Logistics Emergency Teams

Here's a message from the Geneva-based World Economic Forum:

"In case of a major humanitarian disaster, the primary mechanism for coordinating humanitarian assistance is the Cluster system - unique cooperation involving key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners.


The Logistics Emergency Teams (LET) developed by the World Economic Forum and partner companies are the first example of a successful operational partnership between the private sector and the Cluster system. The Logistics Emergency Teams have deployed in support of emergency relief efforts in Mozambique, Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Indonesia, Myanmar, Chile, Japan and the Horn of Africa since 2008.

This week LET and the Forum hosted the global meeting of the Logistics Cluster [at Forum Headquarters] in Cologny - bringing together our partner companies with over 50 humanitarian logistics leads from the World Food Programme, World Health Organization, OXFAM, Save the Children, UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF, and many others.

This meeting allowed a global sharing of best practices and lessons learned. It is an excellent example of multistakeholder cooperation to assist those in need. We will continue to support the further development of the Logistics Emergency Teams to improve preparedness for emergency response."

Anti-Corruption Awareness Day

9 December was International Anti-Corruption Day. More awareness is needed of the widespread problem of corruption, and what is being done to fight it. One effort is the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which entered into force on 14 December 2005. So far 140 countries have signed the Convention. In January 2004, the World Economic Forum also launched an initiative to combat corruption, the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI). See also the UN's Global Compact and Transparency International's Global Coalition against Corruption.
Add your voice to the global battle by supporting the "Say No to Corruption" campaign on Facebook. It's everybody's business.

End Corruption Now

Support the United Nations Global Compact, Transparency International and the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative in sending the message to end corruption, by joining the End Corruption Now! Facebook Community page. It aims to promote greater global participation to fight corruption. The launch of this page sends "a strong message to the world at large that corruption is not just a matter for a few business people and public officials to be concerned about but rather an issue that affects people at all levels of society like you and me -- and that it is an issue that the wider general public cares about." To send a powerful message on December 9, 2010, International Anti-Corruption Day, to leaders of business, government and civil society, the goal of 5,000 fans joining the page is needed. So sign up and learn more about the fight against corruption in Thailand, the UK, India, Malawi and elsewhere.

Progress Undented by Financial Crises

With the US-led crisis just behind us and another unfolding in Europe, one could be forgiven for becoming pessimistic about our prospects. But at the World Economic Forum’s Global Redesign Summit in Doha last week participants were asked to cast their gaze back over the last 60 years and ask, “How are we doing?” The answer: fantastically well. Sixty years ago, after all, Europe and much of Asia were still struggling to emerge from the ashes of the second world war. China has in the past 20 years achieved what the leaders of the Long March never could have imagined. And in just the past decade, Africa has emerged from decades of turmoil, famine and epidemics to become a promising new centre of growth. Incomes are more evenly distributed than ever. Fewer people proportionately live in poverty, hunger or the darkness of illiteracy than ever before. They have more choices than ever before. And now we stand on the threshold of a revolution in health brought about by bioengineering and nanotechnology. Times may be tough, but we have undoubtedly come a long, long way.

Reaching New Heights for Nepalese Orphans

Ama Dablam (6,859m)
In April, international mountain guides and Managing Directors of MatterhornNepal-GuideSource Treks & Expeditions Ltd, RJ Fleming and Ang Kami Sherpa, climbed Himalayan peaks to raise awareness of their charity to educate Nepalese orphans. The World Economic Forum and Prof. Klaus Schwab supported the project, acting as patron of this awareness raising campaign. The goal of this venture was to expose the fact that 1 out of every 23 individuals in Nepal is an orphan with no access to an education, and to encourage individuals, corporations and organizations to contribute to Education for Orphans of Nepal (EON). Started in 2001 by MatterhornNepal-GuideSource, this charity presently funds the entire living and boarding school educational costs of 11 Nepalese children without families, for a period of 10 years for each child.

The climbs of Ice Land Peak (6,189m) and Ama Dablam (6,859m) in the Solu Khumbu region of the Himalayan range were undertaken in the belief that most individuals, even those who have visited or wish to visit this most coveted tourist destination, are completely unaware of the plight of nearly one million of this country's impoverished yet truly kind-hearted inhabitants. The EON project gives anyone the chance to contribute and directly improve an orphan's life, offering them the choices and hope for the future only possible through an education. EON is a Nepal registered charity; MatterhornNepal-GuideSource absorbs all administrative costs, enabling total contributions to go straight to the children's educational costs.

Obliged to abandon their attempts to summit Ama Dablam due to treacherous conditions and falling ice and rock at about 6,500m, in mid-April RJ Fleming and Ang Kami Sherpa summited Ice Land Peak, and returned safely to Katmandu.

If you wish to receive information about EON or contribute to the education of Nepalese orphans, write to info@guidesource.com

"We Need to Start Telling the Good News from Africa"

At the World Economic Forum on Africa 2010 that is underway in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, several participants - including both Africans and outsiders - have called for a rethinking of perceptions about the continent. Too much focus is placed on what is going wrong - disease, poverty, corruption, poor infrastructure, among other problems - with too little emphasis on positive developments, they said. The world should hear about how many African economies have weathered the global economic crisis and are set to contribute to global growth over the next decade, how countries have managed to resolve longstanding military and political conflicts, and how business, government and civil society are working together to address public health threats.

"We need to change the stories that we tell about Africa," said human rights activist and social entrepreneur Hafsat Abiola-Costello, 36, the founder of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), an organization that promotes civil society and democracy in her native Nigeria, and the CEO of China-Africa Bridge, a group aimed at boosting mutual cooperation between China and Africa. (She is the daughter of Chief Moshood Abiola, the Nigerian businessman and president-elect who never took office and died in prison in 1998.) "We need to start telling new stories about the opportunities in Africa, the good news from Africa. Enough about the problems. We all know them. If we start telling the stories about the opportunities, who wouldn't want to take advantage and come to seize an opportunity?"

Hafsat is right. Despite all its progress in recent years, Africa still has an image problem. Perhaps the World Cup in South Africa this summer will help change people's perceptions of the continent. Watch Hafsat and other so-called Young Global Leaders (YGLs) of the Forum who are attending the meeting discuss the enormous potential of Africa in a press conference. And why not post your good news about Africa and tell us about the many opportunities that it has to offer?

Watch live streaming video from worldeconomicforum01 at livestream.com