive social change in Singapore and Asia. As we continue to refine and broaden our efforts to fulfil the Centre’s mandate, this article highlights some of the key activities and accomplishments in our start-up years, grouped in terms of our key areas of focus:

- Research- Catalysing Social Innovation Initiatives- Platforms - Capacity Building

RESEARCh The Centre has undertaken a series of major assessments of key areas in the social sector in Singapore and Asia. The following reports have been published:

The State of Social Enterprise in Singapore. •Released in August 2007, and prepared for the Ministry of Community Development Youth and Sports (MCYS) in Singapore, the study looked at the growing interest in social enterprises

in Singapore and proposed 26 recommendations in three areas: (a) encouraging and facilitating socially responsible enterprises; (b) building a pro-social enterprise environment (c) creating a culture of social entrepreneurship. The study contributed to the deliberations of the national Social Enterprise Committee and eventually became part of its report to the Minister for MCYS. Information Technology (IT) Enablement of the •Nonprofit Sector. This white paper released in July 2009, looked at why IT needs are not well addressed in small and medium-sized nonprofit organisations and recommended ways in which it could be improved. Follow-up discussions on the findings have been held with the Charities Unit of MCYS and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

Two major reports on research undertaken at the start of 2009 are due to be published by the end of 2010:

CSR in Asia. This extensive report aims to •understand the drivers and constraints of CSR in Asia by looking at the top five publicly-listed

Participants at a World Cafe on Corporate Social Responsibility, organised by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation in January 2009, and facilitated by Facilitators Network Singapore. - Photo Credit: LCSI



companies on the respective stock exchange in 10 Asian countries. The research examines the activities of these companies using the ISO 26000 categories of CSR core areas: organisational governance, human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development. The report seeks to provide CSR practitioners and researchers with insights into the pattern of CSR practice and factors for success in Asian companies. The research will be complemented by two smaller studies, one on CSR in Singapore, and the other on ethnic Chinese philanthropy in South East Asia. Unmet Social Needs. This is another extensive •research project that explores Singapore’s social policy systems and how they are currently addressing our growing societal challenges. The report will highlight six vulnerable communities: the disabled, mentally ill, single-person-headed households, borderline cases, foreign workers, and new migrant communities. The research is based on focus group discussions with key players and secondary research.

CATALYSING SoCIAL INNovATIoN INITIATIvESThe Centre seeks to foster and catalyse social innovation across Asia through these initiatives:

Lien i3 Challenge. The Lien i3 Challenge was •a global competition that awarded S$1million dollars to exceptionally innovative and impactful projects that benefited communities in Asia. The competition’s call for proposals in April 2009 drew a remarkable 648 entries from around the world. After several rounds of vetting and deliberations, a panel of 10 judges selected eight winners in September 2009. The winners were invited to Singapore for the Centre’s inaugural social innovation conference, during which the awards were given out. (See for details and progress reports of the winning projects.) Venture Philanthropy. In November 2008, •the Centre organised a venture philanthropy forum, co-hosted with HP Alumni and the Institute of Policy Studies. Through follow-ups with interested participants, the Centre spearheaded the formation of Singapore’s first venture philanthropy organisations:

the Singapore branch of Social Venture Partners and Asia Philanthropic Ventures.

PLATfoRmSThe Centre has established print, online and interactive platforms for sharing ideas and insights in the social space.

Apart from the research reports, our major publications are:

Social Space. Since 2008, this annual publication •provides an avenue for experts, industry leaders and practitioners to cover a range of topical social areas.The World That Changes The World: How •philanthropy, entrepreneurship and innovation are transforming the social ecosystem. The first of its kind, this international collaborative project provides a holistic and comprehensive review of the social ecosystem. Of the 21 international authors, six are from Singapore and the Lien Centre. The book is published by John Wiley & Sons and it will be officially launched at the SIX annual conference in September 2010. (See page 104 for an excerpted Chapter from the book. Further information on the book can be found on the inside back cover).

The major forums we have organised to date are:

Social iCon 2009. This inaugural flagship social •innovation conference in Singapore, supported by Ashoka,1 attracted 270 participants, of which one-third was from overseas. The theme of the conference was on leading social innovators and key enablers of social innovation. With its innovative and unusual approach to presenting the issues and content, the conference created a buzz across Singapore’s nascent social innovation scene. SIX and The City. In September 2010, the •Centre will host the annual summer school of the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), the first time the school is held outside Europe. SIX is the global association of social innovation organisations, first convened by the Young Foundation.Social Conversations. A regular feature for many in •the social scene in Singapore is our almost monthly social conversations that have the goal of providing

The Centre has established print, online and interactive platforms for sharing ideas and insights in the social space.


the broader community with the opportunity to listen to, and engage with, leaders in the social sector. To date, more than 30 social conversations have been held on wide-ranging topics.

CAPACITY BuILdINGThe Centre seeks to leverage its position as part of a university with its capabilities and reach, to help build the capability of two key groups of people: nonprofit leaders and students. Key programmes include:

iLEAP. The iLEAP Professional Course is an •intensive 14-week training programme for leaders of nonprofit organisations. Led by over 50 instructors and guest speakers, the course uses a unique translational and experiential approach to learning and sharing the different facets of managing a nonprofit organisation. Each of the 14 weekly sessions is held onsite with a different community partner organisation which also serves as the main case study for topics ranging from strategic planning to new social models. The first batch of 26 participants who completed the inaugural programme in January 2010 came from a wide mix of social sector organisations, academic institutions, and independent organisations.

iGlocal. From January to May 2010, the Centre •collaborated with United World College of South East Asia and the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre on a pilot project to demonstrate an alternative student-centred approach to service-learning in Community Involvement Projects.2 The project involved secondary school students from four local and two international schools. The Centre is currently working to follow-up on the pilot, to expand awareness and to take iGlocal to other schools. SMU Student Engagement. The Centre also works •with various Singapore Management University departments and student bodies on a range of projects, awards and student internships with nonprofit organisations. The goal is to plant the seeds of social consciousness and innovation in tomorrow’s leaders.

LooKING foRWARdAs the Centre enters its next five year phase (2011 – 2015), we hope to build the capacity of the social sector in the nonprofit space. In the spirit of our mandate and vision, the Centre will continue to encourage and demonstrate the spirit of innovation in ways that enhance and mobilise the social sector ecosystem in Singapore and Asia.

1 Ashoka’s Changemakers is a global online community that connects and encourages people to share ideas, inspire and mentor one another, while finding and supporting the best ideas in social innovation.

2 Community Involvement Project (CIP) is a programme of the Ministry of Education. Its objective is to build social cohesion and civic responsibility.


LIEN CENTRE foR SoCIAL INNovATIoN BoARd mEmBERS

1 dec 2005 - 31 may 2008

Gerard Ee (Chairman)Willie ChengLee Poh WahLaurence LienLim Soo HoonPang Eng Fong

Robert SchlesingerTan Chi ChiuTan Wee Liang

1 June 2008 - 30 Nov 2010

Willie Cheng (Chairman)David ChanRobert ChewCecilia Chua

Gerard EeLee Poh WahLaurence Lien

Thomas MenkhoffSteven Miller

Zaqy MohamadTan Chi ChiuYeoh Chee Yan


Launched in January 2009 by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation to further its mission to enhance and grow the non-profit sector, the Lien i3 Challenge was designed to catalyse social projects that are innovative, implementable and impactful in Singapore and Asia.

The Challenge set aside S$1 million in funding to spur ideas and make possible new social models. Social innovations are new and practical ideas that result in improving capacity of the non-profit sector, or that result in the creation of social value.

The Challenge was open to all individuals, groups or organisations across the world, with the intended beneficiaries being specifically located in Asia. The call for applications drew a remarkable 648 entries. Following deliberations by a panel of ten judges over several rounds, the Challenge selected 8 winners in September 2009, each of whom have received grants from S$50,000 to S$250,000, of the overall S$1 million prize money.

In this feature section, we take a look at the winning projects, the progress made, the obstacles encountered and the innovative solutions being crafted by the 8 winners.

LIen CentRe FoR soCIAL InnoVAtIon

The Lien i3 Challenge winners



APoPoBuilding a Rats-based Detection Technology with the Capacity to Detect Landmines Beneficiary countries: Thailand/Cambodia, Southeast Asia

Organisation Bio

APOPO is a social enterprise that researches, develops, and deploys detection rat technology for humanitarian purposes. APOPO is a registered charity in Belgium and is headquartered in Tanzania.

http://www.apopo.org/

Rats are traditionally viewed as pests in most societies. APOPO turns this stereotype on its head by training rats to detect mines in a wide-scale effort to push forward demining efforts in post-conflict countries.

One of APOPO’s mine detection HeroRATs in action, sniffing out a landmine. - Photo by Sylvain Piraux



APOPO is a Dutch acronym for Anti-Personnel mines Demining Product Development

ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmCross-border communities on the Thai-Cambodian border are the most heavily mined and most neglected areas in Southeast Asia. Yet, humanitarian mine action is a difficult, dangerous and expensive task.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEAThe team will introduce a detection technology that uses rats to enhance humanitarian demining efforts. There are potential spin-offs for tuberculosis screening, detection of improvised explosive devices, screening of cargo for contraband, etc. The innovation also turns the normal perception of rats as pests on its head.

hoW IT WoRKSMine Detection Rats (MDRs), also affectionately called HeroRATs, are a sustainable landmine detection technology, adapted to low resources settings. Rats have a highly developed sense of smell. They can detect the smallest traces of explosives emitted by the mines. Rats are intelligent creatures that also love to perform repetitive tasks for a small food reward. They live up to 8 years, giving a good return of the initial nine months training investment. And it is key that these rats only weigh a maximum of 1.5 – 2 kilos, and therefore they are at minimal risk to set off a mine.

Trained rats work either on a leash searching for mines in the open field, or assess samples in an evaluation cage. The latter system has many potential spin-off applications. APOPO has already successfully trained rats to screen for pulmonary tuberculosis, by training rats to detect the smell of bacteria in human sputum samples collected from hospitals.

Four staff will be selected from the communities to undergo a three-month training curriculum at APOPO’s base at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. Upon their return, they will be assisted by a technical on-site officer. The three-year project will involve community

mobilisation efforts, training, mine action planning, fundraising for year 1, implementation and evaluation for year 2 and continued mine release for year 3. Cost-saving compared with traditional methods of mine detection is estimated to be 70%.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTAPOPO has begun talks with partner organisations in Thailand, such as the Population and Community Development Association.

ImmEdIATE ChALLENGES To PRoJECTThe lack of funding i s the key i s sue . •Demining typically works with million dollar budgets. However, by using a cost-effective local technology a great deal of work can be done with less funding (i.e. US$500,000 or more). Since demining is an expensive task, financing is the key challenge.Funding from the Lien i3 Challenge is •a great start towards capacity building and setting up a framework for mine-action. However, the funds are insufficient to start up a mine action programme, which is why APOPO is seeking to first continue fundraising to a level of US$500,000 before beginning implementation.

Mine Detection Rats (MDRs), also affectionately called HeroRATs, are a sustainable landmine detection technology, adapted to low resources settings. Rats have a highly developed sense of smell. They can detect the smallest traces of explosives emitted by the mines. Rats are intelligent creatures that also love to perform repetitive tasks for a small food reward. They live up to 8 years, giving a good return of the initial nine months training investment. And it is key that these rats only weigh a maximum of 1.5 – 2 kilos, and therefore they are at minimal risk to set off a mine.

A HeroRAT in training



We have also been joined in our efforts by partner •organisations such as the General Chatichai Foundation, Peace Road Organisation, Thai Mine Action Centre (TMAC), the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) and the Thai Campaign to Ban Landmines (TCBL).APOPO is a humanitarian organisation, serving vulnerable communities. The situation in Thailand is different as the Thai military controls mine action. There is a strong need to cooperate with the military to be successful, but APOPO’s ultimate goal first and foremost is to serve the communities impacted by landmines.APOPO’s strategy is to create a consortium with •the Thai Mine Action Centre (TMAC) and other partners to guarantee that international standards are met. The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) is now a partner of the project.

ChALLENGES ThAT hAvE ARISEN, WhICh WERE NoT ANTICIPATEd WhEN dRAfTING PRoJECT PRoPoSAL

Gaining acceptance by TMAC is key to the •success of the project, as it is a branch within the government responsible for mine clearance. APOPO is well on the way to establishing a fruitful relation with the TMAC.There is an absence of quality information •on areas that are l ike ly to be heavi ly mined. To remedy this situation, we are currently developing a non-technical survey. However, the survey will take at least six months to be completed. Mine clearance consists of various stages, of which a non-technical survey is the first step. This survey will provide a clear picture of the mine problem at the Thai-Cambodian border and will help to focus mine action in areas of high risk, while

Members of APOPO’s Mozambique Mine Action team, who are working with the HeroRATs to clear the Gaza Province and help make Mozambique a mine impact free country by 2014. - Photo: Eric Nathan

APOPO is a humanitarian organisation, serving vulnerable communities. The situation in Thailand is different as the Thai military controls mine action. There is a strong need to cooperate with the military to be successful, but APOPO’s ultimate goal first and foremost is to serve the communities impacted by landmines.



also highlighting areas that may have very little risk. It will reduce the scope of the mine problem in Thailand considerably. Our work will also help support TMAC and the Thai authorities in general in their efforts to tackle the mine problem. Standardised procedures for such non-technical surveys have been developed by the GICHD.

PLANS foR ENGAGING WITh CommuNITY

APOPO’s short-term goal is to execute a •non-technical survey. Thereafter a national Land Release strategy will be devised.GICHD will be assisting us in conducting this •non-technical survey.The work will involve interacting with •civilians, going through databases and working with local institutions to acquire quality information.

CommuNITY RESPoNSE To ThE PRoJECT

Thai partners will go to Tanzania to be trained on •the use of rats, while the non-technical survey is being conducted.Community response and participation in •the project will then be further developed. The initial phase of building trust and improving transparency is absolutely critical to community engagement.

A HeroRAT receives a food reward for a job well done. - Photo: Eric Nathan



GoonJTurning City Waste into Useful MaterialsBeneficiary country: India

ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmUrban areas in India are facing a glut of waste: specifically that of unwanted cloth. Meanwhile villagers across various states face a shortage of basic needs such as winter clothing and school uniforms, as well as sanitary napkins for girls and women, leading to all manner of social and psychological problems associated with shame, status and immobility during a young woman’s monthly cycle.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEAGOONJ hopes to advance an ownership model in which the masses are involved in development work, so that the villagers become more resourceful and practical solutions can pave the way for education. hoW IT WoRKSWhile urban communities are trained to become more aware of the need to recycle waste into products/

materials that can be re-routed to rural communities, rural communities are encouraged to participate in rural development programmes, from road repair to river cleaning and plantation work, in exchange for cloth and sanitary napkins (Cloth-for-Work Programme and Napkins Programme) – a much-needed resource for daily life.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT ThE PRoJECTGOONJ has:

Analysed areas where the project will be •implemented;Searched and selected appropriate local, grassroots •partners (non-governmental organisations) in the states where the project will be implemented;Outlined two programmes, “Cloth-for-Work” •and “Napkins Programme” (sanitary napkins for women), which are already in the early

Organisation Bio

GOONJ enables the recycling of urban waste clothing and materials so that the poorest sections of society in India can make use of these resources. GOONJ has several initiatives including “Cloth for Work”, “School to School”, “RAHAT” for flood relief, “Not Just a Piece of Cloth” and others.

http://www.goonj.org/

GOONJ hopes to advance an ownership model in which the masses are involved in development work, so that the villagers become more resourceful and practical solutions can pave the way for education.

GOONJ’s sanitary napkins made using unused cloth materials



implementation phase after initial trials and testing on the ground were conducted to assess cultural attitudes, taboos and resistance to such initiatives on the ground amongst rural communities.

ChALLENGES ThAT hAvE ARISEN IN ImPLEmENTING PRoJECTThe immediate challenges are in two distinct areas i.e. the villages and the cities.

In the villages, the challenges are:Communicating the significance of the work •to partner groups. Most grassroots groups, even those that work closely with women, have initially been hesitant about the work, owing to the taboos, shame and silence associated with women, menstruation and hygiene;Raising awareness about the project among •grassroots organisations and engaging in capacity training for their staff.

In the cities the challenges are:Capacity-building to implement the project while •sourcing for resources such as space, manpower, materials, etc.Securing a supply of materials from unreliable •sources, requires forward planning to ensure that materials reach rural communities.Constantly needing new target audiences, new •markets and new strategies for getting more materials from across the country.

ChALLENGES ThAT hAvE ARISEN, WhICh WERE NoT ANTICIPATEd WhEN dRAfTING PRoJECT PRoPoSAL None so far. Challenges may arise as the project moves further in its efforts to scale up.

CommuNITY RESPoNSE ANd PARTICIPATIoN IN ThE PRoJECT (ALREAdY uNdERWAY) The following are some examples of the success of the Cloth-for-Work project in different parts of the country:

In West Bengal: Following the Aila Cyclone that hit the Sunderbans •area, GOONJ is working closely with local organisations in some of the affected islands.

Three such organisations are: Mollarpur Naisubha•Halderchak Chetna Welfare Society•Nimpith Handicapped Welfare Society •

GOONJ initiated the Cloth-for-Work programme •in Matmulia, Swaska, Purbabijaybati and Hanarbati villages.About 100-150 people from each village •participated in road repair and plantation work. People received cloth and other materials in return •for taking on community work in their villages.

In Orissa: In Orbaer Singh Gram panchayat, thousands of •villagers from more than 30 villages took on the work of restoring the Gheri Bandh plantation, to plant mango and coconut trees among other species.A widespread village sanitation drive was •implemented which included cleaning the village pond and roads.The drive also included 200 children from •15 schools in the area.GOONJ initiated these projects with local partners. •

People from Kuilvar village in the state of Bihar go on cleaning drives and build drains or pits, in exchange for cloth.



GReen eARtH ConCePts Barrett Steam Pump Beneficiary country: Cambodia

Green Earth Concepts hopes to alleviate the perennial problems of farming in countries such as Cambodia by introducing the Barrett Steam Pump System, which will enable farmers to control irrigation and water supply at a low cost through the solar generation of hot water, in a cooperative setting that will encourage farmers to pay for services and products by supplying harvested crops instead of financial payment.

Organisation Bio

Green Earth Concepts is an NGO that incorporates environmental innovation with management based on social and economic sustainability. The organisation’s goal is to assist communities to obtain funds for projects based on a vision shared and understood by all members. GEC’s work is currently in Cambodia, where it hopes to improve the environment and bring about positive social impact by employing marginalised peoples in farming and paddy rice cultivation.

Yvan Perrin with villagers in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia, discussing which parts of the village harvest only one crop per year due to lack of water accessibility from rivers, ponds and underground water resources.



ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmLack of water supply for irrigation perpetuates poverty in rural areas.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEAOffer a green and financially sustainable alternative to the fossil-fuel operated pumps that farmers currently use. Community water-management on 3 levels of the social chain, namely: in agriculture irrigation, in handling the business side of agricultural goods and sterilisation of drinking water.

hoW IT WoRKSThe system enables farmers in 4 selected communities to control irrigation and water supply at a low cost through solar generation of hot water. The system will be maintained in a cooperative set-up in which farmers will be encouraged to pay for services and products by supplying harvested crops instead of financial payment. Farming costs will be reduced by 5 to 10% and up to 40-60% of water will be saved compared to current usage.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTGreen Earth Concepts has:

Registered its non-governmental organisation;•Met with Walt Barrett, the inventor of the Barrett •Steam Pump, to determine what steps need to be taken to implement the research and development phase of the project;Tested four prototypes using various renewable •sources in northern United States;Arrived at a consensus with Mr Barrett that a •detailed instructional video will be sent to Green Earth Concepts, demonstrating how to replicate pump manufacturing and testing based on Mr Barrett’s specifications;Identified a suitable location in Cambodia to •establish a mechanical workshop to manufacture and assemble the pump.Begin independent R&D and testing of the Steam •Pump before unveiling it in Cambodia.


However, time spent on securing the grant and •conducting R&D poses challenges with regard to introducing the pump as a solution for irrigation needs during the dry season in Cambodia (January to June).Paddy rice farming takes 3½ months to be floated •progressively. “Floated progressively” means that water is pumped progressively to the paddy field within a particular period of time. Typically water in the paddy field has to be maintained at a certain level during a period of 3½ months. Pumping

delivers water in cycles to maintain the appropriate water level for the rice to grow. As an example, it is reported that water is pumped at least 10 times when rice is being grown to maintain water at the right level. Currently, most of water is leaking into the ground and has evaporated. So it has to be re-filled progressively in cycles. While solar energy remains a prime energy source, we believe that other renewable energy sources should be explored to offer farmers pumping solutions throughout the 24-hour cycle.

PLANS foR ENGAGING WITh CommuNITYGEC’s long-term goals are:

To manufacture the pump for project •implementation in the villages;Train women as entrepreneurs tasked with •promoting the pumps that will be in operation, from home villages to farming communities;Women will also be trained at the village level •to act as intermediaries in developing water management solutions, such as irrigation and safe water production, with input from the farmers.


Farmers were provided with data from a survey •on the following:

pumps available in the market;•what it costs to operate the pump;•water flow needed for paddy rice farming;•

Based on the survey data, the farmers are amenable •to the project’s implementation.

CommuNITY CoNTRIBuTIoN oR PARTICIPATIoN IN PRoJECT

The Pump is not physically present in the •community yet.GEC will do demonstrations for farmers in order to •get their input on how the project can be improved and how community needs can be met.

Perrin and villagers collecting information on the quality of water supplied to villagers for cooking and drinking. - All Photos by Green Earth Concepts



HABItAt FoR HUMAnItYInterlocking BricksBeneficiary country: Batam, Indonesia

Conscientious housing projects have to perpetually choose between expensive eco-friendly building materials and existing low-cost options that dominate the market. Habitat For Humanity Singapore’s team hopes to set up a research centre to contribute to low-cost, eco-friendly construction and to implement a financially self-sustaining model that provides employment to the local population.

Organisation Bio

Habitat for Humanity (HFH) is a non-profit Christian housing organisation with a mission to eliminate poverty housing worldwide by building simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner families themselves and volunteers.

www.habitat.org.sg

Habitat for Humanity’s interlocking bricks at a work site ready to be used.



ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmHousing charities in the region are challenged by the need to choose between the more expensive high-quality, eco-friendly bricks and the cheaper but poorer quality slab-bricks in the market, often choosing the latter for its lower price. How can we reconcile eco-friendly housing initiatives with meeting the financial constraints of the beneficiaries?

ThE INNovATIvE IdEAThe team proposes to implement a financially self-sustaining model that provides employment to the local population and to develop a resource centre that continues to contribute to low-cost construction in this region and beyond.

hoW IT WoRKSA brick factory and research station will be set up. The team will begin initially by bringing in “Interlocking Brick” technology (a building method using bricks designed to lock into each other), which will use existing ideas from Habitat for Humanity’s work in the Philippines for the benefit of Batam, Indonesia. Subsequently, the team will experiment with other resources such as using cow waste and mineral plastics as raw materials for building houses in the region.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTHabitat for Humanity Singapore has entered into •discussions with local partners in Indonesia;Habitat is also further developing existing research •on design by engaging relevant specialists in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

ImmEdIATE ChALLENGES foR ThE PRoJECT

Habitat will need to work to assure that its •Indonesian counterparts buy into the idea and adopt the technology.


There have emerged many more variations in the •technology and approaches for implementation than anticipated. For example, Chiang Mai’s model is different from the model in Cambodia.


Habitat will engage its house partners on the •ground once actual construction work begins towards the end of 2010.


Habitat’s Indonesian counterparts believe that •these new developments will enable them to build houses more efficiently and within shorter time-frames.The community has also provided feedback that •Habitat’s solution is innovative, particularly with regard to the possibility of implementing multi-storey constructions.


Local partners suggested another building •methodology for Habitat to look into, namely, the Integrated-Block method (which are blocks built around steel reinforcement rods), which Habitat will study for feasibility of implementation;Local partners are also revising their target upwards •for the number of houses to be built.

Habitat volunteer Paul Gurda working on a wall builtwith inter-locking bricks. Paul, an architect from the USA,is volunteering for Habitat for Humanity Singaporeas a consultant to the Lien i3 Challenge project

Yong Teck Meng, National Director of Habitat forHumanity Singapore, at a house he is building for KhunTanawat, a garbage collector, his wife and their teenage son.



InteRnAtIonAL BRIDGes to JUstICe (IBJ) Criminal Defence TrainingBeneficiary country: Various Asian countries

Criminal justice systems across the world continue to be plagued by problems such as arbitrary detention, torture and an inadequate knowledge of the rights of defendants. IBJ hopes to establish a legal resource hub for criminal defenders and justice practitioners across Asia by taking a collaborative and proactive approach with Asian governments and fostering leadership and innovation in the area of criminal justice reform.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEAIBJ is catalysing the evolution of the criminal justice system in Asia by building a comprehensive legal resources hub in Singapore.

IBJ will take a collaborative and proactive approach with Asian governments, fostering leadership and innovation in the area of criminal justice reform. It will aspire towards a multi-disciplinary training model across the region in collaboration with other legal and academic institutions.

ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmDespite codified international criminal justice conventions, arbitrary detention, torture, and denial of access to legal counsel continue to be the norm in many parts of the developing world. There seems to be a gap between these societies’ aspirations to redress such problems, evidenced by their de jure adoption of domestic legal reforms, and the de facto reality. Notwithstanding the willingness of criminal defence lawyers to commit their time and energy towards fulfilling the promise of progress, the lack of training and support for those lawyers hinders their efforts.

Organisation Bio

International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) is an independent, non-profit and non-governmental organisation founded in 2000 that strives to protect due process and achieve fair trials for the accused throughout the world. In countries where governmental commitment to human rights principles has, as of yet, failed to meet its practical goal, IBJ fills the gap between human rights legislation and domestic implementation.

http://www.ibj.org/about-us



hoW IT WoRKSThis hub will conduct in-person trainings and also offer online resources for practitioners’ easy access. Participants in the trainings will include 11 practitioners in Asia who have been selected through a competition called JusticeMakers. They will receive funding, training, and a network of support to implement their access-to-justice initiatives, each of which have been designed to advance reforms in their respective justice systems.

The project is being implemented in three phases. Months 1-8 have focused on building the hub’s operational infrastructure, including securing office space and staff, and the selection of the eleven JusticeMakers Fellows. Months 9-16 will see the 11 selected JusticeMakers Fellows paving the way for interaction with their local justice systems. At the same time, the online training platform will be evaluated. Months 17-24 will focus on the evaluation of the Fellows’ projects and packaging of online courses.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTSince receiving the Lien i3 award, IBJ successfully completed the 2010 Asia JusticeMakers Competition. The next step will be to fund and train the 11 selected legal rights entrepreneurs. Management and training of the class of 2010 JusticeMakers Fellows will take place in Singapore.

Preparations for the competition included:upgrades to the website;•creation of a competition partnership network •spanning nearly two-dozen Asian countries; development of tools and resources to enable the •partners to assist with promotion1; andconfirmation of judges/screeners for project •evaluation.

The judges included2:Daniel R. Fung – President of The Board •of directors of International Bridges to JusticeKaren Tse – CEO and Founder of International •Bridges to JusticeSubhas Anandan – Head of The Criminal Law •Department at KhattarWong Persida V. Rueda-Acosta – Chief Public Attorney •of the Philippines Public Attorney’s OfficeProfessor Howard Hunter – President and Professor •of Law at Singapore Management UniversityPhilip Jeyaretnam S.C. – Partner in The Law Firm •of Rodyk & Davidson LLPHon. Wilhelmina M. Wright – Judge at The •Minnesota Court of AppealsSidharth Luthra – Senior Advocate in India•Teri Ng – Retired Attorney, formerly Head •of Microsoft’s Legal Department in China

There were 112 applicants from 22 countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

The winners were3: Muhammad Waqas Abid (Pakistan)•Oanh Hoang Ngo (Vietnam)•H M. Harshi Chitrangi Perera (Sri Lanka)•Ajeng Larasati (Indonesia)•Rosselynn Jaye Garcia de la Cruz (the •Philippines)Rasul Agagasan Jafarov (Azerbaijan)•Nana Chapidze (Georgia)•Yasmeen Shariff (Malaysia)•Bijaya Chanda (India)•Shahanur Islam (Bangladesh)•Junaid Khalid (Pakistan) •

Weidman Philippines photo: New inmates at an orientation on their rights in the Philippines’ legal system



In concert with the JusticeMakers competition, IBJ has also launched the IBJ Legal Training Resource Centre . 4 Through this websi te , lawyers worldwide can access, on-demand, a curriculum of interactive eLearning courses on criminal practice that IBJ is developing. These lessons, covering both general and country-specific subject areas, aim to empower defenders to safeguard the rights of the criminally accused more effectively.

Additionally, through JusticeMakers and the Legal Training Resource Centre, IBJ strives to connect criminal defence attorneys to one another, both as a network of support, and as resources for practical expertise. For instance, participants are invited to contribute their knowledge to the IBJ Defence Wiki5, a collaboratively-edited site with a growing number of articles covering a diverse array of subjects relating to criminal defence.

Lastly, IBJ is opening the Singapore Justice Training Centre. Initial activities have included:

establishment of IBJ as a registered entity •in Singapore;procurement of office space; and•preparation for a two-week training summit that •will include IBJ Fellows from around the world as well as the 2010 Asia JusticeMakers Fellows.

ImmEdIATE ChALLENGES To PRoJECTIBJ’s desire to launch a JusticeMakers competition in Asia posed major challenges, given the continent’s cultural diversity.

In light of our inability to effectively communicate in every language spoken by the diverse populations of Asia, a decision was taken to conduct the application process solely in English. Unfortunately, this tended

to exclude many legal-entrepreneurs working at the grassroots level. To some degree, a partnership network has been able to mitigate this challenge through translation services. Still, there were several countries where partners lacked the capacity for such services, or where partners were lacking altogether. This was particularly true in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos. Nonetheless, IBJ received applications from many such countries, including a successful application from Vietnam.

Language barriers also present challenges to the development of the Legal Training Resource Centre. This is partially mitigated by IBJ’s chosen platform, MOODLE, a popular open-source learning management system that permits content management in multiple languages (English, French, Mandarin, and Khmer, to name a few). To satisfy the demand for training materials in several different languages and adaptable to differing justice systems, IBJ has adopted a two-track approach: (1) general courses developed primarily in English and translated into other languages wherever possible, covering legal concepts and best practices which lend themselves to application across jurisdictional borders; and (2) country-specific curricula which will be developed in conjunction with bar associations and other legal experts in those countries.

Negotiating the tension between a need for transparency in conducting the JusticeMakers competition and ensuring that its participants felt secure sharing their ideas for legal reform was a second challenge. From a strategic standpoint, IBJ wanted as much information as possible to be public, so that the wide availability of these ideas could provide a stimulus for collaboration. By listening to users’ feedback, however, we came to understand that we needed better tools to ensure privacy options, both for users and their ideas.

Power outages among users and intermittent Internet access have also been challenges for IBJ’s JusticeMakers and eLearning projects. To this end, IBJ is selectively targeting countries with stable power supplies and high rates of Internet penetration to advance its eLearning project. IBJ’s attempts to conduct outreach for the JusticeMakers competition by other, low-tech means (e.g. paper applications intended to be submitted by post), however, met with little success.

The shortage of financial resources continues to pose challenges in all aspects of IBJ’s operations. Despite having to work within budgetary constraints, IBJ staff in Singapore successfully procured a donation of temporary office space.

An event in Karachi promoting IBJ’s 2010 Asia JusticeMakers Competition



IBJ’s ability to compensate for financial shortfalls in the JusticeMakers competition is due to the goodwill that IBJ has built with key partners. The professional6 quality of the JusticeMakers website is largely due to the generosity of pro bono software developers. Promotional events in target countries were financed through partner contributions. Management of the competition has been executed mostly by volunteers in Geneva and Singapore.

ChALLENGES ThAT hAvE ARISEN, WhICh WERE NoT ANTICIPATEd WhEN dRAfTING PRoJECT PRoPoSALIBJ met unexpected difficulty in recruiting JusticeMakers Fellowship applicants from criminal justice communities in countries surrounding Singapore. Relatively few applications were submitted from Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Even so, in the end, one Malaysian and one Vietnamese project each were among the successful applications.

CommuNITY RESPoNSE To ThE PRoJECTWe received 112 applications from 22 countries. This was a s ignificant improvement from the 64 applications for the 2008 pilot competition.

Our work with partners was also very successful. Without the promise of pay, exposure, or any other benefit, legal aid groups and NGOs throughout Asia demonstrated a willingness to promote JusticeMakers as part of their existing mission. Fifty-six partners worldwide joined IBJ in their support of this year’s competition.7

CommuNITY CoNTRIBuTIoN oR PARTICIPATIoN IN PRoJECTLawyers, defenders, and humanitarian workers worldwide eagerly shared their experiences through the JusticeMakers Fellowship application process.

Equally encouraging has been the response to IBJ’s plan to use Singapore as a training hub. IBJ has held regular meetings with various stakeholders in Singapore, many of which have resulted in offers of additional support and introductions to key allies.

2008 JusticeMakers Fellow Ram Kumar Bhandari speaking with road workers in Nepal

1 The JusticeMakers Partnership Programme. http://www.justicemakers.net/partners2 The JusticeMakers Competition 2010 Panel of Judges. http://www.justicemakers.net/2010judges3 Recipients of the 2010 JusticeMakers Fellowship. http://justicemakers.net/2010fellows4 IBJ Legal Training Resource Centre. http://www.ibj.org/elearning5 IBJ Defense Wiki - The Wiki for Criminal Defense Attorneys. http://defensewiki.ibj.org6 JusticeMakers, a project of International Bridges to Justice. http://www.justicemakers.net 7 List of partners for the JusticeMakers Partnership Programme. http://www.justicemakers.net/partners



MiraIntermediary for Micro-PhilanthropyBeneficiary country: Cambodia / Southeast Asia

Lack of access, or financial means, continue to be the most significant reason for why up to 18 million children in Southeast Asia are not enrolled in schools. Mira’s goal is to make education universally accessible by creating a personalised scholarship fund online that is self-managed and data-driven, enabling a collaborative sponsorship model that links funders to a particular student, with real-time updates from both parties.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEASimilar to Kiva Microfunds and DonorsChoose (international micro-loan organisations), Mira is next in line to push for a donor model that is more personalised, self-managed and data-driven by leveraging on information flow through the web. Mira’s concept facilitates an affordable and personalised scholarship fund, collaborative sponsorship between funders for a particular student and real-time updates from funders and candidates.

Organisation Bio

Mira is a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering every child to reach his or her full potential by making education universally accessible. The organisation uses online platforms to fund innovative social projects that benefit children around the world.

http://mirascholars.org/blog/about/

ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmMore than 18 million children in Southeast Asia who are of primary-school age are not enrolled in school. While reasons for this are not conclusive, available studies point to the minimal resources that are needed to incentivise them to remain in school e.g. U.S.$6 for uniforms in Kenya. However it appears that giving scholarships, rather than simply defraying costs, is a specific motivator. This also has a multiplier effect in encouraging friends of recipients.

Mira meeting with an NGO in Cambodia in October 2009, to assess possible candidates for the project.



ImPLEmENTATIoNMira’s base operations are in California, U.S. and Singapore. Starting with its first project sites in Cambodia, it focuses on four objectives for the year:

Recruiting site partners; 1. Improving online service based on funder needs; 2. Fund-raising and 3. Identifying corporate sponsorship opportunities. 4.

In the meantime, the website is going through the testing stage with a prototype ready by July 2010 and the full official release slated for January 2011.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTSince receiving the Lien i3 Award, Mira has been •working on building its product – an innovative online system allowing everyday donors to fund education-related projects in developing countries.Mira is also interviewing a myriad of NGOs to •establish what needs exist on the ground.The initial model Mira intended to use was to •raise funds student-by-student by posting profiles related to school costs online. After speaking to credible NGOs in Cambodia, •the team realised there would be selection bias and other unforeseen issues. Another model was then implemented, which •will work on a group or project basis with at least 5 children in each group.Mira’s core team members also undertook trips to •the beneficiary country (Cambodia) to undertake a needs assessment of several NGOs evaluating their financial and operational credibility.

ImmEdIATE ChALLENGES To PRoJECTThe process of developing a product and bringing •it to the market is the first challenge.Ensuring that the product Mira creates will •be useful to NGOs on the ground is the second challenge.

The process of working across two countries •to address operational development has been challenging. Mira’s project is a platform or conduit for funders •and NGOs to be matched. The challenge with this is that donors want accountability and transparency, as well as impact, while NGOs struggle to manage relationships, effectively present their projects and receive funding.Building a tool that will make this relationship •more effective is also a challenge.Identifying genuine NGOs and making sure the •work is legitimate requires a lot of time on the ground.


The platform is designed to allow for NGOs to •first enter the U.S. donor market and subsequently to expand worldwide. U.S. donors prefer to go through U.S.-based NGOs – a role that Mira fulfils because of its adherence to strict government regulations pertaining to philanthropic organisations.Mira is essentially a free tool for NGOs, who will •not have to pay anything to use the service. Overheads are low and applying for funding •via Mira should considerably shorten the donation process.In essence, the NGO community will be given •the tools to become actively engaged in receiving donor funds for their education-centred projects.If NGOs have their own website, Mira can build •tools for them to advertise their own website as well, so that the two sites are integrated.

CommuNITY RESPoNSE To PRoJECTNGOs are keen for this to work because funding •is a perennial problem.Many more donors are looking to donate online •and we can also meet this need.

Sarah Ortega, Co-Founder, Mira (far right) talking to two Mira volunteers in San Francisco.

The Mira Team: Simon Tam, Jens Thang and Sara Ortega (L-R)



sHILPA sAYURA FoUnDAtIon The Shilpa Sayura e-SchoolBeneficiary country: Sri Lanka

better learning amongst rural youth. Research has also shown a positive impact on examination results amongst rural youth who use the e-learning centres.

The system focuses on the weakest academic areas for students, which include Math, Science and English. It also expands the topics of study to include sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, health and environment.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEA The project will bridge the gap in communicable curriculum and will motivate youth and adults to engage in learning using information and communication technology. This will be done in an open, participatory manner that sidesteps logistical constraints and reaches the grassroots.

ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEm People in Sri Lanka’s rural areas lack teachers, books and educational resources leading to unemployment and poverty. While the government provides free schooling, only 2.7% of the national budget is apportioned to education. It also does not meet the needs of an ethnical ly and linguistically diverse population. As a result, failure rates for the GCE O-level ranges from 50-70%, leading to early school drop-out and a lack of employment and higher education opportunities.

The team proposes to transform 600 existing te lecentres that fac i l i ta te e- learning and self-learning of the national academic curriculum to a new domain of digital knowledge that develops rural education in Sri Lanka. The system facilitates

Organisation Bio

Shilpa Sayura is a non-profit organisation dedicated to using information and communication technology (ICT) and online tools to educate and empower Sri Lankans. The organisation uses e-Learning, develops the national curriculum, provides local language training, self-training programmes and tele-centres to reach out to the poorest with no access to educational resources.

http://www.shilpasayura.org/uniportal/news/info.asp?xi=457

In a country like Sri Lanka ravaged by decades of civil war, access to educational resources for an ethnically diverse population is scant at best, leading to disproportionate failure rates among high school students. The Shilpa Sayura team proposes to transform 600 existing tele-centres that facilitate e-learning and self-learning of the national curriculum to a new domain of digital knowledge that develops rural education in Sri Lanka.

The chief priest and teacher is using Shilpa Sayura to teach a history lesson to children who don’t have computers (Sri Shesahramaya Telecentre, Kandewinna, Monaragala District, Sri Lanka) - Photos by Niranjan Meegammana



hoW IT WoRKSMonths 1-6 focus on project formulation, equipment and software upgrade, as well as Tamil and Sinhala content synchronisation. Months 7-12 will focus on integration, testing and deployment in 50 centres. The project originated with the e-SDI Shilpa Sayura Project that was funded by the Sri Lankan government’s Information and Communication Agency (ICTA) and implemented in 150 centres with 8000 lessons as its content base. The team proposes to upgrade the existing curriculum by adding 14000 lessons with new subjects, video lectures and Tamil content. The system is provided free to Telecentres in a manner that enables e-learning in rural communities. For their part, Telecentres provide these learning tools at a subsidised rate, thus generating sufficient revenue to remain sustainable. The content creation and development process takes place on an on-going basis, taking into account changes to the national curriculum and community needs.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTWith the Lien i3 Award, Shilpa Sayura has •gone on to set up a new entity called “Shilpa Sayura Foundation”, mandated with streamlining and focusing its vision, as outlined above.The Foundation team conducted a needs assessment •by visiting 100 telecentres and obtained feedback and operational data.The team has reviewed existing educational •content at these telecentres and is in the midst of creating new content, as well as training content developers to use new technologies.

ImmEdIATE ChALLENGES To PRoJECTThe new social model symbolised by the formation •of Shilpa Sayura Foundation has diverse key stakeholders living in areas that are geographically far apart. The Foundation has moved from a single office model to one which allows for a wider distribution of human resources. While working with new technologies allows for greater breadth and reach, this transition has been a challenge. From the feedback the team has received, •there is a need to improve the current content base and create more interactive content.Technology used in the Shilpa Sayura project is •being improved and needs to keep up with current methods of instruction.Although the focus has been on Telecentres, •the team has found that there is potential in engaging Tamil communities who live in estates and in the post-conflict areas of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Budget limitation for hardware has also been •a problem.


The Foundation has already been actively engaged •with the community through Shilpa Sayura 1 and 2 – initiatives that focus on education in Sri Lanka.New content will be distributed in August 2010.•Research is being carried out as a part of the •implementation phase to obtain feedback from the community on the impact of the system and future needs.Telecentres are being identified to act as regional •leaders as the project expands its scope.


The communities have responded by acknowledging •that the current project is innovative.A survey we conducted among 150 telecentres •found that over 9000 students have used Shilpa Sayura e-Learning. They would like the project to expand.As a result of the existing use of the Shilpa Sayura •programme, telecentres have grown in popularity and their revenue has increased as a result. Some telecentres are now engaged in content •development for Shilpa Sayura.The newly created content on Modern and •Sustainable Agriculture has benefitted rural farmers, especially women engaged in agricultural work.There is a growing demand from telecentres •island wide to replicate the project in their communities.


Revenue opportunities have been created for •unemployed volunteers working in the telecentres, content developers, teachers and telecentre operators who provide local support services.The Shilpa Sayura Community contributes by •creating content, implementing programmes and providing support.Students who use the content provide feedback, •leading telecentres provide implementation support and some of the telecentres are coordinating creation of content with teachers.An open forum has been set up so that participants •can discuss and contribute to Shilpa Sayura’s efforts towards developing content.The project is also providing opportunities for •telecentres to derive micro revenue from the project, which has increased their participation and sustainability.



nGee Ann PoLYteCHnIC stUDentsIntelligent Walking AidBeneficiary country: Singapore / Asia

It is a challenge for the visually handicapped to move about on their own and existing mobility training by the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) encourages the visually handicapped to memorise the routes they will be using every day, restricting their opportunities to venture into new places on their own. Two innovative graduates from Ngee Ann Polytechnic have created a prototype walking aid that is more interactive in nature and will allow for the visually handicapped to discover new places, independently.

Organisation Bio

Mainmunah Bte Nokman and Lim Yu Ling are graduates of Singapore’s Ngee Ann Polytechnic School of InfoComm Technology. They conceptualised the Intelligent Walking Aid as a tool that can “talk” to visually-handicapped users. The pair is currently working with the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) to produce an improved prototype that could be available commercially in about two years.

http://www.np.edu.sg/home/spotlight/Pages/eXtraArticles.aspx?type=feature&year=2010&month=Feb&articlenum=4#focus



ThE ThEoRY/PRoBLEmIt is a challenge for the visually handicapped to move about on their own and existing mobility training by the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) encourages the visually handicapped to memorise the routes they will be using every day, restricting their opportunities to venture into new places on their own.

ThE INNovATIvE IdEAThe team proposes to develop a system to allow the visually handicapped to navigate their way around with the help of a hearing aid that makes use of Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID), assisted-GPS technology as well as digital compass. A stick device allows users to get information about their current location, directions to destinations and their orientation. The user will carry the walking stick and the mobile device. The RFID reader will pick up the RFID tags on the way and the mobile device will tell the user where he is heading.

The idea will introduce a new use for RFID, whichis normally used for item tracking and commerce. Braille buttons will also be integrated into the walking stick. hoW IT WoRKSThe project has two phases of implementation, the first of which has been implemented at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of InfoComm Technology. The second phase extends the system implementation to the whole of Ngee Ann Polytechnic. If the pilot proves successful, the team will implement the system in SAVH. The team intends to set up a social enterprise that makes use of technology to help the visually handicapped.

STEPS TAKEN To ImPLEmENT PRoJECTThe team has divided the phases of development •according to a time frame of one year so that major milestones will be achieved by the 4th, 8th and 12th months. The team has changed i t s focus f rom •commercialisation to more research and development. This shift was made based on feedback received •from SAVH as well as testers of the product. This would allow the team to enhance the functions of the walking stick to better suit the user.

The team proposes to develop a system to allow the visually handicapped to navigate their way around with the help of a hearing aid that makes use of Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID), assisted-GPS technology as well as digital compass.

Mr Andrew Tan, lecturer from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, one of the advisers for the Intelligent Walking Aid Project.




The team began developing the project as a •final year project at the School of InfoComm Technology in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Lecturers supported the efforts and saw •the potential for it to work in a more expanded form.The team also met with SAVH, which gave •further input to ensure that the project would be more user-friendly and feasible for the visually handicapped.The community has generally responded to the •initiative positively, by providing support and encouragement in these early phases of research and development.


SAVH has been involved from the early stages of •the project to ensure that the final product will be suitable for the target audience, namely the visually handicapped community.

ImmEdIATE ChALLENGES To PRoJECTAs the team has set up what is a relatively new •organisation, it does not have the proper environment to carry out research and development. The team’s alma mater, Ngee Ann Polytechnic has •provided a suitable office area so that work can be carried out.


Initially the team proposed to have the product as •a separate piece of equipment.After receiving feedback from SAVH, the team •realised that the visually handicapped community are reluctant to use an instrument that requires technological know-how and would prefer the project to be an add-on to their existing mobile phones.With new technology platforms being created all •the time, the challenge is to consistently check programme codes to make sure there is compatibility with the old models of mobile phones.

From left, Maimunah Nokman and Lim Yu Ling with the first prototype and demonstrating the usage at Ngee Ann Polytechnic

From left, Maimunah Nokman and Lim Yu Ling receiving the award for the Lien i3 Challenge during the awards ceremony at SMU on the 23rd of October 2009



on tHe WILD sIDe

Don’t Do GooD!Fredrik Härén

Fredrik Härén

Fredrik Härén is a speaker and author on business creativity. His book, The Idea Book, was recently included in “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time” and has been translated into 13 languages. He was elected Speaker of The Year in Sweden 2007. He now lives in Singapore.

Don´t do good.

How many business leaders wake up in the morning and say to themselves: “Well, today I am going to be as evil as I possibly can.”

Not many I think.

I am sure that even the leaders of drug cartels in Mexico - whom we can cynically call ‘business leaders’ - are able to give what they consider to be a good reason for why they are doing what they do.

They might say: “We are not forcing anyone to use the drugs. We are only here to make sure supply meets demand…,” or alternatively, they say, “If we don´t

do it someone else will.” Or, “The US has created a structure that makes it impossible for us Mexicans to make a good living in any other way.” As far as cartels are concerned, the success of their business assures that their children are provided for.

Members of the organisation Sea Shepherd may think that whale-hunting is one of the most evil of human activities. In contrast a captain on a Japanese whale-hunting-ship will argue that the practice is a long-running cultural tradition; that it is only natural. He will call it a good thing to do.

Similarly, there are people who will call the fight for free abortion one of the most important struggles of the 20th century. In opposition to them, there

On The Wild Side


are people in the US who will plant bombs at abortion clinics because, for them, an abortion equals murder.

Both sides are fighting for their cause fully convinced that they are fighting for what is Right. For what is Good.

And it is because of the views of fanatics and extremists that I am afraid - or at least very, very sceptical - when I hear companies and organisations bragging about being ‘a good company.’

When people are overly convinced of the moral uprightness of what they are doing, for me, alarm bells go off.

It is true that power corrupts. I think it is equally true that people - and organisations - who call themselves ‘good’ are in a position where they risk being blinded by their own good.

Am I suggesting that companies and organisations should not strive to good and do well? Is it wrong that business is finally starting to look at social responsibility in a responsible way? Am I opposed to the trend of companies coming round to the idea that they have corporate social responsibility?

Of course not.

But it is important that the slogans do not stand in the way of what is really important.

Instead of always trying to achieve what we think is ‘good’ or ‘correct’, perhaps we should instead try to focus on doing something which in the end is less focused on ourselves. Let’s be a bit less selfish.

One of my favourite movie scenes is from the film Gandhi, the biopic about the great Indian leader. In that scene, Mahatma Gandhi meets a Christian man who is devastated after having killed a child. The dialogue is:

Nahari: I’m going to Hell! I killed a child! I smashed his head against a wall.Gandhi: Why?Nahari: Because they killed my son! The Muslims killed my son!Gandhi: I know a way out of Hell. Find a child, a child whose mother and father have been killed and raise him as your own. Only be sure that he is a Muslim and that you raise him as one.

The idea of being unselfish may not be as catchy a sound bite as the idea of being good, but I think it is a better goal to strive for. One thing is certain: at a time when we have become efficient at using the earth’s resources in a completely unsustainable manner, the value of putting aside one’s personal wants and desires is far greater.

Unselfishness is perhaps the most beautiful of human traits. Unfortunately it is as rare as it is beautiful. And as important right now as it is rare.

On The Wild Side

The idea of being unselfish may not be as catchy a sound bite as the idea of being good, but I think it is a better goal to strive for. One thing is certain: at a time when we have become efficient at using the earth’s resources in a completely unsustainable manner, the value of putting aside one’s personal wants and desires is far greater.


OUR VISIONTo be a thought leader and catalyst for positive social change in

Singapore and Asia

OUR MISSIONTo inspire ideas and innovations, foster new alliances and facilitate

solutions to strengthen the non-profit sector.

We seek to enhance and grow the non-profit sector primarily through social innovation. Social Innovations are new ideas and insights implemented to create impactful social value. They take place within the social, businesses and government sectors, especially blossoming where they intersect. The Centre aims to catalyse and cultivate these ideas to strengthen and empower civil society and the non-profit sector.

Our role is to be a thought leader, facilitator and an enabler. The latter include mentoring, incubation and piloting of projects that foster social innovation.

We exist for the non-profit sector, and we work through the diverse range of stakeholders in the charity ecosystem, in particular, the Lien Foundation and SMU (students and faculty), nonprofits and nonprofit leaders, socially responsible corporations, and the community at large.

Based in Singapore , the Lien Centre posits itself in enabling global thinking and best practices related to Social Innovation in Singapore and beyond.

LIEN CENTRE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION | www.lcsi.smu.edu.sg

Administration Building 81 Victoria Street Singapore 188065Tel: +65 6828 0821 Fax: +65 6828 0711 Email: [email protected]

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