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A Growing Business Movement
THE GLOBAL BUSINESS COALITION CAME TOGETHER TO GIVE THE PRIVATE SECTOR A COLLECTIVE VOICE ON HIV/AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS, AND MALARIA, and to ensure that business initiatives to fight these pandemics produce the best results possible. The idea is simple: We can do more working together than working in isolation.
It was only eight years ago, in July, 2000, that Ambassador Richard Holbrooke put HIV/AIDS on the
United Nations’ agenda as a national security issue for the first time, and governments worldwide took notice. After leaving his UN post, Ambassador Holbrooke found allies in the private sector who saw HIV/AIDS as a business issue, and he set about building the Coalition that would turn that insight into action and impact.
GBC has since become the core of hard-driving actions by companies both individually and collectively—through information exchange, networking, expert guidance, and partnerships. Governments and NGOs now see business as a logical and indispensable partner in the fight. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said as much in his recent call for stepped-up action on global pandemics just recently.
The upshot is that business is getting things done and cross-sector coordination is better than ever.We’re still losing the fight, but the pieces are in place to turn things around. Nothing gets done well in isolation—and the Coalition is working to make sure that things get done in ways that make business the best, most effective partner it can be.
As this special issue of Business Action recognizes exceptional companies who have won a GBC Award for Business Excellence, it’s also a good time to look back on some of the key ways in which the Coalition as a whole is producing the tools and connections to support the overall impact of the private sector. All of what GBC has done in the year since the last Awards were given is designed to move the private sector solidly forward to make the fight deeper and more effective, and to make members more successful. Following are some key examples of the ways in which GBC is doing this.
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK
Promoting Testing and Counseling through the Private Sector in Kenya
Two million Kenyans will be provided voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) through an agreement reached by GBC and the government of Kenya in May. The concerted testing effort will be the Coalition’s first Impact Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa, leveraging private sector resources and competencies to scale up a highly successful and innovative VCT partnership underway in western Kenya. This commitment builds on GBC’s previous CEO testing campaign, co-coordinated by GBC and the National AIDS Control Council, in which
26 top Kenyan CEOs took a public HIV test on World AIDS Day last December. CEOs who participated in the testing event represented more than 2,500 workers, and were later featured in interviews on Kenyan national television and radio, further spreading the testing message.
Building Partnerships between Business and the U.S. Government
The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) joined forces with GBC on a new initiative—Partnerships for Life—that will save more lives around the world from deadly epidemics by combining expertise and resources. PEPFAR will be an integral partner in GBC’s upcoming Impact Initiatives, building on a pilot partnership between the two organizations in Zambia, which distributed 500,000 long-lasting insecticidal nets and trained more than 12,000 community caregivers in malaria prevention methods. The collaborative potential among GBC member companies and PEPFAR is unmistakable: Coalition members are active in many of PEPFAR’s focus countries, including Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.
» PEPFAR Collaboration: Read more about Partnerships for Life
Orchestrating Public-Private Partnerships in Russia
Following the recommendation of GBC/TPAA, public-private partnerships have been officially integrated into the 2008 work plan of the HIV/AIDS Committee at the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development. By recognizing and sanctioning these partnerships, the Russian government opened new doors for collaboration with the private sector to fight HIV/AIDS. This promising development follows on the heels of GBC/TPAA’s Members’ Trip to Russia and the corresponding Leaders’ Forum on Public- Private Partnerships in October 2007. More than 180 top policy- makers, business leaders, and dignitaries from around the world gathered for the Forum, which served as a springboard for the development and initiation of new high-impact public-private partnerships to fight global epidemics.
» Public-Private Partnerships: Read the full report from the 2007 Leader’s Forum (PDF)
Scaling up the Business Fight against Malaria
The Coalition expanded its role as a central hub and support point for private sector action on malaria, assuming coordinating responsibilities of the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa (CAMA) in January. Chaired by Marathon Oil, CAMA is a coalition of 12 companies with operations in Africa. GBC will help to orchestrate collaborations and other initiatives for CAMA, advancing the private sector’s stepped-up activity to improve the impact of malaria control efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. This joint effort will maximize malaria intervention benefits through in-country cooperation, information-sharing and private sector advocacy.
A dedicated project manager coordinates GBC, CAMA and partners in the field, maximizing the impact of ongoing initiatives against malaria.
» Malaria Action: Learn more about what the Coalition and its members are doing about malaria
Bringing Local, National and Regional Business Coalitions Together
To better coordinate private sector action at all levels of operation, GBC launched the first global hub for local, national and regional business coalitions on HIV/AIDS, TB and/or malaria. The National Connections Initiative helps to organize business action at the national level—which is the most efficient level of engagement for many small and medium enterprises in the developing world—providing leadership to collaborative business strategies and facilitating linkages with other private sector efforts. In February, GBC met with business leaders in Angola to establish that country’s first national business coalition.
» Coordinating Business Coalitions: Learn more about GBC’s National Connections Initiative
Positioning HIV/AIDS and TB on the Government Agenda
GBC brokered an agreement with Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich in November to elevate
HIV/AIDS and TB to national priority status and create a new high-level government post to work exclusively on these issues. The agreement builds on the efforts of GBC members, who have been working with the government and media to help draw attention to the country’s growing epidemics. Ukraine has become a global hotspot for HIV/TB co-infection and is home to one of the highest rates of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) in the world.
Building Greater Collaboration with the UN on Malaria
CEOs from the Coalition met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last June and highlighted the need for a Special Envoy on Malaria. Over the course of the next several months, GBC and its members stayed in close contact with the Secretary-General’s office as the UN considered making such an appointment. The Coalition is delighted that Ray Chambers, a businessman and founder of Malaria No More, a nonprofit with extensive cross-sector collaborative experience, was selected to serve in this new post. GBC is actively working with Chambers, who is a leading advocate for fully activating the skills, know-how and resources of the private sector to enhance the reach and impact of anti-malaria programs.
Mobilizing the Travel and Tourism Industry
A coalition of travel and tourism companies supported by GBC and under the leadership of Accor is addressing the growing challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, leveraging company resources to reach both employees and customers in a concerted prevention program. The 14 members of GBC’s Travel and Tourism Industry Dialogue have actively campaigned for greater involvement across the industry, launched a set of best practice case studies, created public service announcements for travelers, and established an online forum to increase networking opportunities and to share each other’s tools and knowledge. The travel and tourism industry—which employs around 10 percent of the world’s workforce and impacts 850 million consumers annually—is uniquely positioned through its workforce and customer base, to help limit the spread of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria.
» Best Practices: Read the Travel and Tourism Best Practice Guidebook (PDF)
TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION
Creating an Action Plan for Supply Chain Engagement
A new seven-point action plan for supply chain engagement was developed by companies at the
2007 GBC Technical Sessions to improve business efforts to expand protection to their suppliers and distributors. Small and medium-sized businesses employ 80 percent of the world's workers, but most do not have workplace health programs to protect employees from global epidemics. GBC’s full report on supply chain engagement includes best practices from Gap Inc., which worked with GBC to identify sustainable ways to address HIV/AIDS among garment workers and their families throughout its supply chain. GBC collaborated with Gap Inc. to assess the project model for its then newly developed intervention, the
Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA).
» Supply Chain: Read the full report on supply chain engagement (PDF)
Identifying Malaria Execution Gaps and Entry Points
GBC’s first publication on the business fight against malaria identifies strategic priorities and existing execution gaps for business action. The Corporate Response to Malaria: An Actionable Overview was developed in partnership with Booz & Company from the recommendations made at the Private Sector Malaria Forum in 2007. In the past year, GBC has been ramping up its support and tools for malaria efforts. In addition to taking leadership of the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa, the Coalition is currently putting together a malaria Impact Initiative. On World Malaria Day 2008, GBC also launched a new online malaria resource, featuring best practices from our top member companies and expert recommendations from private sector and NGO leaders.
» Malaria Action: Read The Corporate Response to Malaria: An Actionable Overview (PDF)
Improving Monitoring and Evaluation with E-Learning
In September, GBC will launch a new e-learning tool to help companies evaluate their workplace policies and measure program impact. The monitoring and evaluation tool, which will be available on CD-ROM, enables companies to assess the quality of care provided to employees. The new tool is part of a multi-pronged GBC initiative on monitoring and evaluation—the subject of this year’s Technical Sessions—to help the private sector design stronger programs moving forward. The tool was developed in partnership with German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), GlaxoSmithKline, the French Business Foundation, and ZMQ Software Systems. A series of additional GBC e-learning modules and online tutorials are also in development.
Guiding Companies’ Workplace Policy Creation
More than 75 companies consulted with GBC to improve their HIV/AIDS workplace programs and policies in the last year. HSBC and Virgin Group recently launched workplace policies in close collaboration with GBC, while other companies like Deutsche Post, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, and AIG Kenya have utilized GBC’s expertise in developing their policies. To better support the establishment of comprehensive workplace policies, GBC developed a new HIV/AIDS workplace policy toolkit that provides companies with resources for establishing non-discrimination policies, awareness programs and drug treatment for employees. The toolkit is now available online to GBC member companies.
» Workplace Policies: Explore GBC’s HIV/AIDS workplace policy toolkit (PDF)
Defining the Action Agenda on Women and HIV/AIDS
Best practices from GBC member companies at the forefront of the fight against the feminization of HIV/AIDS are available in a set of case studies recently compiled by GBC, featuring real-world experiences and actionable recommendations. GBC will be using the new publication to catalyze further action on women and HIV/AIDS in 2008, including presenting on the subject at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this August. In Good Company: How Business Fights the Feminization of HIV/AIDS features best practices by Boehringer Ingelheim, Exxon Mobil Corporation, HBO, EastOne LLC, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co., Micato Safaris, MTV Networks International, Standard Chartered Bank, and SSL International.
» Women and HIV: Read In Good Company: How Business Fights the Feminization of HIV/AIDS (PDF)
Showing How to Fight Stigma in the Workplace
Stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS continues to pose a serious threat to the efficacy of prevention, treatment and care programs in highly affected regions. GBC South Africa teamed up with some of the Coalition’s leading member companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daimler AG, DeBeers, Orasure Technologies Inc., SABMiller, and Volkswagen S.A. to roll out private sector stigma guidelines—a set of specific steps companies can take and a collection of best practices to reduce stigma in the workplace.
The guidelines are already being used by over 80 companies with operations in sub- Saharan Africa to inform the development of their HIV/AIDS workplace policies.
Measuring Progress and Communicating Impact in the Business Fight
GBC has launched an expanded version of our Best Practice Action Standards (BPAS), which helps companies to measure the impact of their products, skills, services and philanthropic efforts in the global fight. “BPAS 2.0” incorporates the latest trends and benchmarking standards to provide companies with clear and concise insight into their progress, and adds tuberculosis and malaria to the evaluation.
BPAS was also used in 2006 to measure the overall status of the fight in The State of Business and AIDS. A 2008 edition of the survey, The State of Business and HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is now using the revised BPAS, and will be released later this year.
» Status of the Fight: Read The State of Business and AIDS (2006) (PDF)
COORDINATING CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATIONS
GBC Impact Initiatives Underway in China, Kenya, South Africa
Coalition staff and member companies have organized two new Impact Initiatives in Africa, which will bring global work teams of private-sector players together with NGO, government and local partners in focused collaboration to achieve clear, high-impact objectives. Earlier this year, an Impact Initiative focused on HIV/AIDS public awareness in China got underway.
In Kenya, GBC member companies will work with AMPATH, a local NGO, to bring its highly successful home-based voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) program to two million Kenyans over a two-year period, aligning the effort with the Kenyan government’s HIV-testing agenda. In addition to providing home-based, VCT, the initiative’s counselors will screen for TB, provide two insecticide- treated bed nets per household, and administer de-worming medicines for all children. Four Coalition members— Pfizer Inc, BD (Becton Dickinson and Company), Unilever, and Abbott Laboratories—have already committed to the project and GBC is actively seeking more private-sector players to help bring the program to scale.
In South Africa, Coalition companies will establish a large-scale, comprehensive TB prevention campaign to address the growing threat of TB transmission in the workplace. Five GBC members—Eli Lilly, Daimler AG, Standard Bank, AngloGold Ashanti and BD—have already committed to bringing this Impact Initiative to fruition.
The Coalition is now focusing on identifying companies with strategic competencies and resources that can fill execution gaps in these first three Impact Initiatives in China, Kenya, and South Africa.
» Making Impact: Learn more about Impact Initiatives and how you can get involved
Jump-Starting HIV/AIDS Awareness through High- Powered Collaboration
The China HIV/AIDS Media Partnership (CHAMP), a GBC Impact Initiative, is coordinating the core competencies of media companies to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the world's most populous nation. The collaboration is an integral component of the Coalition’s China agenda— which has already reached more than one million Chinese citizens through educational and awareness-raising campaigns. Over 740 million Chinese people will see CHAMP’s first HIV/AIDS public service announcement this summer. The partnership builds upon proven techniques, including lessons learned from TPAA/GBC’s successful Russia Media Partnership, which leveraged $15 million in free advertising space, including TV airtime and other mass media platforms, in 2007. CHAMP receives financial support from The Coca-Cola Company and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Coordinating Media Companies for HIV/AIDS Education in the U.S.
Plans are underway to launch a U.S. public education program in 2009 with a wide range of GBC member companies—the result of demand by Coalition members to address the growing threat of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. This effort builds on a successful U.S. national media campaign launched last year, led by GBC, HBO, the NBA, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Testing411 encouraged Americans to get tested for HIV, through more than 480 public service announcements aired on national TV and cable networks in June/July 2007. The campaign also received more than 10,000 website visits (www.testing411.org) and resulted in 4,000 referrals to the Centers for Disease Control testing center locator during its first two months. The initiatives are part of the Coalition’s global strategy to support collaborative media action worldwide, including GBC’s China and Russia media partnerships on HIV/AIDS.
Training Business Managers to Lead Workplace Education
More than 1,600 Russian and Ukrainian managers, HR specialists, and employees were trained by GBC/TPAA through the HEALTH@WORK program in 2007. The innovative workplace education program helps companies raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and TB among internal stakeholders—safeguarding their health and reducing financial losses caused by the diseases. HEALTH@WORK trainings reach a wide range of companies from multinational corporations such as MAC Cosmetics, PepsiCo and Shell, to local manufacturers, such as Dinasovski Zavod and Kirovgrad Metallurgical Company.
Coordinating Innovative Investment in the Global Fund
The Chevron Corporation committed $30 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria this February, establishing the company as the Global Fund’s first “Corporate Champion”. GBC brought the two parties together to develop a dynamic new strategy to maximize the impact of corporate dollars on the ground. Each Corporate Champion will make a financial contribution to Global Fund-supported programs in countries in which they operate, significantly expanding upon their own workplace and community projects and investing in high-quality, rigorously monitored and results-focused health programs aligned with national needs and strategies.
» Corporate Champion: Read more about Chevron’s investment in the Global Fund
Netting Wins Against Malaria through Cross-sector Mobilization
GBC member companies rapidly deployed 500,000 long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in 2007 through a model cross-sector collaboration that combined the funding and competencies of business and government with the distribution networks and infrastructure of a local NGO. The unique partnership between the Coalition, the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, the President’s Malaria Initiative and RAPIDS, an HIV/AIDS-related NGO, leveraged the organization’s vast network of 12,000 volunteer Zambian caregivers, who delivered the life-saving bed nets during their home visits throughout rural Zambia. As a result of the partnership, over one million people are now protected by the bed nets and the participating community caregivers have been trained in malaria prevention methods.
» Bed Net Deployment: Learn more about GBC’s cross-sector collaboration on malaria